Open up an American Express Serve account with no credit check, no minimum balance, and no hidden fees. It’s a great alternative to debit and other prepaid cards that’s loaded with great features. Account holders enjoy no credit checks, no monthly fees, and just $1 Monthly Fee (no fee NY, TX & VT)*. It has given PayPal some real competition and is seriously challenging the lucrative prepaid credit card market. While American Express Serve is primarily a type of prepaid card, it has extra features that make it a hybrid. There are many good reasons why you would need a prepaid credit card these days.
American Express Serve Card Features:
- Your Full Service Prepaid Debit Card. (American Express Serve is not a credit card.)
- No credit check. No minimum balance. No hidden fees.
- Free Direct Deposit gets you access to your money up to 2 days faster.
- Free ATM withdrawals at over 24,000 ATMs nationwide.
- Free Online Bill Pay and money management tools.
- Enjoy American Express service and security 24/7. Shop online and off and enjoy Card Membership benefits like Purchase Protection.*
- *Underwritten by AMEX Assurance Company. Subject to additional terms, conditions, and exclusions.
Summary of American Express Serve:
- What is Serve? Serve is a digital prepaid account that gives you a safe way to pay in stores, online, and on your mobile phone. It’s free to sign up.
- Serve is from American Express: Get a Serve® prepaid card to use everywhere American Express® Cards are accepted in the U.S.
- Benefits of membership: Get access to benefits like 24/7 customer support, Purchase Protection, Roadside Assistance, and Entertainment Access.
- Security: Serve uses advanced technology from American Express to keep your information and transactions safe and secure.
- Get the app: Download the mobile app for iPhone®, Android™, and Windows® Phone to move money or split the bill on the go.
- Link your bank account or card: Add money to your account with a bank account, debit card, credit card, or MoneyPak®.
- Get cash at ATMs: Use the Serve® Card to get cash at ATMs. Serve will waive its $2 fee for your first withdrawal each month. ATM owner fees may apply.
- Additional features: Send or request money with a wall post on Facebook, create subaccounts for family and friends, and use widgets to sell items online.
The biggest reason is to make online purchases. People who want to stay clear of using their Visa, MasterCard or American Express for online transactions have an ally in the American Express Serve. As a consumer, you want to have the option to use your regular plastic only for sites that you trust. For anything else, it’s safer to go the prepaid way.
While most credit cards protect your purchases, a prepaid version like the American Express® Serve is able to provide an added layer of protection. However, unlike the typical prepaid plastic, the Amex version does not have an activation fee. To illustrate, the Vanilla prepaid MasterCard will charge you a $5 activation fee on your first transaction.
This amount is deducted from the amount available on the card, which is a major annoyance for first time users of this type of plastic. Just imagine if you paid $20 for the card over the counter. Theoretically, you can only use $15. Worse, most providers will bar you from doing any further transactions, once the balance left is only 15% of the total value of the card.
As a result, there is about 30% right there that you, the card owner never get to use, which is a significant waste. Of course, this amount returns to the card provider. Another major annoyance is that prepaids expire. You may have like four months to use up the balance, or the money gets taken once again by you know who. The American Express Serve eliminates all these annoyances, which is definitely a big relief.
You will only need one card which you can keep filling up over time with money from your bank account or a major credit card. In this area, American Express Serve upstages PayPal because you don’t have to keep withdrawing from your funding sources every time you need to load up. With American Express Serve, you get to automate the process, which is a major convenience.
Bottom Line:
Just like PayPal, you can send money by email through American Express Serve, but the latter takes the convenience further by allowing you to do this via text messaging and Facebook as well. With its handy features, the American Express Serve has managed to bring back the power to the consumer with regards to the usage of the prepaid mode. Credit card providers tend to forget the fact that in going this way, you are actually using your own money, not theirs.
Hence, you deserve every bit of extra courtesy accorded by the American Express® Serve. Prepaid providers tend to emphasize the fact that getting the card does not require a credit check, without realizing that in going their way, you, the consumer is actually the one who’s fronting the money.
