topic Re: How to use the BOA BBR effectively? in Credit Cards

How to use the BOA BBR effectively?

Anonymous — Sat, 24 Oct 2015 15:25:43 GMT

I'm interested in the BBR but have no idea how to use it in the least expensive way in order to get the $25 credits every quarter.

Re: How to use the BOA BBR effectively?

NRB525 — Sat, 24 Oct 2015 15:31:59 GMT

If you use it for $50 in purchases each month, for anything including groceries or gas, and then PIF, you are within the terms and will get the $25 per quarter.

In this type of spend volume, it will out earn any other card you could possibly hold.

Re: How to use the BOA BBR effectively?

Anonymous — Sat, 24 Oct 2015 16:10:43 GMT

Can you explain how you came up with $50? I'm just curious.

I have a utility bill that's $39.99 every month so I was wondering if that worked better instead of the $50

Re: How to use the BOA BBR effectively?

axlm — Sat, 24 Oct 2015 16:30:59 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Can you explain how you came up with $50? I'm just curious.

I have a utility bill that's $39.99 every month so I was wondering if that worked better instead of the $50

IME Bank of America's min payment is usually $25, so yes, that utility bill should be perfect.

To add, their wording says you earn the bonus by paying more than the minimum payment, but many people report getting the bonus just by charging Netflix and then PIF.

Re: How to use the BOA BBR effectively?

Anonymous — Sat, 24 Oct 2015 16:35:41 GMT

I keep thinking this would be a good card to get started with BofA, then I figure it's too much hassle. But the way it was put up above, it doesn't seem like a hassle at all. Wish I wouldn't have shredded the recent mailers. Next time, I'll think about it harder.

Re: How to use the BOA BBR effectively?

axlm — Sat, 24 Oct 2015 16:49:07 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I keep thinking this would be a good card to get started with BofA, then I figure it's too much hassle. But the way it was put up above, it doesn't seem like a hassle at all. Wish I wouldn't have shredded the recent mailers. Next time, I'll think about it harder.

I actually use it another way, not as rewarding but easier for me. Check here: http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Credit-Cards/Any-tricks-to-getting-rewards-on-Better-Balance-Rewards-card/m-p/4261108

Re: How to use the BOA BBR effectively?

NRB525 — Sat, 24 Oct 2015 17:11:49 GMT

@axlm wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
Can you explain how you came up with $50? I'm just curious.

I have a utility bill that's $39.99 every month so I was wondering if that worked better instead of the $50
IME Bank of America's min payment is usually $25, so yes, that utility bill should be perfect.

To add, their wording says you earn the bonus by paying more than the minimum payment, but many people report getting the bonus just by charging Netflix and then PIF.

The $50 is more than the typical minimum payment amount. The actual math I use is, take the $100 per year in rewards, and divide by 5%. That gives you $2,000 of annual spend you can put on the card, and count it as 5% rewards. If you put less than $2,000 spend on the card, then your reward rate goes up. $50 x 12 = $600, is less than $2,000.... Winning!

The utility bill would be perfect for this card. And you would never get anything like this reward rate on utility payments, so that makes it double perfect.

Re: How to use the BOA BBR effectively?

icyhot — Sat, 24 Oct 2015 17:16:58 GMT

Isn't the BBR for balance transfers and is essentially rewarding for paying your balance down faster for making over the minimum payment? Isn't that the most effective way to use it?

Re: How to use the BOA BBR effectively?

axlm — Sat, 24 Oct 2015 17:20:22 GMT

@icyhot wrote:
Isn't the BBR for balance transfers and is essentially rewarding for paying your balance down faster for making over the minimum payment? Isn't that the most effective way to use it?

That's how they like to advertise it, but you can surely find better ways to maximize those rewards

Re: How to use the BOA BBR effectively?

NRB525 — Sat, 24 Oct 2015 17:44:03 GMT

@icyhot wrote:
Isn't the BBR for balance transfers and is essentially rewarding for paying your balance down faster for making over the minimum payment? Isn't that the most effective way to use it?

It is one way to use it, but in that instance, you have to pay a 3% or 4% BT fee to get that balance set up. If one is going to do a BT anyway, yeah, not a bad deal.

If one does not carry balances, then regular use of the card for PIF spend is sufficient to get the $25 per quarter reward.

Re: How to use the BOA BBR effectively?

Anonymous — Sat, 24 Oct 2015 21:15:39 GMT

I use it for $1 amazon allowance every month before statement cut and auto pay $1 two/three days after statement date... I have had BBR since November and received the $30 rewards quarterly so far. A BofA savings is worth the cost of having $300 minimum balance with practically no APY (0.01% APY) because I redeem the $30 cash rewards to the savings account.

