American Express Bluebird rant...

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65LoveAffair

65LoveAffair

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I don't know if anybody out there other than me has ever messed with the American Express Bluebird cards from Walmart, but after today I know I am going to warn as many people as I can to stay away from them. I am sorry for the long rant thread, but I need to vent.

Today I added $200 to my Bluebird card at Walmart. No big deal. My wife had decided that she wanted to start paying our car insurance, and some other bills, from the Bluebird account. I was okay with that, so I added enough funds to cover what she wanted to do. My wife had also bought her own Bluebird card, and added $10 to it, because she wanted one in her name. When we got home, she activated her account, and was curious to find out how long it would take to add funds to a Bluebird account from a debit card. Her account was just activated and all she had was a temporary card, so she tried to transfer $20 from her debit card into my Bluebird account. Apparently, this is against their terms and conditions because the debit card was not in my name. The money add failed, and it said to contact customer service to get this cleared up. Once again, no big deal. Or so I thought.

I called customer service, verified who I was with all of the security information that they asked for, and they told me that trying to add money from a card that is not in my name is a violation of their terms and conditions and requires complete termination of the account. :banghead: Even though my wife was on my Bluebird account as a sub-account holder, they still closed my account. They said that they are going to send me the remaining balance on the card by check in the next 7-10 business days. Thank God we still have other funds available to cover our car insurance, but that's beside the point. Automatic closure of the account just because my wife tried to add funds from her checking account into my Bluebird account? That really seems a little extreme, and has caused quite a bit of anxiety in my wife as we hope that they really do send the check for our remaining balance. $200 is a lot of money for us.

Sorry for the long thread, but I needed to vent. Assuming any y'all made it this far, you can carry on about your business now.
 
Not to steal you thread but had a similar thing happen with Chase. Opened a CD that matured. They send me a letter that they are going to send my money to the state. I go to close the account. Asshole charges me $258 and says it's because I closed the account early. I say how can I be closing it early when you sent me a letter sending my money to the state. And there is no recourse. Called corporate and they say sorry has to be handle local. Flat out stole $258 bucks.
 
I have never heard of a Bluebird card. I bet the reason they have to close the account and send you the money has something to do with Dodd-Frank or some other banking law. The IRS wants to know where everyone's money is coming from so they can tax it or look for illegal money transfer.
 
I tell you what I dont like......and this isnt related to your dilemma. I do hope you get what's owed you.

I have had several people come in recently with the thickest, heaviest cards I have ever seen. They will barely fit through the swiper slot. They are about three or four times as heavy as a regular card and about twice the thickness. I can only imagine how much data that will hold to get stolen. Anybody else seen one of those? I don't remember what bank it was, but they are blue.
 
RustyRatRod said:
I tell you what I dont like......and this isnt related to your dilemma. I do hope you get what's owed you.

I have had several people come in recently with the thickest, heaviest cards I have ever seen. They will barely fit through the swiper slot. They are about three or four times as heavy as a regular card and about twice the thickness. I can only imagine how much data that will hold to get stolen. Anybody else seen one of those? I don't remember what bank it was, but they are blue.
Click to expand...

Sounds like the new chipped cards. Did it look anything like this?
 

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I hate Amex. When I was robbed at gunpoint, and the thieves stole everything I had, including my corporate Amex card, they told me tough **** since I didn't have my card number memorized. They said they couldn't do a name search and their address search didn't find me (yeah, like I know how your idiot data entry person actually spelled my address incorrectly). Being 1,000 miles away from home with no money and no help from Amex was no fun. Thank God for a friend from Oklahoma (he dug into his own pocket and just handed me $1,000)!

I have refused all Amex products since then.
 
Your wife was trying to launder that money through your account.
(Not really) but that is why they do that.

Seriously, it's not a guess because I asked why they have the rules they do.
 
I don't know anything about that "blue" card, and never had a gold card, a platinum card, or the red card, or a black card.

I've had a Green AMEX card since 1977. I've never once had a negative experience with them, and I even when my AMEX card number was stolen, and some thieves racked up nearly $11,000.00 in charges on it. I was never charged a cent for it, and I was issued a new card that day.

When buying, or booking on line or over the phone, I won't use any other method of payment.
 
65LoveAffair said:
Sounds like the new chipped cards. Did it look anything like this?
Click to expand...

No, I have seen lots of chipped cards. Have one myself. They are the regular thickness. You could cut somebodys head off with the card I am talkin about. You will KNOW it when you see one.
 
Just as an update, I did get the check from American Express for the remaining balance on my card. So that issue is resolved, but it was complete BS in the first place! I guess it could be worse, so I really shouldn't complain.
 
i'm old and old fashioned,, I try to use CASH as much as possible !!!!!!

like Jessie James said, " anytime you fool with a Bank, somebody will get screwed! ???????????????
 
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