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My Permanent Bluebird Card Is Active… and the Points Are Flying!

by on November 5, 2012 · 89 comments

in Amazing Deal Alerts, Bluebird, Chase

Update: Office Depot no longer sells Vanilla Reload or American Express Prepaid cards.

As I mentioned in my original post about the huge potential of the American Express Prepaid Bluebird card, you need to wait until you get a permanent card in the mail before you can start loading it with Vanilla reload cards. So, I was very excited to see a nice thick envelope from Amex when I got home this week from an unexpected week-long trip. I immediately activated the card within minutes online and from that point on I was ready to get it loaded with Vanilla reloads and start earning 5 Chase points per dollar on virtually every expense that I have – including my pesky mortgage and homeowners association payments!

My workhorse cards – never thought prepaid cards would be a major part of my points strategy!

There’s a $1,000 per day load limit, so I immediately scratched off the PINs of two $500 Vanilla reload cards that I had purchased a week prior at the Office Depot in Doral, Florida (near MIA for anyone who has time to kill on a layover!).

Once I loaded the $500 from each card (which cost me $3.95 in fees) the funds were instantly in my Bluebird account.

Bluebird Home Screen

To test out the “powers” of Bluebird, I decided to pay back TPG Managing Editor Eric for $10 he lent me when I was in Los Angeles last week (I hate using cash, but needed valet tip money – they should really start carrying Square so I can tip with credit card!). I used the Send Money function and it asked me for an email and amount and once I entered my PIN the funds were sent. Eric instantly received the following email, stating that he’d need to create a free Bluebird account to accept the funds.

“Brian Kelly has sent you the following funds:

Amount:    $5.00
Message:    
Transaction:    XXXXXXXX
Please click here to sign up for a free Bluebird Account. You will then be able to select the Updates link from the My Accounts tab. Locate the Send Money Notification awaiting action and click on the See Details link. Then choose one of the following options:

Accept this amount;
Suggest a new amount; or
Cancel this transaction
If you do not open a Bluebird Account and accept this payment within 7 days of this email, this transaction will be voided and you will not be able to accept this payment thereafter.

If you already have a Bluebird Account and this email address is not associated with it, please log in to your account and go to Account Settings to add this email address so that you can accept these funds into your existing account.

Thanks,    
Bluebird”
 
If you want to send money to someone who doesn’t have Bluebird, all you need to do is click “Pay Bills” and then add whoever you’d like as a payee. You’ll need their address and name – but no social security number or EIN – very simple.

Pay Bill function will allow you to send anyone a check, for free!

If you want to withdraw your Bluebird account at ATMs, you can witdhraw a maximum of $500 a day (3 transactions) and $2,000 per calendar month. The bill-pay/vendor setup is potentially a cheaper/quicker way to take out large amounts since there are no fees. You can use Walmart ATMs for free, but there’s a $2 Amex fee, unless you link a direct deposit to your Bluebird account (no government payroll/payments can be setup as qualifying direct deposits).

So to say that I’m impressed with Bluebird would be the understatement of the century. I’m getting 5 Chase Ultimate Rewards points for every dollar I spend because the card works like a normal American Express card for everyday purchases. The real kicker is that I can now pay things like my mortgage company, car payment and condo association with no fee- all bills I used to pay directly from my checking account or by check. The only fee I pay is $3.95 per $500 Vanilla card, which nets me 2,500 Chase points because Office Depot spend is classified under the Ink Plus and Ink Bold and 5x category. So I’m paying less than 2/10th of a cent per Ultimate Reward point. 100,000 United miles, or a business class roundtrip to Europe, costs only $158 – that’s a pretty good deal!

My Sunday run to Office Depot- $3,000 in Vanilla cards (15,000 Chase points) for $23.70 in fees.

Too Good To Be True?
Now, it’s not as easy as paying $158 for 100,000 points as there are limits. Chase maxes out the office supply (any Office Depot purchase) at $50,000 per calendar year. However, I have both the Ink Plus and Ink Bold (snagging 50,000-point sign-up bonuses for each), so my real maximum is $100,000 in spend, or 500,000 Ultimate Rewards points a year. I can only load $1,000 per day onto my Bluebird, but if I wanted to get access to more daily spending, I could also purchase Amex Prepaid cards (and use them for everyday spend) and they only cost $4.95 per $500 card.

