topic Re: BofA CCR 3% categories. Trying to choose mine. in Credit Cards

BofA CCR 3% categories. Trying to choose mine.

CreditMarathoner — Mon, 22 Aug 2022 21:11:34 GMT

Now that I've gotten a decent CLI on my BofA Customized Cash Rewards, I need to rethink how I use it to maximize rewards.

Gas: In the past, it was my low limit card I used in gas pumps, so I had my 3% category set to Gas. But it's not a low limit card anymore. I also don't spend a lot on gas since I work from home. My Chase Amazon Prime Visa offers 2% on gas and it's now my lowest limit card, so that's the safest one to use in gas pumps now.

Dining: I used the 3% Dining category in the past, but 2 of my Chase cards (CFU and CSP) give me 3% on dining, so this category is redundant.

Drug Stores: I almost never shop at drug stores, so this category isn't useful to me at present. My Amazon Prime Visa has 2% on drugstores if I have the need.

Home Improvements & Furnishings: This is one possibility. As a homeowner, I shop at Lowe's regularly. In the past, my CFU was the card I used there, but if I select this category, I could get 3% CB there.

Online Shopping: Well, I do most of that on Amazon and my Amazon Prime Visa gives me 5% there, but from what I've read this category is pretty broad, including paying bills online, so that might be what I jump on, especially with my recent CLI. Putting my home/auto insurance on here and getting 3% would be sweet. I bet autopaying my cell phone would work too.

Travel: I have a CSP especially for this, and I don't travel a whole lot. Maybe though, for instances where better deals can be had outside the Chase portal, this would give me 1% more. It wouldn't be UR points though.

I'm leaning toward Online Shopping with Home Improvements being a close 2nd. Any recommendations from those with this card?

Also, I do my grocery shopping (usually at Walmart) with this card and I get 2%.

Thanks...

Re: BofA CCR 3% categories. Trying to choose mine.

Anonymous — Mon, 22 Aug 2022 21:49:45 GMT

FYI CFU also gives 3% back on drugstore

Re: BofA CCR 3% categories. Trying to choose mine.

CluelessJohn — Mon, 22 Aug 2022 22:02:30 GMT

Your planned uses for Online Shopping may not get the 3% you're looking for. It appears BOA is looking for retail products purchased online.

Google "Customized Cash Rewards Program Rules". That got me the rules published by BOA as my first hit. You can see in that document the MCCs that specifically do not qualify for 3% cash rewards. Telcom and insurance are among them.

My personal experience is limited but recent. Last month I switched to Online Shopping as my 3% and used my CCR for a physician office co-pay during an online appointment confirmation. That fee earned 1% and I now know it was specifically excluded in the BOA document.

Just wanted to give you a heads up.

Re: BofA CCR 3% categories. Trying to choose mine.

Bill77 — Mon, 22 Aug 2022 22:13:24 GMT

The 3% has worked both on my car insurance and cell phone bill. Also worked on my yearly online membership payment to AAA roadside. The biggest surprise so far was when 3% worked on a $100 gift card I bought from raise.com. Although it does not work with Blackhawk gift cards.

Re: BofA CCR 3% categories. Trying to choose mine.

Hoben02 — Mon, 22 Aug 2022 23:18:57 GMT

The only thing I can add is if you are willing to do more biz with bofa you can up your return. Since I'm platinum honors I earn 5.25% on ant category and 3.5% on wholesale stores

Re: BofA CCR 3% categories. Trying to choose mine.

xenon3030 — Mon, 22 Aug 2022 23:39:07 GMT

For online shopping and retail store, one might also consider Amex BCE (it is less likely that bills get counted, based on their websites, but each rewrad depends on the way that it gets coded and you may see surprises on some of purchases).

I have 2x CCR and I use one for online shopping and one for homedepot. If I do online purchase from homedepot, it also gets counted as online shopping .

Re: BofA CCR 3% categories. Trying to choose mine.

CreditMarathoner — Mon, 22 Aug 2022 23:41:54 GMT

Thanks folks. I'll try "online shopping" for a month and see what happens when I charge my monthly insurance premium and prepaid cell plan on it. If I get the 3%, I'll keep it up. If I only get 1%, I'll do something else, but probably keep Online Shopping, and use CFU for my cell phone and (maybe) the insurance, which I normally autopay directly from checking, and use the CCR for other stuff online (stores other than Amazon).

