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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-money in your Serve account can be withdrawn directly to a linked bank account, which, if done too much, may be seen as risky by Serve, but in moderation should be fine.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 1398389 times)

Offline AsherO

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Re: Amex Serve.com
« Reply #120 on: May 02, 2012, 05:04:07 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?

Considering they limit it to $250, I doubt they check, but it is really worth the hassle for 250 points?
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Offline Drago

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Re: Amex Serve.com
« Reply #121 on: May 02, 2012, 05:16:03 PM »
it's not, but I have multiple spends to reach, and until I can found a work-around with Serve, I'll take anything I can find.

PM me if you can share ideas (besides AP, Venmo, and Square)

Offline Drago

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Re: Amex Serve.com
« Reply #122 on: May 16, 2012, 02:09:35 PM »
FYI, I see that they're now waiving fees until March 15, 2013.

Offline AsherO

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Re: Amex Serve.com
« Reply #123 on: May 16, 2012, 09:25:12 PM »
FYI, I see that they're now waiving fees until March 15, 2013.

Which fees? All fees?
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Re: Amex Serve.com
« Reply #124 on: May 17, 2012, 01:43:18 AM »
Which fees? All fees?
I saw it for cc charges. I haven't checked any further.

Just to bump a prior question, what is the max of accounts s/o has had?

Offline AsherO

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Re: Amex Serve.com
« Reply #125 on: May 17, 2012, 10:18:08 AM »
I saw it for cc charges. I haven't checked any further.

Just to bump a prior question, what is the max of accounts s/o has had?

But is it still limited to $100/day $250/month? If it is, then even without fees it isn't worth much.

ETA: The fee waiver extension still isn't listed here on their site, and it looks like the aforementioned limits are still on:

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.
« Last Edit: May 17, 2012, 10:22:54 AM by AsherO »
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Re: Amex Serve.com
« Reply #126 on: May 20, 2012, 01:39:44 AM »
It's decent for cashing out gift cards, even with low limits.

Offline AsherO

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Re: Amex Serve.com
« Reply #127 on: May 20, 2012, 12:25:05 PM »
It's decent for cashing out gift cards, even with low limits.

Only with low limits, considering their max is $100/day and $250/month.
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Offline Drago

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Re: Amex Serve.com
« Reply #128 on: May 23, 2012, 11:02:07 AM »
Excuse my ignorance, but is there any way to directly withdraw money from Serve into my linked bank account, or do I have to use ATM?

Offline Drago

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Re: Amex Serve.com
« Reply #129 on: June 27, 2012, 08:19:07 AM »
Some more updates that I received by email.

But here’s what’s new:
•Fees waived when you add or receive funds from credit and debit cards until March 15, 2013
•Increased load amounts –– now you can add up to $200 daily and $1,000 monthly from your debit card
•Bill My Phone will no longer be offered effective July 26, 2012, but stay tuned for new features



Debit card increase looks promising.

Offline AsherO

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Re: Amex Serve.com
« Reply #130 on: June 27, 2012, 12:03:48 PM »
Got the email too.
Some more updates that I received by email.

•Increased load amounts –– now you can add up to $200 daily and $1,000 monthly from your debit card

Anyone want to try $1k with a CC?

Debit card increase looks promising.

What debit card did you have in mind?
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Re: Amex Serve.com
« Reply #131 on: June 27, 2012, 01:26:44 PM »
Got the email too.
Anyone want to try $1k with a CC?

What debit card did you have in mind?
I messed up. I was thinking I could use it to cash out more gc's, but I remembered those are coded as cc's.

Offline AsherO

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Re: Amex Serve.com
« Reply #132 on: June 27, 2012, 01:29:01 PM »
I messed up. I was thinking I could use it to cash out more gc's, but I remembered those are coded as cc's.

Yup, but still worth a try, though it probably won't fly.
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Offline gozalim

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Re: Amex Serve.com
« Reply #133 on: June 27, 2012, 05:05:23 PM »
What debit card did you have in mind?
Suntrust Delta?
another reason to grab their promo now
(especially with venmo's new restructuring, that's another 2k/month (per card) that can no longer be used for standard CC)
any other's out there? (alaskan at .5ppd?)

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Re: Amex Serve.com
« Reply #134 on: July 03, 2012, 06:46:57 AM »
What debit card did you have in mind?
How about this one? 1% cb
http://dansdeals.com/go/perk
« Last Edit: July 03, 2012, 08:26:52 AM by Dan »

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Re: Amex Serve.com
« Reply #135 on: July 05, 2012, 10:44:04 AM »
Or this one. 
https://www.boh.com/personal/banking-products/credit-cards/bank-of-hawaii-visa-check-card.asp
I believe you would receive 1 Hawaiin per 2/$, which translates into 1 HHonors per dollar.
But when you can use 145k of the HH (using AXON) rewards for 4 nights at a category 7 hotel, it's a pretty good value.
« Last Edit: July 05, 2012, 10:48:05 AM by Reuven »

Offline gozalim

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Re: Amex Serve.com
« Reply #136 on: July 05, 2012, 03:40:01 PM »
Or this one. 
https://www.boh.com/personal/banking-products/credit-cards/bank-of-hawaii-visa-check-card.asp
I believe you would receive 1 Hawaiin per 2/$, which translates into 1 HHonors per dollar.
But when you can use 145k of the HH (using AXON) rewards for 4 nights at a category 7 hotel, it's a pretty good value.
comparable to http://www.bankofamerica.com/deposits/checksave/index.cfm?template=checkcards_alaskaair as far as earn/$ with slight difference in fees ($3/mo=$36/year vs. $30/year) probably neither worth opening a new account for, but if you have an account already...

Offline yyman1

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Re: Amex Serve.com
« Reply #137 on: July 25, 2012, 10:39:04 AM »
Although Serve.com is waiving the fee when I fund my account from a CC, I still get a pop-up that says my "Issuer May Charge Cash Advance Fees" do you know if I use a Chase card,  will I be charged fees from Chase?

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Re: Amex Serve.com
« Reply #138 on: July 25, 2012, 10:42:53 AM »
Although Serve.com is waiving the fee when I fund my account from a CC, I still get a pop-up that says my "Issuer May Charge Cash Advance Fees" do you know if I use a Chase card,  will I be charged fees from Chase?

I don't think so, but don't the funding limits kill it?
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Re: Amex Serve.com
« Reply #139 on: July 25, 2012, 11:45:04 AM »
True its only $250 but its a quick $250 ... I just want to make sure I don't get charged a fee for it