topic Re: Better Balance Rewards Question! in Credit Cards

Better Balance Rewards Question!

Anonymous — Mon, 10 Oct 2016 14:16:15 GMT

Hey guys,

I'm hoping someone can help me here with my Bank of America BBR rewards card. This month I had a credit post and now my statement that is due on November 6th is reporting a credit that carried over in the amount of $19.21. I'm not sure what to do to still qualify for the next quarter as the credit already carried over. Do I still make a payment? If so, in what amount? This card is confusing so I want to be sure I don't disqualify myself for the next quarter. Here's what my Balance / Statement said:

Due Date: 11/06/2016

Account Balance: 19.21(CR)

Any help would be appreciated!

Re: Better Balance Rewards Question!

AverageJoesCredit — Mon, 10 Oct 2016 17:13:06 GMT

Confusing indeed i have one too, only about 6 months old but its my understanding the $25 rewards that you can have applied as a statement credit would not be considered a payment or used for payment. Nor would i think it would qualify for a purchase. I would buy something and just make sure you paid more than the minimum. If all else fails call a csr to ask about how this works. Good luck

Re: Better Balance Rewards Question!

Anonymous — Mon, 10 Oct 2016 17:49:00 GMT

Few options here. Call in and have the credit reversed. Have it deposited to your boa savings/checking, or non boa acct.

Or leave it be, and make a purchase more than enough to cover the credit, and I would make sure its at least 10-25 bucks.

If it were me, I would also: 1. Open a boa savings account and leave 300 parked in there to avoid fees. 2. Apply for two more BBRs.

Then transfer your $30 to a high yield account. Easy to get 5% but has a very low amount, or do 3% with LMCU. :-)

Re: Better Balance Rewards Question!

Anonymous — Mon, 10 Oct 2016 18:12:54 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Few options here. Call in and have the credit reversed. Have it deposited to your boa savings/checking, or non boa acct.

Or leave it be, and make a purchase more than enough to cover the credit, and I would make sure its at least 10-25 bucks.

If it were me, I would also: 1. Open a boa savings account and leave 300 parked in there to avoid fees. 2. Apply for two more BBRs.

Then transfer your $30 to a high yield account. Easy to get 5% but has a very low amount, or do 3% with LMCU. :-)

Would making a purchase now change anything as the bill/statement has already been generated? So say I make a $25 purchase today, would that change the balance to report the difference?

Re: Better Balance Rewards Question!

UFGuy2006 — Mon, 10 Oct 2016 19:35:45 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
Few options here. Call in and have the credit reversed. Have it deposited to your boa savings/checking, or non boa acct.

Or leave it be, and make a purchase more than enough to cover the credit, and I would make sure its at least 10-25 bucks.

If it were me, I would also: 1. Open a boa savings account and leave 300 parked in there to avoid fees. 2. Apply for two more BBRs.

Then transfer your $30 to a high yield account. Easy to get 5% but has a very low amount, or do 3% with LMCU. :-)
Would making a purchase now change anything as the bill/statement has already been generated? So say I make a $25 purchase today, would that change the balance to report the difference?

Unfortunately I don't think so. The statement has already generated with a credit balance. My gut says this technically this statement cycle will not count for you this quarter given the fact there is no minimum balance due to pay over.

Re: Better Balance Rewards Question!

Anonymous — Mon, 10 Oct 2016 19:54:53 GMT

@UFGuy2006 wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
Few options here. Call in and have the credit reversed. Have it deposited to your boa savings/checking, or non boa acct.

Or leave it be, and make a purchase more than enough to cover the credit, and I would make sure its at least 10-25 bucks.

If it were me, I would also: 1. Open a boa savings account and leave 300 parked in there to avoid fees. 2. Apply for two more BBRs.

Then transfer your $30 to a high yield account. Easy to get 5% but has a very low amount, or do 3% with LMCU. :-)
Would making a purchase now change anything as the bill/statement has already been generated? So say I make a $25 purchase today, would that change the balance to report the difference?
Unfortunately I don't think so. The statement has already generated with a credit balance. My gut says this technically this statement cycle will not count for you this quarter given the fact there is no minimum balance due to pay over.

sounds about right. call in and have the rewards reversed and applied to checking account instead?

Re: Better Balance Rewards Question!

Anonymous — Mon, 10 Oct 2016 20:01:06 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@UFGuy2006 wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
Few options here. Call in and have the credit reversed. Have it deposited to your boa savings/checking, or non boa acct.

Or leave it be, and make a purchase more than enough to cover the credit, and I would make sure its at least 10-25 bucks.

If it were me, I would also: 1. Open a boa savings account and leave 300 parked in there to avoid fees. 2. Apply for two more BBRs.

Then transfer your $30 to a high yield account. Easy to get 5% but has a very low amount, or do 3% with LMCU. :-)
Would making a purchase now change anything as the bill/statement has already been generated? So say I make a $25 purchase today, would that change the balance to report the difference?
Unfortunately I don't think so. The statement has already generated with a credit balance. My gut says this technically this statement cycle will not count for you this quarter given the fact there is no minimum balance due to pay over.
sounds about right. call in and have the rewards reversed and applied to checking account instead?

