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My American Express Bluebird prepaid card showed up in the mail today and I have lots of good news to share! Note that if you already have an American Express Serve account, you have to cancel your Serve account before applying for American Express Bluebird.
I successful loaded my Bluebird prepaid card with mile earning debit cards at Wal-Mart for no extra fee.
Load American Express Bluebird with Miles Earning Debit Cards at Wal-Mart!
And I also loaded my Bluebird account using a Vanilla Reload which I bought from Office Depot using my Chase Ink Bold. Note that this option is no longer available, but you may be able to find Vanilla Reloads at CVS, Walgreen’s or other locations.
Successfully Loaded American Express Bluebird with Vanilla Reload Cards
Next, I paid $100 towards my Chase credit card bill (as a test) and withdrew money from an ATM using my Bluebird card!
And I was extremely excited to earn 5X Chase Ultimate Rewards points (which can be transferred to different airlines and hotels including, United, Hyatt & Southwest) for both these transactions which otherwise would never earn miles and points!
If you earn 5X Ultimate Rewards points on only $2,000 per month (easy to do when you can pay rent, mortgages, loans, credit card bills, and regular purchases) with Bluebird, you earn 120,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points a year. That is enough for a business class ticket to almost anywhere on United, 5 nights at a top Hyatt category 6 hotel, or ~$2,000 in travel on Southwest!
As I wrote a few days ago when I bought my Bluebird starter kit:
Bluebird has the potential (I’m still testing) to turbo charge the way we earn miles and points. You can pay rent, utilities college tuition, mortgages, and even credit card bills and potentially earn lots of miles and points!
Well, my experiments were successful, and you can earn lots of miles or points by paying your rent, mortgage & credit card bill using the Pay Bill feature on your Bluebird card. You can’t do this as easily with any other pre-paid card. And potentially earning 5X Chase Ultimate Rewards points for everyday transactions is the icing on the cake!
However, I wasn’t able to use Bluebird to buy money orders (since it appears to swipe as a credit card) or to get cash back during regular purchases. I also couldn’t buy or reload my Bluebird with a Wal-Mart gift card or with a credit card.
Load Bluebird with a Debit Card
You can load Bluebird with a miles or points earning debit card (Delta, Alaska Air, or American Airlines) online. But this option is expensive. It costs $2 per debit card load and you are limited to $100 per day and $1,000 per month, so I don’t recommend this method.
However, you CAN load your Bluebird card with a debit card for FREE when you reload at a Wal-Mart store. I used my Delta, Alaska Air, & American Airlines cards to successfully load my Bluebird card at a Wal-Mart store.
The Alaska Air and American Airlines debit cards earn only 0.5 miles per $1 spent, so the Delta debit card which earns 1 mile per $1 spent could be the better choice, but it depends which miles you’d rather earn.
Debit Cards Which Earn Miles & Points
The teller swiped my Bluebird card and asked me how much I wanted to load on the card. I loaded $100 from my Delta debit card, $300 from my Alaska Air debit card, and $100 from my American Airlines debit card.
My bank statements haven’t yet closed, so I don’t know if I will earn miles, but I’m pretty sure that I will since the purchase will be coded as a Wal-Mart purchase. I’ve earned miles for buying money orders and paying bills at Wal-Mart, so I’m not sure why this will be any different.
There is a $1,000 daily limit & $5,000 monthly limit for loading your Bluebird card with a debit card at Wal-Mart stores. This $1,000 limit is shared with the $1,000 daily limit for Vanilla Network reloads below.
I loaded $500 with debit cards in Wal-Mart, but was only able to add an additional $500 with a Vanilla Reload.
Load Bluebird (Indirectly) with a Credit Card
Bluebird can be reloaded with a Vanilla reload.
You load your Bluebird card (which you can order online) with a points earning debit card at Wal-Mart. You can also reload Bluebird with Vanilla Reload cards which you can buy at CVS, Walgreen’s or other locations. Alternate with other credit cards so that you’re not spending too much at buying Vanilla Reloads with any one credit card.
