Bluebird

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Sean1234

Level 2 Member
Like many of you my Serve was shut down during the first round last year. However, my SO is willing to set up a Bluebird we can use to fund our retirement accounts. Any insight on keeping the bird alive? I was contemplating setting up a minimal direct deposit to the card (in addition of course to loading with VGC) but have no idea if that will help.

Thoughts?
 
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knick1959

Level 2 Member
I was loading 500 a month via DD to 2 Serve cards with different names and addresses registered. I was periodically using each of them for (very small) purchases. I set up a couple of those little side "savings" accounts to park some of the money. And I tried to keep decent sized balances there instead of loading and clearing (as I did with the cards I had previously in my name and my wife's and lost). All of this extra work and both were shut down at the same time.

I believe that if you don't use the card for significant purchases (which isn't good for your miles/points) and fail to look like you are fairly scraping by you aren't going to keep your card.

Some folks have a system where they use the card (recklessly?) for a couple of months, close it before AMEX does, then open a new card and repeating. Anyone? Is this still working for those doing it this way?
 
ZipZapKaZoom

ZipZapKaZoom

Level 2 Member
knick1959 said:
All of this extra work and both were shut down at the same time.
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What was the shutdown date?
Any clue what triggered it?
Did you MS on one account and not on the other, In other words was a clean account closed just because you had a dirty one?
Have you tried opening a new account and gotten denied?

Lots of questions, Thanks in advance for the DPs.
 
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knick1959

Level 2 Member
ZipZapKaZoom said:
What was the shutdown date?
Any clue what triggered it?
Did you MS on one account and not on the other, In other words was a clean account closed just because you had a dirty one?
Have you tried opening a new account and gotten denied?

Lots of questions, Thanks in advance for the DPs.
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Both cards were used pretty evenly ... certainly the primary goal was MS but I never maxed them out. I have a post with more detail (in a thread with even more DPs, here. I'll see if I can find it).

I tried recently for new (Serve VIP) accounts for my wife and I, closed over a year ago. Denied on both accounts.
 
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knick1959

Level 2 Member
knick1959 said:
Both cards were used pretty evenly ... certainly the primary goal was MS but I never maxed them out. I have a post with more detail (in a thread with even more DPs, here. I'll see if I can find it).
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This thread:

https://saverocity.com/forum/threads/serve-round-3-shutdowns-have-begun.603080/

Reported my last 2 card shutdowns. If you look a couple of posts down for a follow-up from me, you'll see a link to the rules I was trying to follow to prevent this. FAIL! I wish I had a handle on the real trigger for shutdown, but at this point I would need to adopt another child to get a new account! (and that's not going to happen!)

Here's a direct link to my list of rules I tried to follow. Note that they are pasted in as a quote for some reason. I could probably fix that, but it's fairly old now ...

https://saverocity.com/forum/posts/702105/
 
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Spiral

New Member
knick1959 said:
Some folks have a system where they use the card (recklessly?) for a couple of months, close it before AMEX does, then open a new card and repeating. Anyone? Is this still working for those doing it this way?
Click to expand...
I have been doing this for about 4 months now. I just open a OneVIP Serve or Bluebird and then max it out loading visa gc's. Then I ACH the money to my bank account and close the account right after. No shutdown for me so far but again it's only been 4 months. I have not seen anyone report being shutdown after having closed their account themselves first though so I believe this method is pretty safe.
 
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Sean1234

Level 2 Member
ZipZapKaZoom said:
So there doesn't seem to be a max number of Serve VIP accounts. I have several open at the moment. Same address, same SSN, just different e-mails. Will start closing MS ones.
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I don't think I realized you could have multiple Amex prepaid products at the same time...I thought it was Bluebird or Redbird (RIP) or Serve. Minus shutdowns, thats a game changer otherwise.

Are the Serve bans permanent?
 
Cmonman76

Cmonman76

Level 2 Member
Sean1234 said:
I don't think I realized you could have multiple Amex prepaid products at the same time...I thought it was Bluebird or Redbird (RIP) or Serve. Minus shutdowns, thats a game changer otherwise.

Are the Serve bans permanent?
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I was shut down in the first wave, maybe early last year or whenever it was. Still can't get another under that ssn.
 
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Spiral

New Member
ZipZapKaZoom said:
So there doesn't seem to be a max number of Serve VIP accounts. I have several open at the moment. Same address, same SSN, just different e-mails. Will start closing MS ones.
Click to expand...
I recall reading somewhere there is a max of 5 cards open at once, can't confirm personally.
 
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Sahara

New Member
I was using Serve very conservatively (max $1200/month, often under $500 and had to pay the $1 fee) because I couldn't often get to WM (usually only collected VGC when there was a Staples rebate promo). I was still shut down even though I used it for other occasional spend. I only did bill pay, never ACH to bank account.
 
billygoat

billygoat

Level 2 Member
Spiral said:
I recall reading somewhere there is a max of 5 cards open at once, can't confirm personally.
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I've seen multiple people claim its 5 serve and 1 bluebird. So 6, total, but i've never gotten near that.

EDIT : found some backup info here :
Code: 
https://www.americanexpress.com/serve/help/?intlink=us-serve-marketing-home-help-amexsku2016-header-help#subaccounts-1
says you can have 4 subaccounts, which would imply 5 total, add a bluebird, you get 6. i realize this isnt exact proof showing completely different accounts, but id say it hints that per SSN, you can have 5 accounts.
 
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