If the insurance does give me 3%, I'll have to space it out or else I'll blow the entire quarter cap at once. I can pay monthly or pay more of it ahead, or the whole year. Maybe at quarter end, see how much cap I have remaining, and then use it up with an insurance payment. Or I just won't bother since I'm lazy.

@Hoben02 wrote:
The only thing I can add is if you are willing to do more biz with bofa you can up your return. Since I'm platinum honors I earn 5.25% on ant category and 3.5% on wholesale stores

I used to have my 401k on Merrill Lynch so that gave me the bonus rewards, but then my work moved it to Fidelity. So, no "more biz" now.

Re: BofA CCR 3% categories. Trying to choose mine.

Credit12Fico — Tue, 23 Aug 2022 00:46:36 GMT

@CreditMarathoner wrote:
Now that I've gotten a decent CLI on my BofA Customized Cash Rewards, I need to rethink how I use it to maximize rewards.

Gas: In the past, it was my low limit card I used in gas pumps, so I had my 3% category set to Gas. But it's not a low limit card anymore. I also don't spend a lot on gas since I work from home. My Chase Amazon Prime Visa offers 2% on gas and it's now my lowest limit card, so that's the safest one to use in gas pumps now.

Dining: I used the 3% Dining category in the past, but 2 of my Chase cards (CFU and CSP) give me 3% on dining, so this category is redundant.

Drug Stores: I almost never shop at drug stores, so this category isn't useful to me at present. My Amazon Prime Visa has 2% on drugstores if I have the need.

Home Improvements & Furnishings: This is one possibility. As a homeowner, I shop at Lowe's regularly. In the past, my CFU was the card I used there, but if I select this category, I could get 3% CB there.

Online Shopping: Well, I do most of that on Amazon and my Amazon Prime Visa gives me 5% there, but from what I've read this category is pretty broad, including paying bills online, so that might be what I jump on, especially with my recent CLI. Putting my home/auto insurance on here and getting 3% would be sweet. I bet autopaying my cell phone would work too.

Travel: I have a CSP especially for this, and I don't travel a whole lot. Maybe though, for instances where better deals can be had outside the Chase portal, this would give me 1% more. It wouldn't be UR points though.

I'm leaning toward Online Shopping with Home Improvements being a close 2nd. Any recommendations from those with this card?

Also, I do my grocery shopping (usually at Walmart) with this card and I get 2%.

Thanks...

I believe that if you add your card to the Walmart Pay App and checkout in store using the QR code, you will get 3% back as it will count as online shopping. If you have preferred rewards status, that will go even higher.

Re: BofA CCR 3% categories. Trying to choose mine.

wasCB14 — Tue, 23 Aug 2022 01:05:04 GMT

I get 4% from the Costco Visa on my comparatively low gas spend.

Home improvement spend is usually a business expense for me, so that's Lowes Business Amex or Business Platinum Amex. And extended warranties / purchase protection matters there.

Dining is usually Amex Gold.

Travel is usually award travel.

So for me 5.25% online shopping is a great catch-all for giving nice rewards on purchases where protections don't matter much (so no need to use Amex/Costco).

Re: BofA CCR 3% categories. Trying to choose mine.

NoMoreE46 — Tue, 23 Aug 2022 01:30:16 GMT

Neat on getting 3% back on car insurance. Thanks for this tidbit @Bill77 .

@Bill77 wrote:
The 3% has worked both on my car insurance and cell phone bill. Also worked on my yearly online membership payment to AAA roadside. The biggest surprise so far was when 3% worked on a $100 gift card I bought from raise.com. Although it does not work with Blackhawk gift cards.

Re: BofA CCR 3% categories. Trying to choose mine.

unsungivy — Tue, 23 Aug 2022 01:53:25 GMT

@CreditMarathoner wrote:
Now that I've gotten a decent CLI on my BofA Customized Cash Rewards, I need to rethink how I use it to maximize rewards.

Gas: In the past, it was my low limit card I used in gas pumps, so I had my 3% category set to Gas. But it's not a low limit card anymore. I also don't spend a lot on gas since I work from home. My Chase Amazon Prime Visa offers 2% on gas and it's now my lowest limit card, so that's the safest one to use in gas pumps now.

