topic Re: How to best set up a BofA Platinum Honors stack? in Credit Cards

How to best set up a BofA Platinum Honors stack?

losvedir — Sat, 02 Mar 2024 01:05:30 GMT

After a couple weeks of investigation, I think the Bank of America cash back stack is the best for me and my wife. I have had BofA checking and saving accounts for almost 20 years now, but without much money, and no Merrill account. But we have the funds, albeit as ETFs in Fidelity, to jump to Platinum Honors. Ultimately I'd like to have several (as many as possible) Customized Cash Rewards cards, and one of Unlimited Cash Rewards, Premium Rewards, or Premium Rewards Elite as the fallback card.

However, I'm a bit confused about the best way to go about doing it.

Should I get Platinum Honors before I apply for the cards? Maybe that will let me get more and/or with higher credit limits.
What are the limits for applying for BofA cards, with a banking relationship and Platinum Honors? I think it's 2 in a month, 3 in a year.
Is there a reason to apply for one kind of card before another?
Can my wife and I both apply for cards, each with the other as Authorized Users? E.g. I get two with her as AU, and she gets two with me as AU?
I think you can only have one "vanilla" CCR, but I could apply for an affinity version, which would also have the Platinum Honors boost. But is that just for me, and my wife could also get a vanilla and an affinity? Or do we need 4 different flavors between us?
Can she and I share a single joint $100k Merrill account for the Platinum Honors?

I think my current plan is follows:

Open joint Merrill account for me and my wife
Transfer $100k (and get $250 transfer bonus!). I've read that if you do it immediately, that triggers Platinum Honors at the next monthly statement. If not, maybe transfer $300k (so the rolling 3 month average hits on the first month) and transfer the rest back later.
Request Platinum Honors once it's available.
Apply for one of UCR, PR, or PRE (TBD)
On the same day, apply for CCR.
On the same day, wife applies for CCR.
On the same day, wife applies for Nature Conservancy CCR.
A month later, I apply for Nature Conservancy CCR.
On that same day, wife applies for Horse CCR.
???
Profit

Does that seem like a reasonable plan? Am I missing something?

Bonus question: If I want a US Bank Altitude Reserve, how to throw that into the mix?

Re: How to best set up a BofA Platinum Honors stack?

xenon3030 — Sat, 02 Mar 2024 04:01:12 GMT

Some time ago, I got BOA Platinum honor tier as soon as I deposited 300k to my checking acount (same day). Anyway, I had a Gold tier before depositing. You may call or ask an in-person appointment and ask your questions directly from a banker.

Putting a large amount of cash (>100k) to improve cashback or reward by a few percentage (that can be in total only ~1k/year) is NOT a solid plan. Move your large assets to BOA/ME, if it is really needed and if it is a low risk plan. Rolling over 401k from your former employer to IRA in ME can be a good plan (I did it). I found that transferring personal stock to ME is not straightforward and finally, I sold a few of my stocks at E-trade, transferred cash to ME, and purchased some stocks there.

To get approved for BOA CC, having a prior relationship to BOA (checking) and good credit profile should be sufficient. There is no need to have a tier before applying for cards. It is also not difficult to get approved for BOA cards, if you meet the requirements.

Re: How to best set up a BofA Platinum Honors stack?

markbeiser — Sun, 03 Mar 2024 01:30:14 GMT

You can get 3 BoA CCR cards without relying on luck or product changes.
The BoA branded, Susan G Komen branded, and Nature Conservency branded CCR cards.

Some people have been able to PC another card into a CCR, even though they already had a CCR.
BoA shut down whatever was letting people get many CCR cards by applying for them directly, but the language in the terms and conditions is "This card may not be available to you if you currently have or have had the card in the preceding 24 month period," so maybe there is a chance you could still get a 2nd one via a normal application.🤷‍♂️

If you only travel once or twice a year, the Premium Rewards Elite could be an option, as 100% of the travel and lifestyle credits can be used on a single trip, and you don't have to pick any specific airlines. What is categorized as "travel" is also more broad than other bank's travel cards.

Re: How to best set up a BofA Platinum Honors stack?

Anonymous — Sat, 02 Mar 2024 06:05:50 GMT

@xenon3030 wrote:

Putting a large amount of cash (>100k) to improve cashback or reward by a few percentage (that can be in total only ~1k/year) is NOT a solid plan. Move your large assets to BOA/ME, if it is really needed and if it is a low risk plan.

Moving (part of) an ETF from Fidelity to ML as OP suggests really is low risk. If these are retirement funds it's an extra place to look and needs to be done correctly to avoid extra paperwork, but not a big risk. I agree though, the corresponding gains might be pretty small!

Also, the overall plan puts a lot of eggs in the BoA basket.

Re: How to best set up a BofA Platinum Honors stack?

xenon3030 — Sat, 02 Mar 2024 17:24:01 GMT

@losvedir wrote:
After a couple weeks of investigation, I think the Bank of America cash back stack is the best for me and my wife. I have had BofA checking and saving accounts for almost 20 years now, but without much money, and no Merrill account.

