Is Bluebird Really a Game Changer?

October 28, 2012 - Rick

I have never seen such over-exposure and hype in my career as a blogger. Everybody is talking about this Bluebird card as the savior to our hobby and the greatest thing since sliced bread. Here is the reality of the situation:

The real news is the Vanilla Reload card available at some Office Depots is paying 5 points per dollar if obtained with an Ink Bold or Plus card. That is the true game changer, not the Bluebird card. The Vanilla Reload has been, and still is the game changer. I’ve been buying them for months. Take away the Vanilla Reload card and you’ve got a card you can pay your mortgage, car and student loan with. Add maybe your taxes, but if it’s at one point per dollar (without the Vanilla) it’s not that big of a deal. Here is a real life example with one point per dollar:

Mortgage: $2,000 per month x 12 = 24,000 miles
Car: $400 per month x 12 = 4,800 miles
Student loan: $400 per month x 12 = 4,800 miles

One extra US Airways Chairman’s Preferred card per year is better than this at 40K.

How about paying friends at a max of $5,000 per month? Great, but still just one or two more card applications.

Many will say that the ability to load with your mileage earning debit card is the big news. Are you going to spend your time loading your Bluebird with the measly load limits? I’m certainly not.

I’m not bad mouthing the card, just asking you all to realize without the Vanilla Reload the hype is misplaced. The story is the 5 times with the Vanilla Reload at Office Depot.

If based on the massive hype in the travel space we will have a huge new flux of people looking for reload cards, and I am anticipating trouble for all of us. Based on the creative attempts for massive loads I’m reading about on the forums, we are heading towards causing out own demise here.

Take this card for exactly what it is, another way to unload your well-thought out purchases at Office Depot. Buy $1,000 to meet a minimum spend on a new card. Pick up an extra 35K per year with payments on never before options, but the hype and news will fade when we all come back to reality, the big news maker was the Vanilla Reload card, and that is now old news.

Congratulate yourself every time you are able to buy some Vanilla. I’m able to handle all my spending at five points per dollar. That’s the big news.

Please be careful and measured in your use.

The key to our success here is moderation. I currently split my monthly spending between my Amex Prepaid and Netspend cards. I currently buy our reload cards with three different INK products, never too heavy on one and mix in regular spend on each.

In our rush to score big miles and points, we risk killing the deal for ourselves and others. Diversify your unloading your Vanilla cards. Mix in regular spend. Don’t start the game sending $5 back and forth to your friends and family. Easy Does It.

“Pigs get Fat and Hogs get Slaughtered”

It is not all about a silly little Bluebird.

http://twitter.com/Afkabp Afkabp

Here’s the thing about the miles earning debt cards (at least the ST card). Bluebird just came out. Miles from that card don’t post until around the 4th/5th of each month. If Big Box Mart is sending these as FI transactions, ST may not even honor the miles and we won’t find out until next week for sure.

Jimmy

Its already started..in my neck of the woods you cant find vanillas and if you can….no one will take a credit card anymore. Gas stations, walgreens, etc.

disqust101

It only works using OD/Ink. All else is a waste of time. BB makes life incrementally easier, but the vital link in the chain is OD/Ink.

Rob philip

I’m glad I’m not the only one who thinks the points bloggers are losing their minds over next to nothing. I, unlike many, worry that if a gazillion people start buying vanilla reloads with their Chase cards Chase will either shut down the benefit or start shutting people down for using it. After all, that 5x incentive wasn’t put in place so that people could buy vanilla reloads, load them onto their BB account and then pay the Chase bill with BB, skimming 5-10K UR points on the way by.
penncomm

You’re right – it won’t be much of a “game changer” if we lose the ability to fund the card with vanilla. The one cool thing about it, however, is the bill pay service. Our mortgage and auto loans are with local institutions, which never show up on the credit card’s bill pay services. This opens up a great avenue for meeting signup bonuses through additional legitimate spending.

CVG_Kid

Agree. Just got the 75k Amex Business card. It was Bluebird’s ability to get points for paying my mortgage that made me pull the trigger. I’ll reap far greater returns meeting the required spends for bonus that I could not reach before. I will eventually include the Ink cards in my arsenal and reap the OD benefits but the game changer for me is Bill Pay.

http://twitter.com/Mileage_Update Mileage Update

I think its effective and another mileage earner in your arsenal. Dont see how 5k limits/mo could ever be a “end all”. But done correctly it can help supplement your miles earning. There are other opportunities currently that are “game changers” this isnt one of them unless AX ups the limit from $5k.
Buddy M.

I live in the PHX metro area so there’s no Office Depot within a 100 miles. So much for the 5% back Chase but I was hoping to use it to meet minimum spending on new CC’s. Anyone know where else I can buy the vanilla cards or any card that can be purchased with a CC and then loaded onto the Bluebird? I would then use it to pay my mortgage and other bills that don’t currently take CC’s.
Scottrick

Good points. I’ve usually found reloadable cards more effort than I feel like investing.
http://www.frequentflyeruniversity.com/ Frequent Flyer University

Rick, I think the real beauty of Bluebird is the ability to pay your Credit Card bills with it. Basically, you can buy the Vanilla Cards, load them onto Bluebird, and then pay off your Credit Card bill. Rinse and repeat…
bajkonyr

I got very exited about it around 6 month ago. Did my extensive research and here is my conclusion.

This thing will work only for 20-30% if not less of all of us. The reason is that Office Depot, the only seller of the Vanilla card, starts to either ban them or do not accept credit cards as a payment. In my case it’s NYC, all the stores around here never have them and on top of it they stopped accepting credit cards to buy the Vanilla.

Another point is using debit cards at Walmart to refill Bluebird. There is absolutely no point of doing this!!! First of all, one earns much less points by using debit cards instead of credit cards. The max one gets is 1 points from Delta debit card (let alone americanair and Alaska Air).

Second one’s account will most likely be banned for doing the loophole of paying credit card with the bluebird (and again it’s in case if and only if you can find Office Depot with Vanilla) !!!!
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http://milevalue.com/ MileValue

“How about paying friends at a max of $5,000 per month? Great, but still just one or two more card applications.” For me, this is the big news. A few extra credit card bonuses cleared can be over $1,000 in value.
Ann

“The real news is the Vanilla Reload card available at some Office Depots is paying 5 points per dollar if obtained with an Ink Bold or Plus card. That is the true game changer, not the Bluebird card. The Vanilla Reload has been, and still is the game changer. I’ve been buying them for months.

I really, really wish I’d used Million Mile Secret’s link when I applied for the chase sapphire preferred instead of yours now!
Mary

Thanks for this analysis. I am also wondering the benefits of this card for me. No OD near that has Vanilla, no Ink, Walgreens doesn’t take credit cards for Vanilla, making 3 or 4 trip to Walmart (1 hour roundtrip) per month to load $1K at a time from the Delta debit card – it just doesn’t seem worth it for me. Of course, I signed up for a Bluebird and just wondering how I will use it.
http://twitter.com/milesmomma1 Miles Momma

Brilliant post! You are so right!

Is Bluebird Really a Game Changer?

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