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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-money in your Serve account can be withdrawn directly to a linked bank account, which, if done too much, may be seen as risky by Serve, but in moderation should be fine.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 1385495 times)

Offline Drago

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Re: Amex Serve.com
« Reply #100 on: January 11, 2012, 02:43:05 PM »
it seems that come 2012 they'll be charging a load fee (2.9% + $0.30) for CC. any idea whether it's likely to include CC as backup funding for card transactions?

(if venmo has a lifetime limit of 3 CC, this would be a way to be able to use venmo for more cards)

Looks like they're not charging a fee for another few months.

Are there fees to use Serve?
Serve is waiving certain fees through June 1, 2012. Waived fees include: subaccount set-up, adding money to your Serve account from a credit or debit card, and using a credit or debit card as a back-up funding source if you have exceeded your Serve account available balance. You will not be charged a fee from Serve for adding money to your Serve account from your linked bank account. Fees may be charged for requesting a check, requesting a paper statement and ATM withdraws beyond your one-time free withdrawal per month. Please refer to Section 10 of the Serve Consumer User Agreement: Schedule of Services and Fees for more information.

Offline yk

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Re: Amex Serve.com
« Reply #101 on: January 18, 2012, 09:43:53 AM »
I just opened an account with serve.com. I am able to send money to friends with my credit card, however I wonder if I will be charged as a cash advance. This is different than loading your account. If you try loading your account with a cc, they give you a warning that it mau charge as a cash advance. If you send money to a friend with a cc, they tell you their will be a transaction fee, however I wonder if thats a fee from the cc or from serve.com. If its from serve.com, they are waiving their fees for a few more months.


I have an AA citibank card, and I have 2 days to spend $1000 to get my miles. Anyone tried it recently?

Online AsherO

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Re: Amex Serve.com
« Reply #102 on: January 18, 2012, 10:41:54 AM »
I just opened an account with serve.com. I am able to send money to friends with my credit card, however I wonder if I will be charged as a cash advance. This is different than loading your account. If you try loading your account with a cc, they give you a warning that it mau charge as a cash advance. If you send money to a friend with a cc, they tell you their will be a transaction fee, however I wonder if thats a fee from the cc or from serve.com. If its from serve.com, they are waiving their fees for a few more months.


I have an AA citibank card, and I have 2 days to spend $1000 to get my miles. Anyone tried it recently?

Serve limits you to $100/day and $250/month for CC funding, try Amazon payments.
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Offline lcyitz

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Re: Amex Serve.com
« Reply #103 on: January 18, 2012, 05:17:25 PM »

Offline yk

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Re: Amex Serve.com
« Reply #104 on: January 18, 2012, 07:43:43 PM »
I think now you can send up to $1000 a day with a cc, and 2500 a month. Just wondering if anyone tried it and got charged as a cash advance?? I already finished my limits for amazon payments...

Online AsherO

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Re: Amex Serve.com
« Reply #105 on: January 18, 2012, 08:11:55 PM »
I think now you can send up to $1000 a day with a cc, and 2500 a month. Just wondering if anyone tried it and got charged as a cash advance?? I already finished my limits for amazon payments...

Incorrect, see the Serve FAQs:

Quote
Are there limits on the amount of money I can add to my Serve account?

To add money to your Serve account you must link either a valid U.S. bank account or a valid U.S. credit or debit card. You can add up to $1,000 per day via an ACH transfer from your bank, and up to $100 per day via credit card or debit card (there is a monthly credit card load limit of $250). You may add up to $2,500 to your Serve account per month, depending on your account limits. You can add money from your linked U.S. bank account or a U.S. credit card or U.S. debit card up to 30 times in a calendar month.

The $2,500 limit is for bank acct. funding, albeit not worded so clearly.