While this deal is clearly maximized with the Ink 5x spend bonus, even if that went away, it would still be lucrative to use a Freedom with 10% Chase Checking bonus on all purchases and 10 point per transaction bonus. A $500 ($3.95 fee) card would net 560 Ultimate Rewards points, or 7/10th of a cent per Ultimate Rewards point, which is still uhhhh-mazing. I would buy Chase points at less than a penny all-day-long. And it doesn’t have to be Chase – I’d buy Starwood points or even Delta miles for less than a penny each!

Some people have reported Office Depot’s getting rid of Vanilla cards or being questioned by managers, but I’ve never had an issue at Miami area Office Depots and there have been plenty of Vanilla cards for sale. In fact, just yesterday (November 4), I bought $3,000 in Vanilla Reloads at my Office Depot and no one batted an eyelash.

Will this all come to an end? Probably at some point, so you should get in while the getting is good! Here are the useful links you’ll need:

Bluebird New Account Sign-up

Ink Plus 50,000-point sign-up after $5,000 spent within 3 months, $95 annual fee waived the first year

Ink Bold 50,000-point sign-up after $5,000 spent within 3 months, $95 annual fee waived the first year

Disclaimer: This content is not provided or commissioned by the credit card issuer. Opinions expressed here are author.s alone, not those of the credit card issuer, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the credit card issuer. This site may be compensated through the credit card issuer Affiliate Program.

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  • http://twitter.com/Mileage_Update Mileage Update

    The only problem is the $5k monthly cap. That is what is limiting the potential. 60k a yr in spend is sadly not very much these days.

  • Johnny

    Is Bluebird worth it even if I don’t have an Ink card and the 5x bonus? What’s the best way to maximize points with the regular Chase Sapphire?

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=120500172 Wesley Choate

    Agreed it is not a home run, but it is at least a double. It is better than nothing if you would know you will use the points. I just cannot get Chase cards as my credit is doing much better but they still will not approve me. I am trying to decide if my AmEx Platinum is worth it though at 1 point per dollar. Not sure yet.

  • Johnny

    Yeah it limits the potential but you’re looking at using it for expenses that you would have never gotten points for in the first place

  • ZO

    unfortunately there is no way of getting the reload cards here in NYC

  • Rmarkoff

    The biggest obstacle in San Diego is the unavailability of Vanilla Reload Cards. The manager of my local Office Depot says they are restocked by a third party vendor and even he has no control of when they will be replenished. But he did say that he is unaware of any policy to discontinue them or to require cash only.

    The Vanilla site seems to have disabled the reload locations tab.

    Until the reload cards are available on a regular basis, this scheme is unattainable for many, especially in San Diego.

  • Jake_PB

    I’ve found the same thing here in SD – Office Depots out of stock, with no idea of when they’ll be restocked.

  • Markdfink

    But 300K points does seem like a lot, at least to me. :o )

  • Angel

    If you can get 60K in Vanilla Cards every year bought at OD with, at least, 2 Chase Ink (remember the 50k limit per card per calendar year), then you’d get 300k MR point. Not bad…

  • http://twitter.com/jchien Jeffrey Chien

    Why not use Swipe Reload. You can add $1k for only $3.74 at Walmart

  • thepointsguy

    You don’t get 5x chase points for those purchases, but still an option. You sure Walmart will let you use credit card for those?

  • http://twitter.com/jchien Jeffrey Chien

    According to the Swipe Reload site it looks like it does. I as thinking lower fee’s and you can do $1k at a time instead fo $500 at a time. But of course this does not include the ink cards

  • Guest

    Is there anything similar to this in Canada?

  • DP99

    Brian, why did you give Eric $5 when he loaned you $10? Just asking…

  • Hannah

    I need to meet a minimum spend on a credit card and would like to be able to use an ATM for cash withdrawal. Forget the points! what is the simplest way for a dummy to do this?

  • http://twitter.com/Rbakken Rich Bakken

    Seems as though this is still more geared toward Ink Plus or Ink Bold cardholders…not having a business, doesn’t seem to make sense to do. Or am I missing something?

  • Jose Augustin

    TPG: Does your home association accept debit cards for mortgage/HOA fees? I pay mine using e-checks but I am not able to think how I can move that to BlueBird? Can I setup an e-check with bluebird just like any regular bank?

  • Angel

    lol…I noticed the same thing this morning when I read the article…

  • Angel

    Bluebird can send a regular check to your HOA. Just make sure you send it with enough time to get there (I would say about 1 week).

  • thepointsguy

    Cuz I’m cheap! Hah actually I sent him 5 via electronic payment and 5 as a check to test out both options and how they work (he didn’t have a say in the matter ;-)

  • Myexercisecoach

    Thank you.

