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https://www.serve.com/VZBTS25/?solid=VZBTS25&extlink=pa-us-serve-vz-bts-svfb1-201207
For first time Serve account holders only. Open an account, load $25 from a credit, debit, or bank account for an instant $25 credit. No purchase necessary, and no credit card or debit card fees.
Warning - Some credit cards may consider this a cash purchase. Chase and Citi counts Serve payments as purchases.
@Open123 wrote:https://www.serve.com/VZBTS25/?solid=VZBTS25&extlink=pa-us-serve-vz-bts-svfb1-201207
For first time Serve account holders only. Open an account, load $25 from a credit, debit, or bank account for an instant $25 credit. No purchase necessary, and no credit card or debit card fees.
Warning - Some credit cards may consider this a cash purchase. Chase and Citi counts Serve payments as purchases.
This looks like a good deal. Can you transfer the money back into your checking account afterwards?
Starting Score: EX: 736 FAKO | TU: 757 FICO | EQ 730 FICO Current Score: EX: 736 FAKO | TU: 750 FICO | EQ 730 FICO Goal Score: EX: 750 FICO | TU: 750 FICO | EQ: 750 FICO | |
In my wallet: $16,000 $8,000 |
seems like its rules and fee's heavy... But perhaps if you don't want to take your regular card with you or perhaps to give to a college student.
@HenryJumbo wrote:This looks like a good deal. Can you transfer the money back into your checking account afterwards?
There's nothing stopping you from doing that, but I wouldn't. Serve will issue you a warning or shut down your account if they think you're using it circumvent credit card cash advance charges.
You might be better off taking it out directly from an ATM. The first ATM transaction of every month is free.
@jamesdwi wrote:seems like its rules and fee's heavy... But perhaps if you don't want to take your regular card with you or perhaps to give to a college student.
There's certainly rules, but credit card and debit card charge fees have been waived until 2013. As far as I'm aware of, there is no fee to pay another person, or the 1st ATM transaction per month.
For instance, buy a gift card from a supermarket with the BCP for 6%. Load the gift card onto serve and spend as wherever Amex is accepted. Many creative ways to use the service, such as send money from your smart phone, etc...
@jamesdwi wrote:seems like its rules and fee's heavy... But perhaps if you don't want to take your regular card with you or perhaps to give to a college student.
I looked at the site and didn't really see anything that would make it fee heavy....
no fees to use - or at least none really listed.
If you going to fill it via a credit card then I guess the cash advance might not make it worth while but then again I don't see the point in using a CC to do something like that.
I'm going to open up a card just to get the free $25. When restaurants do a "buy a $100 gift card for only $75" and its a place I go to often I do the same thing, only I give the card to myself. I look at it as a reward for being a loyal customer.
@scarrollprint wrote:If you going to fill it via a credit card then I guess the cash advance might not make it worth while but then again I don't see the point in using a CC to do something like that.
I'm going to open up a card just to get the free $25. When restaurants do a "buy a $100 gift card for only $75" and its a place I go to often I do the same thing, only I give the card to myself. I look at it as a reward for being a loyal customer.
I know that Chase and Citi do not consider this a cash advance, but counts it as a regular purchase with full points. Amex will not consider it as a cash advance, but will not count it towards a spend requirement.
For credit cards, the maximum load per day is $100 with a maximum of $250 per month. However, this limit is raised to $1,000 per day and $2,500 for a debit card. For example, let's say one were creative and enterprising (not advising anyone to do this), and needed some help in meeting a spending requirement. Buy gift cards at office supply or supermarkets (5% office cards and supermarket bonus cards) and load them onto serve. After a few days, Serve will classify gift cards under the debit card category with the higher limits.
Use it as an Amex. Pay someone with your cell. Or send money to a friend or take out some cash at an ATM.
Note - there's always an element of risk in arbitrage. Please understand the process and its risks and rewards before using as referenced above. While one is free to withdrawl money from an ATM or transfer directly to a deposit account, there are better ways to use the Serve funds account, such as "send" the money to a spouse, friend, or relative.
I have Serve account before. I use the card once for my AT&T bill ($5) every month just so its not for simply "credit card cash advance".
Serve really need a better website; constant slowdown on its website.
@Autumnslight wrote:
This is the first sort of prepaid card that I might actually consider getting. The fact that it's by Amex is a huge factor, as I actually trust them. It seems like a new option similar to using Paypal's "personal payment" feature too, so that might be useful. I'm definitely going to look into this further.
Serve is designed to compete against PayPal.