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Bluebird

The basics:

Sign up for a free account from Bluebird. Wait 7-10 business days to receive the card. If you have a Serve account, you will need to cancel it and then wait about 30 days before signing up. You need to wait for your physical BB card before you can proceed here.

Please note: As of the beginning of July 2014, you can load a maximum of $2500 a day at a WM register or ATM, up to $5,000 each calendar month into your Bluebird (hereafter: "BB") account. As of September 4, 2014, you can also load an additional $200/day with a debit card, up to $1000/month, though this might be risky, see below, II.4.

You can find answers to many questions here: https://www.bluebird.com/faqs?linknav=us-Prepaid-Bluebird-Home-Faqs#bluebird-checks And here: https://www.bluebird.com/ (just scroll down instead of clicking 'log in')

How to load it:

"Gift" cards (GCs)
Mastercard (MC) and Visa GCs have PIN codes that will make the cards function as debit cards. GCs may be used to load up your BB account in any Walmart, as will be explained below, or to get cash back when purchasing with them. Note that not all GCs work this way. Those from Metabank do, as do others. AMEX GCs are not capable of working with a PIN. They can only be used as gift cards. GCs for a specific business or store (iTunes or Home Depot or whatever) will never work in the ways described here. Note that 'Vanilla' brand GCs can no longer  be loaded to BB.

1. Buy Visa or MC GCs. The larger the denomination the better, since the fee-to-balance ratio will be better. Buy them anywhere, but you get the most out of this if you buy them with a CC that pays more than 1 point per dollar at that store at that time.

2. You will need a PIN for each GC. If you bought a MC GC, call the number on the back of the card or go online to set a PIN. If you bought a Visa, the last four digits of the card number will usually work, as long as you have not used the card yet. If you have used it, you had to set a PIN, so use that.
The # for US Bank MC Gift Cards is 1-866-952-5653. 1/2/<16 digit cc>#/<3 digits from back>#/3/PIN#/PIN#.

3. Go to Walmart (WM).

There are two suggested ways to load the GCs to BB at WM. Via a MoneyPass ATM (preferred) or via any cashier. Neither method charges an additional fee to what you paid when you bought the card. Please do not go to the service desk. Certainly do not refer to the GCs as gift cards, as they are, in fact, debit cards.

3a. MoneyPass ATMs

Not all WMs have MoneyPass ATMs, and MoneyPass ATMs at non-WM locations will not work to load BB. You can search for MoneyPass ATMs at WMs here: http://www.moneypass.com/atm-locator.aspx

Some report that MoneyPass ATMs in WMs near areas with high concentrations of DDFers seem to be permanently out of service. You may need to go farther afield or use the other method, mentioned below.

Follow the instructions on the machine to load your BB card. In some cases, the "WM Money Card" option will work for BB as well. Be patient and careful with your card swipes, as the machines are often slow or touchy. Each GC will be a separate transaction. Remember, the maximum of $2,500/day per BB account always applies.

If you are using high-denomination GCs, have found a very quick ATM, had a fellow BBer ahead of you, or are just experienced and able to complete each transaction very quickly, it is possible that you will complete $2,000 of transactions within about 10 minutes, which locks up the ATM for a while. Take a walk around the store and come back to let the machine unlock.

3b. Cashier

Please remember to be friendly, considerate and compassionate in all your interactions.

Ask a cashier to load your BB account from a debit card. If they don't know how, tell them to use 70 action code (they may need to type 70 first, followed by "action code") and follow the instructions on their screen. They are able to split a single transaction into up to four different cards, but it can be simpler to add one GC at a time, especially with people waiting behind you on line. You can then go back around to the same or another cashier to add other cards. Again, the $2,500/day per BB account applies.

This method should work at any WM - as intended by the BB product - but there are many stores in which some or all of the staff and management are suspicious of such transactions and will not do it. Your chances of convincing them to do something they think will risk their jobs is slim to none so if you encounter such resistance, please: Do take no for an answer and leave courteously to try another store or another day.
You want to stay under the radar as much as possible, so if things start getting complicated, tell them that you just remembered that you need to pick your kid up from school or whatever (have a good excuse ready beforehand) and that you need to leave, but you'll be back later. Th is way they forgot about their suspicions much faster.

4. It is apparently possible to load up to $200 per day to BB from debit cards on the BB web site for free, up to $1000 per month. Please note that people have had their BB accounts frozen or shut down for using GCs to load BB online, and that the BB site clearly says that any debit card used must be in the BB account holder's name. You have been warned.

