Late last week, Amex delivered bad news to huge numbers of Bluebird and Serve account holders. They shut down accounts due to “unusual usage patterns.” I reported the news here: Amex kills Bluebird and Serve for manufactured spend.
In the post “Bluebird Serve Birdpocalypse: How to liquidate remaining gift cards,” I answered a question asked by many: What do I do with all of those gift cards I bought with the intention of loading to Bluebird or Serve?
Another popular “what do I do?” question came from those who’s accounts were not shut down. If that’s you, you probably have similar questions. Should you try to get in as much manufactured spend as possible before getting shut down? Should you lie low for a while until it all blows over? Should you continue to use the card, but try to do so in a way that avoids shutdown?
To answer these questions, it would help to know the following:
- Was last Friday’s bloodbath a one time event? Or, will Amex continue to shutdown accounts?
- Is there a pattern of use that is safe from shutdown?
My best guess: Friday’s account closures were not a one time event
Somebody at Amex took the time to add a clause to the Bluebird and Serve member agreements stating that Amex has the right to suspend or terminate your account if you manufacture spend. Specifically, the new text states (bolding is mine): “We reserve the right to suspend or close your Account… if, among other reasons,… you structure purchases or conduct transactions … to manufacture spend.” This leads me to believe that Amex is serious about stopping this practice.
My bet is that Friday’s account closures were not a one time event. I expect that accounts will be shutdown monthly, if not more often.
My best guess: Only unloading through spend is safe
If you read the comments in my post about the account closures, you’ll see that its pretty hard to detect a pattern. Some people who manufactured only tiny amounts of spend were shutdown, while some who maxed out the full $5,000 per month were spared. It seems to me that people who used their Bluebird or Serve cards like credit cards (to buy things in-stores or online) were a bit less likely to be shutdown.
My bet is that Amex isn’t concerned with how people are loading their accounts, but rather with how they are unloading them. If you unload primarily through bank withdrawals, bill pays, or ATM withdrawals then Amex is almost certainly losing money with you as a customer. If you unload by using your card like a credit card to pay for things, then Amex earns a transaction fee with each purchase. That is how they want you to use their card.
The problem for us is that there isn’t much upside to using the card that way. Any time you use your Bluebird or Serve card in place of a regular credit card, you lose out on earning rewards from your credit card. The one pattern of use that might still make sense is if you have a way to earn outsized rewards when buying gift cards. For example, if you have a card that earns 5% cash back at stores that sell gift cards with low fees (say 1%) then you’ll clear about 4% when buying those gift cards. Then, you can load those gift cards to Bluebird or Serve to use for daily spend. Of course, you could achieve the same thing by using those gift cards directly for daily spend, but you may find that using a single card is more convenient. Plus, if you use your card for daily spend, then you can surely get away with some amount of bank withdrawals, bill pays, and ATM withdrawals without getting shut down.
My recommendation
My recommendation depends upon your situation:
- If you can afford to wait and see, then I recommend stopping use for a while. In time we may learn more about what is safe and what’s not.
- If you’re desperate to manufacture spend right now, then go for it. We don’t have any proof that Bluebird or Serve will continue to be viable avenues for manufactured spend in the future so there’s little risk to getting the most out of the card while you can.
- If you have two cards still open, consider splitting the difference. Continue to manufacture spend with one card, but lie low with the other.
- If you would like to use your card as a “5X everywhere card” then consider trying out my suggested use pattern above. Earn 5X buying gift cards (that’s the hard part), load them to your Bluebird or Serve card, then use your Bluebird or Serve card for everyday spend. Do small bill payments or ATM withdrawals now and then, but don’t make that your primary way of getting money off of the card. Caution: this suggestion is based purely on speculation. If I’m wrong about what Amex is looking for, then you may get your card shutdown with this approach as well.
Do you have a card still open? If so, what do you plan to do?
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Any recent news on BB? I’ve got two that have been hibernating since the first purge
Same story. They periodically freeze accounts of people doing ms with the card (as well as some innocent bystanders). Otherwise it works if you haven’t been frozen.
I would just like to congratulate each and every one of you incredibly clever individuals out there who strive (so successfully) on such a regular basis to “game the system” – stick it to big financial companies like American Express, and then enjoy your newly fashioned plunder. Well done! Thanks for striking a blow for travel-deprived Americans everywhere.