Here’s a post on other credit cards to use with Bluebird, so that you’re not maxing out on just 1 card.
For example, let’s say you use a regular credit or your AMEX Hilton (which earns 6x points at CVS) to buy a $500 Vanilla reload card from CVS. You will earn 500 points with the Chase Sapphire Preferred or 3,000 Hilton points with the AMEX Hilton and pay $3.95 for the Vanilla reload fee.
You then load your Bluebird card with the $500 Vanilla reload card and use it for transactions for which you don’t usually earn miles or points – such as paying mortgages (using the Bluebird Bill Pay), withdrawing from ATMs, paying other persons, etc.
You come out slightly ahead when you use a credit card or any other credit card including a cash back credit card.
You can load your Bluebird up to $1,000 per day and up to $5,000 per month using a Vanilla reload. This $1,000 limit is shared with the $1,000 daily limit for Vanilla Network reloads below.
I tried exceeding the daily limit, but wasn’t able to. Note that you can buy as many Vanilla Reloads from CVS or other location, but can only load $1,000 per day on your Bluebird card.
However, you can store up to $10,000 on your Bluebird card so you can always load $5,000 in one month and $5,000 another month if you have to make a payment of more than $5,000.
I was initially skeptical that this would be allowed because, as a marketing brand manager, I don’t understand why American Express would spend a lot of money to develop the “Bluebird” brand & develop “Bluebird feeder packs” but then dilute that expensively created Bluebird brand equity by allowing you to reload the card with a “Vanilla” reload.
But this isn’t a marketing blog, and I’m glad to be wrong because loading Bluebird with Vanilla reload packs opens up a lot of lucrative points earning opportunities!
How To Load Bluebird with a Vanilla Reload
Check out this post to see the different type of Vanilla cards available.
You load your Bluebird account with a Vanilla Reload by going to VanillaReload.com.
Enter your Bluebird card number in the “Card Number” field
Loading Vanilla Reloads on American Express Bluebird
Enter the PIN number from the Vanilla Reload Pack in the “PIN Number” field and click “Submit.”
Vanilla Reload PIN
What Can Bluebird Do For You?
Here’s a recap on how to earn miles and points using Bluebird.
1. Pay Rent, Mortgage, Credit Card Bills, Utilities, or College Tuition. The best use of Bluebird to me is the ability to pay for transactions which can’t usually be made with a miles or points earning credit card.
Bluebird has a Pay Bills option which includes most mortgage companies, utilities, and other payees.
I tried to pay Emily’s Sallie Mae student loan, but the system didn’t recognize her account number. I’m assuming this is a glitch and will try again later.
But I was able to pay $100 towards my Chase credit card bill using the Bluebird Bill Pay! I love being able to earn miles and points for paying my credit card bill!
Earn Miles When You Use Bluebird to Pay Your Credit Card Bills
You can use the Pay Bill feature to pay your mortgage, car loan, student loan, and many other payees!
There is a limit of $10,000 in payments per month for payments to businesses already listed in the Bluebird Pay Bills system.
2. Pay ANYONE. This is actually part of #1 above, but I wanted to emphasize just how important this can be.
For example, let’s say that the person or business you want to pay, say, your apartment complex or your contractor or your college is NOT listed in the Bluebird Pay Bills option.
You can enter that person’s or business information manually and send up to $5,000 per month, per account, with Bluebird. Bluebird will send a check to the person or business, for free!
So you can earn miles and points when you fund your Bluebird account with a credit or debit card and then use Bluebird to send a check to anyone else!
3. ATM Withdrawals. You can load your Bluebird card with a miles and points earning debit card (Delta, Alaska Air, or American Airlines) or with Vanilla reload packets (bought with a credit card)and earn miles or points for the load.
You can then withdraw up to $500 per day (in up to 3 daily withdrawals) and up to $2,000 per month with your Bluebird card.
