Better Balance Rewards Question!

[lg8302ch]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Hey guys, 

I'm hoping someone can help me here with my Bank of America BBR rewards card. This month I had a credit post and now my statement that is due on November 6th is reporting a credit that carried over in the amount of $19.21. I'm not sure what to do to still qualify for the next quarter as the credit already carried over. Do I still make a payment? If so, in what amount? This card is confusing so I want to be sure I don't disqualify myself for the next quarter. Here's what my Balance / Statement said:

Due Date: 11/06/2016

Account Balance: 19.21(CR)

Any help would be appreciated!

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If that is the amount your statement got cut then I hate to say but that will disqualify you for that quarter ... if it is only your present balance and the statement not yet cut then you will need to spend more than  20$ to have the statement cut with a positive figure to be able to earn the rewards.  0 balances or credit balances disqualify for rewards even if only 1 statement  

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Do you even have any BBRs??

Anyway, yes the 300 savings is totally worth it.  And you actually can deposit the rewards into anyones boa savings/checking so no need to even make it a joint account, you automatically get the bonus.

Just a little frustrated with them. their language for the bonus even states that you get he first bonus right away as long as you made a payment for just one month of the quarter.  My SO did not get a bonus on one of the cards yet.

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FWIW, we did not receive the initial quarter bonus for *any* of the four BBR cards we have.  I called and fought for two of them, quoting the exact language of the offer, and got a few CSR's to agree with me and put in for the adjustment but then...nothing.  Finally gave up because it just wasn't worth my time banging my head against the wall.

Chris.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Themanwhocan wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:
From the research I've done on this site, I plan on getting a Merrill Edge cash management account when I apply for a BBR. Avoids any hoops to jump through of fees/minimum balance that BoA accounts have, while still getting the extra $5.

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No, I looked into that option as well. Here is the appropriate text regarding Merrill Lynch CMA accounts:

Account fees at a glance

Through the CMA Annual Account Fee Waiver Program(16) you have the opportunity to benefit from annual account fee waivers for your CMA account(s) and CMA SubAccount(s). The annual account fees will be automatically waived for the calendar year if you have $250,000 or more in eligible Merrill Lynch statement linked assets(17) and meet certain qualification criteria at the time your accounts are reviewed. Otherwise, there is a $125 annual account fee for each CMA account and a $25 annual account fee for each CMA SubAccount. Additional fees may apply for certain account services; please refer to the account agreement for details.

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That's the Merrill Lynch cma, check out the Merrill Edge cma.

https://www.merrilledge.com/pricing#tab2

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Do you even have any BBRs??

Anyway, yes the 300 savings is totally worth it.  And you actually can deposit the rewards into anyones boa savings/checking so no need to even make it a joint account, you automatically get the bonus.

Just a little frustrated with them. their language for the bonus even states that you get he first bonus right away as long as you made a payment for just one month of the quarter.  My SO did not get a bonus on one of the cards yet.

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Nope, but I plan on getting one. Just sharing some info I found during that planning.  I don't want a savings account there, so if I can find a way to not have to park $300 with them, that's the route I'm going to take. Maybe others feel the same... Is that ok??

[Anonymous]

GRR! It happened again this time my statement generated and left me with a zero balance. I still made a $5 payment but I am starting to get fed up of this credit card. I think it's not easy to keep track of when the credit will post and thus throws everything off. It's definitely easier if you have a bank account with them to have it directly deposited to the account. 

Does anyone know for sure if a zero balance disqualifies you? 

[UncleB]

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@Anonymous wrote:

GRR! It happened again this time my statement generated and left me with a zero balance. I still made a $5 payment but I am starting to get fed up of this credit card. I think it's not easy to keep track of when the credit will post and thus throws everything off. It's definitely easier if you have a bank account with them to have it directly deposited to the account. 

Does anyone know for sure if a zero balance disqualifies you? 

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Dang, I'm sorry to hear that.

From what I understand you do have to have a 'balance' report on the statement, and I've always assumed that meant not just payment activity but an actual amount due... I would love to find out I'm wrong, though, and I do hope it works out for you.

As a data-point for others about getting the bonus after account opening, I opened my BBR #2 in January and got the bonus a few days ago, so at least in my case it worked as advertised. 

I can see how it would be frustrating to deal with the $25 credit wiping out a small balance; I get around this by carrying a 0% BT on BBR #1 and having a $32 dental plan auto-debit set for BBR #2, so that even when the $25 credit posts I still have a balance due.  At some point I'll probably get around to opening the $300 savings account with BoA to get the extra $20 (x2) but I'm in no hurry to have $300 perpetually locked away.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

GRR! It happened again this time my statement generated and left me with a zero balance. I still made a $5 payment but I am starting to get fed up of this credit card. I think it's not easy to keep track of when the credit will post and thus throws everything off. It's definitely easier if you have a bank account with them to have it directly deposited to the account. 

Does anyone know for sure if a zero balance disqualifies you? 

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Regrattably, yes, one month with a zero balance disqualifies you for the quarter.

I know this card isn't for everyone. But unless BofA offers something spectacular to PC the card to, I think your best bet is to make it work. You've already made the effort (and probably the inquiry) to get the card.

It seems your choices are:
1. Make sure you charge at least $27 per month (or more precisely, that you have a $27 balance on January 5, April 5, July 5 and October 5) -OR-
2. Open a BofA checking or savings account, direct your rewards to that account, never have to worry about it again and make an extra $20 a year.

BofA deposit accounts do have maintenance fees, but they are offset by the $20 extra, and besides, there are ways around them. For example, if you can peel off $250 a month of your paycheck into a checking account, then immediately suck it out, that waives the checking maintenance fee. Or open a savings account and keep a spare $300 (think of it as part of your emergency fund) in there and that would waive the savings account maintenace fee. If you might otherwise have had that cash in an online savings account, you might be earning, what, 1%? So you'd be giving up $3 of interest to gain $120.

Chris.

[Anonymous]

ok so to my surprise I received the $25 credit this quarter. I have a balance of $30.79 so with the credit applied my new balance is $5.79. 

My payment due date is 08/06. 

Can I make a payment today for the full statement balance of $5.79 and would that qualify/count towards the current reward quarter? 

or does the payment have to be made on the due date? or does it not matter if it's paid before?

Any tips on this would be appreciated!

[Anonymous]

The customer service reps don't even know how to answer the question. You really can't trust BOA CSRs with accurate info.

[AverageJoesCredit]

What do you expect, they are Boa ConStRictorsS

[UncleB]

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@Anonymous wrote:

ok so to my surprise I received the $25 credit this quarter. I have a balance of $30.79 so with the credit applied my new balance is $5.79. 

My payment due date is 08/06. 

Can I make a payment today for the full statement balance of $5.79 and would that qualify/count towards the current reward quarter? 

or does the payment have to be made on the due date? or does it not matter if it's paid before?

Any tips on this would be appreciated!

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They don't care as long as you pay before it's late; I personally have never waited until the exact due date (I don't like pressing my luck with the calendar). 

In my experience with my two BBRs the only thing I really watch is to make sure that for the month that the $25 reward hits I still have a balance due... as long as that happens, you're golden.  This is really only an issue for someone who only uses the card for Netflix or some other inexpensive recurring payment, since after the $25 credit they might have a credit balance that month, which would mess up the reward for the following quarter. 

Also note that some have reported having really small balances 'forgiven' which will also mess up the reward for the following quarter.