BofA Credit Card Upgrade Offer

[ZeroChance]

First, kudos to everyone on this forum.  I discovered this site not too long ago while researching a rewards credit card a couple of months ago.  There is a wealth of information on this site, and I have learned so much in such a short time frame.  Thank you for maintaining such a great site.

Now here's my first post...  I received an unsolicited offer from Bank of America to "upgrade" my BofA low-interest Visa to a BankAmericard 1-2-3 Visa Signature.  I've had the card since 1995 (it was originally an MBNA college affinity card) and have a $20K credit limit.  There's no annual fee, and the current interest rate is 9%.  I use the card infrequently (maybe once a year), and I like it because it has a very low interest rate that I utilize when I carry a balance for few months.  Switching to a BankAmericard 1-2-3 Visa Signature is appealing however.  The cash back on groceries and gas looks like a good deal.  Nonetheless, it wouldn't become my primary card if I were to upgrade so I'm not necessarily looking for a new card.

Questions:

#1  Will I keep my low interest rate?

#2  Will I keep my current credit limit (or get a credit limit increase!)?

#3  Will I keep my opening date history? It's my oldest card!  I don't want to lose the age of the credit line?

#4  If I don't upgrade, will my current card be cancelled at some point?  Is BofA phasing out my card?

Any input is helpful.  I'm going to call customer service tomorrow for further details but thought I would check with the knowledgeable folks here first.  I like to go into a call with good information!

Thank you!

[LS2982]

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@ZeroChance wrote:

First, kudos to everyone on this forum.  I discovered this site not too long ago while researching a rewards credit card a couple of months ago.  There is a wealth of information on this site, and I have learned so much in such a short time frame.  Thank you for maintaining such a great site.

Now here's my first post...  I received an unsolicited offer from Bank of America to "upgrade" my BofA low-interest Visa to a BankAmericard 1-2-3 Visa Signature.  I've had the card since 1995 (it was originally an MBNA college affinity card) and have a $20K credit limit.  There's no annual fee, and the current interest rate is 9%.  I use the card infrequently (maybe once a year), and I like it because it has a very low interest rate that I utilize when I carry a balance for few months.  Switching to a BankAmericard 1-2-3 Visa Signature is appealing however.  The cash back on groceries and gas looks like a good deal.  Nonetheless, it wouldn't become my primary card if I were to upgrade so I'm not necessarily looking for a new card.

Questions:

#1  Will I keep my low interest rate?

#2  Will I keep my current credit limit (or get a credit limit increase!)?

#3  Will I keep my opening date history? It's my oldest card!  I don't want to lose the age of the credit line?

#4  If I don't upgrade, will my current card be cancelled at some point?  Is BofA phasing out my card?

Any input is helpful.  I'm going to call customer service tomorrow for further details but thought I would check with the knowledgeable folks here first.  I like to go into a call with good information!

Thank you!

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Welcome to the forums!!!

These are all things you need to discuss with a CSR either at a branch or over the phone before accepting the upgrade offer.

[rushx2112]

It won't report a credit limit (Visa Signature) so keep that in mind if you need the current limit for util purposes

[youngandcreditwrthy]

I think they want you to upgrade it so they can make more interest on you!!!

I can't think of one single card BOA has currently that would have a rate that low lol
Just my opinion lol

[TNTransplant]

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@ZeroChance wrote:

Questions:

#1  Will I keep my low interest rate?  I upgraded my Visa Platinum with them last Fall, and kept my interest rate of 9.9%

#2  Will I keep my current credit limit (or get a credit limit increase!)?  Kept the current credit limit

#3  Will I keep my opening date history? It's my oldest card!  I don't want to lose the age of the credit line?  I kept my opening date (2002) - just received a new card/new #, but it reports the same with a 10 year history.  Also, it did convert to the Visa Sig, which means that on EQ and TU the limit does not report for me; it does on EX, however.

#4  If I don't upgrade, will my current card be cancelled at some point?  Is BofA phasing out my card?  Don't know about this, but I didn't want to miss the chance at better rewards while keeping the same rate.

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[withaspark]

To second tnt:

I converted bofa plat plus to rewards and kept 9.9% rate, 20k limit (now only revolving limit), and a new account was added to my reports with my original open date and history. Credit limit eventually dropped off of all 3 reports after about 4 months.

Good luck!

[ZeroChance]

Here's an update...I called customer service this morning.  The very nice man said that my credit limit, interest rate, and opening date history all would be "grandfathered" into the new card if I were to upgrade.  If I do not upgrade, my current card will remain active.  There are no plans to close the account from their point of view.  I have until April 30 to upgrade, and so I'll give it further consideration.  My initial thoughts are to leave everything the same since it won't be my primary card and it reports a credit limit to the CRA's.

Interestingly, he asked if I had more than $5,000 balance on my other credit cards.  This was more than I was planning or needed to discuss with him, and so I vaguely answered the question and tried to end the coversation as soon as possible.  For some reason I am suspicious of the question.

Thank you to everyone who replied!

Zero

[youngandcreditwrthy]

He probably wanted to offer you a balance transfer or temporary cli!
When asked questions of that nature, I question them back lol and ask them why they are asking me lol!