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Stupid question about BofA Better Balance Rewards

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gh17
Frequent Contributor

Stupid question about BofA Better Balance Rewards

I justed PC'ed my cash rewards to Better Balance Rewards (hasn't come in the mail yet).

 

Are the only redemption options into a BofA account or statement credit?  I don't have a BofA account (no interest in setting one up - I used to have one and recently closed it).  I was planning on putting my Netflix subscription onto this card to generate non-zero statements without giving up many rewards on other cards.  But if I get a $25 statement credit one quarter, now my bill's at -$25, and if I'm only putting an $8 charge on it, it's still going to be a <0 statement for the next few months.  In which case I won't qualify for the next quarter's $25 reward.

 

Obviously I can get around this by charging $25 of stuff onto the card after receiving the reward, but I was hoping to just use it for Netflix and nothing else and not really need to think about it.

BofA Cash Rewards 25,000 (2009) | Citi Double Cash 25,000 (2011) | Cap1 Quicksilver 10,000 (2013) | Discover It 31,000 (2014) | Chase Freedom 9000 (2014) | Barclaycard Rewards 25,000 (2014)

FICO: 840 Discover/Barclays/BofA TU, 869 Citi Equifax
Message 1 of 8
7 REPLIES 7
celluloid17
Established Contributor

Re: Stupid question about BofA Better Balance Rewards

Do you have any bills that are greater than $25 that you can put on this card monthly?  Or perhaps one other bill in addition to the Netflix subscription?  Something small.

 

I put my cell phone bill on it, which is about $60 a month.  I figure I'm saving about 14% on that bill each month when I factor that I'm getting $100 back annually from the card.  

Message 2 of 8
gh17
Frequent Contributor

Re: Stupid question about BofA Better Balance Rewards


@celluloid17 wrote:

Do you have any bills that are greater than $25 that you can put on this card monthly?  Or perhaps one other bill in addition to the Netflix subscription?  Something small.

 

I put my cell phone bill on it, which is about $60 a month.  I figure I'm saving about 14% on that bill when you consider that I'm getting $100 back annually from the card.  


Yeah I can put my cell phone or Comcast or something on it.  But I liked the idea of doing really small purchases and keeping my other purchases on rewards cards - obviously we're only talking like $10 a year in rewards sacrificed here, but still, it's not like I'm raking in thousands of dollars in rewards each year, and I like to maximize it.

 

So like, my $50 phone bill * 12 * .015 = $9 from my Quicksilver each year.

 

Again, pretty much talking pennies, but in general all CC rewards aren't talking lucrative amounts of cash. I'll assume no other redemption options though, oh well.  Smiley Happy

BofA Cash Rewards 25,000 (2009) | Citi Double Cash 25,000 (2011) | Cap1 Quicksilver 10,000 (2013) | Discover It 31,000 (2014) | Chase Freedom 9000 (2014) | Barclaycard Rewards 25,000 (2014)

FICO: 840 Discover/Barclays/BofA TU, 869 Citi Equifax
Message 3 of 8
gh17
Frequent Contributor

Re: Stupid question about BofA Better Balance Rewards

Hmm -

 

"If either the primary or co-applicant for this card has at least one checking, savings or individual retirement account with Bank of America N.A., a Cash Management Account®, Merrill Edge® or any other account with Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated or U.S. Trust, the card account will receive a customer bonus of $5 for each quarter you qualify, for a total of $30 per quarter."

 

Does my 401k qualify?

BofA Cash Rewards 25,000 (2009) | Citi Double Cash 25,000 (2011) | Cap1 Quicksilver 10,000 (2013) | Discover It 31,000 (2014) | Chase Freedom 9000 (2014) | Barclaycard Rewards 25,000 (2014)

FICO: 840 Discover/Barclays/BofA TU, 869 Citi Equifax
Message 4 of 8
celluloid17
Established Contributor

Re: Stupid question about BofA Better Balance Rewards


@gh17 wrote:

Yeah I can put my cell phone or Comcast or something on it.  But I liked the idea of doing really small purchases and keeping my other purchases on rewards cards - obviously we're only talking like $10 a year in rewards sacrificed here, but still, it's not like I'm raking in thousands of dollars in rewards each year, and I like to maximize it.

