topic Re: Better Balance Rewards in Credit Cards

Better Balance Rewards

xvassagox — Sat, 18 Mar 2023 19:29:32 GMT

Just got a letter in the mail that said they're discontinuing my BBR card and replacing it with the Unlimited Cash Rewards on May 16th. Last quarterly reward will be paid in April but they said if I continue to make qualifying payments from April 1 to May 15, they will reward me with a one-time statement credit of $20.

Well, it was good while it lasted. Paid for my Spotify/Hulu promo subscription.

Re: Better Balance Rewards

celluloid17 — Sat, 18 Mar 2023 20:03:10 GMT

I received this letter as well. I've had the card since April 2014 and it's basically just had a few recurring streaming service payments in order to qualify for the quarterly bonuses. I'm surprised they maintained the card structure for as long as they did considering it's been obsolete since 2016(?).

I'm probably going to keep it active for the one time statement credit and then close it. It's my only BOA card and I have no other relationship with them and the limit has always been low, so it's not a terrible loss for me, but it was an easy $100 a year that I will miss.

Re: Better Balance Rewards

xenon3030 — Sat, 18 Mar 2023 22:23:51 GMT

The unlimited Cash Rewards card has a sub-set rewards structure of the Premium Rewards card. Since both have unlimited 1.5% rewards, having only one of them is sufficient for me. I see whether I can PC it to a CCR, after receiving the Q1 bonus.

Re: Better Balance Rewards

Oxford77 — Sun, 19 Mar 2023 01:30:48 GMT

I wonder how receptive they'll be to a product change from their Unlimited Cash Rewards card to their Customized Cash Rewards card. Anybody have any experience doing a PC with BoA?

Re: Better Balance Rewards

acreditdummy123 — Sun, 19 Mar 2023 07:39:48 GMT

O_O RIP

Re: Better Balance Rewards

ptatohed — Sun, 19 Mar 2023 08:21:39 GMT

I've long lamented not getting this card. An easy $100 - $120 per year. It was a good run for some of you. RIP.

Re: Better Balance Rewards

coldfusion — Sun, 19 Mar 2023 12:39:51 GMT

@Oxford77 wrote:
I wonder how receptive they'll be to a product change from their Unlimited Cash Rewards card to their Customized Cash Rewards card. Anybody have any experience doing a PC with BoA?

In general you just call a BoA customer service rep and tell them that you want to do a product change. They can process it for you while you're on the phone.

When the BoA/MLB relationship dissolved BoA replaced some MLB cards with Unlimited Cash Rewards cards and some of those cardholders were denied requests to change theirs to a CCR. We'll have to wait and see and collect data points to learn if history will repeat itself.

Re: Better Balance Rewards

xenon3030 — Sun, 19 Mar 2023 16:22:10 GMT

What is the maximum number of CCR cards that a person can have?

BofA BBR forced conversion 5/16/23 to 1.5% card

CreditCuriosity — Sun, 19 Mar 2023 19:23:01 GMT

Subject says it.. Saw on DOC

https://www.doctorofcredit.com/bank-of-america-better-balance-rewards-cards-being-converted/

Re: BofA BBR forced conversion 5/16/23 to 1.5% card

UncleB — Sun, 19 Mar 2023 23:25:46 GMT

I'm not totally shocked, since it was a really good deal - good enough for me to have two of 'em.

Hopefully a PC to a CCB will be possible, otherwise I'll probably hang on to mine for the BT deals (usually 15-18 months 0% for 3% fee).

Re: Better Balance Rewards

SunriseEarth — Mon, 20 Mar 2023 00:40:51 GMT

I'm honestly surprised BBR lasted this long. I have two cards, and will look into PCing to Customized Cash Rewards.

Re: BofA BBR forced conversion 5/16/23 to 1.5% card

galahad15 — Thu, 23 Mar 2023 14:17:40 GMT

RIP BBR -- it's been a great run and you will be missed...

Re: BofA BBR forced conversion 5/16/23 to 1.5% card

happypill — Thu, 23 Mar 2023 15:09:13 GMT

Yes, truly it has been a great run. One minor recurring bill, paid in full each month and $30 magically shows up in the bank account each quarter. Surprised it lasted this long, RIP.