I Withdrew $40 From an ATM as a Test
You can use this feature to help complete a minimum spending requirement on a card.
For example, say you have to spend $3,000 within 3 months on a credit card. You can buy Vanilla Reloads from an Office Depot with your credit card and load them on your Bluebird card.
Buying the Vanilla Reloads at Office Depot with your credit card will count towards the spending requirement on your credit card and earn miles and points. You then use your Bluebird for regular purchases including withdrawing money from ATMs.
There is a $2 fee per ATM withdrawal (waived until November 4, 2012), unless you set up Direct Deposit to your Bluebird card and use a MoneyPass ATM. Many employers will let you split your paycheck to different bank accounts.
If you use an ATM outside the MoneyPass ATM network, you will be charged an ATM fee which varies depending on the ATM machine.
You can also use this for meeting a bonus spending requirement on a credit card such as, say, spending on the Delta credit cards to earn extra MQMs and miles.
However, I’d make sure to not abuse this method and to also use Birdbird for regular spending as well!
4. Transfer Money to Your Bank Account. You can also transfer money to your linked bank account from your Bluebird account.
This is very similar to Amazon payments, but I’d be very careful to NOT just fund your Bluebird account (to earn miles and points or to meet a minimum spending requirement) and then withdraw money to your bank account.
Transfer Money From Bluebird to Your Bank Account
5. Regular Spending. You can load your Bluebird with Vanilla Reload packs bought with an AMEX Hilton which earns 6X points at CVS and earn points on any purchase you make with your Bluebird card.
Here’s a post on other credit cards to use with Bluebird, so that you’re not maxing out one one card.
Much thanks goes to Frequent Miler for showing us how to earn 5X points with American Express Prepaid cards!
CAUTION
- Do NOT only fund Bluebird with a credit card and then withdraw money from an ATM or transfer money to your checking account. That is very easy to detect. Withdraw only as much money as an average person would – that is in the hundreds of dollars and NOT thousands of dollars per week.
- Use Bluebird for lots of routine transactions as well. If all you do with Bluebird is withdraw money from the ATM or to your bank account, you are likely to be shut down because you are unprofitable for American Express.
- I would NOT abuse the category bonus for using the AMEX Hilton card to buy Vanilla Reload cards at CVS. AMEX financial reviews are not fun.
You WILL get shut down if you try to spend tens of thousands of dollars per month at CVS with any one card.
I can’t give you an exact amount (you’ve got to decide for yourself), but $1,500 to $2,000 per month in CVS *could* be pushing the envelope.
Alternate with other credit cards so that you’re not spending too much at one location with Ink credit cards.
Here’s a post on other credit cards to use with Bluebird, so that you’re not maxing out on just one card.
Go slow and easy and enjoy the many benefits of the Bluebird card.
Bottom Line
You can order a Bluebird card online at Bluebird.com.
Bluebird opens up a whole new world of point earning opportunities, but you have to go easy. Otherwise you risk having not only your Bluebird account shut down, but also your credit cards.
* If you liked this post, why don’t you join the 7,000+ readers who have signed-up to receive free blog posts via email (only 1 email per day!) or in a RSS reader …because then you’ll never miss another Bluebird update!
I have earned and redeemed millions of airline miles and hotel points to travel the world for free. Now I'm blogging to help more people do the same! 
I ve try to send bill to my supplier today and system wont “save and send”. called BB but no one to help. what happen now, I ve load a bunch of money and cant pay for my business. if you could help. thanks
Horrible, Horrible, Horrible, do not get this card. They have not cst support. I have had the card for 3 weeks and have had to call in 4 times. Each time is over an hour. This current time is going on 3 hour hold/transfers. There is no online/email support. All I need to do is transfer a few bucks to someone’s account from time to time. I have two debit cards linked which says it right ways, nope usually takes days. Now the account is frozen for some freaking reason and regular cst service cannot answer any question so you need to speak to the “super secret squirrel” person who keeps you on hold forever. As soon as I get the card unlocked I am transferring all of the money out and going back to taking my happy butt back to the store for a manual money gram. I feel very sorry for those of you who seriously consider these clowns for your primary money card. They are not even FDIC backed. I was only doing a couple of hundred at a time, I have read that people are actually having things like tax returns and direct deposit sent there. DO NOT do that, trust me. Go to a freaking bank people, it’s not that bad for that kind of stuff.