You may share which cards you have, your preference (cashback or travel rewards) and your credit profile to get recommendations.

It is a risky plan to get several cards from only one lender.

It is possible to have multiple CCR, as I have 3x now (PCing other cards).

Re: How to best set up a BofA Platinum Honors stack?

losvedir — Sat, 02 Mar 2024 18:02:02 GMT

Thanks for the replies everyone.

What's the risk that a couple of y'all mentioned with putting everything in one basket, so to speak? To my mind, that was a benefit as logistically it means just one place to worry about logging in and managing. Until now, for the past ten years, we've just put everything on our 2% cashback Fidelity Visa, and have liked having everything there in one dashboard.

Re: How to best set up a BofA Platinum Honors stack?

Kforce — Sat, 02 Mar 2024 18:30:35 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:

Also, the overall plan puts a lot of eggs in the BoA basket.

^^^^ This and my personal opinion that BofA is not a place to put a lot of eggs

Re: How to best set up a BofA Platinum Honors stack?

xenon3030 — Sat, 02 Mar 2024 18:38:04 GMT

@losvedir wrote:
Thanks for the replies everyone.

What's the risk that a couple of y'all mentioned with putting everything in one basket, so to speak? To my mind, that was a benefit as logistically it means just one place to worry about logging in and managing. Until now, for the past ten years, we've just put everything on our 2% cashback Fidelity Visa, and have liked having everything there in one dashboard.

In case that one lender wants to shut down all your cards with them for any business reason, you would be out of any CC. You can find several examples like this here.

So, it is better to get cards from multiple lenders to minimize risks, due to AA of only one lender.

Re: How to best set up a BofA Platinum Honors stack?

xenon3030 — Sat, 02 Mar 2024 18:46:55 GMT

@Kforce wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:

Also, the overall plan puts a lot of eggs in the BoA basket.
^^^^ This and my personal opinion that BofA is not a place to put a lot of eggs

BOA is a money hungry place and it is slow in processing requests. It charges for any external money transfer (inbound, outbound). I kept my checking account with them, only to keep my premium rewards tier (Gold). I rolled over my 401k from my former employer to IRA ME to keep sufficient asset for the premium rewards tier.

Re: How to best set up a BofA Platinum Honors stack?

Anonymous — Sat, 02 Mar 2024 22:38:56 GMT

@xenon3030 wrote:
@losvedir wrote:
Thanks for the replies everyone.

What's the risk that a couple of y'all mentioned with putting everything in one basket, so to speak? To my mind, that was a benefit as logistically it means just one place to worry about logging in and managing. Until now, for the past ten years, we've just put everything on our 2% cashback Fidelity Visa, and have liked having everything there in one dashboard.
In case that one lender wants to shut down all your cards with them for any business reason, you would be out of any CC. You can find several examples like this here.

And to be clear, that "any business reason" can include "a mistake", such as they looked at the wrong credit report and didn't like what they saw. But more likely, one bank can decide to be extra cautious, believing say a recession is coming, and drastically reduce CLs or close cards. Fine if you have 5 lenders, not so good if this is 90% of your cards.

And yes, diversity does cause some loss of convenience, it is super-convenient to have checking/saving/retirement/investment/credit cards all on one site. And if you can work there too, so much the better! But the convenience has too much risk for many of us.

Re: How to best set up a BofA Platinum Honors stack?

xenon3030 — Sat, 02 Mar 2024 22:56:44 GMT

To be even more clear: "with or without any reason"

They may excercise their rights to do AA, at anytime that they want.

Re: How to best set up a BofA Platinum Honors stack?

losvedir — Sat, 02 Mar 2024 23:32:46 GMT

Ah, gotcha. So the risk is *having* only BofA, not *using* only BofA?

I didn't get into our current situation because I was mostly looking for advice on the logistics of what I want to do, and not what I should do. But we currently have an Amazon Prime Visa and Fidelity 2% cash back visa, which we use for all our purchases. While we intend to transition all our Fidelity transactions to the BofA cards, sounds like keeping the Fidelity card around would be a good idea.

Re: How to best set up a BofA Platinum Honors stack?

Anonymous — Sun, 03 Mar 2024 00:48:22 GMT

@losvedir wrote:
Ah, gotcha. So the risk is *having* only BofA, not *using* only BofA?

I didn't get into our current situation because I was mostly looking for advice on the logistics of what I want to do, and not what I should do. But we currently have an Amazon Prime Visa and Fidelity 2% cash back visa, which we use for all our purchases. While we intend to transition all our Fidelity transactions to the BofA cards, sounds like keeping the Fidelity card around would be a good idea.

Right, although using just BoA risks all other cards being closed from non-use, putting you into having only BoA! So keep the other cards alive with small regular usage

Re: How to best set up a BofA Platinum Honors stack?

Anonymous — Sun, 03 Mar 2024 00:53:04 GMT

Another risk of all eggs in one basket is system-wide nerfing. In the case of BoA, this could easily happen for the definition of Platinum Honors. $100K is a pretty low amount for top tier rewards, compare with $3M in MANAGED funds for Fidelity or Private Banking requirements at other banks. They could up the limit, or exclude retirement funds (insufficiently liquid) from counting. Then, you would have to put new funds in (if you have them) , live with lower rewards, or try to find a better solution elsewhere.

