Amex Bluebird & Serve

[Sylly]

Ok, so I've recently came across these things, and I'd like to know more of how they work and what I can do with it.

So this is why I'm looking into manufactured spending..
Discover currently has a $400 cashback offer when you spend $2500 every month from Nov - April. That works out to at best 2.67%. It's not great, but hey, $400 isn't something to sneeze at if there's little risk and effort.
But..
We don't spend that much per month outside of mortgage and taxes.
Paying property tax can completely cover 2 of those months, but with 2.19 (or 2.25)% fee.
Property tax on rental property can cover ~1500 each for 2 more months, again with 2.3% fee.
We already have 3% cashback for groceries and gas, and 2% for restaurants, our next biggest categories -- which total maybe 500-600/month.
We may have up to 5k of home improvement project expenses in those 6 months, but when and how much payments will be is unclear.
With the above information, we were coming to the conclusion this offer isn't worth the risk. But.. if we can somehow use the Discover card to (indirectly) pay mortgage with minimal cost and risk or loop the cash through the system without needing to spend it, it may become worth it.

I tried looking up the Serve and Bluebird websites, but couldn't find answer to these questions. I'm hoping someone who's been using one or both of these can help out.

1. Can either be used to pay a mortgage? via ACH? or check?
2. When it says you can add cash for Free at some participating locations, does it have to be cash, or can the location swipe a CC instead?
3. If the answer to 2 is no, what's the minimum cost of loading using CC (as purchase, not cash advance)? debit gift cards?
4. I saw that there's a network of ATMs. Is there a daily/monthly limit to withdrawals?
5. Is there some other easy way I'm overlooking of getting the money out, if we don't want to spend it?

[$200k]

Hopefully this is a simple answer:

i. You and your wife get one Serve account each.
ii. Link your Discover card to each Serve account.
iii. Each month from Nov - April, you are permitted to load $1,000 per Serve account to that Discover card for free.  You can withdraw the $1,000 back to your checking accounts for free. That's $2,000 no-hassle per month for free.
iv. Spend $500 elsewhere each month and you've done it.  You can get visa gift cards (for a maximum $6.95 fee) and load them to Serve for free.

If meeting that Discover card bonus is your only goal, the above is what I would do.  Also, you should google Redbird.  If you are in a participating state, it could be even easier.

[Sylly]

Hopefully this is a simple answer:

i. You and your wife get one Serve account each.
ii. Link your Discover card to each Serve account.
iii. Each month from Nov - April, you are permitted to load $1,000 per Serve account to that Discover card for free.  You can withdraw the $1,000 back to your checking accounts for free. That's $2,000 no-hassle per month for free.
iv. Spend $500 elsewhere each month and you've done it.  You can get visa gift cards (for a maximum $6.95 fee) and load them to Serve for free.

If meeting that Discover card bonus is your only goal, the above is what I would do.  Also, you should google Redbird.  If you are in a participating state, it could be even easier.

Wow, that looks really simple, and definitely worth serious consideration. Thanks for the clear, step by step answer!
While the Discover offer is why I started looking into this, I wouldn't mind being able to pay other things (not normally paid via CC) with it, especially for our large regular expenses (e.g., mortgages), if the process is relatively hassle free.

And not in a state with Redbird.