Just another thought, though — why you may lament the loss of your personal SERVE cards and the giddy fun they provide with all the loading / unloading games as you watch the points pile up on your credit cards — hopefully you will more sincerely regret the loss of SERVE specifically, or any / all AMEX branded prepaid card programs in general, for this reason: There are, in addition to YOU ALL, some poor, kind folk who just use the card(s) as they were conceived and designed; to survive. Hard to imagine, right? LOL Poverty in the United States MUST surely be a myth…. I myself am a disabled individual on a microscopic fixed income. I rely on a SERVE card for what you may take for granted. I have no ATM card. I have no traditional credit card. My extremely low income and poor credit due to lateness on mounting medical bills has made it impossible to obtain an ATM or CC card for me anymore.
ENJOY YOUR fun and games. Keep your SERVE card if you can. I hope the product is not eliminated though. That will certainly hurt me more than you.
Just something for you to consider as you jet over my home in a big 747 sitting in a seat you obtained with credit card points that were “manufactured” as I have seen you put it. I will be sitting here and the only points I will be concerned with is trying to figure out why some think “plastic” is a card game to play — when many transactions REQUIRE a card and those of us with no other option need this product for basics — not fun, games, and luxury travel. So, enjoy your rental car when you land. Don’t forget your wallet in the car when you return the vehicle — you would not want anyone to answer the question “What’s in your wallet?” (Probably a couple maxed out SERVE cards and the questionably derived gains you have derived therefrom.) DO remember that while you take from AMEX you perhaps unintentionally but nevertheless definitely hurt the rest of us. How much will the fees I pay increase or multiply due to AMEX needing to recoup money lost to YOU and your campaign?
Let me know sometime. I will be here on the city bus wondering how many transfers it would take to get me to Acapulco too….
Optimistically Everyone would keep their card but if not I vote that Adam’s card be the last one taken.
[…] Your Serve or Bluebird is still alive. Now what? […]
I just added 3 claims to the Cepeda vs PayPal Settlement. Some good soul took these fascists to court and there will be a settlement for those who had their accounts frozen. I may even take a day off from work and go to the court date in Oakland US District Court for the Northern District of California Case No. 10-CV-02500 SBA. I am curious to get a close up look at a modern day fascist. Kindred spirits should come and we’ll have drinks downtown Oakland after the gavel comes down.
My account wasn’t shut down. I only use it to pay mortgages. However, when I tried to load a $200 Visa gift card at Wal-Mart (issued by Metabank), I receive a message that says “debit not approved, call authorizer.” This has happened several times and I know that the money is on the card. I called bluebird but they think it’s cash only as of November. I don’t believe that’s right since I’ve seen recent reports of people loading gift cards and I loaded one last month. Has anyone else had this issue?
Put it together… You’ve been shut down.
If you have not received the email and have not maxed out the $1K online load using your bank DC, try to load and see if it goes through. If you get the message that loading funds to your account has been disabled, that’s means you’re account is shutdown. If you are able to load, you can try again at a different store and see if you can load.
Haven’t heard a single case where Serve has been tried at Rite Aid?
Tried at Rite-aid with bank dc and vgc, both flashed “approved”, then said “balance not available”. I did not receive the email and have been able to do five online dc loads since my unsuccessful Rite-aid attempts.
I’ve gone they the same scenario at Rite aid and the funds successfully loaded. Did the cashier do something to cancel that out? And what flavor online DC did you use ? Me BBVA AMEX worked after everyone got their emails.
I used a paypal business debit card (online, successfully). I would love to think I can still load at rite-aid – perhaps I should give it another try. I thought since neither loaded I had somehow been disabled for debit card loads…thought I’ve read of many others who can load cash but not debit.
I’ll try on the 1st and report back
Sounds good. Thanks.
Last 2 days loaded 500 each Serve at Rite Aid……….first time felt like I was sleep walking in an altered state………..we must be grateful for the little things in life………..
Ha! Was just wondering if you’d had any luck.
Just realized my bank dc WAS debited $400 though no funds loaded to Serve. So maybe cashier didn’t know what she was doing, idk. Doesn’t inspire me to try again though…maybe back to Walmart. Speaking of grateful for little things, just really happy it wasn’t the vgc that was debited. That’d be much more daunting to sort out/correct.
@emannuel ruiz
You sound so… small.
and you’re so big. I love people like you.
