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BoA VISA Platinum Card vs VISA Signature Card

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Thunderseven
Regular Contributor

BoA VISA Platinum Card vs VISA Signature Card

 

Interesting....

 

I just received an email offer from BoA to upgrade my VISA Platinum card to a VISA Signature card.  I read the fine print and this will change my account number as well as my limit.  Here's the paragraph that has me a little stumped.

 

"As a result of this upgrade, your account will have a revolving line, rather than a pre-set spending limit. This does not mean that all transactions will be approved. We will consider transactions for approval on an individual basis, including transactions in excess of the revolving line. If we have previously permitted transactions in excess of your revolving line, it does not mean that we will permit another transaction in excess of your revolving line. Your revolving line, which may also be referred to as a credit limit, will be disclosed to you when you receive your card and, generally, on each monthly statement. We may change your revolving line from time to time.

Except as amended above, all other terms of your Credit Card Agreement, including any recent or future amendments, will apply to your new account. All account history (including existing balances and credits) will transfer to your new card."

 

Not knowing too much about the different card options and offers, I thought I would come to the forums to solicit some feedback.  Is the Signature card being offered to me an actual upgrade, or just some kind of scam that BoA has going.  If it is an actual upgrade and won't hurt my credit profile in any way, I'll go for it.  But if others has been dinged by a similar type offer and this is an actual scam by BoA, I'll stick with what I have.

 

Has anyone else received an offer like this.  Thanks in advance for any feedback.

 

 

 

 

 

Thunderseven.....TU-8 835 (11/02/2023) EQ-8 822 (11/02/2023) EX-8 828 (11/02/2023) I don't ask for much, the truth will do just fine....
Message 1 of 6
5 REPLIES 5
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: BoA VISA Platinum Card vs VISA Signature Card

It isn't a scam.   It really is an upgrade, but you should be aware of the fine print that you've pointed out.

 

For example, lets say that your Visa Platinum card has a credit limit of 10,000.   When you look up your credit reports it will always display 10,000 as your credit limit and will factor that number in when figuring out how much of your credit you utilize.

 

It works differently with the Visa Signature cards.   BOA will set a credit limit that only you and they know about, lets say that its 10,000 again.   One of the benefits of a Visa Signature card is that you can charge up to twice that amount as long as you pay down your balance to 10000 when your statement cuts.  Only your high balance will show up on your credit report, and that is what some CRA's use to figure out your utilization.  So if you have a Visa Signature card that you've only had a 1000 balance on, thats the number that will be used in figuring out your credit score, not the 10000 number they should be using.

 

Bottom line is, if you have a lot of cards that report credit limits then you're fine.   If you only have 1 or 2 cards you might want to keep the account as is.

Message 2 of 6
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: BoA VISA Platinum Card vs VISA Signature Card

To add to this, I do have a BOA Visa Signature card. Only on Experian will it report the total Limit. On the other CRAs, it will not report a limit but will report as a Flexible Spending Limit. What has ended up happening is if I apply for something and they hit TU or EQ, they will also pull EX (this has happened with my Exxon card when I requested a CLI). I guess they want to see what the limit is.

 

A Visa Signature card is not a bad card is you have two other cards that match or exceed the limit. For example I have a Barclays Card for $5k and Discover for $4k. The Visa Signature is $7500. The thing I like about the Visa Signature card is hands down the concierge service. It helped me out finding a hotel for my nephew. I could have even booked the hotel through them but thankfully I decided against it as I was able to go through their list one by one and settled on one of the 5 or so. When I went through their website directly, I had saved about $400 the total price, plus had all the criteria I had asked for! (Free breakfast, double beds, 4 star hotel, the works!). My FICOs are currently decent. As of today, I have a 740 on TU and 696 on EQ (which would be much higher if I didn't have INQs and that cursed paid tax lien!).

 

So really, if you can afford not have a CL on your reports, it may be worth getting the Signature. You do get much more perks like the warranty manager. You can find it the whole list on the visa website. I like it.

Message 3 of 6
Thunderseven
Regular Contributor

Re: BoA VISA Platinum Card vs VISA Signature Card

 

Thank you both for sharing this information.  I do have three cards presently, all with similar CL's that I keep paid down to a fairly low UTL.  I think for now I'll just stay where I'm at since I do have one score I'm working on bringing back up.  Just bought a new truck and took a major hit for some reason on my TU.  The othe two CRA's didn't get dinged that bad.  EQ actually went up.  Go figure!!!  EX, who the hell knows, but EX?  Thanks again!!!

Thunderseven.....TU-8 835 (11/02/2023) EQ-8 822 (11/02/2023) EX-8 828 (11/02/2023) I don't ask for much, the truth will do just fine....
Message 4 of 6
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: BoA VISA Platinum Card vs VISA Signature Card

That's fine too. Just keep in mind that if you did make the switch, you retain the history of the card (I did) and as far a TU is concerned, you won't get dinged too heavy because it reports as a Flexible Spending Account and your util won't be affected that much.

Message 5 of 6
HiLine
Blogger

Re: BoA VISA Platinum Card vs VISA Signature Card


@Anonymous wrote:

To add to this, I do have a BOA Visa Signature card. Only on Experian will it report the total Limit. On the other CRAs, it will not report a limit but will report as a Flexible Spending Limit. What has ended up happening is if I apply for something and they hit TU or EQ, they will also pull EX (this has happened with my Exxon card when I requested a CLI). I guess they want to see what the limit is.

 


 

Oh great! If this is true, we won't have to worry about the unreported limit then Smiley Happy

Message 6 of 6
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