Readers with Serve & Bluebird accounts are reporting that their accounts have been shut down. This used to be a frequent thing, but I think the last round of shut downs were in 2017. Serve and Bluebird cards are an easy way to liquidate Visa/MC gift cards by using them to load these prepaid cards at Walmart.
Update: It looks like people are being allowed to sign up again after this shut down, not sure if that is intentional or not. Once banned, you can not get the an Amex prepaid card again. Some people like getting the card under a different SSN (e.g. a spouse) and using it for a few months for old time’s sake.It’s still possible to load other prepaid cards or buy money orders with Visa/MC gift cards, but it’s not always easy to find a vendor or a card which allows it.
I know some people were hoping that shutdowns were a thing of the past, but unfortunately not.
Just got a BB for my wife (I was shutdown on Serve back in 2016 and it won’t let me sign up again). How do I best load VGCs and payoff the CC balance without getting her’s shutdown?
Also, how can she signup for a “sleeper” card? Does BB just allow you to signup for multiples of the same card?
I had active 2 serves and BB for a few months- all 3 shut down in May. I closed accounts and opened 1 of each, max out both with loads, attempted to open a 2nd BB- declined!
I tried to load 2 VGC’s of $200 each at WM to my BB, both got rejected with a notice printed saying only cash is allowed to load. WE did this twice and both times, could not load and same notice got printed saying only cash allowed to load. …………..Then i loaded BB with $100 cash and loaded fine without any issues…….
Is this the shutdown of using VGC’s to load BB/Serve at WM? OR MINE WAS an Isolated/random/freak case? ANY inputs/DP’s of what’s going on?
I don’t think your acct is shutdown because you were able to load cash. You can try another WM to see if you can load VGCs to your BB. Hopefully, it was just a glitch.
I can try next month since I’ve already maxed out for June, hopefully there are no software changes at WM by then that will code loading prepaids as cash only. If that happens, only S can be loaded for free at select DG and FD 🙁
Got shutdown on Bluebird #1 card. Had Bluebird #2 card that I previously activated, but never used. Bluebird #2 still works. Applied for and received Bluebird #3 card after shutdown of Bluebird #1, but no current need for Bluebird #3 (I’m a light MSer). No plans to use Bluebird #3 and just going to hold it in reserve for the next shutdown, but any thoughts on whether I should activate Bluebird #3 or not activate Bluebird #3? Or does it not matter one way or another if I do/don’t activate it so long as I don’t use it?
Knowing that shutdown is coming, it’s the date that is unknown and I’ve read lots of DPs where people tried different methods to dodge a shutdown, i.e, loading with both cash and VGC without maxing out $5K per month, using card for regular spend, load only $500, do direct deposit, use card for axp offers, etc and yet they did not survive the 5/21st shutdown.
Our plan of action right now is just to activate 1, load the max allowed per month until the next sweep and then activate the next sleeper.
Right, that’s my plan as well. My specific question though is whether we should be activating (but not using) our sleeper cards or not activating them at all until the next shutdown? I had activated but didn’t use my Bluebird #2 prior to the last shutdown and it survived. Not sure though if I just got lucky doing this or whether it is better to activate (but not use) a sleeper card rather than leaving it inactivated for some reason. Perhaps no definitive answer on this, but thought someone might have some insight as to which is the better method. Related questions are:
1. Does anyone know of a deadline by which you have to activate a sleeper card before they just cancel it altogether? I’m assuming that Amex doesn’t want a ton of inactive cards just lying about for months/years, but perhaps they don’t have any mechanism in their system to cause these cards to get cancelled.
2. If you activate, but don’t use a card, how long before Amex shuts your account down due to inactivity?
I don’t think anyone knows the answer to your questions but based on history, the sleeper cards were spared of the sweeping shutdown, that’s a fact. As to length of time we can continue to keep them unactivated, no one can probably give a definite answer to that. We’d rather not activate cards we don’t plan to load so we don’t have to keep track of them as well.
Your assumption may be correct but I’m sure the unactivated cards aren’t in their system and therefore, unlikely to be shutdown anytime later. If, by chance, they improve their system and outright cancel cards that remain unactivated by recipient within X days from approval, we will deal with that IF and when it happens.
At this point, I don’t see a guaranteed method but we prefer not to fix what is functional right now. Que sera, sera.
Actually, just saw a post on another site that someone had gotten notices regarding inactivated cards after a certain amount of time that if they didn’t activate them, they would become expired. So, I think you’re correct that leaving them inactive is probably the best course of action for now. If we get the same notices, then we can simply activate at that time to avoid expiration. In essence, it doesn’t sound like Amex will simply cancel the cards for lack of activation without sending out some sort of notice first.
A friend of mine said his Bluebird card was shut down today and the reasoning behind it was very vague. I love my Bluebird card and haven’t had a single problem with it. My husband’s pay gets directly deposited and it’s available two days before pay day. Now I’m a little concerned that ours will be shut down. We are a paycheck to paycheck family and it would be disastrous if we weren’t able to access our money for even one day. Should I be concerned?
