Anyone still use the BOA Travel Rewards Card?

[MrDisco99]

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@UpperNwGuy wrote:

I refuse to apply for the BOA Travel Rewards card, the Barclay Arrival Plus card, the Capital One Venture card, or any other card that limits my redemptions to statement credits for travel spending.  I already have a 2% cash back card that allows me to redeem for unrestricted cash.  Why get a card that restricts my redemptions to travel?

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The BoA TR card's points can be transferred to the Premium Rewards card and redeemed for cash.  The Barclay Arrival and Cap1 Venture cards can also be PC'd to other products where you can then redeem the same points for cash.

All of these cards are really only intersting for their signup bonuses.  Even if they are only redeemable for travel, they are still worth churning IMHO.

[xenon3030]

The two recent CCs of BOA Premium Rewards and Uber are two excellent CCs, practically without AF (AF of BOA PR would be covered by airline credit). If qualifing for PR might not be straightforward, the TR would be a good option.

I like to see more innovative, competitive and attractive products like these in the upcoming future. Otherwise, prefer to do gardening...

[Anonymous]

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@wasCB14 wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@kdm31091 wrote:

As I have mentioned on these forums many times, unless you are Preferred Rewards and getting 2.62% on every purchase with this card, I don't see much point in it. 1.5% that you can only spend on travel. What's the point? Why not just use a cash back card with an equal or greater return? You can get the same 1.5% or 2% in cold hard cash you can do whatever you want with.

Like I said, Preferred Rewards changes the discussion somewhat, but on its own, I think the card is underwhelming.

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Agreed. It's only great for fraud protection on purchases if you're someone who wants to safeguard your money, since BoA has the best fraud protection in the industry, or if you're an average credit card user who wants overdraft protection/all of your accounts at BoA, if you aren't a preferred customer. 

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What's the basis for this claim? I've no experience with BofA, but haven't heard this before.

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Chase and BoA are neck and neck. They both have next day reimbursment of debit card funds, and I'm sure the same is true with credit cards. 

[Shadowfactor]

Does BoA allow product changes from Travel Rewards to Premium Rewards ? Is there really any benefit to the PR over the TR ?

[MrDisco99]

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@Shadowfactor wrote:
Does BoA allow product changes from Travel Rewards to Premium Rewards ? Is there really any benefit to the PR over the TR ?

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Not sure about PC, but PR returns 2x on restaurants and travel vs. 1.5x on everything with the TR.  Also, PR points can be redeemed for statement credit, not just toward travel purchases.

[Shadowfactor]

I saw that, but it has a 95 annual fee.
Now I saw that you can use a 100 pre check credit every 4 years I think. But that’s still paying $95 three years for a tad better rewards.

[K-in-Boston]

@MrDisco99 covered the differences pretty well.  Also if you use the travel credit, they actually pay you $5 a year to have the card.  Plus there's the Global Entry reimbursement.  A PC should be possible as long as you have a minimum $5,000 credit line (unlike Travel Rewards and Cash Rewards, the Premium Rewards card is only issued as a Visa Signature product and BoA doesn't play loose with the $5k requirement), but you would be missing out on the $500 signup bonus.

[wasCB14]

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@Shadowfactor wrote:
I saw that, but it has a 95 annual fee.
Now I saw that you can use a 100 pre check credit every 4 years I think. But that’s still paying $95 three years for a tad better rewards.

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Don't forget the $100 annual airfare "extras" credit.

[K-in-Boston]

Also if you have Platinum Preferred Honors, that $95 can be recouped quickly on restaurant and travel purchases at 3.5% over the TR's across-the-board 2.625%.

[wasCB14]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@wasCB14 wrote:
What's the basis for this claim? I've no experience with BofA, but haven't heard this before.

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Chase and BoA are neck and neck. They both have next day reimbursment of debit card funds, and I'm sure the same is true with credit cards. 

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I'm a bit rusty on the debit side of things. How would Discover or Citi (or other banks/CUs) compare in the speed of reversing/reimbursing fraudulent debit transactions?