BOA Better Balanced Rewards Card

[Anonymous]

I've had the BOA BBR for quite a while now, but have never received the $25 cash back per quarter. I kind of just gave up and forgot about it, but it's about time I tried to figure it out...

I have my Ooma autopaying on the card, which charges between $3 to $4 per month, and the full statement balance autopaying out of my bank acct every month. Some people say that we have to spend over $25 monthly in order to "pay more than the minimum balance," while others say that you can just charge $2/month and pay the full $2 and still qualify for the $25 reward. Can anyone tell me which one is true?

If the latter is true, then I should have qualified for the rewards all this time, but I guess the reward comes in the form of a statement credit. So does that mean that for the month after a quarter ends, I have to charge over $25? The $25 for the statement credit to take off, and the extra so that I still have a statement balance to pay to qualify for the reward for that next quarter?

I only have a few monthly bills over $25 that I can autopay but have been using other CCs with at least 5% cash back for them. But I realized that the $25 back per quarter is better than the cash back on my other cards, so it's still worth it to use this card monthly.

Thanks to whoever can clear this up for me!

On a side note, this card has an $800 CL, my lowest. I got it when I just started college and didn't really have credit. I have called in the past few years about CLIs, but they always wanted to HP. Does BOA do SPs? I can't decide if it's worth the HP to up this CL, but it's pretty annoying that it's been at $800 for all these years, and may stay there forever, since I feel it's more worth it to app a new card if I'm getting a HP. And if I do do the CLI with a HP, how much increase do you think they would give me?

[celluloid17]

I've had the card since April and I've received two quarterly bonuses thus far (once in July and the other just a few days ago).  I've made sure to put at least $25 on this card a month and not make a payment until after the statement cuts but before the due date. During the month that the quarterly bonus posts (beginning of each new quarter: Jan/Apr/Jul/Oct), I make sure I charge at least $50 so that there's always at least a $25 balance (after the bonus amount is deducted) for me to pay in full once that month's statement cuts.

This is not a Netflix and forget it card.  There's some management involved, but it's an easy $100 if you work it right. 

[Anonymous]

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@celluloid17 wrote:

I've had the card since April and I've received two quarterly bonuses thus far (once in July and the other just a few days ago).  I've made sure to put at least $25 on this card a month and not make a payment until after the statement cuts but before the due date. During the month that the quarterly bonus posts (beginning of each new quarter: Jan/Apr/Jul/Oct), I make sure I charge at least $50 so that there's always at least a $25 balance (after the bonus amount is deducted) for me to pay in full once that month's statement cuts.

This is not a Netflix and forget it card.  There's some management involved, but it's an easy $100 if you work it right. 

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Tempted by this card, lol....An extra $100/year for "doing nothing" is certainly welcome.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I've had the BOA BBR for quite a while now, but have never received the $25 cash back per quarter. I kind of just gave up and forgot about it, but it's about time I tried to figure it out...

I have my Ooma autopaying on the card, which charges between $3 to $4 per month, and the full statement balance autopaying out of my bank acct every month. Some people say that we have to spend over $25 monthly in order to "pay more than the minimum balance," while others say that you can just charge $2/month and pay the full $2 and still qualify for the $25 reward. Can anyone tell me which one is true?

If the latter is true, then I should have qualified for the rewards all this time, but I guess the reward comes in the form of a statement credit. So does that mean that for the month after a quarter ends, I have to charge over $25? The $25 for the statement credit to take off, and the extra so that I still have a statement balance to pay to qualify for the reward for that next quarter?

I only have a few monthly bills over $25 that I can autopay but have been using other CCs with at least 5% cash back for them. But I realized that the $25 back per quarter is better than the cash back on my other cards, so it's still worth it to use this card monthly.

Thanks to whoever can clear this up for me!

On a side note, this card has an $800 CL, my lowest. I got it when I just started college and didn't really have credit. I have called in the past few years about CLIs, but they always wanted to HP. Does BOA do SPs? I can't decide if it's worth the HP to up this CL, but it's pretty annoying that it's been at $800 for all these years, and may stay there forever, since I feel it's more worth it to app a new card if I'm getting a HP. And if I do do the CLI with a HP, how much increase do you think they would give me?

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i wanted a MasterCard and decided to go for the BOA MLB MasterCard, The BOA BBR MasterCard Doesn't seem that interesting to me... https://www.bankofamerica.com/credit-cards/products/better-balance-rewards.go ..........BETTER..... https://www.bankofamerica.com/credit-cards/products/mlb-credit-cards.go

[CreditDunce]

BoA always HPs for customer initiated CLI requests.   However, they have a reputation for being generous with the CLIs. 

I have been using BoA's cash back offers to meet my spend.  For the past two months, I have been able to get pet stuff at 10% off.  It is not as easy as putting a small monthly bill on the card.  However, I don't have any small bills to use.

You should have received your statement credit a few days ago if you qualified for last quarter's bonus. 

[Anonymous]

You do not have to charge $25 to get the credit; your Ooma charge should be fine.  But you're right, if the credit hits your credit card account, you'd have to spend more that month to overcome it.