Dining: I used the 3% Dining category in the past, but 2 of my Chase cards (CFU and CSP) give me 3% on dining, so this category is redundant.

Drug Stores: I almost never shop at drug stores, so this category isn't useful to me at present. My Amazon Prime Visa has 2% on drugstores if I have the need.

Home Improvements & Furnishings: This is one possibility. As a homeowner, I shop at Lowe's regularly. In the past, my CFU was the card I used there, but if I select this category, I could get 3% CB there.

Online Shopping: Well, I do most of that on Amazon and my Amazon Prime Visa gives me 5% there, but from what I've read this category is pretty broad, including paying bills online, so that might be what I jump on, especially with my recent CLI. Putting my home/auto insurance on here and getting 3% would be sweet. I bet autopaying my cell phone would work too.

Travel: I have a CSP especially for this, and I don't travel a whole lot. Maybe though, for instances where better deals can be had outside the Chase portal, this would give me 1% more. It wouldn't be UR points though.

I'm leaning toward Online Shopping with Home Improvements being a close 2nd. Any recommendations from those with this card?

Also, I do my grocery shopping (usually at Walmart) with this card and I get 2%.

Thanks...

Both of those categories are good choices... so good in fact that I got two cards so I could have both of them. (Side note, Travel is nicer than you think, and really really broad... includes amusement parks and museums, for example.)

With careful management you can switch your card back and forth as needed between the two. I did most of my shopping on Amazon as well, so for me the "default" category was Home Improvement for running to Lowe's for paint etc. But there were a handful of times when I planned for a signifigant purchase online (like at Etsy for custom nightstands, or Chewy.com). Note that you can change it every calendar month, NOT every 30 days. This means you can change it on the 30th, make your online purchase, and switch it back on the 1st... you just can't change it again until the next month. It involves a little planning, but it's very flexible in that manner.

You can also, instead, buy Lowe's gift cards on Amazon for the 5% back ok your prime card, so that's another tactic to take to cover your bases.

Re: BofA CCR 3% categories. Trying to choose mine.

CreditMarathoner — Fri, 26 Aug 2022 19:59:16 GMT

Well, I've done 3 things so far since switching my category to Online Shopping:

1. Made an insurance payment online. Fail. Though it says "online = Y", it coded as Insurance and I didn't get a category bonus.

2. Paid my monthly prepaid cell phone plan. Still a pending charge, so unknown what I'll get for rewards.

3. Went to Walmart and used the Walmart app to pay. I just did this today so it's still a pending charge. I'll update as to whether this gives me 2% or 3%. This is cumbersome, so even if I get 3%, I may not bother. It's quicker to slip the card into the chip reader than it is to log into an app to pay.

If no. 2 and 3 both fail to give me 3%, I may end up switching categories in September. Maybe to home improvement.

Re: BofA CCR 3% categories. Trying to choose mine.

AnonHobo — Fri, 26 Aug 2022 21:52:30 GMT

If it was already mentioned in this thread, I missed it, but it is possible to get other BoA CCR cards with different branding so you can use multiple categories. The Susan G. Komen card on the BoA website is the same card with different branding and I'm not sure what their rules are for applying both of them but you can also find others that don't have any restrictions.

Here is a list of some: https://www.reddit.com/r/CreditCards/comments/ntvndb/compiling_a_list_of_bofa_cash_rewards_partner/. I just did this myself and know some of those cards no longer exist but I got the BoA CCR and the Golden Key one on the same day.

Re: BofA CCR 3% categories. Trying to choose mine.

Taurus22 — Sat, 27 Aug 2022 00:29:09 GMT

With the categories I have covered on my cards, I perpetually keep my BoA on Online Shopping. As you and others have mentioned, the category is rather broad and offers some unexpected surprises depending on how you use it online. I've paid doctor/dental bill invoices through the online portal and gotten the 3%.....and medical isn't a common category among cashback cards so it was a nice surprise. I don't use it that way anymore since I've had the AODFCU 3% card, but it's nice to have as a backup, just in case.

