Big (bad) news for those of you who use American Express Serve to pay monthly bills and increase your credit card spending.
Come April 16th, 2015, you will ONLY be able to load your Serve account with a credit card if it’s an American Express card.
Put another way, Discover, MasterCard, and Visa credit cards will no longer be accepted as a loading option with Serve at that time.
This is clearly a huge bummer for the many individuals out there who used Serve to meet minimum spending requirements, or simply used Serve to pay bills with a credit card that otherwise couldn’t be paid with a credit card.
For example, as it stands now, you can technically load Serve with a credit card (up to $1,500 a month with Isis version) and then use the bill pay feature to pay your mortgage, rent, or some other bill that doesn’t allow for credit card payments.
This is a great way to earn points or cash back on recurring big-ticket items each month. But with this new change, it looks like the party’s finally over.
Now Some Good News
You can continue to load your Serve account with a Visa or MasterCard debit card, so if you earn rewards for debit card use you’ll still benefit.
Additionally, American Express credit cards can still be used to load Serve, so you won’t lose that option. However, it has been said that Amex credit cards don’t earn points when used to load Serve.
However, they do tend to count toward minimum spending requirements, so that’s a big plus if you’ve got an Amex with a large required spend. Just make sure it counts first.
Other possible good news is the fact that some co-branded Amex credit cards may continue to work as usual.
For example, the Fidelity Investment Rewards American Express Card is actually issued by FIA Card Services (formally MBNA), which is owned by Bank of America.
However, it’s still an American Express credit card that starts with a “3” and contains a four-digit CVV number. So it should be accepted by Serve after April 15th. But only time will tell there. I’ll update this post accordingly.
If it turns out that these types of Amex cards don’t earn miles/points/cash back anymore, it might be time to look for another way to earn points.
This will come as quite a blow for many people because it was easy to load Serve (from home) and earn points quickly with little to no work.