Will BOA close all my accounts?

[kkapdolee]

I currently have a savings account with BOA which was opened recently for one purpose only.

I'm thinking of opening three of the same credit cards, the better balance rewards which gives you 30 dollars a quarter each if you have a banking account with BOA. I plan to make small recurring charges (ex: renter's insurance $18 a month) to each card and PIF every month AFTER the statement date to show a balance. That will be $360 a year cash back to my savings account each year hassle free.

I heard Chase closes all the accounts of a person who is deemed an abuser. Will BOA consider this a "perk abuse" of some sort and decide to close all my accounts? If so, will my FIA issued Fidelity Amex card also be closed? That's the only card that I really care about that is associated with BOA.

[Kenny]

Are you even allowed to have multiple cards and get the bonus on each one? just curious.

I have no clue how you would be considered an abuser since you're doing what the card is designed to do.

[kkapdolee]

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@KennyS2006 wrote:
Are you even allowed to have multiple cards and get the bonus on each one? just curious.

I have no clue how you would be considered an abuser since you're doing what the card is designed to do.

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http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Credit-Cards/Opening-same-cards-multiple-times/td-p/2593415

Based on this, I think I can but will need to check with BOA on that.

$30 a quarter is not a sign up bonus. That's just their rewards structure.

The card is apparently designed to encourage on time payments which is not necessary for me since I have made every single CC payments in my life in full each month. However, if they give me $10 back a month for charging $18 a month on the card, that's more than 50% cash back which is a guaranteed money loser for BOA. Although I am not going for multiple sign up bonuses or anything, I was wondering if I take these 50%+ cash back every month on three different credit cards from them, they might somehow close my accounts? I don't really care if they close my better balance rewards cards since if they're not going to pay the quarterly cash, they are worthless to me anyways. I'm just worried about my Fidelity Amex card which I like.

[Creditaddict]

why not just get the American Express Blue Cash Preferred through Creditcards.com and get the $250 sign up bonus and save yourself from trying to get 3 of the same card and charging just small things just to get the quarterly reward.

Chase had a $200 Freedom offer

Discover has $150 offer

better offers out there for less work I think!

[longtimelurker]

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@kkapdolee wrote:

I currently have a savings account with BOA which was opened recently for one purpose only.

I'm thinking of opening three of the same credit cards, the better balance rewards which gives you 30 dollars a quarter each if you have a banking account with BOA. I plan to make small recurring charges (ex: renter's insurance $18 a month) to each card and PIF every month AFTER the statement date to show a balance. That will be $360 a year cash back to my savings account each year hassle free.

I heard Chase closes all the accounts of a person who is deemed an abuser. Will BOA consider this a "perk abuse" of some sort and decide to close all my accounts? If so, will my FIA issued Fidelity Amex card also be closed? That's the only card that I really care about that is associated with BOA.

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Abuse (usually) applies to much higher amounts, for Chase at least several hundred $ in rewards a month with the 5% AARP and similar on Freedom (micro-transactions), and probably thousands per month with Citi TYP.  However Chase also has other rules, such as "illegal" transfer of UR points getting you shut down regardless of amount.

As others have said, this really isn't "abuse" of that sort, I think it is much more likely that either they prevent you opening the cards in the first place or eventually will ask you to close all but one of them, without impacting the Fidelity card.  That said, all issuers reserve the right to close the cards for any non-prohibited reason, but this really seems way below the risk level they worry about.

[enharu]

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@longtimelurker wrote:

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@kkapdolee wrote:

I currently have a savings account with BOA which was opened recently for one purpose only.

I'm thinking of opening three of the same credit cards, the better balance rewards which gives you 30 dollars a quarter each if you have a banking account with BOA. I plan to make small recurring charges (ex: renter's insurance $18 a month) to each card and PIF every month AFTER the statement date to show a balance. That will be $360 a year cash back to my savings account each year hassle free.

I heard Chase closes all the accounts of a person who is deemed an abuser. Will BOA consider this a "perk abuse" of some sort and decide to close all my accounts? If so, will my FIA issued Fidelity Amex card also be closed? That's the only card that I really care about that is associated with BOA.

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Abuse (usually) applies to much higher amounts, for Chase at least several hundred $ in rewards a month with the 5% AARP and similar on Freedom (micro-transactions), and probably thousands per month with Citi TYP.  However Chase also has other rules, such as "illegal" transfer of UR points getting you shut down regardless of amount.

As others have said, this really isn't "abuse" of that sort, I think it is much more likely that either they prevent you opening the cards in the first place or eventually will ask you to close all but one of them, without impacting the Fidelity card.  That said, all issuers reserve the right to close the cards for any non-prohibited reason, but this really seems way below the risk level they worry about.

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+1

If you are worried, then don't do it. Simple as that.

MS / rewards churning of any sort always has some sort of risks associated with it. It's hard to predict the tolerance level of each lender for each of their products because they do not make any of these data known to public.

[toppers555]

i doubt they even let you open 3 better rewards accounts. bu this does remind me I need ti switch my travel rewards to better rewards soon. 

[Themanwhocan]

There is one thing about the Bank of America Better Balance Rewards card that puzzles/concerns me.

The APR for Purchases stuff in the Terms and Conditions page seem normal enough. However, a little farther down in the Fees section, there is:

Transaction Fees - Purchases:  Purchases of wire transfers from a non-financial institution:
Either $10 or 5% of the amount of each transaction, whichever is greater.

So, what do they consider a wire transfer? If I setup auto pay for my Internet DSL line, will they consider that a wire transfer from a nonfinancial institution, and charge me at least $30 per quarter? If so, benefit completely negated.

[longtimelurker]

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@Themanwhocan wrote:

There is one thing about the Bank of America Better Balance Rewards card that puzzles/concerns me.

The APR for Purchases stuff in the Terms and Conditions page seem normal enough. However, a little farther down in the Fees section, there is:

Transaction Fees - Purchases:  Purchases of wire transfers from a non-financial institution:
Either $10 or 5% of the amount of each transaction, whichever is greater.

So, what do they consider a wire transfer? If I setup auto pay for my Internet DSL line, will they consider that a wire transfer from a nonfinancial institution, and charge me at least $30 per quarter? If so, benefit completely negated.

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No, wire transfer has a specific meaning and would not count auto-pay etc.

[MACFRME]

@Themanwhocan: I think that would be negated by the definition they give for "purchase," which would most definitely cover an automatic payment for DSL being billed to the card. They are talking about sending money via Western Union or Moneygram with the card, because it is a cash equivalent wire transfer that is being purchased from a non-financial institution. I would argue that they are defining those as financial service providers, but not "financial institutions" (AKA banks).