topic Is it even worth it? BoA's horrid online/app/general poor experience. in Credit Cards

Is it even worth it? BoA's horrid online/app/general poor experience.

swankytiger — Thu, 31 Aug 2023 15:19:19 GMT

Ok it might just be me ranting but BoA is really making me angry right now. The Merrill side has been mostly fine.

1. BoA's app just doesnt let me transfer money into the checking account I set up for Prefered Rewards. I have to log in and do a ACH transfer on the website. which loads a page that looks vastly older than the app or anything else on their site.

2. Cant transfer money to my PR card from an external account unlike literally every singe one of my other credit cards. It is currently easier to just transfer the money to my Merrill Account and then move it to my BoA account.

3. They locked my account yesterday for trying to move money into my checking because I logged in from another ip address, but the same device that I have used in the past. So I had to play the game of calling into the fraud department to get my account unlocked. I would understand if it was trying to transfer money out of my account, but not moving money into it from an account I have moved money from before.

4. Merrill wont let you invest in certain ETF's that most other brokers will let you invest in.

5. I'm still annoyed that the limit they gave my PR card was the lowest limit I have ever recieved except for my 1st ever credit card(10 years ago) which i think was still close to the limit BoA gave me on my PR.

At this point I think I am just gonna get the SUB for the PR and then move back to my CFU as my main card and include the PR in the cards im gonna cull next year, and close my BoA checking account and move my IRA back to Schwab from Merrill.

I think the Preferred Rewards program is a great idea if your main bank is BoA, but imo its not looking to be worth the hassle to me for the extra $50-$100? i guess i would make using it.

Re: Is it even worth it? BoA's horrid online/app/general poor experience.

maxchurn — Sat, 02 Sep 2023 02:44:54 GMT

I closed my accounts with Bank of America ten years ago or more and haven't looked back, don't care how lucrative their offers are.

Re: Is it even worth it? BoA's horrid online/app/general poor experience.

Anonymous — Sat, 02 Sep 2023 13:03:40 GMT

@maxchurn wrote:
I closed my accounts with Bank of America ten years ago or more and haven't looked back, don't care how lucrative their offers are.

Nah, if you got an offer for $100K a year just for opening a BoA checking account? Nearly all financial things are consideration of potential pain vs gain, i.e. there is nearly always a strike price!

Re: Is it even worth it? BoA's horrid online/app/general poor experience.

xenon3030 — Sat, 02 Sep 2023 16:52:06 GMT

In general, BOA checking does not look enticing and I only keep it to keep my Premium Rewards tier. BOA is money hungry for any tranasfer (inbound, outbound). I use my Chase checking to do any ACH to my BOA checking (inbound, outbound) and it is for free. ACH transfer from Chase to BOA is even in real time.

Using the BOA website for my BOA CC payments using external accounts did not look straightforward for me and I ended up using my BOA checking to pay for my BOA CCs. If you want, you may use the bill pay service from any other bank (chase, sofi, etc) to pay for any credit card (it may take ~3-5 biz days).

Re: Is it even worth it? BoA's horrid online/app/general poor experience.

Hoben02 — Sat, 02 Sep 2023 18:17:55 GMT

Well bofa is my main bank so I don't encounter issues you are having. To be honest the reward rate with platinum honors is not much greater then the cfu if you are moving the points to a sapphire for travel purposes(I base this on swa point value). A main reason I have that bofa premium is the wide category for travel vs any other card I've used

Re: Is it even worth it? BoA's horrid online/app/general poor experience.

maxchurn — Tue, 05 Sep 2023 17:04:30 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@maxchurn wrote:
I closed my accounts with Bank of America ten years ago or more and haven't looked back, don't care how lucrative their offers are.
Nah, if you got an offer for $100K a year just for opening a BoA checking account? Nearly all financial things are consideration of potential pain vs gain, i.e. there is nearly always a strike price!

Still wouldn't do it, some games with the devil you just don't play

Re: Is it even worth it? BoA's horrid online/app/general poor experience.

coldfusion — Tue, 05 Sep 2023 19:15:10 GMT

@xenon3030 wrote:

Using the BOA website for my BOA CC payments using external accounts did not look straightforward for me and I ended up using my BOA checking to pay for my BOA CCs. If you want, you may use the bill pay service from any other bank (chase, sofi, etc) to pay for any credit card (it may take ~3-5 biz days).

It isn't hard to set up. When logged onto the BoA website under Pay & Transfer under Bill Pay (not BoA Credit Cards) select Manage Accounts from Other Banks then Other Pay From Accounts then Add A Pay From Account you own at another institution. They do the "we'll make 2 small deposits and have you verify the amounts" validation process.

Once it's been validated, when online you can select the card to be paid then Make Payment and the account you added should be an option from the Pay From pulldown.

Re: Is it even worth it? BoA's horrid online/app/general poor experience.

Anonymous — Tue, 05 Sep 2023 19:53:44 GMT

@maxchurn wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@maxchurn wrote:
I closed my accounts with Bank of America ten years ago or more and haven't looked back, don't care how lucrative their offers are.
Nah, if you got an offer for $100K a year just for opening a BoA checking account? Nearly all financial things are consideration of potential pain vs gain, i.e. there is nearly always a strike price!
Still wouldn't do it, some games with the devil you just don't play

Guess it was a REALLY bad experience!