Bank Of America - - TARGETED Offer Questions!

[imaximous]

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@Aim_High wrote:

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@Turbobuick wrote:

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@wasCB14 wrote:

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@Turbobuick wrote:

I got an invite to this party! lol 

If it were me, and looks like I'm alone, in saying wait until you quality for the perferred rewards program. I believe it would greatly boost your chances and necessary only because of your numerous applications of late. Then again, if the offer disappears, who's to say it would come back later?

The only way around that "3 month average" wait time is if you already have a non-business financial relationship with BofA. My 20 year business realtionship with BofA didn't mean a thing on the personal banking side. We had to wait 90 days, but during those 90 days, we had free checking, free safe deposit box, free atm fees and unlimited free trading inside Merrill Edge. Make sure to talk to your banker at BofA and well as your investment consultant at Merrill Edge to get these perks from day one.  

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More specifically, you need a personal checking account. Having a personal brokerage account but no personal checking account will NOT make you eligible for the personal side of Preferred Rewards.

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It was my understanding, and with no certainty, that once you opened the Advantage Relationship Checking acct, the 3 month average clock would start. If you already had a savings acct or IRA, that could be grandfathered into your qualifying and possibly lower that 3 month clock. Again, none of this applied to me, so not sure.

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I'm already a Preferred Rewards member.  Apparently I wasn't clear because several answers have talked about whether I should wait until I was in the program.  I opened a checking account with direct deposit last October and maintained at least $20K in balances for three months to qualify for the program at the entry-level "Gold."  Plus I got a $300 SUB for depositing at least $4K by direct deposit within 90 days. 

What I was talking about waiting for was I thought upgrading (or downgrading) to each additional LEVEL within the program was based on a three-month lookback at average deposits, so I was thinking about depositing investment funds into Merrill and waiting three months until I would be Platinum Honors.   (I thought Platinum Honors would carry more influence but also would give me a higher payout while meeting the SUB.) 

I believe the main reasons I got the targeted offer in the first place was that I'm currently in the Preferred Rewards program.  But I've also recently opened a Merrill account,  I spoke with a Merrill advisor, I'm a 20-year credit and former banking customer, and I've saved the Premium Rewards product a couple of times while looking at it online to show my interest which I had hoped might lead to an offer.  

According to discussions of the Preferred Rewards program on the Bank of America Website, the only requirements for it are:

• An eligible Bank of America® personal checking account
• 3-month average combined balances of $20,000 or more in qualifying Bank of America® banking accounts and/or Merrill investment accounts.

But maybe once you're in, you don't have to wait to upgrade to a higher level if you make additional deposits??? I may be confused about how that works.

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You don't have to wait literally 3 months to qualify for Preferred Rewards or for the next upgrade. You can qualify sooner if you make a large enough deposit so that when they calculate the 3-month average, it puts you in the corresponding tier. For instance, if you want to be PH and you deposit $100k, it'll take you 3 months, but if you were to dump $500k, you'd qualify much quicker. I can't do the exact math, but you'd probably be PH in a month or less. The same idea works for the lower tiers. Drop $100k and you'll be Gold pretty quick.

Once you qualify for Preferred Rewards, you keep your status for a full year even if your balance drops below the required threshold. Another example, you make it to PH with $100k in assets. Then, your balance drops to $10k. You'll still be PH for the next year until they re-qualify you in the program. At that time, you'll have a chance to bring your balances up again to retain your status.

[imaximous]

Ha... looks like @wasCB14 beat me to it while I was typing. 

[wasCB14]

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@imaximous wrote:

Ha... looks like @wasCB14 beat me to it while I was typing. 

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There are times a 38-inch screen offers more convenience than a mobile device.

[imaximous]

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@wasCB14 wrote:

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@imaximous wrote:

Ha... looks like @wasCB14 beat me to it while I was typing. 

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There are times a 38-inch screen offers more convenience than a mobile device.

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Sad part is I'm sitting in front of 2 x 27" monitors 

My excuse is that I got distracted watching reruns of "Bones" and I'm not ashamed to admit it. 

[TSlop]

Hmmm, learn something new everyday; I did not know you needed a personal checking account to qualify for preferred rewards. I am very close to hitting gold so I'll have to get a checking account soon. I''ve already been waiting a little while now for a targeted SUB offer but one hasn't come around yet. Hopefully it comes around sooner now.

[Turbobuick]

Sorry Aim_High if we're taking your thread sideways.

Perhaps the rules have changed since I qualified, but the money on account only determines which tier you land on. They can't get a 3 month average without it taking 3 months. I had a hard time wrapping my head around the time/money thing and thought like so many that more money means less time. It does not. They make this clear as mud online. I flat out asked the preferred rewards rep, what if I deposited a million dollars and she said it would still take 3 months to qualify. They want your money for 90 days before it works for you. 