In a pinch, if you plan to buy a new washer/dryer at Home Depot/Lowes or decide to do some lawn maintenance etc. you can switch up to Home Improvement for a month, then kick it back to Online Shopping on the 1st of the next month (as mentioned).

Re: BofA CCR 3% categories. Trying to choose mine.

CreditMarathoner — Sat, 27 Aug 2022 12:42:00 GMT

Verizon prepaid autopayment also did not trigger the online category bonus. Strike 2.

Walmart Pay @ Walmart is still pending. Let's see if this one is a hit or a strikeout.

Online as a category may still be useful, since I do buy things online not on Amazon sometimes. Just haven't done so recently. And if I have to buy something at Lowe's/Home Depot, I can always flip it to Home Improvement the day before, then flip it back the next month.

With the higher limit, I'll probably put more spend on this card anyway, and they do have a breakdown of where my spend goes on the website, so that can help me tweak my categories down the road, if I find I spend more at Lowe's than online over the next year, for example. I already know I've spent more on dining than gas the past year, but I tend to lean toward putting dining on the CFU.

Re: BofA CCR 3% categories. Trying to choose mine.

unsungivy — Sat, 27 Aug 2022 13:31:33 GMT

@CreditMarathoner wrote:
Well, I've done 3 things so far since switching my category to Online Shopping:

1. Made an insurance payment online. Fail. Though it says "online = Y", it coded as Insurance and I didn't get a category bonus.
2. Paid my monthly prepaid cell phone plan. Still a pending charge, so unknown what I'll get for rewards.
3. Went to Walmart and used the Walmart app to pay. I just did this today so it's still a pending charge. I'll update as to whether this gives me 2% or 3%. This is cumbersome, so even if I get 3%, I may not bother. It's quicker to slip the card into the chip reader than it is to log into an app to pay.

If no. 2 and 3 both fail to give me 3%, I may end up switching categories in September. Maybe to home improvement.

Not really sure why you tried an insurance payment. That's not "shopping", and so not included. Nor are memberships of any kind. They spell that out in the long list of exclusions.

Your cell phone payment shouldn't count either, but maybe it will depending on if the company shows as a retail store in how they list their monthy bills... some companies do have their charge types split depending on what you actually did.

Walmart should count, according to DPs

Re: BofA CCR 3% categories. Trying to choose mine.

CreditMarathoner — Sun, 28 Aug 2022 13:46:38 GMT

Walmart Pay at Walmart gave me the 3%. I just have to decide if logging into the app everytime I go to walmart is worth the extra 1%.

Or if it's worth the possible security risk to keep the app logged in. If they offered fingerprint authentication it would be easy.

Oh well, first world problems. I'll just make this card my primary for non-Amazon online shopping, and use the CFU for my insurance & cell phone for 1.5%.

Re: BofA CCR 3% categories. Trying to choose mine.

unsungivy — Sun, 28 Aug 2022 19:45:13 GMT

Mentally insert the word "retail" into the phrase for "Online Retail Shopping" and that's a clearer definition for those most part (although not technically correct, since places like Etsy and eBay will count, it makes more sense to most people.)

Re: BofA CCR 3% categories. Trying to choose mine.

CreditMarathoner — Sun, 28 Aug 2022 20:41:45 GMT

@unsungivy wrote:
Mentally insert the word "retail" into the phrase for "Online Retail Shopping" ...

In another thread I had the thought that the 3% applies to shopping for goods as opposed to services. My attempts to pay for phone service or insurance failed, but buying goods at Walmart worked.

I'm going to be switching insurance providers for home/auto this year, so I may try an insurance payment again after I switch in case it codes differently and I get the 3% with them.

Re: BofA CCR 3% categories. Trying to choose mine.

xenon3030 — Mon, 29 Aug 2022 03:07:37 GMT

@unsungivy wrote:
Mentally insert the word "retail" into the phrase for "Online Retail Shopping" and that's a clearer definition for those most part (although not technically correct, since places like Etsy and eBay will count, it makes more sense to most people.)

Not exactly. BOA online shopping is a broader category and it can cover e.g. online CVS purchases. Since CVS is not a retail store, it should not get 3% if using Amex BCE (I did not try but I expect such trend).

Online purchase typically refers to online purchase of a product (if lucky, it may code some bills/services in the 3% category). I checked and my car insurance was not covered.