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Open Serve: Do 1 of the following:
1) Buy a temporary card. (free in cvs in NJ won’t take cc)($3.95 fee), or
2) Open online. They’ll send you a card. (free)
Note that you COULD have more than one of these: Bluebird (BB), Redcard and serve. 

Loading Serve: Serve does not have any fees to load money.
a) At CVS, 7-11, and Rite Aid ONLY CASH can be loaded.
b) At Walmart GCs …uh Debit Cards (besides Vanilla cards) can be loaded onto Serve just like onto BB. Load limit: $2500/day up to $5000/month
c) At Family Dollar max $499.99/Day, not hard coded, YMMV, Cash or Debit/Gift Card.
WARNING: There are reports of debit cards being drained at FD, and not loading onto Serve, so FD is not recommended.
d) An Amex CC of the serve cardholder can be linked and used to fund your Serve ONLINE. Load limit: $200 per day/$1000 per month
Amex cc loads are not considered cash advance. They DO NOT earn points, or count towards a spending threshold.
e) Debit Cards linked to Serve: $200/day up to 1000/month ONLINE.  But only a permanent DC with your name on it. (NOT GCs)

So your total loading limit per month, if using all 3 methods is $7K.

-Serve has a $1 monthly inactivity fee (waived in VA, NY and TX) that is waived if you use Direct Deposit OR add $500.
-If Serve has a bonus for using direct deposit, use AP.

Using the funds on Serve:
-Free ATM use/withdrawal at MoneyPass ATMs. $2 elsewhere.
-Serve has a Bill Pay feature – same as BB.  You tell them who to pay, and they send a check for you.  You can pay up to 5k of unregistered billers, but 10K of registered ones (registered= those on their bill pay list). Pay your Credit Cards bills as well as many other bills or any person!
WARNING: Do not use the bill pay feature to pay the Credit Card that is linked for online loads.
-money in your Serve account can be withdrawn directly to a linked bank account, which, if done too much, may be seen as risky by Serve, but in moderation should be fine.
Withdraw to your bank https://secure.serve.com/Actions/WithdrawMoney

Make sure the name, address and phone number on your profile match your credit card billing address, or you may get declined.  When linking your credit card at serve.com, the website will only show you the address on your profile, but not the phone number, so this is easy to overlook.  Go to profile, and check/update your phone number there.

Error likely with the Serve account:
When you create a new account and add a credit card, you will be allowed to do the first transaction. After that, your account will probably go into system lockdown until you verify some information. Likely error message for this case is "Risk declined operation" when you try to add money on to the account. You will need to send in (online, fax or mail) a photo ID and a copy of your credit card or statement. Upload your documents here -
https://secure.serve.com/User/SecureFileUpload. Then Call up AMEX Account Protection Services at 1-800-555-4318 and tell them you uploaded the documents and ask them to verify it for you.
« Last edited by Iz on August 18, 2016, 10:36:02 AM »

Author Topic: Amexserve/Softcard  (Read 1386073 times)

Offline joeyjava

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Re: Amex Serve.com
« Reply #60 on: April 11, 2011, 01:32:16 AM »
I didn't try yet, actually.
is ok... waiting to see how all this plays out... watching closely
:o                                                                                                                                                                                      :o

Offline Daniel

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Re: Amex Serve.com
« Reply #61 on: April 22, 2011, 02:34:34 PM »
I keep getting:
Transaction declined. Please enter a different card number for AMEX gift cards. Did this ever work?

Offline gozalim

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Re: Amex Serve.com
« Reply #62 on: April 22, 2011, 02:39:07 PM »
I keep getting:
Transaction declined. Please enter a different card number for AMEX gift cards. Did this ever work?
you mean to buy amex gift cards?

Offline Daniel

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Re: Amex Serve.com
« Reply #63 on: April 22, 2011, 02:39:38 PM »
No, to use amex gift cards as a funding source on Serve

Offline gozalim

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Re: Amex Serve.com
« Reply #64 on: April 22, 2011, 03:05:51 PM »
No, to use amex gift cards as a funding source on Serve
i know that other amex products; pass, gift checks, etc. do not accept amex gift cards as a funding source. it's possible that serve is the same way.
at least that's what this guy reported on main site;
http://www.dansdeals.com/archives/13624#comment-81322

Offline danR

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Re: Amex Serve.com
« Reply #65 on: May 06, 2011, 03:26:41 PM »
Whats the deal with Serve.com - do you get charged with a cash advance when using a credit card or not? If so which credit card?

Thanks

Offline danR

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Re: Amex Serve.com
« Reply #66 on: May 10, 2011, 05:08:05 PM »
Whats the deal with Serve.com - do you get charged with a cash advance when using a credit card or not? If so which credit card?