Using A MC GC
Frequently a MC is declined at WM

When using the moneypass ATM, press the button ABOVE the BB button.  It may work without the following workaround.
The workaround is to:
1. Swipe MC
2.If you have the black and green screen press Cancel.If you have the white screen with colored touch icons, then right after you swipe a yellow 'change payment' button well pop up for a second, press that (you have to be fast).  You can also push the physical yellow button on the keypad. It does the same thing.
3. Select Debit
4. No Cash Back
5. Enter the PIN

Also seems to work if only $99 loaded.  or 99.99, too.

What to do with the money on your BB:

On the BB site, money can be sent to pay bills that don't normally accept CCs (think rent/mortgage, tuition, insurance, car payment, gas bill, even pay your cc bill) or to anyone in the U.S. for free. Use the 'pay and transfer tab'.  Checks sent online this way are delivered within 5 business days. (It may be prudent not to use BB to directly pay the CC on which you purchased the VRs/GCs that funded BB, but, once again, YMMV.)

Some people would rather use the free physical checks that you can order from BB. Please note that these checks need to be pre-authorized by you online, and a number written on them, before you give them to the person/institution you are paying. For checks of more than $2,000, authorization will require additional information and time. You need to provide the information and wait for confirmation before the check will be valid.

The money in your BB account can be withdrawn directly to a linked bank account, which, if done too much, may be seen as risky by BB, but in moderation should be fine. You can also send money to your bank account online by check, same as any other payee, but this might be risky from the perspective of the bank (not BB) if you bank and have CCs at the same institution.

Useful organizing techniques:

It can be unwieldy and confusing when standing in front of the WM ATM with a BB card or two and a bunch of GCs, some used, some not. The last thing anyone wants is to end up throwing away several hundred dollars on a perfectly good GC because you mistakenly thought it was drained. I'm sure there are contributors to this thread who have woken up in a cold sweat from just such a nightmare. Plus, being unorganized costs you time, and may make it more likely that some employee thinks you are up to something. Here are a few strategies for how to be organized.

1. Cargo pants, or other clothing/accessories with plenty of different pockets. Use different pockets for GCs yet to use and used GCs.

2. If you have more than one BB card, shuffle them into the stack of GCs at the appropriate spots for how many GCs you plan to load to each card. That way, you can just work through the stack and finish/begin each new BB card in turn.

3. A Sharpie marker works well for marking off GCs or BBs that you're done with. The marks even come off the cards with a little alcohol. Careful not to mark yourself or your clothes though.

4. Sort your GCs in ascending order of last 4 digits.  That makes it easier to keep track of which GCs are used.

To Close Your Bluebird:
While logged into your BB account, open this page: https://secure.bluebird.com/Profile/CloseAccount   

This no longer works and the only way to close your account is to call
For more details, including how to close family accounts, see (FM writeup)
« Last edited by justmeha on January 11, 2020, 11:55:46 PM »

Author Topic: Bluebird: Now you can pay bills that don`t take credit card with a credit card  (Read 2264207 times)

Offline Yehoshua

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Here in LA OD said they'd be getting more next week.  Either way I have some on hold at CVS where the manager I spoke to said that 1) he'd hold them for me till next week (when my Ink bold card will come) and 2) I could use credit card.  I'll still look in OD just in case they get some in.

UPDATE- I just called OD and they said that as of today they won't be carrying VR anymore.  Oh well.
« Last Edit: November 10, 2012, 09:51:29 PM by Yehoshua »

Offline ADanFan

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Yes --
I went to 2 Office Depots here to check,
and they were told to remove their stock...
I got some at CVS tonight, instead.

btw -- When you mentioned that you'll use your Ink Bold at CVS,
it's only 5X UR points at an office supply store (like OD).
With the Chase Ink Bold at CVS, it's a regular purchase.

So, an SPG card may give you more value -- CVS takes Amex.  :)

Offline Yehoshua

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I'm aware there's no 5x bonus at CVS , but 1) I just applied for the Ink card for the 50k UR bonus as my main incentive and 2) At least I have them at CVS.

Normally I'd just put it on SPG, but I'm trying to rack up a lot of UR points now as I'll need them for my next trip.

Offline scwam

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Last week, I made it known to one store that I wanted to buy about 4k of these and asked them if ok to use cc. He said no problem. I came in today and asked a rep to hold 8 for me at 2pm today, he did, but seemed he felt uncomfortable about it. Flashback to yesterday: a different store's manager held 4 for me since 15 were suddenly gone in 2 days. I found those 4 hidden (by   8)). She agreed to pick some more up from another store that had them & allow me buy them today. When I called in today I was told they could not be sold according to the email.