Between DW and I we have four of these cards. So far this year, we're 12 for 12 of the $30 credits. Most months I make a single charge between $1 and $2 on each card. I've never tried to slice it by charging <$1 (why tempt fate?) but I have charged as little as $1. A few months I've charged more, when there's a good BankAmeriDeal that's beneficial to me anyway; 10% or 15% off at somewhere I shop anyway trumps any cashback I'd get from another card. And as an added bonus, if I haven't made my charge yet for that month on that card, it'll count for that, too. I've also set up autopay of the full statement balance monthly from my checking account.

We're lucky enough to have snagged BofA e-Checking accounts with no fees and no minimum balance before they axed that program. So far, they're letting us keep those open. So we can direct our bonus to go to the checking account and not muddy up the credit card balance. Same with the BankAmeriDeals cashback. We lost a bonus or two in 2013 before I figured out the deposit-to-checking trick. And having the BofA deposit accounts bumps the bonus from $25 to $30 for each card.

I have to admit, without the BofA checking accounts to dump the bonuses into, this program would be more of a pain. I guess I'd have to make sure in award months (January, April, July, October) to have at least $26 charged on each card, and maybe the month after, depending on when the statement was cut in relation to when the award was credited. And I'd need to watch out and adjust for any BankAmeriDeals credits, which seem to arrive on an unpredictable schedule. Might make it questionable to participate in those at all.

Chris.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

You do not have to charge $25 to get the credit; your Ooma charge should be fine.

Between DW and I we have four of these cards. So far this year, we're 12 for 12 of the $30 credits. Most months I make a single charge between $1 and $2 on each card. I've never tried to slice it by charging <$1 (why tempt fate?) but I have charged as little as $1. A few months I've charged more, when there's a good BankAmeriDeal that's beneficial to me anyway; 10% or 15% off at somewhere I shop anyway trumps any cashback I'd get from another card. And as an added bonus, if I haven't made my charge yet for that month on that card, it'll count for that, too. I've also set up autopay of the full statement balance monthly from my checking account.

We're lucky enough to have snagged BofA e-Checking accounts with no fees and no minimum balance before they axed that program. So far, they're letting us keep those open. So we can direct our bonus to go to the checking account and not muddy up the credit card balance. Same with the BankAmeriDeals cashback. We lost a bonus or two in 2013 before I figured out the deposit-to-checking trick. And having the checking accounts bumps the bonus from $25 to $30 for each card.

I have to admit, without the BofA checking accounts to dump the bonuses into, this program would be more of a pain. I guess I'd have to make sure in award months (January, April, July, October) to have at least $26 charged on each card, and maybe the month after, depending on when the statement was cut in relation to when the award was credited. And I'd need to watch out fand adjust or any BankAmeriDeals credits, which seem to arrive on an unpredictable schedule. Might make it questionable to participate in those at all.

Chris.

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I may have to see if BoA still has me blacklisted and see if this is an option for the Wife and I.

[Anonymous]

I PCed from Cash Rewards 123 to the BBR a while ago. Your MLB card seems to be the 123 as well. I guess it depends on how much you spend with the card. If you spent $50 on gas a month, you'd get 3% cash back per month. In a quarter you'd get $4.50 cash back, with BBR you'd get $25 instead, which is a pretty big difference. However, if you spent up to the limit of $1500 in gas a quarter, you'd get $45 in cash back, which does trump the BBR's $25. But my Sallie Mae has 5% gas and Costco business TE for 4% gas, so I never used my 123 card for gas.

ETA: Hm, I tried to reply to Super_AL's post. How do I quote?

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I PCed from Cash Rewards 123 to the BBR a while ago. Your MLB card seems to be the 123 as well. I guess it depends on how much you spend with the card. If you spent $50 on gas a month, you'd get 3% cash back per month. In a quarter you'd get $4.50 cash back, with BBR you'd get $25 instead, which is a pretty big difference. However, if you spent up to the limit of $1500 in gas a quarter, you'd get $45 in cash back, which does trump the BBR's $25. But my Sallie Mae has 5% gas and Costco business TE for 4% gas, so I never used my 123 card for gas.

ETA: Hm, I tried to reply to Super_AL's post. How do I quote?

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To Reply just click "Quote" at the top of the page on the right......................And about the MLB, i see your point

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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i wanted a MasterCard and decided to go for the BOA MLB MasterCard, The BOA BBR MasterCard Doesn't seem that interesting to me... https://www.bankofamerica.com/credit-cards/products/better-balance-rewards.go ..........BETTER..... https://www.bankofamerica.com/credit-cards/products/mlb-credit-cards.go

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MLB card better? I guess that depends on your other choices.

I do like the $100 signup bonus on the MLB card, but after snagging that, I'd be tempted to immediately convert it to a BBR card. Why?  Well, for me, I get 5% on groceries and gas on my SallieMae card, and failing that, cards that offer 2% to 4% on groceries/gas, so the ongoing 3%/2% on the MLB card doesn't do anything for me.

But even if my only other choice for gas and groceries were a 1% card, to break even with the BBR credit I'd have to spend on the MLB card $1,000 on gas or $1,500 on groceries or some combination thereof quarterly, which would be a stretch for me. And actually, even in that break-even scenario, I'd be $10-$15 ahead to use a 1% card for gas/groceries *and* use the BBR for a minimal monthly purchase.  To truly make the MLB card pay off as opposed to the BBR plus a 1% card, Id have to be spending an additional $500 in the bonus categories quarterly.  

YMMV.

Chris.

ETA:  Rats, ems7 stole my thunder!