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Note: As of October 13, 2015, the Target REDcard (REDbird) can only be loaded with cash in-store at Target. Gift cards and/or debit cards no longer work to load REDcard. For more info, see: Here is the REDbird memo, “Cash is the only tender guests can use”
As of May 6, 2015, Target no longer accepts credit cards for in-store REDbird reloads. For more information, please see “REDbird Post Memo Answers“, and “REDbird grounded. Now what?“
UPDATE 2/26/2015, 9:00 pm: Quite a few confirmations of successful loads have now rolled in. Unless we hear otherwise, I believe the load issue is now fixed. ALL CLEAR!
UPDATE 2/26/2015, 8:30 pm: As of 6pm EST, we now have two reports are successful loads: one at Target and one at Walmart. I’m hoping for more data points, but it seems possible that the issue is now fixed. Has anyone else had success or failure reloading in-store as of 6pm EST?
UPDATE 2/26/2015, 5:33 pm: People have continued to report in-store load failures. The problem doesn’t seem to be fixed yet.
UPDATE 2/26/2015, 10:27 am: REDbird log-in issues seem to be resolved. No word yet if in-store loads are working.
Yesterday (Wednesday February 25th), there were many reports of failure to load Bluebird, REDbird (the Target Prepaid REDcard), and Serve cards in-store. Some people reported success, but many reported issues. Target and Walmart registers appear to be equally affected. There are also a few reports of systems down when people tried to buy new temporary REDbird cards. And, I don’t know about Bluebird and Serve, but at the time of this writing the REDbird online system is down too. Across several accounts, I (and many others) cannot log into our accounts. I get a message saying that the username/password combination isn’t right:
What’s going on?
My assumption is that Amex is doing some sort of system maintenance and, in the process, things have gone terribly wrong. This is definitely not intentional. Some have suggested that this was intended to stop credit card loads at Target, but most people get errors before paying for the load. This means that all forms of payment, including cash, are affected.
What to do?
Wait it out. I recommend holding off on reloading your cards until you hear an all clear from this blog or elsewhere. I realize that there are only a few days left in the month to max out your calendar month limits ($5K of in-store loads per month per card) so the timing is really bad. If you do try to load, please report your experience in the comments below. I’ll update this post as more information comes in.
See also
The complete guide to Bluebird, REDcard, Serve, and SoftServe
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3/12/2015, 8:30pm Dallas TX — Attempted to load Redbird with Starwood Amex. DECLINED
Attempted to load Redbird with 3 different Chase cards. SUCCESS x 3.
3/14/15 12 noon EST, Reading, Pa. Loaded 2 different Redbirds with AMEX GCs, 1 load each. No issues. Seems load issue is intermittent.
LOAD FAILURE 3/6/15: Redcard Load of $2xx.00 did not post to Redcard acct online, but deducted from CC.
Called AMEX Redcard Cust Svc and they said it may take up top 10 days for load to show in RedCard acct.
Load on 3/5 at same Target store went fine.
Erratic issues, still.
Just loaded in Colorado. No problems whatsoever. Easy Peezy Lemon Squeezy!
Good to hear. I think this is likely the first time those words were written on or near my blog: Easy Peezy Lemon Squeezy
🙂
Hi All,
I have got my new permanent Prepaid Redcard recently. I have tried to load it for the first time a week back and every time the CSR swipes my Redcard the register says refund. I call the Redcard customer service and they said its a known issue and they are trying to fix it and promised that it will be fixed in 24 hrs. I have tried it again after 48 hours and again tried some more times after that and my recent try was yesterday and it still says refund as soon as they swipe the card every time. Target CSR’s are not so knowledgeable about the issue and all they can say is call the customer service number on the back of the card. Calling Amex is getting me no where, all they say is it will be fixed in 24hrs every time i call them.
Has any one experienced this kinda issues?
I had a problem this week, loading $1,000 from a credit card, transaction at Target said all was successful, however, funds never showed up in account. Opened a case with support, called back this morning to get an update. They told me that the transaction never came through and that I should call my credit card company and dispute the charge.
