Bluebird Shutdowns
Mar 4, 2016, 8:44 am
#632
Join Date: Sep 2014
Posts: 1,837
Just got shut down email (March 4th) 
I've maxed 2.5K only in December and completely stopped depositing or withdrawing anything after first reports/wave. Thought I was spared, and I didn't MS much.. Only for meeting minimums on redcard which was converted to Serve. Never loaded anything online..
Is there any chance having them look in to it again?
I've maxed 2.5K only in December and completely stopped depositing or withdrawing anything after first reports/wave. Thought I was spared, and I didn't MS much.. Only for meeting minimums on redcard which was converted to Serve. Never loaded anything online..
Is there any chance having them look in to it again?
I guess using it for regular swipes and bill pays under $1k didnt matter/help.
Mar 4, 2016, 8:57 am
#633
Join Date: Sep 2014
Posts: 202
DATA POINT:
I got hit with the 1st round of shutdowns in Jan. I then opened one up in mother's name.
She got shut down today. Only loaded via GCs at Kate, no linked account, paid utilities and ATM withdrawal.
Interesting to note - these shutdowns occurred the first business Friday's of odd months. If I had to guess, if you open now... you have until May 6 before a third round comes. If it comes.
I got hit with the 1st round of shutdowns in Jan. I then opened one up in mother's name.
She got shut down today. Only loaded via GCs at Kate, no linked account, paid utilities and ATM withdrawal.
Interesting to note - these shutdowns occurred the first business Friday's of odd months. If I had to guess, if you open now... you have until May 6 before a third round comes. If it comes.
Mar 4, 2016, 10:37 am
#636
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: So Cal
Programs: UA Gold/0.744MM, WN AL, Hyatt Diamond, MR Scum, Hertz PC, National Exec, Avis PC
Posts: 5,561
Mine and my wife's got shut down today after surviving the initial wave. Exact same time on the email - 7:21am PST
Some history:
I had used both to the max thru February of last year. Then, because I was in the process of buying a new house, I stopped all MS activity. Next load on either card was December and it was only partial (less than half of capacity). Did some additional loads in mid-January (less than one quarter capacity). No activity since then (been too busy with work).
Some history:
I had used both to the max thru February of last year. Then, because I was in the process of buying a new house, I stopped all MS activity. Next load on either card was December and it was only partial (less than half of capacity). Did some additional loads in mid-January (less than one quarter capacity). No activity since then (been too busy with work).
Mar 4, 2016, 11:02 am
#637
Join Date: Apr 2010
Posts: 257
Mine was also shutdown this morning.
I survived the Jan shutdown, and did 1K load in Jan, 2K load in Feb, and 1K bill pay in Feb.
From the data points it looks like anyone doing any kind of ATM load and any kind of withdrawal has been shutdown. Very strange indeed.
My SO's Serve card is still active. Hasn't been used since Dec.
I survived the Jan shutdown, and did 1K load in Jan, 2K load in Feb, and 1K bill pay in Feb.
From the data points it looks like anyone doing any kind of ATM load and any kind of withdrawal has been shutdown. Very strange indeed.
My SO's Serve card is still active. Hasn't been used since Dec.
Mar 4, 2016, 12:58 pm
#638
Join Date: Mar 2016
Posts: 72
Data Point - Blue Bird account created in October of 2015. Only loaded prepaid VISA cards purchased at a grocery store or received as a rebate for buying something. Loaded less than $750/mo. Used money in the account to pay non-AMEX credit card bill online anywhere from 1-20 days after loading the funds via Walmart customer service desk. Did not use the BB account for anything else. No bank account was associated with the BB account.
BB funds loading ability was terminated today.
BB funds loading ability was terminated today.
Mar 4, 2016, 2:35 pm
#641
Join Date: May 2014
Posts: 53
Me too, termination of loading ability, today March 4, 10:22am.
!!!