Re: Better Balance Rewards

boolean — Sun, 26 Mar 2023 08:29:07 GMT

I received the same letter this past week. I've had the BBR for about 10 years, coincidentally also used it to auto-pay Spotify each month. Great while it lasted. My only regret is that I didn't sign up for multiple card, which I only discovered after aplications closed several years back.

Re: Better Balance Rewards

galahad15 — Mon, 27 Mar 2023 18:32:23 GMT

I just called in to BoA, and was able to successfully get my BBR converted to a CCR.

Data points: the BoA CSR said there are no direct/blanket conversions from BBR to CCR just based on the automatic conversion options in and of themselves, since she said the BBR is a discontinued product, but she did say that based on a BoA customer's individual card profile promotions available, that they may or may not qualify. In my case, she said I my profile qualified me for the BBR-to-CCR conversion, and that I will get the new CCR card in 2-4 weeks. The only caveat is that iirc, I believe that I may have forfeited the last $30 BBR payout, as well as the one-time $20 courtesy credit, as the result of the conversion at this time, but in mho, the difference of up to 3% cashback rewards on the CCR outweighed the "missing the boat" for a potential CCR conversion timeframe, and instead risking being stuck with the 1.5% cashback of the UCR.

Re: Better Balance Rewards

coldfusion — Wed, 05 Apr 2023 19:03:47 GMT

@galahad15 wrote:
I just called in to BoA, and was able to successfully get my BBR converted to a CCR.

Data points: the BoA CSR said there are no direct/blanket conversions from BBR to CCR just based on the automatic conversion options in and of themselves, since she said the BBR is a discontinued product, but she did say that based on a BoA customer's individual card profile promotions available, that they may or may not qualify. In my case, she said I my profile qualified me for the BBR-to-CCR conversion, and that I will get the new CCR card in 2-4 weeks. The only caveat is that iirc, I believe that I may have forfeited the last $30 BBR payout, as well as the one-time $20 courtesy credit, as the result of the conversion at this time, but in mho, the difference of up to 3% cashback rewards on the CCR outweighed the "missing the boat" for a potential CCR conversion timeframe, and instead risking being stuck with the 1.5% cashback of the UCR.

I called in and made the same conversion as my Premium Rewards card makes a UCR redundant. If BoA sticks to the boilerplate T&C as read to me the last $30 payout and the $20 courtesy credit will in fact be forfeited.

Re: Better Balance Rewards

coldfusion — Fri, 14 Apr 2023 19:44:05 GMT

My conversion was processed overnight last night and the card now shows as as a "Customized Cash Rewards Platinum Plus Mastercard - xxxx" where xxxx are the same 4 digits as the original card.

Re: Better Balance Rewards

xenon3030 — Fri, 05 May 2023 17:50:25 GMT

The PC process was easy and it took only 5 minutes by phone. The CCR can be chosen aslo as either Visa or MC. It will be received in 2-4 weeks by snail mail (not sure whether expedite shipment is available while I do not need the card urgently, since I have 2x ).

Re: Better Balance Rewards

UncleB — Mon, 14 Aug 2023 01:30:51 GMT

Has anybody received the $20 courtesy credit yet? I've not seen the credit on either of my accounts.

I have received the $200 bonus they offered for spending $1k on one of the cards, so I'm not complaining, mostly just curious. I've been waiting on the credit(s) to post before calling to see if I can PC one or both of the now 'Unlimited Cash Rewards' cards to a CCR.

Having the Amex BCE has taken the urgency away (for a while I've wanted a CCR for online purchases) but from what I understand the online category on the CCR is more broad so I'd still like to have one, expecially if I don't have to add a new account.

Re: Better Balance Rewards

coldfusion — Mon, 14 Aug 2023 13:03:16 GMT

Can confirm the CCR Online Shopping category is quite broad. There are exclusions but they're generally things not viewed as retail goods such as utilities, taxes, tuition, or professional services and BoA has the full detailed list of them available online.

Having more than 1 CCR does prove to be useful not only due to having multiple $2500 category quarterly thresholds; it makes it easier to occasionally make a large-ish spend in a different category by leveraging the ability to dynamically change a card's category once per calendar month without sacrificing earnings made on the original category that month before the change.