But the kicker is that she told me that CREDIT CARDS ARE NO LONGER A VALID PAYMENT OPTION ON TARGET REDCARDS!!!! Debit and cash only. IS THIS TRUE?
Anyway, this is what the support rep at AMEX just told me on the phone.
Hi John…don’t freak out. The CSR’s in India have no idea what is allowed and not allowed. I just did the full daily load on multiple cards. If you call in the future just tell them you did a load and it did not show up, don’t mention that it was on a CC.
When I bought my first card the load did not show up. I was given a number to the resolution center, the number is (800) 438-6468. They had me fax a copy of my receipt and the card and it was fixed within a couple of hours.
Hope that helps…Cheers!
Bluebird loading fine yesterday.
When you manage family members’ Redbirds, how do you get them to pay bills in your name- won’t the billpay services send checks with the names of the family member on them? do those work for paying off your credit cards?
Loaded yesterday and got an error. My card was charged, but money was “removed” from Redbird account. Called AMEX. They said there is a technical issue and it should be fixed in 24 hours and the money would be put back into the account. Called back today and they told me the same thing. Said they thought it would be fixed but it is not fixed yet. I will be checking tomorrow to see if my $1000 load made it in.
Tried to load Vanilla Visa to Serve yesterday at Family Dollar around 4:45 EST. System said approved, then errored out. Got home and checked Vanilla Visa balance and it was at zero. Sent FB message and e-mail to Family Dollar. Waiting on resolution.
ALL Vanilla Visa’s bought on 2/25 were never activated. I would guess you bought yours on that date. I bought one, wasn’t activated, finally got through to a rep who stated system was down on 2/25. She said they were swamped with calls on 2/25, 700 people deep in the cue. She took my card #, receipt info and said it will be active in 24 hours. I spoke to her 30 minutes ago, still not activated but hopeful. She did say any bought after 2/25 should have been activated as usual.
Interesting. When you go online, does it show as having the value that you loaded onto it even if it is not activated?
Online, it just says system error in red after you input the info. It does not even recognize the card exists. If you call the automated system, it will ask for the card #, the expiration date, but when you enter the 3 digit code it just routes back to main menu, it does not say card invalid or card not active. It’s a loop. Again this should just be happening for those who bought vanilla visa cards on 2/25 and have not yet called to get the issue resolved.
I did buy mine on the 25th, however, I can go online and see an accurate balance. It was declined yesterday while trying to do a Serve load at a FD but I couldn’t be sure if it was the Serve issue or Vanilla. Will try again in a little bit and see what happens.
Sounds like your gift card got activated despite being bought on the 25th. A supposed insider who commented above stated AMEX was updating their system related to prepaids, Serve, BB, Redbird so I would suspect that might’ve been the issue. Since AMEX is apparently back on line, you might have better luck today.
no problem loading redbird at target in nj as of 10pm
2 of my red cards load did not go through while the third one did. I have not exceeded my 5k for the month. However, if I include my loads on 1/31/15 the total came out to be 5k for both cards. I know that the 5k limit is per calendar month. Is there a chance that my 1/31/15 loads are part of Feb instead of Jan? Thanks in advance!
What does it say when you log into your account and view transactions? Do the 1/31 loads show the date as 1/31 or as 2/1?
It showed 1/31 date.
Did a single load at a Walmart in western MA to minutes ago and it worked on the first try.
Tried to load a vanilla visa at 6pm at a FD in MA, transaction declined. Incidentally, also tried to buy a PayPal gift card at a gas station, couldn’t because their gift card system has been down since yesterday. Coincidence?
Is target red card available in Northern California?
I have a couple Redbird. Send me message at:
apadulu at yahoo
Just left Walmart, loaded bluebird with 4 Cards…no problems.
[…] of Bluebird, REDbird (the Target Prepaid REDcard), and Serve cards were not reliably working (view post here). Most of the day the problems continued, but as of 6pm EST tonight, we started receiving […]
Tried to load 3x$200 vgc at SoCal wm mc on serve. Denied at the time but got an email today (10am PST) that finds had been applied. Check account and confirmed. Interesting thing was I tried other cards at Kate and regular registers for bb loads, no notice on those.