@Ted – Chargesmart charges an ~3% fee, but could be worth it to meet the minimum spending requirement on cards. Bluebird doesn’t charge a fee to pay bills, but takes more time to use.
@choi – I’d try deleting the supplier and sending it again.
@Randy Johnson - 3 hours hold time is ridiculous. Hope you get it unfrozen soon!
This Card is backed by two good names, but they have chosen to outsource the entire back end, this is perhaps the most frustrating, service I have ever used.
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I was in hurry and got the wrong vanilla card (prepaid nonnreloadable)
Can I use it in walmart to deposit money to bluebird account. Thank you
@Anna – Unfortunately, you can’t do that, but you can use it everywhere else like a regular credit card.
Bluebird card SUCKS!!!! DO NOT EVER GET THIS CARD!! IT IS A COMPLETE SCAM!!! After depositing $200 on top of the $5 activation fee,you get “the run around” right off. I haven’t even used the card and they locked my card from me for no reason,saying it was a “security issue” so I call the “24 hour” customer service which has NOTHING!! To do with the card at all! It seems its a offshore call center. You get all these foreign people answering calls that WILL NOT HELP YOU!! They will only transfer calls,over and over!! Put you on 15-30 min. Holds. Then transfer you again,ONLY to have the line disconnected after waiting for an hr to OVER 2 hours!!! I’ve even spoke with numerous so called supervisors that have no clue or control or this issue!! I have $200 on my card that I CANNOT GET BACK!! It’s been 2 weeks now and I still have no luck!! Spread the word to EVERYONE YOU KNOW that the bluebird cards AT WAL-MART are a COMPLETE SCAM!! I’ve even waited over 5 hrs!! “On hold” and NOTHING!! So please run away and DO NOT GET BLUEBIRD!! You have been warned!! Post this on your Facebook pages and whatever social media is out there! This definitely needs to be known!!
Bluebird card SUCKS!!!! DO NOT EVER GET THIS CARD!! IT IS A COMPLETE SCAM!!! After depositing $200 on top of the $5 activation fee,you get “the run around” right off. I haven’t even used the card and they locked my card from me for no reason,saying it was a “security issue” so I call the “24 hour” customer service which has NOTHING!! To do with the card at all! It seems its a offshore call center. You get all these foreign people answering calls that WILL NOT HELP YOU!! They will only transfer calls,over and over!! Put you on 15-30 min. Holds. Then transfer you again,ONLY to have the line disconnected after waiting for an hr to OVER 2 hours!!! I have $200 on my card that I CANNOT GET BACK!! It’s been 2 weeks now and I still have no luck!! Spread the word to EVERYONE YOU KNOW that the bluebird cards AT WAL-MART are a COMPLETE SCAM!! I’ve even waited over 5 hrs!! “On hold” and NOTHING!! So please run away and DO NOT GET BLUEBIRD!! You have been warned!! Post this on your Facebook pages and whatever social media is out there! This definitely needs to be known!!
I am having the same experience as BLUEBIRD SUCKS. I have several hundred dollars loaded onto my Bluebird card and I suddenly received an email that American Express locked my card for “security purposes.” The problem is, that when I attempt to contact the number given, I NEVER get to a live person to assist me. I have been on hold for over 3 1/2 hours on a single call. I began calling last week, call almost daily (this specific customer service department is only available Monday through Friday of course), and STILL cannot get any money out of my card. I have no idea how to resolve this issue but they are basically holding my money hostage. This seems highly illegal, not to mention amoral! DO NOT GET A BLUEBIRD CARD! You will defintely regret it.