  • thepointsguy

    What angel said. They do take debit for small fee but my association manager prefers checks which are free w bluebird

  • thepointsguy

    It’s a ultra ultra amazing deal for ink bold cardholders. It’s just an amazing deal for use with other cards/meeting minimum spend

  • thepointsguy

    Buy a ton of vanilla cards to meet minimum spend then use bluebird for daily expenses/ATM/checks

  • francisco C

    Do you feel comfortable loading 3K monthly from OD? What is your opinion regarding when Chase may get upset regarding this OD/vanilla usage? Thanks

  • BE RESPONSIBLE

    I think it’s irresponsible to suggest people use exclusively (or even primarily) their Ink cards for this. Once Chase realizes how much money they’re losing on Bluebird, they’re going to shut this down in a big way.

    Folks should exercise common sense and NOT use the “get in while the gettin is good” mentality and maybe this deal will actually last. I’m all for gaming the system, but anyone who is trying to make another US Mint out of this program, and funnel themselves tens of thousands per month, is going to ruin it for the rest of us.

  • thepointsguy

    Totally agree- that’s why I have numerous chase cards/car loans/checking/saving and put more than just Office Depot on my ink bolds. However I highly doubt this will be around for a long term so if you want to take advantage, you shouldn’t wait. All good/amazing deals come to an end

  • Hannah

    vanilla card or reload vanilla card? Are they the same card or different ones?

  • Kristin

    How would one pay their rent/mortgage with this Bluebird card if their bank/landlord only accepts checks or money orders?

  • http://www.facebook.com/karl.l.mitchell Karl Mitchell

    Does anyone know if there is a minimum direct deposit amount necessary in order to get the free ATM withdrawals? My work offers split direct deposits, so I could theoretically put a tiny amount in.

  • Ajt228

    Sounds awesome! Thanks for sharing. Waiting for my bluebird kit to arrive. Im still learning all the tips and tricks to the points game. Could you explain what this vanilla reload card is and how exactly do I go from purchasing one for $500 to using that money to write a check from a bluebird account? Thanks so much!

  • thepointsguy

    Per the post you can add anyone / any business as a vendor and send them a check for free

  • thepointsguy

    No minimum that I’m aware of, so a tiny amount should work

  • guest

    There is no Vanilla reload card in two Home Depot I tried here in MD. They only carry Vanilla Visa cards.

  • RP

    Vanilla Prepaid Reload is what you want. They’re different.

  • dee seiffer

    What is the Vanilla card? Is Office Depot the only place to buy it? I don’t have the Chase Ink or Bold cards, but I’d be thrilled to get any points for paying my mortgage and utilities.

    Not sure Chase will give me another new card since I just got the Hyatt card, and I already have the Marriott and British Airways. (As soon as I can get my Avios into my Iberia Plus account, I’ll ditch the Chase BA card.)

  • JohnT.

    Walgreens will not accept credit cards for the Vanilla reload cards. Office Depot is now taking all the remaining stock off the shelves. I thought this ride would last just a little bit longer. Even 711 refused to sell me one with a credit card. I’m in Chicagoland for a reference point…

  • JohnT.

    None in Chicagoland either. Manager stated this was now becoming a company wide thing – not just a local issue. Same with Walgreens. It was kinda embarrassing actually – at Walgreens the card FEE will accept your credit card payment, but it leaves a $500 balance which must be paid via cash. Had to page a manager over to void the transaction.

  • JohnT.

    Not Home Depot – Office Depot. Clarification.

  • Sam

    But this would be good for meeting the minimum spend on say a Citi AA card, right?

  • http://www.facebook.com/jim.williams.524 Jim Williams

    I finally got mine in the mail, BUT…my account is locked up because their activation email won’t go through. I talked to tech support, and can get every email from them except the activation one. I have my own email server as well. Can’t figure it out. Their customer service is strange….Anyway, I was traveling the weekend and will try to activate it tomorrow. I told them to just delete everything, not worth my trouble, and they want to try a few more tricks. Unfortunately, they are an “online” only sort of company, so it’s difficult to fix the problems.

    Also, I bought a temp/preloaded card at WalMart to see if that would help, and I had to use debit for the card.

    Since I don’t have ink bold, just Ultimate Rewards (cash back) Mileage Plus, and AMEX Platinum, I’m just looking at 1 point per dollar. HOWEVER, the ability to pay my mortgage and other transactions via Bluebird will pay for another flight for vacation. When you are getting 6 tickets at a time, you gotta get every point!!! LOL.

