refusing to accept cash

Quote: Evenbob

... one from Bluebird, which lets me deposit cash at Walmart, and a Paypal debit card.

Bluebird does not have a fee to deposit cash at Walmart, while Paypal has a $3 fee. However, it seems like Bluebird can only be used in stores where American Express, while PayPal debit card can be used at stores that accept MasterCard.

Is there a fee to transfer money from Bluebird to Paypal?

Quote: Pacomartin

Bluebird can only be used in stores where American Express, .

I use BB to pay bills online, I never use it
for anything else.

Quote:

Is there a fee to transfer money from Bluebird to Paypal?

Don't know, never done it. Point of all
this is, you don't need bank accounts
anymore, so why bother with them.
The other advantage PP and BB have
over banks is, they are almost immune
from being garnished by creditors.
Unless you tell them, they have no
way of finding them. It used to be
PP had to be linked to a bank account,
now you can link it to a CC, which is
what I do.

I looked at Bluebird but the deposit and withdrawal limits would not work for what I was hoping to use it for.

Quote: Pacomartin

Bluebird does not have a fee to deposit cash at Walmart, while Paypal has a $3 fee. However, it seems like Bluebird can only be used in stores where American Express, while PayPal debit card can be used at stores that accept MasterCard.

Is there a fee to transfer money from Bluebird to Paypal?

It appears Blue Bird is owned by American Express and Walmart. Your deposit is held by American Express Bank and might even be covered by the federal deposit insurance but that has never been tested. So it is really a bank account in disguise.

Quote: kenarman

So it is really a bank account in disguise.

PayPal Executive: We Aren't a Bank and We Have No Aspirations to Become a Bank

Bluebird is not a bank account and is not issued by a bank.

They certainly seem to proclaim very loudly that they are not banks.

Quote: kenarman

So it is really a bank account in disguise.

Nope. I tried to use it like a bank
and it doesn't work. The routing
number is for deposits only, You
can't link it somewhere to make
payments. I was told, "We are not
a bank, sir."

Quote: Pacomartin

They certainly seem to proclaim very loudly that they are not banks.

Because banks are heavily regulated and
these places are not, nor do they want to be.

Quote: Pacomartin

PayPal Executive: We Aren't a Bank and We Have No Aspirations to Become a Bank

Bluebird is not a bank account and is not issued by a bank.

They certainly seem to proclaim very loudly that they are not banks.

It seems that it is all semantics and structuring to avoid having to follow the rules of banks. This is from their website bluebird.com which has a header of American Express Bluebird.

"When you add funds to your Bluebird Account, the funds will be placed by us into one or more custodial accounts (“Custodial Account(s)”) we maintain for the benefit of Bluebird Members at one or more FDIC-insured banks (currently American Express National Bank). These Custodial Accounts will be set up to provide pass-through FDIC insurance."

It provides the same service as a bank and I expect if bluebird has funds deposited in the American Express National Bank in your name in order to provide FDIC insurance that IRS could find that information if that had a need to despite EB's statement that the money is hidden.

PayPal fills a need which should be taken care of by central bank digital currency.

Quote: kenarman

It provides the same service as a bank and I expect if bluebird has funds deposited in the American Express National Bank in your name in order to provide FDIC insurance that IRS could find that information if that had a need to despite EB's statement that the money is hidden.

I would suggest that banks have lost interest in this level of service to the economy. At my Walmart they use the same people to handle money as they do for returns.

I am sure you are correct about the IRS.

Quote: kenarman

despite EB's statement that the money is hidden.

It's hidden from a spouse or a creditor.
Not the IRS.