Bank of America Cash Rewards Secured/Unsecured

[Anonymous]

I have the BofA Cash Rewards card that started out as a 500/99$ secured. After 6 mo, it was unsecured, and raised to 1000$. This month i was charged annual fee. I was going to try to get them waived because this card does not have AF if you open it unsecured. The card is just over 1 year old. My AAoA is 8 mo. This is my oldest card, and also the lowest. Total CL is $19400 I went to the branch, and the lady there told me the only way to get rid of the AF is to apply for the same card online, and if approved call in and either move the CL from the old card to the new one, or combine the 2? She said if combined the primary will be the new, and the AF on the old one would be refunded. My question is, since that is my oldest account what effect would it have on my profile with 1 new account open and the oldest one closed? I get TU 08 FICO from BofA, and it is 730, as of June. EX 08 is 739, EQ 04 693. What should i do? Also what did she mean by combing? From the info I have here I thought that i cannot apply for the same card. Does the Secured and Unsecured version of this card treated different? Thanks!

[CatOfSpades]

You need to talk to someone else at the bank. I don't have experience with the secured cards, but I was under the impression that unsecuring upgraded the card to the unsecured card, meaning the annual fee would fall away. Maybe I understood wrong? In either case, I would talk to someone else. Get on chat. People who work for BofA are aggravatingly clueless. You can talk to five different people and get five different answers. When I banked with them, I got my best resolutions on problems with the online chat function. 

As for your question: Your AAoA isn't really old enough to matter much at this point. But I wouldn't try to open a new account. I would talk to someone else, because that doens't make any sense. If this were me, if I couldn't get the annual fee waived, I'd close the account, you clearly have other cards. But definitely get on chat first. I have been told things in branch and over the phone that the person on chat said they never heard of before and they fixed the problem in minutes. 

Keep us updated. 

[RonM21]

I'd have to agree. I thought when it went unsecured, the annual fee disappeared. I would definitely talk to someone else to be sure. If you can help it, I would not apply for another card just for that.

[NichelleN]

My annual fee wasn't automatically removed when the card unsecured. However, I was able to get it removed during a very quick chat conversation online.

[gibeon]

My annual fee was not removed when mine graduated.

I called to ask to have it waived and they said no (after transferring me to 3 different people), so I cancelled the card as the limit was stuck below $1k ad well.

[ddemari]

This is where reaching out to the eo pays off. Send them an email and I'm pretty positive a rep. Will call you next day waiving the fee.

[Anonymous]

I upgraded from the secured to the unsecured BoA Cash Rewards credit card and the AF went away. Not sure why you are still being charged and AF

[pizza1]

It looks as though there are mixed results here with the 99/500 card. Some say it went away, some said it didn't. In my case, when mine graduated early with a CLI last week, I had called into UW to do it, and when I asked about the AF being removed, I was told no as well, that it will stay.

I didn't push the topic anymore, knowing Id call back to someone else, get on chat, or email the EO. I plan on doing that, and will let you know results.

[SnowBowl]

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@pizza1 wrote:
It looks as though there are mixed results here with the 99/500 card. Some say it went away, some said it didn't. In my case, when mine graduated early with a CLI last week, I had called into UW to do it, and when I asked about the AF being removed, I was told no as well, that it will stay.

I didn't push the topic anymore, knowing Id call back to someone else, get on chat, or email the EO. I plan on doing that, and will let you know results.

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question for you, were you able to add 3-2-1 to your 99/500 account ? I keep hitting refresh button to see if agents are free no dice so far lol. "all agents are currently busy"

[Anonymous]

I went to do the chat on Tuesday. I had an email offer for the same card with the 100$ sign up bonus and no AF. So I asked if these could be added to my account since I already have the card. She said no to the bonus, but for the AF she said she needs a minute. Couple minutes later she said my account is eligible to get the AF removed. She asked for a.contact number and said they need 7 days to do it. This morning the AF was credited back from May 31st. My CL is only $1000. The only CLI I had was when the card unsecured.