I agree, DO NOT get a bluebird card. I made this mistake and regret every second of it. This month (December) is our bonus time and I had it direct deposited there, because it totaled over $10k unbeknownst to me, I am locked out of my own money until Jan 5th! I cant even tough my money they are holding from me. They mislead you and the hold times are horrendously long!
Dont get it and please spread the word around as well, AVOID BLUEBIRD LIKE THE PLAGUE!
I attempted my first in-store debit load and it did not work out being I reached the limit using Vanilla Reload cards ($5000) and that prevents any additional loads via VR cards AND in-store debit card loads. A call to Bluebird customer service to informed me of this load limit.
The strange thing is that the CS rep told me that even in-store, the daily load limit via debit cards was $100. I thought the $100 debit load limit was only for online loads.
Can someone clarify what the in-store debit card daily load limit is on Bluebird?
Thanks
@Jose A – It is a combined limit of $5K for both Vanilla reloads and debit cards. The in-store limit is the same as that of Vanilla Reloads – $1,000 per day and $5,000 per month.
I too got a random email about my account being ‘locked’ for no reason. After 2 hours on hold, FINALLY got a hold of a ‘Craig’ in their ‘Security’ department. I asked what flagged my account, and he stated it was just a one-time security measure that they do to everybody. I would need to fax them a copy of my Social Security card to regain access. I asked him how long it would take to unlock and he stated usually 24 hours, but if I faxed him the information within the hour he would take care of it for me that day. I did as requested, and it’s still locked over 24 hours later. On top of that, it’s Saturday… and they’re closed on the weekend. So, not only will that randomly lock you out of your account with NO access to your funds… they can do it for ANY or NO reason at all. To perhaps (and I say perhaps because I have yet to be successful in unlocking my account) get the account unfrozen… requires hours on hold, the run-around, empty promises and EXTREME frustration. Also, isn’t it unethical at the very least to request a copy of your Social Security card to access YOUR money!? This is something I’d expect from PayPal… and it seems BLUEBIRD is right on par with them. I don’t think I’ll be continuing and future deposits with them. Many of you will read these comments similar to this one and think, “Ah, there’s a few bad experiences people posted… but it won’t happen to me. If it does, it’ll be a 10 minutes call and a quick resolve and I’ll be back on my feet in no time. Plus, I won’t do anything weird to flag my account to be locked.” Good luck… and come back to my message and laugh at your idiocracy when you do.
Daraius-
did you ever get your Delta miles when you used the Suntrust debit card at Walmart to load the BB card. I used mine and loaded $100 but have yet to get miles. and I go all the way back to Nov.
Thanks guys! I had my doubts about this card. Lucky for me I only put 5.00 just to get it started but needed to read up on it when they asked for my social.
@Eric – Sorry to hear about that and hopefully you’ll get it resolved sooner rather than later.
@stephanie – Yes, I got miles for using it at Wal-Mart.
Oh no
one of my payments did not arrive at its destination within the displayed date online. I have been working with C/S for over and hour and a half…this has to be the worse C/S I have ever dealt with. All they keep telling me is that it should arrive within the next few days 
I linked my debit card to my blue bird…transfer money to someone else that has the same card as me….the $100 that I sent went straight on their card in a matter of no time…and they were able to purchase what they need….So I dont know but so far so good! Maybe the next time I transfer money, to someone Ill let them know to take the money off the card ASAP!! ONLY FOR SAFETY REASON
@Linda Brow – Sorry to hear that and hopefully it has got fixed!
Is there a limit on transferring from BB to your linked bank account? I can’t seem to find it in the fine print anywhere.
@Churnity – I haven’t found the limit to transfer to your Bank Account either in the fine print, so I assume it is limited to your Bluebird balance.