  • thepointsguy

    Don’t give up! I actually had the same issue and I have my own server and it was caught in a spam folder that I didn’t even know existed.

  • wdn

    I’m not due for an app-o-rama until Jan. and don’t have the Chase Ink Plus/Bold cards. What would be the most effective way to get in on this deal now? I have Chase Freedom & Sapphire Preferred, Barclays US Airways, and United Explorer…

  • El Turk

    Which Chicago store?

  • JohnT.

    All south suburban stores and Northwest Indiana locations… For both OD and W. I tried several stores before meeting a friendly manager at a Walgreens who stated all stores are going to be following this policy soon if they are not already.

  • Bob

    Spent the day traveling around North and South Carolina and visited 8 Office Depots and called 4 more. No Vanilla reloads and ,per the managers, none coming. Visited several Walgreens, plenty of Vanilla reloads but will not accept credit cards. Anyone else in the Carolinas with this experience? I have an empty Bluebird!

  • El Turk

    Ya, I came back from a trip and Hyde Park OD no longer had beans. I thought they ran out and would be restocking. Are we sure that it’s not a third party restock as mentioned above?

  • JohnT.

    At the Calumet City OD location the employee told me they were not stocking Vanilla products anymore because of abuse. If he knew what he was talking about – not really sure. It just stinks because I just opened this BB account in order to take advantage points for paying bills and now I can’t load the account with a CC. I’m going to try CVS tomorrow otherwise F-this.

  • El Turk

    I hear you. You can always use a points earning debit card at Walmart.

  • Hannah

    Can I purchase this card online at Office Depot or do you know another online site where I can purchase? thanks

  • Jubin25

    I have chase Ink but there are no Vanilla Reload cards available where I live ( Philadelphia , PA ) . Is there any other way to load bluebird (without the vanilla reload option ) using my existing credit card ? If not, then I dont see a point of getting Bluebird if i dont earn any points. Just to be sure, you dont get points for using Bluebird, do you?

  • JohnT

    Nope. Sounds like the gig is pretty much up unless you have a rewards debit card to refill at Walmart.

  • SusanF

    I signed up for the American Express Business Card to earn 75,000 miles with $10,000 spend in 4 months. But with so many businesses not accepting Amex (I had hoped to pay my rent, but they only accept Visa/MC), it looks like I won’t make it.
    So, my question is: If I used the Amex card to purchase the Vanilla reload cards at Office Depot, will that get me Amex points?
    Thanks!

  • Informer

    If you can manage to purchase Vanilla reload cards – with a credit card – at your local Office Depot you can certainly pay your rent with your BlueBird Account which acts like a checking account. The charge at the OD for the reloads will earn you points on your AMEX. The reload card has a $3.95 charge for a maximum $500 load per card.

  • jls1234

    I would like to know this exact same thing!

  • SusanF

    Thanks for your quick response. I’ve applied for my card, now have to hunt down Vanilla reload cards!

  • http://www.facebook.com/jim.williams.524 Jim Williams

    THANKS!! I called again today since I had to do some work (while on hold). She sent an email to my gmail junk catch all instead of my own mail. Bingo, it’s all set up and ready to go. I’m going to try the Vanilla reload, since I can buy them at Dollar General. Yes, we’re rural!!

    Hopefully they will let me purchase with my Freedom card! We’ll see!

  • http://www.facebook.com/jim.williams.524 Jim Williams

    Bought a Vanilla Reload card at Walgreens today with a Chase Ultimate Reward card. Unfortunately, I don’t have an ink yet, so I only got 1 point.

    The good thing is that I was able to buy it with whatever credit card I wanted. Which is what makes this a good deal.

    Now to see if I can load it onto the Bluebird!

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  • Jschaff1954

    This is great but I cant find these Vanilla reloads anywhere. Walgreens wont let you use a credit card to load. Only cash or debit. And i cant even find another retailer that sells Vanilla reloads. How can I use max spending on my credit card to then load a Bluebird to pay bills like my mortgage?

  • Miles

    Is that the latest TopCashBack deal?? :)

  • Valkata87

    CAn i purchase a home with Bluebird???

  • Mmckiggan

    Just left an Office Depot in Frisco Tx. The manager said they received a memo today to remove any remaining vanilla reload able cards from stock. He said they were already sd out so it didn’t effect them. Anyone else having trouble finding these cards?

  • Point guru

    I can confirm that Office Depot has pulled all Vanilla Reload cards off the shelf nationwide.

  • CommonSense

    Did you read any of the posts?