 

So like, my $50 phone bill * 12 * .015 = $9 from my Quicksilver each year.

 

Again, pretty much talking pennies, but in general all CC rewards aren't talking lucrative amounts of cash. I'll assume no other redemption options though, oh well.  Smiley Happy


Just think, you'd be saving a lot more on that cell phone bill if you put in on your BBR card as opposed to the QS.  If your bill is $50 a month (or $600 a year), you'd be saving about 16.5% a year on your cell phone bill if you factor the $100 you'll be getting in total from the card.  $100 is much better savings than $9!

Message 5 of 8
gh17
Frequent Contributor

Re: Stupid question about BofA Better Balance Rewards


@celluloid17 wrote:

@gh17 wrote:

Yeah I can put my cell phone or Comcast or something on it.  But I liked the idea of doing really small purchases and keeping my other purchases on rewards cards - obviously we're only talking like $10 a year in rewards sacrificed here, but still, it's not like I'm raking in thousands of dollars in rewards each year, and I like to maximize it.

 

So like, my $50 phone bill * 12 * .015 = $9 from my Quicksilver each year.

 

Again, pretty much talking pennies, but in general all CC rewards aren't talking lucrative amounts of cash. I'll assume no other redemption options though, oh well.  Smiley Happy


Just think, you'd be saving a lot more on that cell phone bill if you put in on your BBR card as opposed to the QS.  If your bill is $50 a month (or $600 a year), you'd be saving about 16.5% a year on your cell phone bill if you factor the $100 you'll be getting in total from the card.  $100 is much better savings than $9!


I wouldn't think of it like that though... $109 is better than $100.  I'm not saving anything on my cell phone bill - I think of my cash back in aggregate.

 

Best case would be able to redeem towards something other than a statement credit and just make like $1 purchases.  But since that might not be possible I guess charging like $26 onto the card after a redemption.

 

I digress..

BofA Cash Rewards 25,000 (2009) | Citi Double Cash 25,000 (2011) | Cap1 Quicksilver 10,000 (2013) | Discover It 31,000 (2014) | Chase Freedom 9000 (2014) | Barclaycard Rewards 25,000 (2014)

FICO: 840 Discover/Barclays/BofA TU, 869 Citi Equifax
Message 6 of 8
Kenny
Moderator Emeritus

Re: Stupid question about BofA Better Balance Rewards

Just redirect some of your spend that you don't have a category for to go to the BBR to keep greater than 30 dollars a month if you don't want to worry about a 0 balance.

The not worrying about having a zero balance to me by having the redemption automatically go to my checking is a great thing.
Message 7 of 8
Kenny
Moderator Emeritus

Re: Stupid question about BofA Better Balance Rewards


@gh17 wrote:

@celluloid17 wrote:

@gh17 wrote:

Yeah I can put my cell phone or Comcast or something on it.  But I liked the idea of doing really small purchases and keeping my other purchases on rewards cards - obviously we're only talking like $10 a year in rewards sacrificed here, but still, it's not like I'm raking in thousands of dollars in rewards each year, and I like to maximize it.

 

So like, my $50 phone bill * 12 * .015 = $9 from my Quicksilver each year.

 

Again, pretty much talking pennies, but in general all CC rewards aren't talking lucrative amounts of cash. I'll assume no other redemption options though, oh well.  Smiley Happy


Just think, you'd be saving a lot more on that cell phone bill if you put in on your BBR card as opposed to the QS.  If your bill is $50 a month (or $600 a year), you'd be saving about 16.5% a year on your cell phone bill if you factor the $100 you'll be getting in total from the card.  $100 is much better savings than $9!


I wouldn't think of it like that though... $109 is better than $100.  I'm not saving anything on my cell phone bill - I think of my cash back in aggregate.

 

Best case would be able to redeem towards something other than a statement credit and just make like $1 purchases.  But since that might not be possible I guess charging like $26 onto the card after a redemption.

 

I digress..


I understand what you're saying, but it's not like it's a 5% cb category that you're putting your cell on. Any spend you do that isn't category could go to the QS -- so any spend put on the BBR can be taking away from the QS. Just need to pick the 30 or so that doesn't matter too much and put that on the BBR.

Message 8 of 8
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