FYI: Serve will start charging fees for CC funding (2.9% + 30 cents, same as Paypal) starting 6/1/2012.
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Offline gozalim

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Re: Amex Serve.com
« Reply #106 on: January 18, 2012, 11:49:00 PM »
FYI: Serve will start charging fees for CC funding (2.9% + 30 cents, same as Paypal) starting 6/1/2012.
was going to start from 1/1/12, so let's wait and see

Online AsherO

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Re: Amex Serve.com
« Reply #107 on: January 18, 2012, 11:51:08 PM »
also i think that the $100/250 limit is for loading, not if you use as a backup source. can be a way around the venmo 3 cards/life limit...

Backup for what? If there isn't funds in your bank account? Or if your Serve is empty?
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Offline gozalim

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Re: Amex Serve.com
« Reply #108 on: January 18, 2012, 11:53:41 PM »
Backup for what? If there isn't funds in your bank account? Or if your Serve is empty?
put serve card as funding source to venmo and use signup-bonus-spend-threshold card of-the-month as backup funding source for said (empty) serve account.

Online AsherO

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Re: Amex Serve.com
« Reply #109 on: January 19, 2012, 12:20:28 AM »
put serve card as funding source to venmo and use signup-bonus-spend-threshold card of-the-month as backup funding source for said (empty) serve account.

Interesting idea, ut first someone's gotta TOFTT and test the limits of the Serve backup-funding via CC...
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Offline yk

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Re: Amex Serve.com
« Reply #110 on: January 19, 2012, 12:26:29 AM »
OK so even with $250, does anyone know if it shows up as a regular charge, or a cash advance?

Online AsherO

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Re: Amex Serve.com
« Reply #111 on: January 19, 2012, 12:29:54 AM »
OK so even with $250, does anyone know if it shows up as a regular charge, or a cash advance?

No recent experience, but I did $100 with BofA and Citi in May '11, and didn't get charged any CA fees. No promises.
« Last Edit: January 19, 2012, 12:33:46 AM by AsherO »
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Offline yk

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Re: Amex Serve.com
« Reply #112 on: January 19, 2012, 12:30:54 AM »
Thank you!!

Offline scwam

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Re: Amex Serve.com
« Reply #113 on: March 01, 2012, 09:13:04 PM »
Datapoint: Chase PC account ($30) applied as a purchase.

Offline Drago

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Re: Amex Serve.com
« Reply #114 on: March 01, 2012, 11:16:12 PM »
So did my Citi Dividend card
and my Chase SP

Offline gozalim

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Re: Amex Serve.com
« Reply #115 on: March 07, 2012, 03:29:37 PM »
Interesting idea, ut first someone's gotta TOFTT and test the limits of the Serve backup-funding via CC...
data point:
successfully billed my serve card $500+ (via venmo)  from Backup CC
(which is above the $100day/$250mo limit)
tried billing another $900-1000 a day later and venmo says "your CC was declined"
may try again once 24+ hrs have passed...
« Last Edit: March 07, 2012, 04:19:28 PM by gozalim »

Offline Drago

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Re: Amex Serve.com
« Reply #116 on: March 07, 2012, 03:58:41 PM »
data point:
successfully billed my serve card $500+ (via venmo)  from Backup CC
(which is above the $100day/$250week limit)
tried billing another $900-1000 a day later and venmo says "your CC was declined"
may try again once 24+ hrs have passed...

Isn't it a $250 monthly limit? Or is it weekly?

Offline gozalim

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Re: Amex Serve.com
« Reply #117 on: March 07, 2012, 04:19:50 PM »
Isn't it a $250 monthly limit? Or is it weekly?
correct, monthly. corrected.

Offline HelpMe

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Re: Amex Serve.com
« Reply #118 on: March 20, 2012, 06:24:18 AM »
Anyone have their accounts closed the last couple of days?
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Offline Drago

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Re: Amex Serve.com
« Reply #119 on: May 02, 2012, 04:45:00 PM »
Anyone have updated data points as to how many accounts they've opened up, and not been closed?

Also, I'm currently funding 250 per month, and plan on withdrawing it to my bank account in a few months. Will this serve (no pun intended) as a flag to shut me down?