I signed up for a Bluebird

I haven’t been posting much about my strategies for manufacturing spend, or more simply, ways to buy stuff (for the miles/points) and get my money back. Early on I posted about free after rebate items (here and here) and I am certainly still doing that as often as possible.

Another tactic I’ve been using as of late is Bluebird. This is fairly old news in the points and miles world and a quick Google search of American Express Bluebird brings up lots of discussion board chatter and blog posts about this prepaid card from American Express and Walmart, but I’ll discuss my tactics. First off, Bluebird has no activation fee, no monthly fee and no annual fee, which are all good things.

With Bluebird, I’ve been able to get points by paying my mortgage, HOA fees and credit card bills. How? Mainly through a little card known as a Vanilla Reload. I buy these cards with a credit card at a popular pharmacy that is sometimes referred to as Convenience, Value and Service. I take the card to the register, ask the cashier to load it with $500, pay the $500+$3.95 fee for the reload and am sent on my way.

Then, I go online to load the funds from the Vanilla Reload to my Bluebird. Bluebird is most awesome thanks to its easy free online bill pay, something that most other prepaid cards don’t offer. That is how I can then pay my mortgage, HOA fee and other bills that don’t accept a credit card.

Bluebird also accepts debit card reloads and another good way I have found to use this resource is through my Nationwide Visa Buxx card. So I guess it’s a good thing I held on to my Buxx card after signing up during this promo last year. Anyhow, I load my Buxx card with my credit card (there a $2 fee for this), then head to Walmart and load my Bluebird for free by swiping the Buxx card and entering my PIN. Should you decide to skip the Walmart part and just do a debit card load online there is another $2 fee and a $100 daily limit, so I wouldn’t recommend this route.

Now, of course, there are limits to Bluebird as the maximum amount of funds you can add to your account via Cash Funding Sources (like Vanilla) is $1,000 on any day and $5,000 in any calendar month. I’d certainly suggest taking a good read through the member agreement before attempting to go hog-wild. And the Buxx card is limited to $1,000 per month.

Bluebird has some additional perks such as ATM withdrawals and the ability to send money to someone or even to your own bank account. I don’t do any of that, but these are certainly some benefits to keep in mind.

Now since Bluebird is not a real checking account and has no FDIC insurance, I am wary of leaving large sums of money in it for long. I think it’s best to load it and use it relatively quickly. And throw in some actual swipes for purchases using the Bluebird card (it has the American Express logo) from time-to-time to diversify your usage.