Note: On January 8, 2016 American Express sent out a notice to a large number of Bluebird & Serve cardholders informing them that loading capabilities on their accounts had been terminated. For more information, see: Amex kills Bluebird and Serve for manufactured spend
American Express has announced via the help section on their website that they will no longer accept Visa, Mastercard or Discover cards to load the Serve card after April 15, 2015.
They will still allow American Express cards to be used, however American Express cards do not earn points for those types of loads.
According to the site:
Note: Starting April 16, 2015 you will only be able to use an American Express® Card if you want to load your account with a credit card. Discover, MasterCard and Visa credit cards will no longer be supported after April 16.
With the removal of third party credit card loads, Serve loses one of its advantages over both Bluebird and REDbird.
Update: According to some readers, third party American Express cards such as the Fidelity Amex do earn rewards on credit card loads. Based on the language from the American Express website, these cards should continue to work.
Want to learn more about miles and points? Subscribe to email updates or check out our podcast on your favorite podcast platform.
[…] used to allow $1000 of free credit card loads per month to its Serve prepaid product. In April, they began restricting these loads to Amex cards only (but… there are still good uses for this feature!). And, Target used to allow in-store credit […]
@Shawn Coomer - Senior Editor Does AE spend for Serve loads count toward AE spend goal?
I’m new to this game and stumbled upon NoonRadar’s helpful comments and instructions elsewhere for Target’s Prepaid Redcard, but I can only purchase one at Target stores more than 2 hours away. So I bought the temporary card from him instead. He responded within a couple of hours, gave amazing instructions and lots of clear, helpful info. Very professional, no funny business. I was able to register the temp card with no problem whatsoever, and the permanent card is on the way! There’s a Target near me where I can then load/reload the card once it arrives. Thanks, NoonRadar, you saved the day! And I highly recommend his offer to those who want the Redcard, but don’t live close enough to a Target that sells them.
Does anyone know whether using a Citi AA Amex card to load funds onto Serve will incur cash advance fee? I’ve heard conflicting stories. Thx.
Thanks for the heads up. Switched from the Barclay Arrival + MasterCard and applied for (and received) the Fidelity AMEX. Connected the AMEX to my SoftCard Serve Account (confirmed that my limits of $500/day and $1,500/month are continuing even through the SoftCard ended). Early data point (as it’s not April 16th yet) but the Fidelity shows the 2% as expected. Looks like this will be an alternate route for the Serve account since Visa, MC and Discover are being discontinued.
Well I just loaded $150 on my serve using my Chase Business United MileagePlus Explorer came out as a cash advance. FYI
Another Redbird advantage compared to Serve in this aspect: No reported cash advances for loading Redbird from any credit card/bank, the transactions show as Target purchases on the credit card’s side.
Did you try to call the credit card to see if they would wave this one-time the cash advance fee because you weren’t aware etc?
I just noticed it now and posted it here to warn others. I will call tmrw otherwise I will pay it immediately to stop the daily costs.
As someone else stated, I too bought the card from NoonRadar and it went smooth and exactly the way he said it would. Now I wait for the card to come in the mail. For people that live too far for a store that has the red card this is a no brainer.
Thanks again Noon Radar!
Useless now but the charge actually showed up as a normal charge, NOT a cash advance.
[…] Amex is one of the few cards that still earns decent rewards when reloading Serve cards online (see Amex Serve Credit Card Loads to End in April). Both cards are great options for most people, but both charge foreign transaction fees so […]
Can you use American express cards to load your Serve card online? It says you can’t use other cards to load your serve, but how about American Express Gift Cards?
Not sure about Amex gift cards, but I was able to load with my Amex green card.
Just went to a Walmart and was told that I could not use visa gift cards that i purchased to load my serve card.
That’s odd. I just off loaded few VGCs at walmart yesterday without any issues. Can you try at other WM stores?
I recently bought a $500 Visa gift card from CVS, then found out I couldn’t load my Serve card with it. Eventually, I found two Winn-Dixie supermarkets (Louisiana) that allowed me to buy money orders with the gift card. Im depositing the money orders into my bank account tomorrow.
Will loading Serve with an AE card satisfy the yearly requirement? (ie. Starwood AE> $35000 spend per year for Starwood Gold status?)
[…] I got an email the other day from American Express, saying that, starting April 16th, you will no longer be able to load Serve with a credit card. The one exception will be that you can still load it with American Express credit cards, but it is my understanding that those do not earn rewards. I also saw this mentioned on (again) Frequent Miler. […]
“They will still allow American Express cards to be used, however American Express cards do not earn points for those types of loads.”
Shawn,
Where is this stated/posted? I have an AMEX HH Surpass issued and was going to switch it out…but was unaware of this detail/rule. thanks.
I’m not sure Amex has posted it as a policy, however many people have shared that they haven’t received points. I tried this myself as well last year and didn’t earn points.
Is a gift card debit load still possible at Walmart? In other-words, use credit card to purchase gift card, then load Serve with gift card at Walmart. There is the $5.95 purchase cost (is lower available?) but if you are trying to get a spend requirement covered, wouldn’t this still work?
Yep! That’s what I have been doing all along. I have Kroger and Walmart next to each other. So, I buy $500 Visa GC for $5.95 using CC and then head over to WM and load these GC onto my serve cards. Have been doing this for a while now and so far no issues…:)
Anyone have a list of 3rd party amex cards? I know Fidelity and Flexperks, I thought there was a bofa one but I can’t find it. Wells Fargo Propel. I had been looking for confirmation that 3rd party cards work for another MS opportunity but now this may be useful too.
First National Bank of Omaha has one. Been wonder how that would would work out.
Just curious but do we have any idea why they decided to do this? Was it to not have to pay anything to visa/MasterCard or rooted more in that they say people making MS transactions (e.g. Charges then withdrawals)?
With MS via Amazon payments gone (sending $ to folks charged to a cc), and now this, what is left for MS?