Thank you,
LeeAnn W.
I’d guess you’ll be fine since it sounds like you are using it as intended. Best of luck!
Chuck, I guess I’ll leave it alone and hope for the best. Thank you!
Dan, my friend’s card was shut off yesterday. The day I posted the comment. I simply wondered if I should be concerned about mine being shut down.
It seems like your friend’s case is an isolated one since there are no other reported shutdowns of their accounts yesterday, June 4. If there was another mass shutdown, I’m pretty sure many would’ve reported it here and reddit but so far, your friend’s is the only one I’ve read after the mass shutdown on May 21.
Hopefully, your account will not suffer the same fate as your friend and there’s no shutdown looming again the next few days/weeks/months. Fingers X’d.
Thank you Mimi.
One VIP shut down last week, just applied for Green and turned down.
Guess it’s random that many are getting approved after shutdown, and many are not………
Anyone who is approved again has any suggestions of what to do to get approved again? Same email/Phone number v/s New ones?
I think getting approved has no rhyme and reason. Soon as we got shutdown, I applied again for P1 and P2, got approved for 2S, 2B which both of us already received. I have only activated one and kept the rest on sleep mode since $5K loads are more than enough for required DD pushes for our bank churning activities.
I have friends who never had S or BB and can’t get approved that’s why I think it’s really a matter of luck.
Just got my new card today. Also applied day of shutdown notice. Unfortunately I received the blue. Had green before. What’s the difference?
If you load VGC to the blue S at any store including WM/DG/FD, there is a fee of $3.94 or more. Best to close that account and sign up where the green S card is showing. IOW, for MS purposes, the blue and gray S are useless.
I received an email that due to unusual usage pattern they suspended the “add funds” feature. I have 2 direct deposits on a monthly basis. I had the BB account for 2 years. For the first time I reloaded cash in the month of April. I didn’t even withdraw cash. I used the Bill pay on my account to pay bills. It makes no sense to me that they would consider that unusual usage!!!!
Any idea? Anyone has the same situation?
Unprofitable customer – you – the way they want you to use it is to actually swipe swipe swipe. Any other way you use to pull money out is only ticking timer increment to shutdown glory. The only sure way to not get shutdown is to load and swipe and not do BP/ACH which of course would be unprofitable to most of us.
You said: “The only sure way to not get shutdown is to load and swipe”. Do you mean to load in cash or in direct deposits and swipe to make purchases? I have been using my card for 2 years to make direct deposits and to pay bills. My card was shut down when for the first time I did a cash reload in April!
From reading lots of DPs where people tried everything including doing only DD from employer, did real spend for goods, did the sync offers, billpays, ATM w/d, etc, NONE of them were spared during the 5/21 mass shutdown. The ones I read that were spared were those that just activated cards a few days before 5/21 with some loading them, others not putting any loads at all. Clearly, no one has cracked the code on what triggers shutdown.
You know what!! American Express sent me an email apologizing for suspending the “add funds” feature. They restored it back. They said “your Bluebird account is back to normal”. I did send them a complaint telling them if they would examine my transactions history, they would realize I didn’t violate their rules. Then about a week later they sent me that email. I wonder if others got that email too.
I’m thinking of asking a friend to open a green serve for me.
my question is can my friends serve card link to my bank account to cash out?
does the name on the serve account and linked bank have to match.
Your account will likely get flagged since the name on bank acct has to match name of Serve acct holder. If you’re holding the Serve card, you can withdraw up to $750/day, max $2K per month at any MoneyPass ATM for free. Make sure you know the PIN set up by your friend. Best way is to set up the online account with userID and email addy accessible to you.
Both my BB and Serve green got shut down last week with inability to load funds and notice to close accounts after balance is Zero…..
I have changed phone no and email on both frozen BB and Serve…
Now should i close both these BB/Sereve before applying for new ones or keep the older frozen accounts open and open newer BB/Serve ??
I did not change anything, closed both S/BB, applied for new S/BB, received/activated & used S for multiple WM/DG loads, still waiting on bb to arrive.
Did you use same email and phone no on your new BB/S or different ones?
DP: I received 2S, 2BB from sign ups done on May 21, activated only 1S and successfully loaded $2.5K to it. There’s hope for folks who signed up on the day of shutdown : )
Was able to load another $2.5K without problems. For those who received their cards from May 21 sign ups, you still have today and tomorrow to max out if you wish.
How can one get more than one BB/Serve under same name? is it allowed?
They allow up to 5 cards per SSN. You just register one at a time and see if you get approved. It may take several tries before you get approved, persistence is the key with a heaping ladle of luck.
Thanks Mimi. Appreciate your reply. Can I activate any use one before applying/Trying or should I not activate 1st one and wait until next one is approved?