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I’ve been getting a lot of questions lately about Amex prepaid cards: Bluebird, Serve, Amex for Target, etc. If you’re wondering how to use these cards for earning points and miles, here are the basics of what you need to know…
American Express Prepaid card
These generic cards with no name were great back in the day (see “One card to rule them all”), but they were soon trumped by Bluebird and Serve.
The only advantage of these cards over others is that one person can sign up for 3 cards. Once you have the cards, though, the only way to get credit card rewards for loading them is to find a store that will sell reload cards to you with a credit card. And then, the only good way to unload cash from these cards is through ATM withdrawals. My recommendation: forget about them.
Bluebird
Bluebird is special because it makes it possible to earn credit card rewards when loading the card, and it makes it easy to get at your money once it has been loaded.
Earn points through loads:
- Buy Vanilla Reload cards and pay with credit cards. CVS stores no longer allow this, but some regional chains still do. You can find a list of Vanilla Reload retail locations here.
- Reload at Walmart with debit cards (max $2500 per day; $5,000 per month). Since most Visa and MasterCard gift cards can be used as debit cards, it is possible to buy gift cards with reward earning credit cards (see this post), then go to Walmart to use those cards to load Bluebird. Caution: Some gift cards don’t work or are very finicky when used this way. Also, some Walmart stores do not allow the use of gift cards to reload Bluebird.
- Reload online with a debit card (max $200 per day; $1000 per month). Do not try to use gift cards for online debit loads — this may work a few times, but you’ll soon get a nasty letter from Amex. Instead, use a rewards earning debit card if you have one (these are very hard to find these days!).
Easy access to money:
- Use Bluebird’s bill pay feature to pay bills that you can’t usually pay by credit card (including paying your credit card bill itself). If the biller isn’t in their electronic system, they’ll send a paper check.
- Use Bluebird paper checks to pay anyone in person.
- Withdraw money to your bank account
- Withdraw money from an ATM
Serve
Serve is almost identical to Bluebird, but it has some features that make it even better. Note, though, that you can only have one or the other: Bluebird or Serve.
Earn points through loads:
- Buy Vanilla Reload cards or Greendot MoneyPaks and pay with credit cards. Unfortunately, Greendot is phasing out MoneyPaks.
- Reload at Walmart with debit cards (max $2500 per day; $5,000 per month). For details, see the same bullet above, under “Bluebird”.
- Reload at Family Dollar with debit cards. Unfortunately, load limits seem to be per-store, per day so you can run into trouble if other Serve loaders have visited the store the same day.
- Reload online with a debit card (max $200 per day; $1000 per month). Do not try to use gift cards for online debit loads (see details above, under Bluebird). If you have a compatible phone, you can get Isis Softcard and increase your debit reload limit to $500 per day and $1500 per month (details here).
- Reload online with a credit card (max $200 per day; $1000 per month). Do not try to use gift cards for online credit loads. You need to use a credit card that is in the same name as the Serve cardholder. To my knowledge, all credit cards treat this as a purchase (not a cash advance), but Amex credit cards do not earn points. If you have a compatible phone, you can get Isis Softcard and increase your credit reload limit to $500 per day and $1500 per month (details here).
Easy access to money:
- Use Serve’s bill pay feature to pay bills that you can’t usually pay by credit card (including paying your credit card bill itself). If the biller isn’t in their electronic system, they’ll send a paper check.
- Withdraw money to your bank account
- Withdraw money from an ATM
My recommendation: Thanks to the addition of online credit card reloads, Serve edges out Bluebird as a better option.
American Express for Target (discontinued)
This is very similar to the old generic Amex Prepaid card product except that it can be reloaded at Target with a credit card for $3 per load (up to $1000). This can be a great way too, to consolidate Amex, Visa, and MasterCard gift cards onto a single card registered to your name. The trick is simply to use those gift cards as credit cards to reload the Target Amex card. Note though that some readers have recently reported problems getting this to work with Amex gift cards (although it has continued to work for others).