  • Richie Rich

    I was successful at 1 CVS today and bought 2 $500 cards no questions asked. I went to the other CVS and tried purchasing 3 and the cashier asked if i was laundering money and I showed the bluebird card and explained I was using the vanilla to load onto the bluebird. He said i could only load with cash. Doesn’t CVS get amount loaded on the card paid to them from AMEX? Where is the risk at? I paying on my credit card and am on the hook for the amount I’m charging. What type of comeback could I have said/or paperwork to prove its legit?

  • Guest

    I have bluebird setup and am just waiting for my Ink Plus to arrive. I was looking at how to add funds to bluebird and it says there is a 2$ fee for depositing money from a debit card, which I’m assuming is how you use these vanilla reload cards. Is it 2$ per card, bringing the total cost to load each vanilla card to 5.95 or am I missing some other way to load the vanilla funds onto bluebird?

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  • Jmc2022

    OD shut it down, party is over cheapies.

  • diamondelite

    looks like the party is over Office Deport from all information received
    apparently they are not reordering the cards and restocking nationwide
    Ill assume the over exposure in social media,bloggers and I’ll perhaps in the end
    Chase who may have worked with retailer to stop the buying frenzy on their ink cards
    Oh well next big thing ?

  • MarkDFink

    Yup, just got off the phone with my local Office Depot, and they said as of Saturday, notice came down from Corporate that they were no longer stocking the Vanilla Reload. Still, you can get these from other sources and use them to pay your mortgage. You just won’t have the 5X premium. 1X on my mortgage is better than the ZERO-X I have been getting. :o )

  • D Wonder

    No points flying here.
    Office Depot bit the dust on Vanilla and Walgreens who has them demanded cash only :(

  • Val

    Do you have to wait for your personalized Reload card to come before loading the Bluebird? I’ve been unable to load the personalized Bluebird from the starter Vanilla kit from CVS. Thanks.

  • thepointsguy

    Yes. You can’t load until you are sent a permanent card with your name on it

  • faxedexcel

    How do you actually reload this account with Visa Vanilla Reload? I don’t see that option on the website.

  • thepointsguy

    Vanillareload.com

  • blank

    I got a new blue bird card and they ripped me off when i signed up for it so you all might want to watch out.A phone worker helped me set it up because i was having trouble w thieir websight and he put in my email wrong and now im stuck w the starter card and cant put no money on it.So what ever you all do get rid of the blue bird card or youll get screwed somehoe.

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  • Lancehill

    Will I get a penalty or fee asssessed for doing an ATM withdrawl from bluebird?

  • 25andtrying

    am I hearing you right that you purchase the VanillaReloads with one credit card (a Chase of some sort to gain points) and then load their value onto the Bluebird card with which you spend that $ (and get points again)?…. points accumulated when you PURCHASE the reloads and points accumulated when you SPEND the reload$ with the Bluebird account? :)

  • Loryn staten

    but how can people send you money on this card???

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  • Garth

    You really should update these posts, just wasted my time reading your article only to find office dept no longer Carries these cards. You can bet I will not use any if your affiliate links

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  • John Guide

    Have you heard recently that Bluebird will get FDIC coverage?!

  • Mike’s girl

    Hour N. of Atlanta. *Can* buy $200 Visa Prepaids at Office Depot (AND Office Max AND Staples) (on Ink Bold; along with various purchases); take them to CVS and buy Vanilla Reloads (and some sundries) with the VISA prepaids (the prepaids fill the reloads, the fee(s) and sundries I put on the Ink); go home to my computer and throw the $$ onto my Bluebird. Was too slow this month (I’m new at this stuff, so stepping VERY carefully!) to try a Bluebird-mailed check for my mortgage (hadn’t yet put enough $$ onto Bluebird). However, I’ve now ordered my Bluebird checks, I HAVE enough $$ on Bluebird for next month’s mortgage, and I’m thrilled and relieved that Bluebird is now FDIC.

    Since I’m mainly fulfilling my minimum spend on the new Ink Bold, I’m fine (so far) with fees to do this. Also, of course, spending on biz purchases — I held off on several big (e.g., $1,200 and $1,400) parts purchases till the Ink Bold came, then threw them all at the card at once. I’m now going to do a couple hundred $$ a week to refill the Bluebird to pay the mortgage the month after, secula seculorem. Thanks SO much for all-y’all’s help in this new world!

  • http://www.facebook.com/casanovik Eugene Casanovic

    am i the only 1 whos unable to transfer $ from vanilla to bluebird??? plz advise. thanks

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