Thanks

Offline Daniel

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Re: Amex Serve.com
« Reply #67 on: May 12, 2011, 12:22:23 PM »
Will I be charged a cash advance fee if my credit card is charged for a purchase I make with my Serve Card?

Your issuer may impose a cash advance charge for loading your money to your Serve account from a credit or debit card.  To avoid the possibility of cash advance fees you may want to load money from your linked bank account.  Please refer to Section 10:  Schedule of Services and Charges for details.

Offline Daniel

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Re: Amex Serve.com
« Reply #68 on: May 12, 2011, 12:22:51 PM »
Do they send the ATM card automatically or do you need to request it?

Offline AsherO

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Re: Amex Serve.com
« Reply #69 on: May 12, 2011, 12:39:53 PM »
Do they send the ATM card automatically or do you need to request it?

I got it automatically.
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Offline AsherO

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Re: Amex Serve.com
« Reply #70 on: May 16, 2011, 06:54:00 PM »
Anyone here have a Serve account and want to help me test sending with a credit card? I'll be sending the money (and thus absorbing any cash-advance fees if they hit). You'll obviously have to send back the funds with Amazon Payments or Venmo.
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Offline myb821

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Re: Amex Serve.com
« Reply #71 on: May 16, 2011, 06:55:19 PM »
Anyone here have a Serve account and want to help me test sending with a credit card? I'll be sending the money (and thus absorbing any cash-advance fees if they hit). You'll obviously have to send back the funds with Amazon Payments or Venmo.
i will open a serve account and do it with you

Offline AsherO

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Re: Amex Serve.com
« Reply #72 on: May 16, 2011, 06:59:17 PM »
i will open a serve account and do it with you

Ok, please PM me with info once the account is open.
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Offline HSS

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Re: Amex Serve.com
« Reply #73 on: May 17, 2011, 06:42:03 PM »
Please share your findings AsherO...

Offline AsherO

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Re: Amex Serve.com
« Reply #74 on: May 17, 2011, 06:45:28 PM »
Please share your findings AsherO...

For starters, Serve is limited to $100/day and $250 a month for CC funding, a retardedly low limit IMHO. It'll take a day or two for me to find out if there was a cash-advance fee.
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Offline HSS

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Re: Amex Serve.com
« Reply #75 on: May 17, 2011, 06:48:36 PM »
For starters, Serve is limited to $100/day and $250 a month for CC funding, a retardedly low limit IMHO. It'll take a day or two for me to find out if there was a cash-advance fee.

even after you add both bank accounts and cc and social last 4? what happened to their claim of $1000/day

Offline AsherO

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Re: Amex Serve.com
« Reply #76 on: May 17, 2011, 06:56:03 PM »
even after you add both bank accounts and cc and social last 4? what happened to their claim of $1000/day

Yes, it's limited $1,000/day and $2,500 a month for bank account funding.
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Offline HSS

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Re: Amex Serve.com
« Reply #77 on: May 17, 2011, 06:57:31 PM »
Yes, it's limited $1,000/day and $2,500 a month for bank account funding.

worthless......

Offline AsherO

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Re: Amex Serve.com
« Reply #78 on: May 17, 2011, 07:04:29 PM »
worthless......

Agreed. I don't know how they expect to generate interest in their product this way. I remember back when Google Checkout launched, they offered free (unlimited) merchant processing for merchants who used their checkout, this went on for quite a long time. They also offered millions of dollars in coupons to sites using their checkout (e.g. buy.com).
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Offline AsherO

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Re: Amex Serve.com
« Reply #79 on: May 18, 2011, 06:29:49 PM »
For starters, Serve is limited to $100/day and $250 a month for CC funding, a retardedly low limit IMHO. It'll take a day or two for me to find out if there was a cash-advance fee.

So it's confirmed (I called to make sure). Capital One processed it as a purchase:

Quote
Detailed Information
Transaction Date:    May 16, 2011    
Posted Date:    May 17, 2011
Transaction Description:    SERVE VIRTUAL ENT INC 866-352-5919 FL
Charge:    $100.00
Category:    Other Services
Merchant Information:    SERVE VIRTUAL ENT INC 866-352-5919 FL

At $250 a month, I doubt it's worth anyone's time, either way, I'm going to test with some other cards, see how I fare.

Ok, now I have a $100 charge with Citi, they are notorious about Cash Advance fees, but figured I'd risk it.

I also added a sub-account, but it seems you can't fund sub-accounts separately (they can only be funded from main account and spending is done with a Serve debit card), so that's a no go.
« Last Edit: May 18, 2011, 06:40:17 PM by AsherO »
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