Targeted Serve AMEX Prepaid matching $25 deposit promotion for existing acct holders through Dec 31,12

OP - please add "Targeted" to title.

Obviously it's for idle accounts, us active users are excluded - can't complain through, Serve had been good to us recently.

Didn't get the flyer either. Maybe tomorrow is my lucky day.

I got the offer today in CA. The back of the promo insert says offer valid in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Florida, Houston, Los Angeles, Minneapolis/St Paul, NYC tri state area, northern California, Philadelphia and Phoenix.

tjguitar85 said:   I got the offer today in CA. The back of the promo insert says offer valid in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Florida, Houston, Los Angeles, Minneapolis/St Paul, NYC tri state area, northern California, Philadelphia and Phoenix.
Kind of odd that it's a list of cities, and ALL of Florida?

Transfered $25 from bank account to Serve. $50 was deposited. $50 withdrawn to bank account.

I noticed one peculiarity in using my new Serve, which I do not remember from earlier.

In adding a credit card they offer you a choice as to whether to use this as a backup funding source, and if so with what limit.
Since I could not initially think of how this might be used, and could imagine it being a security risk. A card which you thought had only a little money on it could be used for much more than one on it. In fact this might defeat on of the reasons for using it, being able to give it to a teen and knowing he could not spend more than what you had put on it, or leaving in the car or on your person with a small sum for emergencies. Thus, I initially did not mark it as usable for back up. When I tried to send money using a credit card it would not accept it.

It turns out that if you intend for the money sent to be charged to a credit card, you must designate it as usable for backup funding. Then it became possible to use it to send the usual small amounts.

There may be one or two cases where this feature could be useful. You want to use x card (possibly one with a large limit)to pay for something, but do not want to give out the number (and lack virtual numbers). You could use the Serve with a low limit, and avoid having it used for larger amounts. After the one time use, you remove the backup funding and anyone who stole the Serve information can not use it to steal money.

For instance, this might be done with a teen or college student going on a trip. He has a card he can use (and you can even raise the limit if needed if he calls in with an emergency), but their or limits to what he can spend.

You might do this when traveling a high crime country. The Serve is stolen, or taken at gunpoint. You have lost only the upper limit of backup funding,or the small amount on the card. You could quickly cancel the card, or reduce the limit when you could reach a phone or computer.

Of course, other cards can be canceled also, but that may leave you without use of the card until you get a replacement. This way, you still have your credit card to use (which may be in the safe in the hotel or secured in a money belt, etc.)

billrubin said:   I opened an account a couple of months ago, foolishly did not get any bonus for signing up. I think I've gotten a mailing from them but did not have any $25 offer on it. Has anyone tried to get them to offer it to you by asking? I still don't have anything on the card.

I opened an account for myself and funded it with a credit card for $100 (even though I only needed to fund it with $25 but I wanted the credit card loyalty points -- $100 is the daily add funds limit with a credit card) and the bonus posted automatically in minutes. I then opened an account for my wife and funded with $25 with a debit card and no $25 bonus posted. I called customer service and they posted the bonus manually. I just now opened yet another account for my mother and funded $25 using a checking account and the bonus did not get posted automatically and neither did the $25 in added funds. I think when you fund by a checking account it takes a few days to process. So if I don't get the bonus for my mother's account in a few days I will call and get it manually credited like I did for my wife. This promotion is not limited to one per household, but rather one per person. The important thing is that when you open tha account you open it by clicking on the promo link: https://serve.com/load25/

Does anyone know if at the end of the year we have to pay taxes on these bonuses? I would assume so.

P.S. The credit card add funds fee has been waived until March 2013, however some banks may treat it as a cash advance. I called Serve.com and they said it would go through not as a cash advance but as a point of sale purchase. In case you are wondering, when you fund using a credit card the authorization goes through as "SERVE VIRTUAL ENT INC." I used an American Express Hilton Hhonors card to fund my account. When the charge goes through I will let you know if I was hit for a cash advance fee or not.

P.P.S. When you call to have the $25 added to your account for the bonus if it doesn't posts automatically, they do ask you where you got the URL from. If indeed this is a targeted offer YMMV on getting them to credit you the $25 bonus.

MrVietnam said:   Does anyone know if at the end of the year we have to pay taxes on these bonuses? I would assume so.Credit card bonuses are typically not taxable. Only bank account bonuses are. I would think that this is closer to a credit card than a bank account.

speedbird71 said:   Transfered $25 from bank account to Serve. $50 was deposited. $50 withdrawn to bank account.

Sorry for the dumb question but how did you withdraw finds to your bank account? I can't find anywhere on the serve.com website to transfer back to the linked bank account.

brushwood said:   
Sorry for the dumb question but how did you withdraw finds to your bank account? I can't find anywhere on the serve.com website to transfer back to the linked bank account.

Click Withdraw under balance in the "my account" window, then select transfer funds to bank account.

Edit: follow this link after you are logged in if you can't find it: https://secure.serve.com/Actions/WithdrawMoney

makemoney06 said:   Does AMEX charge any fees (like cash advance) if we fund serve accout using AMEX credit card. Is it safe to link a bank account to this?

Terms say it may or may not be treated as a cash advance. I have only funded with debit card so do not know if AMEX charges CA fee or not.
As far as bring safe to link a bank account... Well, it is American Express so it is as safe as you trust American Express. It is no more or less safe than giving any financial institution your bank account info.
You may want to make sure the feature is disabled that will automatically pull more money from your linked accounts if you try and make a charge over your available balance.

Just got one of these targeted mailers (along with an email) today -- so they're still coming out.

tjguitar85 said:   I got the offer today in CA. The back of the promo insert says offer valid in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Florida, Houston, Los Angeles, Minneapolis/St Paul, NYC tri state area, northern California, Philadelphia and Phoenix.That's just for the "Entertainment Access" benefit, not for the $25 offer (notice the number "4" next to the text you quoted, and the "4" after Entertainment Access).

Just got the new card with an insert talking about the $25 bonus. As a data point, I live in New Mexico. When I opened this account, I lived in NYC.

espressivo said:   Does anyone know of the daily and monthly limits with funding of a credit card?

You can fund with a credit card up to $250 a month, but no more than $100 a day (that is the credit card daily limit). HTH

TexAgg99 said:   Got the offer, spent the money, now I'd like to get a Blue Bird card, so I need to cancel. Do you think I need to wait a while to cancel, or can I do it now?
Isn't this just a regular prepaid card? Once used can just cut up and throw away. Do we really need to cancel this card?

Signup through the web link serve.com/load25... that says $25 bonus. Do I need to wait for some confirmation, or physical card in email with flyer? Or just add money now?

There's no fat cash with this deal, right?

neophyte said:   OP - please add "Targeted" to title.

Obviously it's for idle accounts, us active users are excluded - can't complain through, Serve had been good to us recently.

I did this from Kentucky.