Finally! It was becoming a non-lucrative pain in the sassafrass, anyway. Wasted a lot of time making trip after trip to Walmart, only to find the ATM broken, again, again. And grocers no longer selling the right card, and online sources cancelling orders half the time, and cc transaction getting denied at the counter due to auto-fraud alerts, etc.
Datapoints:
Have had BB for several years, single account. Never linked to bank.
Stopped using it for last half of 2015. Started again in 2016. Used 15 different vgc during that timeframe, for total loads of $6k in 2016.
10% of loads were cash, 30% were OneV, 30% were vgc from Meta purchased online, 30% were VGC from Sunrise/University purchased from grocer. And 1 $300 Staples. My loads always varied in amount... only 1 was a full $500 load.
Only used it for small purchases: 13 purchases in 2016 totaling $95.
Never MSed with it, never ever paid a cc with it, just paid regular bills like utilities, student loans, dues, mortgages, using BB checks & BB online-pay.
Studying my BB transactions, I see possibly 2 things that might've triggered the shutdown: .
* the number of debit cards used (15 in 2 months), although Bluebird doesn't restrict that in their T&C.
* the number of loads in a 24-hr period (with the OV, I'd load 4 x ~$45 , then go buy something, then do another 4 swipes of ~$45 each. That's 8 loads within an hour. If I was a bank I might see that as odd. And 2 nights ago, I did 11 swipes! LOL, damnn OV.
I hope some users have still survived!
!!!
Finally! It was becoming a non-lucrative pain in the sassafrass, anyway. Wasted a lot of time making trip after trip to Walmart, only to find the ATM broken, again, again. And grocers no longer selling the right card, and online sources cancelling orders half the time, and cc transaction getting denied at the counter due to auto-fraud alerts, etc.
Datapoints:
Have had BB for several years, single account. Never linked to bank.
Stopped using it for last half of 2015. Started again in 2016. Used 15 different vgc during that timeframe, for total loads of $6k in 2016.
10% of loads were cash, 30% were OneV, 30% were vgc from Meta purchased online, 30% were VGC from Sunrise/University purchased from grocer. And 1 $300 Staples. My loads always varied in amount... only 1 was a full $500 load.
Only used it for small purchases: 13 purchases in 2016 totaling $95.
Never MSed with it, never ever paid a cc with it, just paid regular bills like utilities, student loans, dues, mortgages, using BB checks & BB online-pay.
Studying my BB transactions, I see possibly 2 things that might've triggered the shutdown: .
* the number of debit cards used (15 in 2 months), although Bluebird doesn't restrict that in their T&C.
* the number of loads in a 24-hr period (with the OV, I'd load 4 x ~$45 , then go buy something, then do another 4 swipes of ~$45 each. That's 8 loads within an hour. If I was a bank I might see that as odd. And 2 nights ago, I did 11 swipes! LOL, damnn OV.
I hope some users have still survived!
Last edited by styxfire; Mar 4, 2016 at 2:41 pm
Mar 4, 2016, 2:42 pm
#642
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: Corvallis
Programs: AS MVP, A3 Gold, IHG Spire
Posts: 186
Account funding canceled on mine too.
Survived Jan 8, only loaded 2x500 last month and paid a $600 bill. Charged a few bucks at Walmart and left $300 on it.
Had been previously dormant for 4-5 months.
Survived Jan 8, only loaded 2x500 last month and paid a $600 bill. Charged a few bucks at Walmart and left $300 on it.
Had been previously dormant for 4-5 months.
Mar 4, 2016, 3:49 pm
#643
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: Los Angles
Posts: 2,101
If we can't load VGC, whats the point keeping....
Mar 4, 2016, 5:31 pm
#644
Join Date: Jan 2010
Posts: 7
Wife's new BB was shut down today at about the same time as everyone else. The data points are very simple. The BB was opened a month ago. Two $500 vgc were deposited via Kate. Payments were sent via bill pay to unrelated individuals to pay for services. That's it.