In one year, $300x0.0001=$0.03 and $120-$12=$108 so basically getting $108.03 of interest dividend for $300 is 36.01% 😀

Re: How to use the BOA BBR effectively?

Anonymous — Sat, 24 Oct 2015 22:11:59 GMT

Sweetdreams, thats a great idea! I imagine it wouldnt work as well without the savings account tho right? Without it, you would just get a $25 statement, leaving you with a credited balance, where it doesnt count towards the minimum payment I assume.

Re: How to use the BOA BBR effectively?

Anonymous — Sun, 25 Oct 2015 00:28:29 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I'm interested in the BBR but have no idea how to use it in the least expensive way in order to get the $25 credits every quarter.

I did a BT to make it easier for me.

Re: How to use the BOA BBR effectively?

Anonymous — Sun, 25 Oct 2015 09:31:39 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I keep thinking this would be a good card to get started with BofA, then I figure it's too much hassle. But the way it was put up above, it doesn't seem like a hassle at all. Wish I wouldn't have shredded the recent mailers. Next time, I'll think about it harder.

Although I decided to do a BT in lieu of a low monthly recurring charge, I feel it was worth it. It comes with an introductory offer on purchases or BTs. It's a win-win.

Re: How to use the BOA BBR effectively?

Anonymous — Sun, 25 Oct 2015 00:39:50 GMT

@icyhot wrote:
Isn't the BBR for balance transfers and is essentially rewarding for paying your balance down faster for making over the minimum payment? Isn't that the most effective way to use it?

Yes. That is the way it's marketed by BoA. You have the option of earning up to $30 per quarter which you can apply as a statement credit or receive the cash back. You earn an extra $5 per quarter when you have a BoA checking or savings account.

Re: How to use the BOA BBR effectively?

Anonymous — Sun, 25 Oct 2015 00:58:05 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Sweetdreams, thats a great idea! I imagine it wouldnt work as well without the savings account tho right? Without it, you would just get a $25 statement, leaving you with a credited balance, where it doesnt count towards the minimum payment I assume.

How you decide to use the $25 is up to you statement credit or cash back. I agree with sweetdreams the extra $5 a quarter is a good incentive to open a savings account with them. Don't rely on us to give you the information. Go to their website and read up on the card.

They have something called Preferred Rewards. It doesn't apply to this credit card, but I will be using it for my BoA Cash Rewards credit card in the future. I don't expect to get rich off of it, but every $1 I save doing something I would normally do anyway is a bonus in my book.

Re: How to use the BOA BBR effectively?

Anonymous — Sun, 25 Oct 2015 01:12:15 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I keep thinking this would be a good card to get started with BofA, then I figure it's too much hassle. But the way it was put up above, it doesn't seem like a hassle at all. Wish I wouldn't have shredded the recent mailers. Next time, I'll think about it harder.

It's not necessarily a hassle, but the reward, while a very high percentage, are also very small. So, depending on the state of your file, it may not be the best use of an HP/new account compared to some of the other cards out there.

Expending any effort (even if just apping and setting up auto pay) to get $8.34 a month (or $10 if you have a BoA account) doesn't seem particularly worthwhile to me.

Re: How to use the BOA BBR effectively?

Anonymous — Sun, 25 Oct 2015 04:14:29 GMT

I put a cup of coffee on my BBR every month, pay it off the same month (sometimes before the statement even posts), and have still gotten the $25 (plus $5 for redeeming into a BoA checking account) every quarter. I was worried it wouldn't count if I did it this way, but so far so good! Automating it would definitely be even simpler, but I don't have any monthly subscriptions that fit the bill right now, and the tiny amount of mental energy it takes to remember to pull the card out once a month has seemed worth $120 a year to me.

Re: How to use the BOA BBR effectively?

Anonymous — Sun, 25 Oct 2015 16:39:34 GMT

This may be more trouble than some people think it is worth, but what I did was open a $500 savings account with BOA that my $30 quarterly rewards deposit into automatically. That way, the rewards can't apply as a credit so that my BBRs report a negative balance and disqualify me from getting the next quarterly rewards. If you do it this way, you don't have to worry about spending at least $25 on each card (I spent about $10 on each card and got my first quarterly award). I have two BBRs, so that's $60 per quarter, $240 per year!

Re: How to use the BOA BBR effectively?

Anonymous — Sun, 25 Oct 2015 16:53:01 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
This may be more trouble than some people think it is worth, but what I did was open a $500 savings account with BOA that my $30 quarterly rewards deposit into automatically. That way, the rewards can't apply as a credit so that my BBRs report a negative balance and disqualify me from getting the next quarterly rewards. If you do it this way, you don't have to worry about spending at least $25 on each card (I spent about $10 on each card and got my first quarterly award). I have two BBRs, so that's $60 per quarter, $240 per year!

Yeah baby! I aspire to be like that some day! :-)