So I immediately went back to the store holding the 8 and noticed the 30 cards previously there were completely taken off the shelf. The same guy that held them was there. I tried to avoid him, and got a rep to get them out of the drawer. Waiting some 15 minutes for the approval (call in), the original guy I spoke to from last week shows up. He remembers me and our conversation from last week, sees my DL and passport w/Chinese visa and verifies it closely. Authorization center takes 15 minutes and says I have to speak to Chase directly. I called and spent another 10 min and verified quite a bit of info and the unlocked my account and said to reswipe. Got the the total approved for a random number under 4k with some odd cents added. In this case it helped to talk to them ahead of time. Now just hope future human eyes don't look at the transaction.

Offline Yehoshua

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I hope I don't have problems at CVS when I go back.

Offline Cbs

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Just went to walgreens and bought 2 vanilla cards with my spg .
interestingly enough, a diff walgreens told me i needed to pay cash and thats what it said on the register screen.
« Last Edit: November 11, 2012, 12:00:53 AM by Cbs »

Offline Cbs

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are there any precautind i should be taking when paying off my CC bill? (on amex) or after i buy the vanilla cards and load the money on bluebird, can i just pay off the bill once the transaction goes thru.?

Offline Yehoshua

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Why would you need to be careful in paying off a credit card bill?  Once the transaction posts, does AmEx of Chase really care how you pay it off?  I assume paying mid-month is fine.

Offline Drago

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Just went to walgreens and bought 2 vanilla cards with my spg .
interestingly enough, a diff walgreens told me i needed to pay cash and thats what it said on the register screen.
Reports are that they are trying to roll that out to all their stores. Cash only.


Offline Cbs

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Reports are that they are trying to roll that out to all their stores. Cash only.
I better buy them out.

Offline compddd

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This is going to be dead everywhere soon, then it's back to the old tried and true ways of meeting spend.

Offline sky121

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This is going to be dead everywhere soon, then it's back to the old tried and true ways of meeting spend.
....until the next thing comes along :)
"Not all who wander are lost"

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....until the next thing comes along :)

Hopefully the bloggers don't get wind of that, or they'll kill it too. Stupid spoonfeeding.
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Offline PETERP

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Hopefully the bloggers don't get wind of that, or they'll kill it too. Stupid spoonfeeding.


We have to start speaking in PMs . Plus rumor of at least one Mole in FT .

Loose lips , sink ships !

Offline AJK

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We have to start speaking in PMs . Plus rumor of at least one Mole in FT .

Loose lips , sink ships !

I'd bet there are a number of "moles" on FT and elsewhere from each bank.
2015: 116K bkd | 1.6M brnd | F: OZ,NH,AA,EK | J: UA,CA,TK,DL,TN,AF,VA | LIH,NRT,ROR,PEK,CNS,BOB,MEL,TLV & Pacific Hopper

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We have to start speaking in PMs . Plus rumor of at least one Mole in FT .

Loose lips , sink ships !
"we" make no difference. The bloggers do it much louder than we ever could on these deals.

Offline joesmoe

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"we" make no difference. The bloggers do it much louder than we ever could on these deals.


Agreed. Its not only all the publicity the blogs get (google vanilla reload and they come up before the company does), its also the general lack of understanding of the blog's viewers. They are the people who call in 5 times to confirm things, draw extra attention to everything detail of the process (asking managers for example if their card still earns points even though they are buying a prepaid reload), etc.

Anybody who wants to follow a thread, actually learn whats going on, and carefully take advantage is not doing any harm. Those who run around trying to get free miles as quickly and easily as possible without really doing any research first are the ones who get these deals killed so quickly.

Unfortunately this leaves us (the community) a problem - we can't openly discuss ideas and collectively formulate strategies to take advantage of such ideas because the ideas get too public too quickly and thus die. Yet without the open discussion, many ideas either never come to fruition or are not managed as lucratively as possible.

Not quite sure what we can do about that though. This is why alot of FT has turned to discussing deals in Private Message, but that's just inefficient and going against the whole purpose of a forum.

Offline A3

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Bluebird: Now you can pay bills that don`t take credit card with a credit card
« Reply #257 on: November 11, 2012, 09:48:02 AM »
Walgreen in Aventura fl. Next to kosher kingdom has about 15 in stock. Wouldn't let me use credit though. Big warning popped up on the screen that it is only a Cash only transaction.

Offline yossi4k

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Walgreen in Aventura fl. Next to kosher kingdom has about 15 in stock. Wouldn't let me use credit though. Big warning popped up on the screen that it is only a Cash only transaction.
Does od nmb still allow cc?

Offline Shvitzer

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"we" make no difference. The bloggers do it much louder than we ever could on these deals.

Agree
Watch this funny youtube video for a touch of humor about Vanilla Reload and OD:
« Last Edit: November 11, 2012, 10:13:43 AM by Shvitzer »