Not saying this is likely, just a possible risk.

Re: How to best set up a BofA Platinum Honors stack?

markbeiser — Sun, 03 Mar 2024 01:39:12 GMT

@xenon3030 wrote:

BOA is a money hungry place and it is slow in processing requests. It charges for any external money transfer (inbound, outbound). I kept my checking account with them, only to keep my premium rewards tier (Gold). I rolled over my 401k from my former employer to IRA ME to keep sufficient asset for the premium rewards tier.

I've never had to pay a fee transferring money in and out of my CMA account with merril or my checking account on the BoA side to or from an external account.

Re: How to best set up a BofA Platinum Honors stack?

ptatohed — Sun, 03 Mar 2024 03:18:41 GMT

I think the most important thing is to make sure you are earning as much or more on the $100,000 at BoA as you were at Fidelity. @xenon3030 touched on this.

If you are averaging 5% at Fidelity but you will only average 4% with BoA, that's $1,000 less earnings per year which will wipe out any and all increased cash back you get from your credit cards with Plat Honors.

I would walk into a branch and sit down with a banker and ask all your questions. Speak to them about Merrill investing.

If AOD nerfs its 3% CB, I might very well go with BoA Plat Honors and get the UCR for 2.625% CB.

Re: How to best set up a BofA Platinum Honors stack?

Anonymous — Sun, 03 Mar 2024 03:22:05 GMT

@ptatohed wrote:
I think the most important thing is to make sure you are earning as much or more on the $100,000 at BoA as you were at Fidelity.  @xenon3030 touched on this.

If you are averaging 5% at Fidelity but you will only average 4% with BoA, that's $1,000 less earnings per year which will wipe out any and all increased cash back you get from your credit cards with Plat Honors.

I would walk into a branch and sit down with a banker and ask all your questions. Speak to them about Merrill investing.

If AOD nerfs its 3% CB, I might very well go with BoA Plat Honors and get the UCR for 2.625% CB.

If you are transferring from an ETF at Fidelity to the same ETF at ML, then at most there might be a difference of fees and with the right ETFs in a self-directed ML account, not even that.

Re: How to best set up a BofA Platinum Honors stack?

losvedir — Sun, 03 Mar 2024 04:09:41 GMT

@ptatohed wrote:
I think the most important thing is to make sure you are earning as much or more on the $100,000 at BoA as you were at Fidelity.  @xenon3030 touched on this.

If you are averaging 5% at Fidelity but you will only average 4% with BoA, that's $1,000 less earnings per year which will wipe out any and all increased cash back you get from your credit cards with Plat Honors.

I would walk into a branch and sit down with a banker and ask all your questions. Speak to them about Merrill investing.

If AOD nerfs its 3% CB, I might very well go with BoA Plat Honors and get the UCR for 2.625% CB.

I plan to transfer over enough VOO shares to cover it. VOO is just a stock (an ETF that tracks the S&P 500) so the earnings are the same whether they're sitting in Fidelity or in Merrill Lynch. I've looked everywhere I could for fees I may incur at Merrill and I don't see any. I think both brokerages allow "self directed investing" without any fees. The transfer itself might have a small fixed fee of something like ~$50, I can't tell. Also, I can't sell the VOO in Fidelity, transfer the cash, and then buy the VOO again in Merrill Lynch, because that would subject me to a lot of capital gains taxes and that would wipe out my cashback gains. But it looks like I can transfer the shares themselves, which would be fine. I'd love to hear if anyone has done this before, and if Merrill Lynch keeps track of the cost basis of all the shares and all that. At this point, I'm realizing I should probably call BofA or ML this week...

Re: How to best set up a BofA Platinum Honors stack?

xenon3030 — Sun, 03 Mar 2024 04:15:20 GMT

@markbeiser wrote:
I've never had to pay a fee transferring money in and out of my CMA account with merril or my checking account on the BoA side to or from an external account.

The fees are for money transfers using BOA checking account to external banks like Chase. I am trying to find out their fees on their website. They make such fee info difficult to find and when the person transfers money, they get hit by fees

BOA transfer to ME is free and it is instant. ME money transfer to any external account is free and it gives also free check. So, somebody might use ME for money transfers instead of BOA checking.

Re: How to best set up a BofA Platinum Honors stack?

xenon3030 — Sun, 03 Mar 2024 04:24:42 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
If you are transferring from an ETF at Fidelity to the same ETF at ML, then at most there might be a difference of fees and with the right ETFs in a self-directed ML account, not even that.

Transferring stock from an external brokerage account (Etrade) to ML was a nightmare for me. They were rejecting all of my transfers around 5AM. I tried 3-4 times, even called them, and finally, I gave up. I simply sold them, transferred cash to ML and purchased some stock/ETF there.

Also, transferring stock/ETF from one brokerage to another might not be straightforward, from taxation point of view (they may not send the buy info and it may create confusions when trying to file tax, after selling them).