Getting money off the card is the hard part. The only practical option (other than using the card as a credit card) is to withdraw cash at ATMs. More details can be found in this post: Using the Target Amex card to run up spend.
American Express Campus Edition (discontinued)
Until recently, I had mostly forgotten about this card. It is similar to the Amex for Target card, except that it is reloaded at Barnes & Noble Campus Bookstores rather than at Target. Unfortunately, you cannot reload these at regular Barnes & Noble stores – just at campus bookstores. Also unfortunately, this card has much stricter limits (such as max $1000 per month swipe reloads).
On the plus side, B&N campus bookstore reloads code as bookstore purchases. Since I have the old Citi Forward card that offers 5X ThankYou points at bookstores, and since ThankYou points have recently become more valuable, I’m liking this Campus Edition card again. So, if you have a card that earns lots of bonus points at a bookstore and you happen to have easy access to a B&N campus bookstore, you can do well reloading this card monthly. Like the Target Amex card, the only way to unload it is to use it as a credit card or withdraw cash at ATMs. For more, see these relevant posts:
- Citi changes the dating game
- Why the Barnes & Noble MasterCard might be worth a look
- American Express Campus Edition
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Ok, so I got Bluebird right when it came out but things got busy with my life and I never touched it since. That’s how I stumbled on this article now trying to search through your posts on how I can use this card to my advantage.
I just checked Vanilla’s site on where to find the cards, so besides CVS, it looks like all the other places (7/11, Walgreens, Office Depot..) will allow you to reload using a credit card?
Second, I don’t have any rewards debit card, so reloading BB at Walmart is really pointless correct?
Finally, is there a optimal monthly spending a person needs to manufacture spend in order for this to make it worth the effort? For example, if I am a 25yo single male with monthly expense of $800, is this even worth my time or should I just stick to cashback CC’s?
Thanks in Advance!
No, unfortunately, most places will not let you reload Bluebird with a credit card. The key to earning miles these days with Bluebird is:
1. Find a place to buy $500 Visa gift cards with a credit card (preferably not Vanilla branded).
2. Set the PIN on each gift card (or use the last 4 digits with some gift cards)
3. Go to Walmart and reload Bluebird via debit card (your gift cards are debit cards)
.
To make the above worthwhile, you should have at least a 2X card (e.g. 2% cash back or Arrival Plus card that earns 2X everywhere… something like that). Even better are cards that earn 5X in places that sell gift cards (some cards have temporary 5% cash back at grocery stores, for example). Other options include cards that earn 2X or more at gas stations (the trick there is to find a gas station that sells Visa gift cards).
I have some leftover on my TD Buxx card which is now basically worthless. Any luck loading that card to serve to drain it? It is a valid debit card in my name.
I’ve been using US Bank VisaBuxx for a couple of months as a debit card with Serve. So far it’s worked well. Not sure if the same would be true with TD Buxx. I’d recommend against it if you only plan to use it a few times before switching. I think that switching payment sources often is a flag that will get Amex to look at your account.
The way Buxx cards work, they belong to the parent whose SSN was used to open the parent account, no matter whose name is on the teen cards. Now, since the teen and parent cannot be the same for US Buxx cards, they cannot be issued in one’s own name. That brings in a problem. If you use a US Buxx card that is linked to your SSN (that is when you are the parent and the account belongs to you), it has somebody else’s name on the card (who would be your teen). If you have a card that has your name on it, then you are the teen of a parent who owns the account and has her/his SSN listed. So you cannot have an account that belongs to you and has a card that shows your name. That leads to a question: which kind of US Buxx is safe to use with Bluebird or Serve? The one that you are a parent but the card does not show your name, or the one that you are a teen but the account does not legally belong to you.
Are you a parent or a teen on the card you are using? and do you have your name on the card?
The way I’ve been using the US Buxx cards are as teens. I make sure that the name and address on the Buxx card matches the name and address on the Serve card. That has worked for me so far.
If I have an active bluebird account, what is the process for getting it switched to serve? I still have money in the account as well.
