Bank of America: A Poor Man's Credit Card?

[pennccrn]

Hi all. So I've been a BofA credit card holders since I was 19 and while I used to have three cards, I now only have one card with a 10k limit. Flash forward a decade, my credit runs in the 790-810 range have 7 other cards with other issuers and each with more generous limits and rewards. I could close this BofA account without it stinging too much. But I started to look at BofA's card profile offerings and I thought to myself, these cards just all plain suck in terms of what they offer. Anyway, this got me thinking - is Bank of America credit card directed to modest income earners? With all the competition in the marketplace why haven't they stepped up? Thought? Complaints? Fire away.

[Anonymous]

BofA is a "relationship" bank.  They thrive on conservative customers who don't expect too much or want too much.

That being said, if there is no AF, keep it.  Toss it in the SD, give it $10 every 3 months of light usage and move on to better cards with better rewards.

[galahad15]

I have 4 BoA cards (1 CR WMC, 2 BBRs, and 1 TR VS).  All in all, I am very pleased with the BoA cards that I have collected thus far to date.

OP:  you are aware that with the right banking relationship and proportion of financial assets with BoA, that you can get up to 2.65%(?) cashback on all purchases?  Depending on which tier you're at in terms of investments, etc.  Or so I've heard mentioned before, on the forums...not bad, in mho...

[K-in-Boston]

Have you considered asking them for a credit line increase?  Unless you have a very low income, with your scores it doesn't look like that's happened lately.  Try asking for $50k or more and they'll counter.  You may be surprised to immediately see that limit dwarf all of your others - then try again 90 days later.  And as already stated, your relationship with them can make virtually all of their cards very worthwhile.  If the Cash Rewards isn't working out for you, BOA is pretty flexible about doing a product change - it may just take a month to get the new physical card.  BoA is a relationship that I was very neutral on until the past 2 years - now I'll likely be a lifelong cardmember.  They have truly surprised me with the improvements they have made in their customer service, as well.  I would honestly put them on par with NFCU these days.

[cmm89]

Very much this, yes. I have Bank of America for CHK and SAV, but also have a ML investment account that is Platinum Honors Plus (IRA, $100K +).... I get 2.63 points per dollar spent on my BofA Travel Rewards card. Plus, I'm in the stages of rebuilding right now and they approved me for by far my highest limit. I run all of my monthly spend through it because I also get a Welcome Bonus of 20,000 points after $1,000 in spend after the first 90 days. I'll have no problem hitting that... already there!

I like BofA/ML a lot. My advisor is top notch. I have 24/7 customer service that connects directly to a representative if I call from my cell phone with no prompts... they can help with anything. I won't be leaving any time soon.

[Anonymous]

---

@K-in-Boston wrote:

Have you considered asking them for a credit line increase?  Unless you have a very low income, with your scores it doesn't look like that's happened lately.  Try asking for $50k or more and they'll counter.  You may be surprised to immediately see that limit dwarf all of your others - then try again 90 days later.  And as already stated, your relationship with them can make virtually all of their cards very worthwhile.  If the Cash Rewards isn't working out for you, BOA is pretty flexible about doing a product change - it may just take a month to get the new physical card.  BoA is a relationship that I was very neutral on until the past 2 years - now I'll likely be a lifelong cardmember.  They have truly surprised me with the improvements they have made in their customer service, as well.  I would honestly put them on par with NFCU these days.

---

Do you think BoA would be a good match for me then as far as CC's go? I've been a checking customer of theirs for three and a half decades, counting predecessor regional banks, so in that respect I've had a relationship with them for pretty much my entire adult lifetime. I did have a secondary mortgage with them that was included in my 2014 BK but it's getting close to 3 years now.

[Anonymous]

BOA cash rewards is the only no annual fee card I have that actually gives me 3.75% on gas and 2.5% on some walmarts and targets. If it wasn't for their preferred program relationship, I still would be getting 3% and 2% anyway. Both Chase and Amex excludes Walmart and Target, but BOA counts it. Even with the Amex BCP you'll have to pay a 95 fee and it still doesn't add up to my 3.75% in gas (and ties it with 3% without Preferred teirs). Both Chase and Discover caps off their quarterly rewards to $1500, and BOA.....RAISED theirs to $2500!. 

They Also started me off with a pretty huge limit and there's been many posts of which people got generous CLI, a big consensus is the card grows fast and theres plenty of people here with some big monster limits with BOA. Also, for whats it worth...in my opinion I see that alot of people have a harder time getting their cards compared to others. A lot of people get rejected or counter with a secure card. This tells me...they actually got some higher standards! It feels good to get in with a card that not everyone can just get approved for. 

It's a Prime Lender and In terms of improvment I also read on DoC that they are looking to get into the premium card market with a special travel card this coming fall.

It''s almost an insult to me to call Bofa a Poor Man's Credit Card lol.....

[AverageJoesCredit]

If Boa was a poor mans credit card, id be swimming in them.

[Loquat]

---

@AverageJoesCredit wrote:
If Boa was a poor mans credit card, id be swimming in them.

---

AJC, you make me giggle! 

[Anonymous]

I agree with everyone. I have BofA checking acct since 1990. I used to use their credit cards in the past but their rewards weren't that great so I closed the cards with them. However, I applied for the travel card last year in Jan with 21k credit limit and now my limit is a monster 100k. I am also a preferred customer. I use this card for everything and earn back 2.63 on everything. The only bad thing about them is their bank lines are long and sometimes takes longer to get a hold of someone over the phone.