UPDATED 11/30/16
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
Among the trio of similar Amex prepaid reloadable cards, Serve has an advantage over Bluebird and REDbird in that it can be reloaded online with a credit card, up to $1,000 per month. Unfortunately, as of April 15 2015, Serve added a new restriction: Only Amex credit cards can now be used to reload Serve online. And, as before, Amex credit cards do not earn rewards when loading Serve.
Serve with Softcard (no longer available to new applicants), does not currently appear to have the Amex only restriction (see the comments in this post). For everyone with regular Serve, though, their remains at least one way to earn rewards through online credit card loads. The key is to find rewards based American Express cards that are issued by banks other than American Express…
The best Amex card options issued by other banks…
U.S. Bank FlexPerks® Travel Rewards American Express® card: You’ll only earn 1 point per dollar when using this card to load Serve, but points are worth up to 2 cents each when used to purchase flights (see: Maximizing value from the U.S. Bank FlexPerks Travel Rewards Card). Plus, cardholders get 3,500 bonus points when they spend $24,000 in a year on the card. Serve can be used to get you half way there. For reference, this card also earns 2 points per dollar for gas, groceries, or airline purchases (whichever is most each billing cycle); 2 points per dollar at restaurants; and 3 points per dollar for charities (I especially like to use this card for Kiva loans).
BBVA NBA TripleDouble Rewards American Express: This card earns 2X at gas stations and supermarkets and 3X for NBA purchases. So, most of the time, this card will only earn 1% cash back when loading Serve. However, the card earns 5X on all purchases during the NBA All-Star Weekend and two weeks of the NBA finals. So, twice a year its possible to earn 5% cash back when loading Serve.
Personally, I’m not a big fan of this option. I like to setup my Serve accounts to load automatically, so I wouldn’t want to worry about changing the timing of the loads to match up with NBA events.
Fidelity Investment Rewards American Express Card: The Fidelity Investment Amex card offers 2% cash back and no annual fee. By loading $1,000 per month to Serve with this card, you can earn $240 cash back per year. UPDATE: Unfortunately, the Amex version of this card is no longer available, and existing cardholders will be switched to the new Visa card by June 2016.
Other options (as found in this Doctor of Credit post):
- PenFed Defender American Express Card: Earn 1.5% cash back. Must be in military service, the National Guard, the Reserves, or an honorably discharged Veteran of the United States Military to apply.
- BOA Accelerated Rewards American Express Card: 1.25%.
- FNBO TravElite Credit Card: 1.5% ($99 annual fee)
Reasons to consider Amex issued Amex cards
UPDATE 11/30/2016: Serve loads with Amex issued cards no longer count towards minimum spend requirements or big spend bonuses.
If you don’t have any of the above mentioned cards, you might still find a use for loading Serve with Amex issued cards even though they won’t earn points for these loads:
Meet minimum spend requirements: When you signup for a new Amex card, there is usually a requirement to spend a certain amount with the card within 3 (sometimes 6) months in order to receive the signup bonus. According to many reader reports, you can meet that spend requirement with Serve online credit card loads even though you won’t earn points.
Meet big spend bonus requirements: A number of Amex credit cards offer bonuses for big spend. For example, the Delta Platinum card offers 10,000 bonus miles (plus 10,000 medallion qualifying miles) when you reach $25,000 spend within a calendar year. According to reader reports and my own experience, you can use Serve online credit card loads to help meet that big spend requirement.- Waive $1 monthly fee: Serve charges $1 per month (except in New York, Texas, and Vermont), but waives the charge if you load at least $500. Amex issued credit card loads can be used to waive that fee.
Important: Serve loads do not help to meet billing cycle spend requirement for EveryDay cards: I’m a fan of the Amex EveryDay and EveryDay Preferred cards (see why here). The EveryDay card offers a 20% bonus on all points earned when you make at least 20 purchases in a billing cycle. Similarly, the EveryDay Preferred card offers a 50% bonus on all points earned when you make at least 30 purchases in a billing cycle. Unfortunately, according to multiple reader reports, Serve online loads do not count towards the required 20 or 30 billing cycle purchases.
How to use the money that’s been loaded
Once money has been loaded to Serve, it’s very easy (and free) to make good use of it:
- Pay bills that can’t normally be paid by credit card: Log into your Serve account and pay anyone. If the recipient isn’t found, you can enter their name and address and they’ll be sent a check in the mail.
- Withdraw from MoneyPass ATMs for free
- Withdraw to your bank account: You can find the option under: Settings… Withdraw Funds.
- Use as credit card: Your Serve card can be used as a credit card anywhere that American Express is accepted, but I don’t recommend it. You will not earn extra rewards this way. It’s better to use a rewards credit card if at all possible.
Questions?
If you have general questions about Serve (or Bluebird and REDbird), please see: The complete guide to Bluebird, REDcard, and Serve.
