I'm Switching Back from RedBird to Serve - My Local Target RedBird Fail

For all those who are unfamiliar, RedBird is the nickname for the Target REDCard put out by American Express which allows you to put $5,000 worth of credit card spending every month onto the prepaid card for free.  The money can be withdrawn or used to pay the credit card bill.  In the end, you have lost no money and gained 5,000 points.  It's pretty awesome.  That being said, I will now be switching back to Serve from my RedBird.

I want to stress that this is an issue with my local Target stores.  If you have a RedBird, there is no need to panic, unless you live near me.

1 Card, $1,000 a Day

I walked into my local Target (Main street in Hackensack NJ) and asked to load my REDcard.  I was told, "Sure, but I can only let you do 1 card now and only $1,000."  I was surprised, but I find that the best thing to do in these situations is to say OK, load your $1,000 and hope it is a one time issue.  Don't try to fight with them, it's not the cashier's personal policy and you will only bring more scrutiny on yourself.

I came back 3 times in the same week at different times and got the same response.  It seems to be a storewide policy.

Any deal is always subject to managers and clerks allowing it to go through.  This should not affect other Targets.  Though the other Target near me (off route 4) does not allow for credit card loads at all.  

Switching Back to Serve

Unfortunately, this means I will be switching back to Serve (you can't have both accounts) for all the cards I control except one.  It would require 5 different trips per card to maximize the $5,000 in loading instead of 2 trips totals.  That's just too time consuming.

I can still get $20 a month for free with Serve and Fidelity American Express, though I can no longer get SoftServe, which is unfortunate.  I do enjoy that I don't need to get off my bum to do it.

Hopefully, I will be targeted for an extra 1% cashback or 10 cents per transaction from Serve until the end of April.