[…] to continue to be shutdown if they violated whatever algorithm Amex came up with. He suggested only unloading via spend is safe. Julian the Devil’s Advocate posted over on Travel Codex that the best way to go forward is […]
I have 2 serve that were not shutdown. I went to WM yesterday and tried to load $1K using my banks debit card. The transaction was approved, but when authorizing to serve it printed a slip saying debit not allowed. The cashier didn’t know what to say. She knew I have done this before and not sure why it wasn’t working. All she said was try calling AmEx to find out why it is not working. On my bank account transactions page, I did see 2 back to back transactions, 1 debit and 1 credit. This means while the money from the bank was approved, somehow AmEX is not allowing the transaction to go through. Does anyone know if they are able to load their serve at WM using any debit card or VGC?
Same thing happened to me at riteaid and WM. I think it means we were shutdown but did not get email.
I was also not able to load with either vgc or bank debit card at rite aid, but I have successfully loaded with debit card online. I have seen other commenters who couldn’t load vgc but were able to load cash – so, apparently we seem to be partially shut down. The part that hurts, except for Amex Offers.
Did you receive the letter from Serve? If not, try to load online with a credit card. If you don’t get an error message I doubt you were shut down.
Yes but if only 1k is available via online Non AMEX issued cards then the card will have lost 83% of its value (6k to 1k) and having AMEX offers is not going to get me to store cash there waiting with baited breath………..no GC loads then I’m bailing and cutting back on fee cards all in one fell swoop………
Its been a couple of weeks now since the death of BB and man! its very tedious liquidating GC’s. In hindsight, am soooo thankful that my wife and I got in this game years ago and have amassed such a super healthy miles/points balance even if we use them sporadically. I couldn’t care any less if they are devalued slowly down the line. I got them for almost free anyway. I feel sorry for the people who got in so late and unable to MS if that’s what it will take for them to earn the miles and stuff. And I am glad that I didn’t listen to those people who would only apply for a credit card if there’s a need at that particular moment. Hoarding miles/points ain’t so bad. Had I listened to them, I probably would only have a quarter of the amount that I now have or maybe even less. Really glad I did it. So, Thank You AMEX BB and RB. I harbor no hard feelings or ill will towards you AMEX. I’d still be a loyal customer to the end. I know people out there will not agree with the above comments. Frankly, who cares. Don’t even bother…hahaha…….
I have been able to load at FD but tonight they denied me unless I used cash. She said manager said no to loads unless I’m using cash. My question==is there a general manager over all the area FD or would it be safe to try another one that’s about 6 miles from this one? I’ve done all the loads at one FD and $500 a day –Mon-Tues, Weds and $900 last week. My Serve card should be fine as it’s a new one. I have $700 more to load from Visa Rebate cards.
Got shutdown, but received no email notice. MS ~$1,500 in a typical month. Used bill pay only to pay off Chase Ink. No retail purchases.
How are folks that haven’t received an email figuring out they have been shut down?
I assume trial and error when they attempt to load it. So far, I’ve been okay using mine, primarily by reloading via debit from my rewards checking. But I just learned that I can pay my citi card via debit, so that cuts out the middle bird for all but unloading VGCs and paying other CCs.
pray tell how you pay your citi card with debit?
Call me and them “I want to make a payment with my debit card.” And they say, “is it with a card we have on file?” And you snicker “no it’s with a new one”
[…] was the scope — I haven’t used my Bluebird card in over a year and still got an email. (Frequent Miler has some tips if you were spared the […]
Desperate newbie hoard looking for advice. Speculating what happened? That is a result of money blogging.
go back to your cats.
There is a lot of speculation that the shutdowns are related to manufactured spending, but the shutdowns could also be related to the way MS transactions are layered it can appear to be money laundering.
My wife’s BB is dead. Mine is still alive…so I thought…but barely. I went to WM today to load a $500.00 GC at the Kiosk (ours always work – too bad- great while it lasted). It didn’t go through. It said that it was not approved and to call the Issuer which is AMEX. Thanks but no thanks…am not an idiot. Tried it twice but no go. Got home, linked my Bank Card and that was ok. Explain why this scenario? weird. I guess WM just programmed KATE to automatically decline GC’s. I didn’t try going to the Money Center and be embarrassed.
Same thing here…I was shut down but the wife wasn’t. No go loading with Kate this evening with her account. The line was too long at the Money Center but I will give it a try tomorrow.
Data point here. I used the card for plenty of purchases — both brick and morter and online retail — and got shut down.
good data point.
what about your other activity? bill pay, withdrawals, etc?