American Express, Walmart add FDIC insurance to Bluebird card program

Bluebird accounts are set to be eligible for FDIC insurance. As a result, permanent Bluebird accounts will have the ability to receive direct deposit of government payments, such as social security payments, military pay, and tax refunds. Customers can also balance their Bluebird checkbook in real-time with pre-authorized cheque writing, add cheques to their Bluebird account by mail as well as add funds.

Bluebird’s new functionalities, built on American Express’ Serve platform, are in addition to existing features such as the ability to add cheques via smartphones, family sub-accounts and no fee access to cash at ATMs for Bluebird members who have enrolled in direct deposit.

To preauthorize a Bluebird cheque, a customer will follow two steps. Firstly, he needs to obtain a unique authorization code online or through the Bluebird mobile app. Secondly, he needs to write the authorization code on the cheque and give to the payee. This ensures for the customer that sufficient funds are available to cover the Bluebird cheque being written. The payee can confirm that sufficient funds are available by calling American Express.

In recent news, Earthport, the global electronic payment services provider, has entered an agreement with American Express to expand its existing foreign exchange international payment service.