If I do that would that make it count again? This card is not user-friendly lol

Re: Better Balance Rewards Question!

Anonymous — Tue, 11 Oct 2016 01:00:08 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:

If I do that would that make it count again? This card is not user-friendly lol

It's hard to fault BoA for putting a few small roadblocks to the (highly unprofitable) way people are using the rewards structure of the BBR.

Re: Better Balance Rewards Question!

Anonymous — Tue, 11 Oct 2016 06:52:23 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@UFGuy2006 wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
Few options here. Call in and have the credit reversed. Have it deposited to your boa savings/checking, or non boa acct.

Or leave it be, and make a purchase more than enough to cover the credit, and I would make sure its at least 10-25 bucks.

If it were me, I would also: 1. Open a boa savings account and leave 300 parked in there to avoid fees. 2. Apply for two more BBRs.

Then transfer your $30 to a high yield account. Easy to get 5% but has a very low amount, or do 3% with LMCU. :-)
Would making a purchase now change anything as the bill/statement has already been generated? So say I make a $25 purchase today, would that change the balance to report the difference?
Unfortunately I don't think so. The statement has already generated with a credit balance. My gut says this technically this statement cycle will not count for you this quarter given the fact there is no minimum balance due to pay over.
sounds about right. call in and have the rewards reversed and applied to checking account instead?
If I do that would that make it count again? This card is not user-friendly lol

no guarantees. but its worth a call.

Re: Better Balance Rewards Question!

Anonymous — Tue, 11 Oct 2016 07:21:20 GMT

Lol. Just learned I got screwed over with the same exact problem.

1) Switch to direct deposit redemption immediately

2) You always need a balance to report when your statement generates if you want rewards

3) You always have to make a payment equal to or greater than your minimum balance due if you want rewards

4) As stated above, statement credit does not count as a payment, so make a payment even if your balance is paid off (from your statement credit)!

5) Then, call them or chat with them and say you want to transfer your credit balance into your bank account (yes this is possible, I've done it)

Re: Better Balance Rewards Question!

Anonymous — Tue, 11 Oct 2016 14:07:51 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Lol. Just learned I got screwed over with the same exact problem.

1) Switch to direct deposit redemption immediately

2) You always need a balance to report when your statement generates if you want rewards

3) You always have to make a payment equal to or greater than your minimum balance due if you want rewards

4) As stated above, statement credit does not count as a payment, so make a payment even if your balance is paid off (from your statement credit)!

5) Then, call them or chat with them and say you want to transfer your credit balance into your bank account (yes this is possible, I've done it)

Thanks for this! Will we still be eligible? So if my balance is reporting a credit of $19.21 do I have to make a payment of like $25? so then I would have a credit of almost $40? Then have this credit transfered to my bank?

Re: Better Balance Rewards Question!

Anonymous — Tue, 11 Oct 2016 16:12:23 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
Lol. Just learned I got screwed over with the same exact problem.

1) Switch to direct deposit redemption immediately

2) You always need a balance to report when your statement generates if you want rewards

3) You always have to make a payment equal to or greater than your minimum balance due if you want rewards

4) As stated above, statement credit does not count as a payment, so make a payment even if your balance is paid off (from your statement credit)!

5) Then, call them or chat with them and say you want to transfer your credit balance into your bank account (yes this is possible, I've done it)

Thanks for this! Will we still be eligible? So if my balance is reporting a credit of $19.21 do I have to make a payment of like $25? so then I would have a credit of almost $40? Then have this credit transfered to my bank?

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news here, but you're out of luck for this quarter. The fact that a statement generated with a credit balance is final. You might be able to get the credit transferred to a bank account, but that won't change the fact that a negative balance reported on the statement that already cut. You will not get your rewards automatically for this quarter. And you can talk to customer service until you are blue in the face, but I think there's a 0.000001% chance of getting them to credit you as a courtesy. At least that's been my track record.

Going forward, my advice is similar to others:

1. Make sure reward preference (for both BBR and BankAmeriDeals) is set to deposit to bank account -OR- make sure you make extra spending *before the statement cuts* to more than compensate for any credits that may show up by the time each statement cuts.

2. Set up your account for auto ACH payment of the full statement balance on the due date.

3. Use the card for at least $2 of spending each month.

4. Enjoy $25 (or $30) deposited to your bank account each quarter.

Probably unnecessary, but edited to add anyway: 5. Before next quarter starts, do something to wipe out your existing credit balance, either by requesting a transfer to your bank account, a check issued for the credit balance or by spending at least that much on the card.

Chris.

Re: Better Balance Rewards Question!

Anonymous — Thu, 13 Oct 2016 02:42:20 GMT

Does the amount you charge have to be higher than the minimum balance? Can I just charge $5 to this every month, pay it off and still get the $25 per quarter?

Re: Better Balance Rewards Question!

Anonymous — Thu, 13 Oct 2016 03:59:05 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Does the amount you charge have to be higher than the minimum balance? Can I just charge $5 to this every month, pay it off and still get the $25 per quarter?