1. Withdraw all of the money
2. Cancel the card
3. Get a temp Serve card at CVS (or wherever)
4. Register for a permanent card.
5. When you get an error, call Serve. Be prepared to be on the phone a long time.
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Are you familiar with PASS by Amex? Came across this one recently but haven’t found any data points on it. On their website it says can be loaded with amex. I wonder if one can use AGCs or Amex cc and earn points.
I believe that they have stopped offering the Pass card to new customers. Other than that, no I don’t know much about it.
You say to buy Vanilla Reload with a credit card. I can not find anyplace that allows that. Would like to try the Serve Card and load that with Credit Card but expect that it is treated as a cash advance. Anyone have experience?
I don’t think that any credit card treats it as a cash advance, but don’t use an Amex card (from Amex) as it won’t earn points. I usually load with my Arrival Plus card to get 2X points for the load
Glad you re-opened and updated this subject. Nice overview.
Anybody reading here have any luck loading to Serve the newer Vanilla Reload Cards (the ones with more green on the cover, and without the scratch off pin on the back)… Saw another web site claiming that these VRC’s indeed can be loaded directly to the Serve…. yet would appreciate more confirmation & details.
I can buy the VRC’s at my local BP food market chain with a cc, and they tell me there they’re happy to load them directly onto the card at the store…. (just not sure which one they’re talking about as yet)
If this is a go, the spouse is thinking to get the Serve…. while I keep the BlueBird. (Another BB feature which I value is being able to write checks, including at tax times.)
As far as I know, the only stores that currently allow reloads at the register with Serve are CVS (cash only), Walmart, Family Dollar, and 7-11. It would be great to try your BP with a card like MyVanilla.
So am I reading correctly that you can load Serve at FD using VR with a CC?
You can use a debit card, not a credit card, at Family Dollar.
Also another question: Has anyone tried loading their Serve account using Amazon Payments? Not a super-lucrative points-earner, but if GC’s are a hassle (or you’ve maxed out your categories), this would be a free method to help run up spend to meet min spend requirements.
I don’t understand what you mean by that. What’s the point of loading it with Amazon Payments?
Would be a quick and free way to get add $1000 toward minimum spend requirements for new cardholder bonuses. If you get 3-4 credit cards at a time, it’s not always easy (or free) to get the reach the minimum spend for all of them within XX months.
But you can do that with Amazon Payments without loading to Serve. Simply pay a friend and have them withdraw the cash and pay you back.
Does anyone have any tips for getting an AMEX Campus application approved? I know others have had difficulties with the application site, but from what I hear most have had success with persistence 🙂 I have continued to get \unknown error\ – anyone out there in the same boat?
Keep trying. Try other family members. Yes, I’ve had the same issue.
For the Target AMEX, *some* Target stores are coded as grocery stores by Visa (not AMEX) so you can earn bonus points if you have a Visa credit card that earns bonus points at grocery stores (US Bank FlexPerks Credit Card).
So I’ve heard 🙂
For Serve, is the debit card limit separate from the credit card load limit? That is, can you load $1,000 by debit card + $1,000 by credit card for a total of $2,000 per month?
Yes, they’re separate. So, you can load $2K per month from home + up to $5K per month in-store (e.g. Walmart and Family Dollar)
There is also a prepaid AMEX built-in to some AAA cards.
Thanks. I’m not familiar with that one.
Serve can be loaded at Family Dollar. I load $900 at FD and have even loaded $1800/day by going to two different Family Dollar stores.
Yep, added. How do you do $900? What debit card(s) do you use?
I use any old gift card I can get my hands on. First swipe is for $500, second is for $400, which I am pretty sure by trial and error, is the max you can do.
Good to know, thanks!
One other important often overlooked factor, Bluebird does not charge foreign transaction fees while serve does
That’s true. I’ve covered that in other posts where I compared Bluebird to Serve. In this post I tried to focus just on the point-earning aspects of each card.
Does fidelity amex earn points for loading Serve online?
Yes, which I know from personal experience.
I believe so