Daraius-
I am new to points and miles. Today I decided to get a vanilla reload and vanilla gift card @ CVS with my Freedom card. I was so excited that it they accepted the card. I want to sign up for bluebird but everyone seems to have such horror stories – accounts being locked/not being able to talk to a cs rep. What was your experience when you first signed up? Have you and Emily had any of those issues?
I have had bluebird for several months and have had good luck , loaded over 4k using Vanilla reload cards I use it daily and have had no real problems , their is a glitch with BP accepting this card , I spoke to Customer service and they were friendly and helpful, shocked to read these other comments, Who waits for 1 1/2 hours on the phone ??? I never had to fax my social security card???? that sounds like a scam !
Based on my experience so far, I would recommend this card to everyone.
is it a good idea to use blue bird to pay AMEX card or will that trigger a financial review by AMEX?
After getting the bluebird card and having direct deposit, we come to find out we could not get more than $500 on a $5000 deposit. We tried to pay bills but half of the bills we tried to pay didn’t take American Express. We were trying to figure out how we were going to pay our bills since you can’t take out more than $2000 a month. Then I came upon your site, I seen the bill pay area, but didn’t know that a check could be cut for anyone not in there system. HUGE stress relief, I just sent checks to all the companies that do not take American Express, bills all paid. YES!!!
Now I need to find out more about these points you earn. I could always use points.
More info please.
@new2pts – We’ve had no bad experience and use it to pay bills with no issues.
@Jim Sparks - Thanks for the feedback!
@Syed Jalal - Bluebird is meant to pay bills so I don’t see why that would be an issue,though you could pay other bank bills if you’d prefer.
@Leah – You earn points when you buy a Vanilla Reload with a credit card or when you use a point earning debit card at Wal-Mart to reload your bluebird.
Are you SURE that you can have your tax refund deposited into a BlueBird account? Per the website, they say they don’t accept federal deposits including tax refunds! This is a problem for me because I had planned on having my refund deposited onto my BlueBird card and now I am in a real bind!!
@Jacki – I’m not sure if you can receive your tax refund on Bluebird, but it might be best to have it sent directly to your bank account to avoid any potential hiccups.
T I too wanted to load my tax refund onto this card and was not able to. Having dealt with lousy outsourced customer service who barely understand English, I was told that you cannot direct deposit tax refunds and the only way to get a refund on the $5 cost of the actual card was forbthem to send me a freakin check. HEEELLLOOO!!!! A check! That’s why people get these damn cards; they don’t have bank or checking accounts. I’m sorry, but 5 dollars is 5 dollars.amdbwhen you have to sell your plasma just to get that 5 dollars.tobget this card, well that’s a lot of money. I could’ve bought something to eat. The packaging is very.misleading and does not say you can only have direct deposits from employers. I don’t advise anyone below the poverty line and with NP bank account
And I think I speak for hundreds of thousand of people in this country that are poor and are are suckered into paying countless fees. We pay fees for not having bank accounts, having to cash our checks, getting lousy credit reporting. Its ridiculous. No wonder those in poverty rarely get ahead. This bluebird card is just another example of how corporations are oppressors and leave little room for people to move.up in economic class.
I just registered for Bluebird and was curious if I have to use the Vanilla Reload cards or if I can also use the standard Vanilla Prepaid cards as well?
@napplegate – You can’t use the regular prepaid cards. It has to be the Vanilla Reload cards.
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Is the $5000 load limit montly or every 30 days?
@Michael H – It is per calendar month.
Question:
What’s to stop me from using my Chase Freedom card, which has 5% cash back at CVS, to buy a Vanilla card, load that onto my Bluebird card, and use my Bluebird card to pay off my Chase card. It seems like an arbitrage. Am I missing something?
@Phil – That would work, though I’d pay a different credit card bill.