Huh. I've never heard of a "minimum balance" on a credit card. Must be a great scheme for the banks to earn interest.

Seriously, though, yes, you can just charge $5 and PIF each month on the statement date and collect $25 per quarter.

Chris.

Re: Better Balance Rewards Question!

Anonymous — Thu, 13 Oct 2016 04:56:58 GMT

Sorry, I meant to say minimum payment. Thank you for your answer.

I have 5 fresh inquiries from last month so I'll wait until March to app. Hopefully 6 months old is enough to get approved with scores in the 740s.

Re: Better Balance Rewards Question!

Themanwhocan — Sun, 06 Nov 2016 17:31:13 GMT

Am I correct in assuming that all you need is a Bank of America savings account in order to get the $5 extra per quarter and to deposit the quarterly cash back, and that you cannot use a non Bank of America account to automatically accept the $25 ?

I don't want to use BOA as my main checking/savings location, I have too many checking and savings accounts already, so leaving $300 in the savings account to prevent monthly fees seems like the best way. Does BOA offer any sign up bonuses for opening a savings account? I see some promo bonuses for BOA checking accounts, but not savings accounts...

Since I have 2 BBR cards now, and possibly a 3rd if I can sweet talk BOA, getting the extra $5 per card per quarter seems useful, plus it makes it easy to charge less than $25 a month if desired.

Re: Better Balance Rewards Question!

Anonymous — Sun, 06 Nov 2016 20:05:46 GMT

From the research I've done on this site, I plan on getting a Merrill Edge cash management account when I apply for a BBR. Avoids any hoops to jump through of fees/minimum balance that BoA accounts have, while still getting the extra $5.

Re: Better Balance Rewards Question!

Themanwhocan — Sun, 06 Nov 2016 20:30:07 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
From the research I've done on this site, I plan on getting a Merrill Edge cash management account when I apply for a BBR. Avoids any hoops to jump through of fees/minimum balance that BoA accounts have, while still getting the extra $5.

No, I looked into that option as well. Here is the appropriate text regarding Merrill Lynch CMA accounts:

Account fees at a glance

Through the CMA Annual Account Fee Waiver Program(16) you have the opportunity to benefit from annual account fee waivers for your CMA account(s) and CMA SubAccount(s). The annual account fees will be automatically waived for the calendar year if you have $250,000 or more in eligible Merrill Lynch statement linked assets(17) and meet certain qualification criteria at the time your accounts are reviewed. Otherwise, there is a $125 annual account fee for each CMA account and a $25 annual account fee for each CMA SubAccount. Additional fees may apply for certain account services; please refer to the account agreement for details.

Re: Better Balance Rewards Question!

Anonymous — Mon, 07 Nov 2016 04:06:53 GMT

@Themanwhocan wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
From the research I've done on this site, I plan on getting a Merrill Edge cash management account when I apply for a BBR. Avoids any hoops to jump through of fees/minimum balance that BoA accounts have, while still getting the extra $5.
No, I looked into that option as well. Here is the appropriate text regarding Merrill Lynch CMA accounts:

Account fees at a glance
Through the CMA Annual Account Fee Waiver Program(16) you have the opportunity to benefit from annual account fee waivers for your CMA account(s) and CMA SubAccount(s). The annual account fees will be automatically waived for the calendar year if you have $250,000 or more in eligible Merrill Lynch statement linked assets(17) and meet certain qualification criteria at the time your accounts are reviewed. Otherwise, there is a $125 annual account fee for each CMA account and a $25 annual account fee for each CMA SubAccount. Additional fees may apply for certain account services; please refer to the account agreement for details.

That's the Merrill Lynch cma, check out the Merrill Edge cma.

https://www.merrilledge.com/pricing#tab2

Re: Better Balance Rewards Question!

Anonymous — Mon, 07 Nov 2016 06:37:50 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@Themanwhocan wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
From the research I've done on this site, I plan on getting a Merrill Edge cash management account when I apply for a BBR. Avoids any hoops to jump through of fees/minimum balance that BoA accounts have, while still getting the extra $5.
No, I looked into that option as well. Here is the appropriate text regarding Merrill Lynch CMA accounts:

Account fees at a glance
Through the CMA Annual Account Fee Waiver Program(16) you have the opportunity to benefit from annual account fee waivers for your CMA account(s) and CMA SubAccount(s). The annual account fees will be automatically waived for the calendar year if you have $250,000 or more in eligible Merrill Lynch statement linked assets(17) and meet certain qualification criteria at the time your accounts are reviewed. Otherwise, there is a $125 annual account fee for each CMA account and a $25 annual account fee for each CMA SubAccount. Additional fees may apply for certain account services; please refer to the account agreement for details.
That's the Merrill Lynch cma, check out the Merrill Edge cma.

https://www.merrilledge.com/pricing#tab2

Do you even have any BBRs??

Anyway, yes the 300 savings is totally worth it. And you actually can deposit the rewards into anyones boa savings/checking so no need to even make it a joint account, you automatically get the bonus.

Just a little frustrated with them. their language for the bonus even states that you get he first bonus right away as long as you made a payment for just one month of the quarter. My SO did not get a bonus on one of the cards yet.