Chase's 5/24 Rule: With most Chase credit cards, Chase will not approve your application if you have opened 5 or more cards with any bank in the past 24 months. To determine your 5/24 status, see: 3 Easy Ways to Count Your 5/24 Status. The easiest option is to track all of your cards for free with Travel Freely. |
Chase 5/24 semantics ("Subject to" vs. "Count towards"): Most Chase cards are subject to the 5/24 rule. That means the rule is enforced in making approval decisions. In other words, you probably won't get approved if your credit report shows that you opened 5 or more cards in the past 24 months. Meanwhile, most business cards (such as those from Chase, Amex, Barclaycard, BOA, Citi, US Bank, and Wells Fargo) are not reported on your personal credit report. These cards do not count towards 5/24. Example: Chase Ink Business Preferred is subject to 5/24, so you likely won't get approved if over 5/24. If you do get approved, it won't count towards 5/24 since it won't appear as an account on your credit report. |
Amex credit and charge card limits: If you apply for a new Amex credit card, you may get turned down if you already have 5 or more Amex credit cards; or 10 or more Pay Over Time (AKA charge) cards. Both personal and business cards are counted together towards these limits. Authorized user cards are not counted. See also: Which Amex Cards are Charge Cards vs. Credit Cards? |
Applying for Business Credit Cards Yes, you have a business: In order to sign up for a business credit card, you must have a business. That said, it's common for people to have businesses without realizing it. If you sell items at a yard sale, or on eBay, for example, then you have a business. Similar examples include: consulting, writing (e.g. blog authorship, planning your first novel, etc.), handyman services, owning rental property, renting on airbnb, driving for Uber or Lyft, etc. In any of these cases, your business is considered a Sole Proprietorship unless you form a corporation of some sort. When you apply for a business credit card as a sole proprietor, you can use your own name as your business name, use your own address and phone as the business' address and phone, and your social security number as the business' Tax ID / EIN. Alternatively, you can get a proper Tax ID / EIN from the IRS for free, in about a minute, through this website. Is it OK to use business cards for personal expenses? Anecdotally, almost everyone I know uses business cards for personal expenses. That said, the terms in most business card applications state that you should use the card only for business use. Also, some consumer credit card protections do not apply to business cards. My advice: don't use the card for personal expenses if you're not comfortable doing so. |
Manufacturing Spend Caution: Many, many things can go wrong when manufacturing spend. If you suddenly increase credit card spend, your accounts may get shut down. If you cycle your balance often (e.g. spend to your limit, pay the bill, repeat) within a billing cycle, your accounts may get shut down. If you repeatedly pay your credit card bill from an anonymous bill payment source, your accounts may get shut down. If you buy lots of gift cards you may lose money due to gift card fraud, theft, loss, or simply mishandling those gift cards (e.g. maybe you thought you already used a gift card and tossed it into your “used” bin). If you rely on only one method to liquidate gift cards, you may be stuck unable to pay your credit card bill when that method gets shut down. In other words, don’t try this at home unless you know what you’re doing, and you understand and accept the risks.. |
Chase Ultimate Rewards points are super valuable and super flexible. At the most basic level, points can be redeemed for cash or merchandise, but you'll only get one cent per point value that way. A better option is to use points for travel. When points are used to book travel through the Ultimate Rewards portal, points are worth 1.25 cents each with premium cards (Sapphire Preferred or Ink Business Preferred, for example) or 1.5 cents each with the ultra-premium Sapphire Reserve card. Another great option is to transfer points from a premium or ultra-premium card to an airline or hotel program when high value awards are available (see this post for details). If your points are tied to a no-fee "cash back" Ultimate Rewards card, then first move those points to a premium or ultra-premium card before redeeming them in order to get better value. |
Amex Membership Rewards points can be incredibly valuable if you know how to use them. In general, if you use Membership Rewards points to pay for merchandise or travel, you won't get good value from your points. One exception is with the Business Platinum card where you'll get a 35% point rebate when using points to book certain flights. This gives you approximately 1.5 cents per point value, which is pretty good. Another exception is with the Business Gold Card where you'll get a 25% point rebate when using points to book certain flights. This gives you approximately 1.33 cents per point value. If you don't have either card, then your best bet is to transfer points to airline miles in order to book high value awards. More details can be found here: Amex Membership Rewards Complete Guide. |
Marriott points can be redeemed for free night awards, travel packages, airline miles, or experiences. 5th Night Free Awards: When redeeming points for free nights, the 5th night within a single reservation is free. Airline miles: Points can be converted to airline miles at a rate of 3 points to 1 mile. With many programs, a bonus is added on when you transfer 60,000 points at a time, such that 60,000 points transfers to 25,000 miles. Also, you'll get a 10% bonus when transferring points to United Airlines. Everything you need to know about Marriott's rewards program, Bonvoy, can be found here: Marriott Bonvoy Complete Guide |
Editor’s Note: This guest post was written by the same guy who showed you how to fly round trip to Africa (DC to Senegal) for 50,000 points, how to book business class to Europe for 80,000 miles roundtrip, and more. You can find John’s website and award booking service here: theflyingmustache.com/awardbooking. -Greg The Frequent Miler |
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Under certain circumstances consumer Visa cards don't work with Plastiq. The following payments are fine:
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In order to meet minimum spend requirements, people often look for options to increase spend in ways that result in getting their money back. These techniques are referred to as "manufacturing spend". American Express has terms in their welcome offers that exclude some manufactured spend techniques from counting towards the minimum spend requirements for the welcome bonus offer. For example, most new cardmember bonuses have terms like this:
Eligible purchases to meet the Threshold Amount do NOT include fees or interest charges, purchases of travelers checks, purchases or reloading of prepaid cards, purchases of gift cards, person-to-person payments, or purchases of other cash equivalents.That said, many techniques for meeting minimum spend are perfectly fine. Here are some techniques that are safe for meeting Amex minimum spend requirements (click each link for more information): |
We have added this to our running list of Black Friday deals, which will be constantly updated through Cyber Monday with a mix of gift card deals, merchandise deals, and travel deals. Check back often. |