It certainly seems like alot of people are having a major hard time with issues using the bluebird card. Can you comment on the issues? You are touting it as the card to rule them all and the idea seems great but teh problems ? Please post something regarding this… thanks
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@Billy – I was thinking the exact same thing…
I registered and setup a Bluebird by American Express account online; no starter kit. After 2 days, i am still waiting for the for the verification e-mail to pop into my email address. Anyone have this problem?
Bluebird sucks. PayPal and bluebird do not get along, like another post explains calling BlueBird customer service to resolve such issues WILL GET YOU NO WHERE! I don’t understand why bluebird declines. Their is no reason for this, PayPal is very wideley used for of payment transaactions both ways. I linked my paypal to my bluebird, try to direct deposit from paypal to bluebird works fine. Then when I make a payment from paypal it will decline my bank (“BlueBird” Centurion Bank) and I have to jump through all these hoops to get them linked again. No more BlueBird for me, tis’ awful I say just awful.
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Darius-
Do you know if you load the card at Walmart with a debit card, does the chage show as a purchase or does it code as something else where I wouldn’t get points? Thanks
@Nick O – I’ve got points using the American Airlines, Delta, and Alaska Air debit cards.
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When I first got my Bluebird card, I agree that the customer support was horrible and wait times just as bad. Things have improved however and I have used my Bluebird card for about 7 months now using automatic deposit through my employer. I have paid about 10 bills via the bill pay system. The very first one was to my insurance company and an important payment and it said it completed and would be there within 5 days. I called customer service and they assured me it would be fine and to wait but I was skeptical as nothing had been deducted from my balance. They said it was sent but the due date came along and it was indeed not paid. I had to hurry up and pay it via a Visa debit card as my insurance company did not accept AMEX. After that, I have made successful bill payments to my regular credit cards without any problem whatsoever but they were all to payees in their system and were sent electronically. I am going to send a payment soon that will have to be sent by regular check/mail and am a bit worried about that.
I was considering closing my Bluebird account until I read this website that said that you can accumulate miles by using the Bluebird bill pay feature. I have not read anywhere, anything about accumulating miles simply by using the bill pay feature. I have doubts about this but will look into it further. At this time, I do not understand how you earn Miles using a vanilla reload pack and right now it does not seem to make sense if you have to pay $3.95 to buy one just to earn Miles.
Also, AMEX will not help you recover any funds if a company debits your card like Visa or MasterCard will. I had 2 charges for $7.99 and they refused to help me, but the merchant happily credited it to my account. Customer service said that there would be no recourse though if the merchant would have refused. Visa and MasterCard would have credited it right away with the provisional credit because it was a mistaken charge on a Netflix account that I canceled and no longer used.
I’m opening up a regular checking account at my local credit union tomorrow but may keep my AMEX Bluebird account open if I find that the miles are indeed credited and easy to use. I bet it will turn out to be such a hassle and I will give up way before any benefit would come of it. I believe AMEX Bluebird definitely has a lot of ironing out to do regarding this card/features and its zero protections. When I told the customer service agent that they should stand behind their consumers a little bit better, she just wanted to argue with me all the more and I calmly told her they should be more like Visa and MasterCard regarding mistaken charges/unauthorized purchases. She hung up on me and it was not a hangup “mistake”. Yes, they are foreign and could give 2 $%^# less about the customers and it seems they cannot keep up with incoming call volume. Those are my honest feelings and opinions regarding the AMEX Bluebird account, so you need to weigh the benefits and disadvantages out carefully before you get involved.
One other advantage that I thought I would mention is that I can load my card with cash for free at any Walmart location and withdraw cash for free at any US Bank in my hometown/area. I do think it is better than the reloadable Walmart Visas and MasterCard’s offered at Walmart that charge a monthly fee of $9.95 and also charge you a lot of other high charges for withdrawals and purchases etc. Best of luck!
Derek Bowman
@Derek – Thanks for sharing! Bluebird isn’t for everyone, but it does have its uses. As always, do what makes sense for you and for many folks, that could be a regular credit card.
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