If you rollover only a 401K,  then you won't even have an "average". If you deposit monies incrementally, you can have an average. 

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@imaximous wrote:

Ha... looks like @wasCB14 beat me to it while I was typing. 

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[wasCB14]

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@Turbobuick wrote:

Sorry Aim_High if we're taking your thread sideways.

Perhaps the rules have changed since I qualified, but the money on account only determines which tier you land on. They can't get a 3 month average without it taking 3 months. I had a hard time wrapping my head around the time/money thing and thought like so many that more money means less time. It does not. They make this clear as mud online. I flat out asked the preferred rewards rep, what if I deposited a million dollars and she said it would still take 3 months to qualify. They want your money for 90 days before it works for you.  

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@imaximous wrote:

Ha... looks like @wasCB14 beat me to it while I was typing. 

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There can be a little wiggle room with invites going out after maybe 75-80 days instead of 90...but 30 won't cut it.

At least, not unless you have the funds and corresponding pull to persuade someone otherwise. If someone transferred in $10M, opened a new checking account alongside the new brokerage account, and asked for immediate Preferred Rewards PH status, I wouldn't be shocked if the broker pulled a few strings. They gave me unlimited free trading without my even asking for it..and that was months before I even got the checking account to even begin the countdown to joining Preferred Rewards.

[Turbobuick]

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@wasCB14 wrote:

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@Turbobuick wrote:

Sorry Aim_High if we're taking your thread sideways.

Perhaps the rules have changed since I qualified, but the money on account only determines which tier you land on. They can't get a 3 month average without it taking 3 months. I had a hard time wrapping my head around the time/money thing and thought like so many that more money means less time. It does not. They make this clear as mud online. I flat out asked the preferred rewards rep, what if I deposited a million dollars and she said it would still take 3 months to qualify. They want your money for 90 days before it works for you.  

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@imaximous wrote:

Ha... looks like @wasCB14 beat me to it while I was typing. 

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There can be a little wiggle room with invites going out after maybe 75-80 days instead of 90...but 30 won't cut it.

At least, not unless you have the funds and corresponding pull to persuade someone otherwise. If someone transferred in $10M, opened a new checking account alongside the new brokerage account, and asked for immediate Preferred Rewards PH status, I wouldn't be shocked if the broker pulled a few strings. They gave me unlimited free trading without my even asking for it..and that was months before I even got the checking account to even begin the countdown to joining Preferred Rewards.

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Yes, I got everything as soon as ME was funded, except the credit card bonus, which was the only perk I was aiming at. You can't apply the 75% credit card bonus for 90 days. The $900 signup bonus, free trades, free banking, free atm etc... is offered everywhere, but those cards earn me $100+/mo. hopefully forever.

[imaximous]

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@Turbobuick wrote:

Sorry Aim_High if we're taking your thread sideways.

Perhaps the rules have changed since I qualified, but the money on account only determines which tier you land on. They can't get a 3 month average without it taking 3 months. I had a hard time wrapping my head around the time/money thing and thought like so many that more money means less time. It does not. They make this clear as mud online. I flat out asked the preferred rewards rep, what if I deposited a million dollars and she said it would still take 3 months to qualify. They want your money for 90 days before it works for you. 

If you rollover only a 401K,  then you won't even have an "average". If you deposit monies incrementally, you can have an average. 

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@imaximous wrote:

Ha... looks like @wasCB14 beat me to it while I was typing. 

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That's odd. My banker actually told me to deposit more than the required money so I could qualify faster for Preferred Rewards. There may be a difference between being completely new to BofA and already having a deposit account. In my case, I had a checking account that I opened many years ago but there wasn't much activity on it. Last year, I decided to close my Chase accounts and started using BofA and Citi. Before opening a business account with BofA, I made large business deposits in my personal checking account. Without even thinking much about Preferred Rewards, I started getting emails about enrolling in the program. Once I signed up, I became Gold > Platinum very quickly and then it took a little longer for PH. I'm almost certain it took maybe a month or a little more.

On the business side, it was even faster. BofA offers to qualify you for Business Preferred Rewards within the first 30 days of opening a business checking account. For instance, if you deposit $100k, you become PH right away. No 3-month average or waiting period. Same goes for the lower tiers. 

I found that out by pure accident once I opened a business checking account, and transferred the money I was putting into the personal account. I had no idea why I'd qualified so quickly that I thought my status had carried over from personal, but later on, I got a letter from BofA where they explain the offer in a small paragraph -- it's almost like they don't want you to know about it. 

[Aim_High]

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@Turbobuick wrote:

Sorry Aim_High if we're taking your thread sideways.

It's all good.    The whole discussion about Preferred Rewards is closely related to the Premium Rewards card topic and it's a good conversation about how it works from different angles. 

Thanks again everyone for your inputs. 

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