bklgafly

Hey

I buy $300 visa gift cards at staples with my ink cash then use it for organic spend... I spend a lot.

Biggest issue for me is that I am limited to purchases under $300 for the most part...

I am not even sure how you guys use bluebird/serve but... I would love to figure out a way to get a card that I can then load with those $300 gift cards so I then have a large balance on that card for purchases and was curious if bluebird/serve can be used for that?

If not, any other idea?

Klemhuzzah

You can definitely load Serve with those $300 cards. It's even free if you do it at Family Dollar. I think there's a limit of $5000/month.

You do stand a chance of getting shut down. I'd like to think you won't if you're just doing organic spend, but there's always a risk.

You can also load vgc to your Amazon balance if there's at least $1.50 on the card.

radonc1

You can have too much organic spending for Serve and BB. Depositing large sums of money (especially using VGCs or MCGCs) and paying real bills other than credit cards will get you shut down. This is how I was decapitated in 2016. My deposits were large as were my checks for various bills.

Amex considered that "irregular behavior". So be very careful when doing large sums of deposits and spending.

msp3

The only sort of organic spend I would put on Bluebird/Serve is when a good Amex Offer comes around...

bklgafly

Thanks for info. I'm guessing I'll load about 3-4k a month then use for for regular shopping - spending that all 3-4k... Is that a red flag? Does Amex define Gc loading as irregular behavior?

If I get shut down - does it effect my other Amex cards?

Any other similar option?

radonc1

I suspect that if you could add some of the deposits from sources other than GCs, such as direct deposit of funds, then you may get away with your plan.

OTOH, if you are doing GCs only as your income source, then you will probably be shut down at some point.

BB is independent of other Amex CCs so your BB/Serve shut down will have no effect on them.

SideShowBob

Seems like everything with Amex is a red flag these days.

deker0

Well said. I find it crazy that they'd shut him down over organic spend - considering all of the swipe fees they'd earn from grocery spending, restaurants, etc....

deker0

Amex offers apply to BB/Serve? Really? I thought that was for their non-prepaid cards only.

redtop43

My sense is that spend on BB won't be an issue. BB seems to me to appeal to two markets: The unbanked who are spending large amounts at Walmart on MOs and BP's because they don't have a bank account, and families who want to give the kids a prepaid card where they can both monitor and control the spending.

I don't know how successful it's been at #1 . I keep a passing eye on what people in front of me in line at WM are doing, and I've seen a lot of people cashing paychecks and paying electric and cable bills, but very few loading BB.

I had a BB card shut down, and later on found that it was because I used it for "gambling." That plain out wasn't true. I was loading GC's onto it, but wasn't doing anything that could remotely be considered "gambling."

radonc1

Spend is an issue if it is out of line with what BB considers a "standard" customer. If you are spending $150/wk on groceries, $400/mo on a car payment and other various normal living expenses, and are funding this spend with a direct deposit of a paycheck to the account, then Amex is more than happy to have you as a customer.

If otoh you are depositing $8000 a month into BB via GCs and BPing credit cards from it, Amex is going to clip your feathers. Even if you are paying legitimate bills such as tax bills, health insurance or medical bills, etc., your funding source for BB is going to be an issue. This is what got me closed down. I was writing BB checks for large insurance bills. Even though Amex had use of my money (for free!!) for nearly a month prior to the payment of the bill, they still considered that irregular activity (given that the funding source for those bills were GCs

I am uncertain as to whether you would see a normal BB customer in a WM line. They can BP with checks (they are free for the first 200 from BB, or at least they were) so no need to show at a MC to BP, and most activity can be done on line especially if the funding source is a direct deposit. In fact, assuming appropriate behavior, there is almost no need to show at a WM at all to use a BB card.

bklgafly

Sorry for resurrecting a very old post by myself...

I am thinking to give this a try. I will pay some organic bills with this and maybe ebay purchases (I buy a lot on ebay)?

Nearest walmart is like 40min drive if I am lucky.... Where else can I load using a gc and is there a charge? Is there a daily limit on load? I know that there is a 5k a month.

RedSun

Not many folks interested in this thread because this is in the MS forum. It does not add any value to the MS discussion.

It is a hazard to load any GC to the BB/Serve cards. After the $$ is loaded to the cards, there is no difference of organic or MS spending. You can pay just anyone who you desire.

If you truly have a lot of eBay spending, just go to Staples to buy some eBay GCs. Much easier that way. There is no need for BB/Serve loading.

You need to think outside your own box to see what the best way is to get more spending. BB/Serve for organic spending is the wrong direction. IMO.

Keep reading. Best luck to you.