Nope. I tried $499 and it did not work. Do not attempt to get cash back of $20 dollars either I read somewhere.

when the cards get bricked, and you have to call for replacement, do the replacements work for full 500 ?

More likely to, but not always

I have two $500 Pathward Vanilla Gift cards I purchased at 7-11 that are bricked. I called on 7/7 to have them replaced. They tell me it is being sent expedited FedEx but are unwilling to provide me a tracking number, just that it takes 3-5 business days. Today is the 5th business day and I called again and they told me it will deliver today. I am skeptical and getting slightly nervous.

vanilla has been good to me during my two interactions with them. They didnt let me know on my second interaction that it had shipped but I found a fedex package at my doorstep sure enough

thanks. Despite them telling me twice that they sent the cards “FedEx Express” I see the cards in the USPS informed delivery email today as regular 1st class mail.

I've been buying small amounts no more than $1500 (3 cards) from the same store each time and have never had a problem since when this started after last Christmas. Tried $2000 (4 cards) once and only 1 went through and the rest declined requiring replacement.

Today bought $1500 from 1 store, went next door to a different store and bought $500, and then attempted to load Serve $500 first, then 2nd transaction of $1500 split across 3 cards. 1st transaction went through, 2nd transaction was ok for cards 1, 2, but not 3. After 3rd card kept on declining, cancelled out and tried paying separately but now all 3 cards remaining decline immediately and 1 cannot check balance online (but shows full balance when you call).

I think when Amex Serve/Bluebird finally dies (like they're saying in the other thread) that'll be the end of the hobby (in loading) for me.

Wanted to come back and give DP. I tried the MCGC and it seemed like it was trying to run it as credit. I would swipe and it would say Authorization in Progress and never popped up to add a pin. There was a cancel button in the bottom corner briefly. I wonder if that was the magic trick to get it to run as debit. I may give it another try. I used it to purchase something small at SCO and it worked fine so its not locked up.

^This

thanks! I’ll give it another shot tomorrow

The UF MC from Safeway, from last 3 weeks, kept getting locked and bricked. It has happened to 3 cards already. All of them are $500 swipes. Anyone else?

Are they serviced by Incomm? If you read the Walmart money order thread you'll see similar dp's. Seems like these cards are limited to one swipe now. Started a couple of weeks ago so relatively new thing.

yes Incomm / Sutter Bank