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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-money in your Serve account can be withdrawn directly to a linked bank account, which, if done too much, may be seen as risky by Serve, but in moderation should be fine.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 1409551 times)

Offline RefuaFan

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Re: Amexserve/Softcard
« Reply #5340 on: January 08, 2016, 01:16:48 PM »
Datapoint:
So far no letter. I just successfully loaded $200 from Freedom CC on to my Soft Serve online. I'll try RA load today or tomorrow.

Is Soft Serve the version that got non-Amex CC's grandfathered in? And that's why you can load a non-Amex CC?

Offline Redbull3

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Re: Amexserve/Softcard
« Reply #5341 on: January 08, 2016, 01:19:09 PM »
I manage 3 OneVIP cards, 1 for me, 1 for wife, 1 for mom. ONly my wife's got shut down. I reviewed all 3 accounts to see what was different between them.

Mine - loaded $5000/mo in Nov and Dec (WM and RA), $1000 so far this month. Load $1000/mo online with debit using PPBDMC. A couple active AMEX offers but didn't use them. No real purchases. No email.

Wife - loaded $5000/mo in Nov and Dec (WM and RA), $1000 so far this month. No debit online loads. I may have had a couple AMEX offers loaded, but not used. No real purchases. Got the email this morning.

Mom - loaded $5000/mo in Nov and Dec (WM and RA), $0 so far this month. No debit online loads. Added a couple AMEX offers, but not used. 1 real purchase in November, for $0.55 at Redbox. No email.

I don't know if any of this means anything, but the only one that got the email has no online debit loads, no purchases, no active AMEX offers. The 2 accounts still alive (for now) either have online debit loads or active AMEX offers or a real purchase.

I'm too scared to try to load today. Will probably make a couple small purchases with my 2 remaining cards, then try an online PPBDMC load on my card, then try RA again.
Method of cashing out might be relevant.

Offline yochiek93

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Re: Amexserve/Softcard
« Reply #5342 on: January 08, 2016, 01:22:08 PM »
Is Soft Serve the version that got non-Amex CC's grandfathered in? And that's why you can load a non-Amex CC?
Yes

Offline DaveInLA

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Amexserve/Softcard
« Reply #5343 on: January 08, 2016, 01:35:20 PM »
Method of cashing out might be relevant.

Good point. All were used to pay the same 4-5 AMEX, Chase and Citi cards, all belonging to me and my wife.

Offline IsraelGuy

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Amexserve/Softcard
« Reply #5344 on: January 08, 2016, 01:40:01 PM »
Had two shutdown.

Both loaded close to 5k back to back. Both withdrawn to same joint bank account.

New onevip card still alive for now. Sent check instead.

No fun.

Offline mochjas

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Re: Amexserve/Softcard
« Reply #5345 on: January 08, 2016, 01:41:41 PM »
I have 4 serve cards only 1 got shut down I have been loading 5K a month to all. 1 had amex cc loading to meet spend threshold and did not get shut down the other that did get shut down I used my debit card from citigold to load the 1K for 1 month (last month) so maybe its the debit card loading online that gets you shut down

Offline mochjas

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Re: Amexserve/Softcard
« Reply #5346 on: January 08, 2016, 01:42:13 PM »
I have 4 serve cards only 1 got shut down I have been loading 5K a month to all. 1 had amex cc loading to meet spend threshold and did not get shut down the other that did get shut down I used my debit card from citigold to load the 1K for 1 month (last month) so maybe its the debit card loading online that gets you shut down
I only unload via billpay to my CCs

Offline Azis Papa

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Re: Amexserve/Softcard
« Reply #5347 on: January 08, 2016, 01:44:52 PM »
Good point. All were used to pay the same 4-5 AMEX, Chase and Citi cards, all belonging to me and my wife.
Why?  How is that meaningful if all were used the same and only one of three got shut down?

Offline 12HRS

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Re: Amexserve/Softcard
« Reply #5348 on: January 08, 2016, 01:49:46 PM »
Yes, I called them and asked them why they stopped manufactured spending. When the rep didn't know what that was, I asked for a supervisor. Finally, I got someone on the phone who knows what manufactured spending is. I have an appointment to come down to their offices on Monday and explain more. I am making a presentation for them with DDS powerpoints that I took pictures of with my phone.

this deserves some recognition

Offline luckyluck

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Re: Amexserve/Softcard
« Reply #5349 on: January 08, 2016, 01:52:41 PM »
Anyone looking into differences by zipcodes?

Offline 12HRS

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Re: Amexserve/Softcard
« Reply #5350 on: January 08, 2016, 02:23:43 PM »
Rite Aid loaded fine 10 min ago...

Offline high end hobo

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Re: Amexserve/Softcard
« Reply #5351 on: January 08, 2016, 02:28:38 PM »
Any luck with closing and reopening under a different flavor?

Offline DaveInLA

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Re: Amexserve/Softcard
« Reply #5352 on: January 08, 2016, 02:35:35 PM »

Why?  How is that meaningful if all were used the same and only one of three got shut down?

My dp for this aren't helpful. But maybe some other people use different accounts for different purposes.

Offline Azis Papa

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Re: Amexserve/Softcard
« Reply #5353 on: January 08, 2016, 03:14:46 PM »
Yes, I called them and asked them why they stopped manufactured spending. When the rep didn't know what that was, I asked for a supervisor. Finally, I got someone on the phone who knows what manufactured spending is. I have an appointment to come down to their offices on Monday and explain more. I am making a presentation for them with DDS powerpoints that I took pictures of with my phone.
Good job.  Now the rest of us won't bother to call. [hopefully].  And I can concentrate on my UPS strategies.

Offline ual902

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Re: Amexserve/Softcard
« Reply #5354 on: January 08, 2016, 03:37:32 PM »
What are the latest reports of those that did not get shutdown, can we do one last load VGC @ Rite Aid then expect to get shut down?.

Offline Dan

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Re: Amexserve/Softcard
« Reply #5355 on: January 08, 2016, 03:41:50 PM »
What are the latest reports of those that did not get shutdown, can we do one last load VGC @ Rite Aid then expect to get shut down?.
I loaded 2.5K on my card today at RA and hope to do the same tomorrow.
Save your time, I don't answer PM. Post it in the forum and a dedicated DDF'er will get back to you as soon as possible.

Offline sedge

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Re: Amexserve/Softcard
« Reply #5356 on: January 08, 2016, 03:47:07 PM »
Got the email on one of my 4 cards (vip). I never do online loads. I load $5k on each a month. Bill pay CCs, and pay mortgage. Every now and then I use it on an Amex Offer. The only difference this last month on the one card that got shut down was I hit the ATM rather heavily.

Offline tzifanya54

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Re: Amexserve/Softcard
« Reply #5357 on: January 08, 2016, 03:47:39 PM »
Just loaded BB 2k. How do I know if my Acct gets shut down besides for the email? Any indication online?

Offline ual902

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Re: Amexserve/Softcard
« Reply #5358 on: January 08, 2016, 03:49:18 PM »
I loaded 2.5K on my card today at RA and hope to do the same tomorrow.

Thanks Dan, Ill try RA on Sunday and report back-

Offline farmbochur

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Re: Amexserve/Softcard
« Reply #5359 on: January 08, 2016, 04:30:17 PM »
mine got closed.
wife's is still working.
loaded 1.9k on her's today.
hope to go back tomorrow night to load more to her card.
Risk is opportunity