Credit Cards Manufactured Spending

More Bluebird/Serve Closures – But Some Still Remain

Bluebird & Serve
Written by Charlie

Here we are with round two of the Bluebird & Serve closures. Many more accounts have been closed down, but there are some which still remain open.

Here we are again – just two months after the initial round of closures to Bluebird/Serve cards, American Express has gone another another spree of closing more accounts.

More Bluebird/Serve Closures – But Some Still Remain

Bluebird & Serve

It had appeared, initially, that the last round was a closure to across all the accounts but many escaped the axe. Those that had escaped proceeded cautiously as many people tried to gather data points to figure out what may have caused the closures on some cards but not all.

This time, many reports have circulated that it has happened again to many of the people that escaped the last round. And the news from American Express is the same as last time:

Termination of Funds Loading Capabilities On Your ____ Account

We are writing to let you know that we have observed unusual usage patterns on your Bluebird Account. Because of this, effective immediately, you will no longer be able to add money to your Account.1 We have made this change in accordance with Section 22.d of our Member Agreement, which you can view here.

Please be aware that you continue to have full access to the funds on your Account and can withdraw them at any time.

Once your balance reaches $0, please close your Account online via your Profile page accessible here. Scroll down to the Close Accountsection and click “Close Account.”

If you have any questions or would like to inquire further about this issue, you may write to us at the following address:

American Express
C/O Customer Relations 02-04-40
4315 S 2700 W
Salt Lake City, UT 84184-0440

Last time, I dug into the terms and conditions and found that the new terms specifically called out manufactured spending so that was obviously what they were going after.

Some Still Alive

However, not even this latest closure has shut down all the Bluebird/Serve cards. One card I have access to, a Serve card, has not been closed. But, we also have not done any activity with it at all since the last round. It will be interesting to see what the data points are regarding the accounts that have just been closed and those that still remain open.

Frequent Miler guesses that if Amex follows this possible pattern of doing closures 9 weeks apart, we should know the fate of the still-open Bluebird/Serve cards next on May 6.

Did you get closed down this time? What activity had you done since the last closures?

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About the author

Charlie

Charlie has been an avid traveler and runner for many years. He has run in marathons around the world for less than it would cost to travel to the next town - all as a result of collecting and using miles and points. Over the years, he has flown hundreds of thousands of miles and collected millions of miles and points.
Now he uses this experience and knowledge to help others through Running with Miles.

7 Comments

  • My bluebird passed away today… I was loading VGC’s ($2000 a month) then using bill pay.

  • Boom! There went my last BB ccard. Had been proceeing very cautiously, only loaded a single GC at a time, mixed in some light spending with it, writing a few checks for utilities. Absolutley never used it to pay off CC, nor transfer to other BB/Serve when they were alive. I was not draining the BB via ATM, in fact had about $2K on it today, had been loaoding more than spending. So, they are really being quite harsh I don’t know how you’d have picked this card out from “regular” usage except maybe size of the load $500 or perhaps they tracked it to always being from Kates.

    • This wave of shutdown is applied to those cards applied after Nov 2015. The cards applied after Jan 2016 would be safe.

      • @Oz, I’ve had my BB accounts in excess of 2 years and somehow they’re still open. I’ve done no loads since the first round of closures. I’ll probably try and load $5k on each ASAP and hope to continue until they get me.

  • Yup, just got closed down. Happy all the same I got a few months longer than many folks.

  • With every account closure and every new limit on earning new account bonuses it becomes rather evident that AMEX does not need customers in its new business model. Perhaps AMEX has decided just to make money the old fashioned banking way – by gaming LIBOR rates or laundering money?