 The American Express® Gold Card offers 60,000 Membership Rewards® Points after you spend $6,000 on eligible purchases on your new Card in your first 6 months of Card Membership. You'll earn: • 4X Membership Rewards® points per dollar spent on purchases at restaurants worldwide, on up to $50,000 in purchases per calendar year, then 1X points for the rest of the year. • 4X Membership Rewards® points per dollar spent at US supermarkets, on up to $25,000 in purchases per calendar year, then 1X points for the rest of the year. • 3X Membership Rewards® points per dollar spent on flights booked directly with airlines or on AmexTravel.com. • 2X Membership Rewards® points per dollar spent on prepaid hotels and other eligible purchases booked on AmexTravel.com. • 1X Membership Rewards® point per dollar spent on all other eligible purchases. Other benefits: • $120 Uber Cash on Gold: Add your Gold Card to your Uber account and get $10 in Uber Cash each month to use on orders and rides in the U.S. when you select an American Express Card for your transaction. That's up to $120 Uber Cash annually. Plus, after using your Uber Cash, use your Card to earn 4X Membership Rewards points for Uber Eats purchases made at restaurants or U.S. supermarkets. Point caps and terms apply. • $84 Dunkin' Credit: With the $84 Dunkin' Credit, you can earn up to $7 in monthly statement credits after you enroll and pay with the American Express(R) Gold Card at U.S. Dunkin' locations. • $100 Resy Credit: Get up to $100 in statement credits each calendar year after you pay with the American Express(R) Gold Card to dine at U.S. Resy restaurants or make other eligible Resy purchases. That's up to $50 in statement credits semi-annually. Enrollment required. • $120 Dining Credit: Satisfy your cravings, sweet or savory, with the $120 Dining Credit. Earn up to $10 in statement credits monthly when you pay with the American Express(R) Gold Card at Grubhub, The Cheesecake Factory, Goldbelly, Wine.com, and Five Guys. Enrollment required. • Explore over 1,000 upscale hotels worldwide with The Hotel Collection and receive a $100 credit towards eligible charges* with every booking of two nights or more through AmexTravel.com. *Eligible charges vary by property. This card has an annual fee of $325 with no foreign transaction fees (See Rates & Fees). Terms Apply. |
I had mine for a year and I have no problems.
Cancel the card, cut it up and throw it away. I was warned by a few family members prior to me getting this card and i wish i had listened. it is no good. I promise you no good will come to you with this card. I had this card for 2 years and as of 4/4/16 my account was permanently canceled because they allowed someone to hack my email and password, money transfer all of my money in my account to someone i’ve never sent money to and tell me “oh well, so sorry, your fraud case is denied, we wont be giving you your money back.” then they cancel my membership, so even if i wanted to get another card, i cant. I don’t know if they were trying to be funny but they told me i need to get a police report at this point. WTF? im warning you like i was, if you still have this card, i wouldn’t even bother using it because eventually they will take your money. notice on other reviews no one has had the card more than 2 years?! makes you go “hmmm.”
I had this card for a couple of months now and I must say it was a mistake to get it. Yes, reloading the card is somewhat easy – Seven Eleven etc… But if you try to do something advanced, like getting a money transfer from someone not in the Serve system, you’ll be disappointed. No such option exists. The Direct Deposit option is no good for this (and frankly, it wasn’t any good for my employer, who refused to do a Direct Deposit because “Serve” is not a “real bank” and their direct deposit info is not accepted by most corporations when it comes to payroll). So, if you are looking for a truly versatile prepaid card, keep looking!
After only two months I cancelled my Serve account today. As I was attempting to add money, my account was put on hold and I was requested to send a photo copy of my debit card and additional identification. In this environment with fraud, why would I photo copy my debit card number and send to Customer Service? It is my personal information (PII) and should not have to send to anyone for verification. The verification request should’ve occured initially when I purchased the product, I was informed I would have to wait 10 days for the verification process to be able to use the Card with my funds, go figure. Save yourself the frustration and horrible experience. AMERICAN EXPRESS THERE IS NO RISK AS YOU’RE NOT PROVIDING CREDIT, ON THE CONTRARY YOUR CHARGING A FEE AND OBTAINING FUNDS FROM WORKING CONSUMERS, WITH THESE PRACTICES, THIS PRODUCT WILL NOT BE SUCCESSFUL IN THE MARKETPLACE
Although AEServe is a good alternative to a bank or pay pal account, I will be canceling my daughter’s card if they continue to put the acct balance on merchant receipts. This is a safety issue especially for young people away at college. Please change this feature and add text alerts to update balance info. Otherwise, very flexible card and I took advantage of direct deposit and received the $50 credit.
receive a minimum of two qualifying Direct Deposit transfers of $250 or more , what does it mean? Two direct deposits of $250 or more or each of them must be more than $250?!