I am not a big manufactured spending guy, but I do a little of it, and one of the things that I have used is an American Express Serve card. I have it set up to automatically transfer $1000 a month from my Barclay Arrival card, as laid out in this Frequent Miler post. Not a ton of miles, but it’s on autopilot, which is nice because I don’t (didn’t!) have to worry about it on an ongoing basis
Amex Serve no longer allowing credit card loads
I got an email the other day from American Express, saying that, starting April 16th, you will no longer be able to load Serve with a credit card. The one exception will be that you can still load it with American Express credit cards, but it is my understanding that those do not earn rewards. I also saw this mentioned on (again) Frequent Miler.
We are writing to let you know that we are making some changes to our credit card loading options. Beginning April 16, 2015, if you want to use a credit card to fund your American Express Serve® Account, you will only be able to use an American Express®Card. Direct Deposit, debit, and all other funding options will remain unchanged.
So… another miles and points resource no longer available. But, just like when Amazon Payments went away, there will be other options. One of the newest options is the Target Redcard (i.e. Redbird) which I plan to get next month when we head up to Indianapolis (the closest place to me that sells them).
What about you? Are you affected by this American Express Serve change?
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Dan Miller travels with his wife and 6 (SIX!) children. He loves to help families travel for free / cheap, especially larger families. If you are looking for help, drop him an email at 
Dan, I would suggest that before you drive to the Target store that you think has REDcard (Redbird) available, give them a call to make sure they have them in stock; in areas where there’s only a few stores that have them, they often run out (until they restock again).
Also, for a reasonable fee you can purchase a temporary activated Redbird online. I’m one of the people that sells them so I’m doing a bit self-ad here. For anyone that is interested they can email me at NoonRadar@gmail.com. I’ve sold it to hundreds and have many references on public blogs. Like me, other people sell them online too.
If you only plan to do a little bit of MS it makes sense to wait until later to get the REDcard (whenever you happened to travel somewhere where they’re available). However if you’d plan on utilizing its full potential ($5K/month credit card load limits) you’d be loosing a lot more money in a single month than you’d be paying for to get one now.
A bit of clarification for your readers; you can only get a permanent REDcard by registering online for it and you can only register online if you have the account nr + 4 digit security code of a temporary activated REDcard card, which can only be obtained by visiting a Target store that sells them. Most stores don’t, hence you will either have to visit one that does or have someone activate and send you one. You don’t need the physical card, just its info, a front picture of the card has all you need to register. Once you register online you receive the permanent card (diff acct nr than the temporary one) in your name in 10 days, by mail. Once you activate that, the temporary card becomes disabled.
The ability to load the REDcard is independent of whether your local store carries the temporary ones or not, or where/how you obtained the temp card info (there’s nothing personal on it, its just a token to register online). Us that sell them go to local Target stores, activate them and send the info online to people who need them.
Currently you can’t load Redbird in North Carolina. There’s reports that you can’t load it in Arkansas either, but I haven’t heard anyone confirm it. Additionally, you can’t load it at the Atlantic Ave store in Brooklyn, this one is confirmed.
Thanks for the information. We’re actually going to Indianapolis for other reasons but making a point to stop by Target while we’re there. I’ll make sure to call around to the various Indy stores to make sure I find one that has them in stock though.
This is bad news indeed and makes me wonder how long before the RedBird follows.
My niece lives in MD and just picked up a RedBird for me so at least I now have that option. (while it lasts)
I am not a big MS’er. I do maybe $2,000 a month to pay my mortgage and utility bills that cannot be paid directly with a CC.
Just like the Vanilla Reloads and amazon payments – enjoy it while it lasts!
Where did you try to load in North Carolina? If I cannot load this card in North Carolina, it is worthless to me.
At FT4RL they were saying that for some reason no Targets in North Carolina loaded them.