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BOA Premium Rewards vs Travel Rewards

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Anonymous
Not applicable

BOA Premium Rewards vs Travel Rewards

Would love some clarification from those in the know about the relationship bonus on these two cards. The Premium Rewards card is often referred to as an upgraded Travel Rewards but I've noticed that while the Travel Rewards card receives a 10% bonus just for having a checking account with BOA, the Premium Rewards page makes no reference to this. The only customer bonus referenced for the Premium Rewards card requires being at Preferred Rewards status. So, for those of you that have the card, does the Premium Rewards card receive the 10% checking account bonus? If it doesn't, for someone not at Preferred Rewards tier it seems it would make more sense to use the Travel Rewards card for non bonus spend.
Message 1 of 22
21 REPLIES 21
wasCB14
Super Contributor

Re: BOA Premium Rewards vs Travel Rewards


@Anonymous wrote:
Would love some clarification from those in the know about the relationship bonus on these two cards. The Premium Rewards card is often referred to as an upgraded Travel Rewards but I've noticed that while the Travel Rewards card receives a 10% bonus just for having a checking account with BOA, the Premium Rewards page makes no reference to this. The only customer bonus referenced for the Premium Rewards card requires being at Preferred Rewards status. So, for those of you that have the card, does the Premium Rewards card receive the 10% checking account bonus? If it doesn't, for someone not at Preferred Rewards tier it seems it would make more sense to use the Travel Rewards card for non bonus spend.

*Edited to remove stuff I was wrong about.*

 

Premium is an "upgraded" version because of the extra travel/dining rewards, TSA/GE credit, and an airline extras credit that exceeds the AF by $5.

Personal spend: Amex Gold, Amex Schwab Plat., BofA PR+CCR(x2), Costco
Business use: Amex Bus. Plat., BBP, Lowes Amex AU, CFU AU
Perks: Delta Plat., United Explorer, IHG49, Hyatt, "Old SPG"
Mostly SD: Freedom Flex, Freedom, Arrival
Upgrade/Downgrade games: ED, BCE
SUB chasing: AA Platinum Select
Message 2 of 22
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: BOA Premium Rewards vs Travel Rewards

I have the Travel Rewards card and a BOA checking account and I do get the 10% bonus. The 10% bonus is prominently advertised on the Travel Rewards webpage. I don't see it mentioned anywhere on the Premium Rewards page though.
Message 3 of 22
wasCB14
Super Contributor

Re: BOA Premium Rewards vs Travel Rewards

https://www.bankofamerica.com/preferred-rewards/calculator/ and click the word "eligible" to see a pop-up that says:  
 
Card eligibility guidelines

Most Bank of America® branded consumer credit cards (such as the Cash Rewards, Travel Rewards, and Premium Rewards® credit cards) are eligible to receive the Preferred Rewards bonus, as long as the card account is open and in good standing. If your credit card receives the 10% customer bonus, the Preferred Rewards bonus will replace the 10% customer bonus.

Cards not eligible for the rewards bonus:

  • Non-rewards credit cards
  • Business purpose credit cards
  • BankAmericard Better Balance Rewards®
  • Merrill Lynch branded (including MERRILL+®, Merrill Lynch® Octave®, American Express® and Private Banking and Investment Group Octave® American Express®)
  • U.S. Trust® Octave® American Express®
  • AAA® Gas Rebate
  • Air France KLM World Elite Mastercard®
  • Alaska Airlines®
  • Allegiant World MasterCard®
  • Amtrak Guest Rewards®
  • Amway™
  • Asiana Airlines®
  • Celebrity Cruises®
  • Royal Caribbean International®
  • Spirit Airlines®
  • Virgin Atlantic Airways®

This list is subject to change without prior notice.

Personal spend: Amex Gold, Amex Schwab Plat., BofA PR+CCR(x2), Costco
Business use: Amex Bus. Plat., BBP, Lowes Amex AU, CFU AU
Perks: Delta Plat., United Explorer, IHG49, Hyatt, "Old SPG"
Mostly SD: Freedom Flex, Freedom, Arrival
Upgrade/Downgrade games: ED, BCE
SUB chasing: AA Platinum Select
Message 4 of 22
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: BOA Premium Rewards vs Travel Rewards

Operative statement there is "IF your credit card receives the 10% customer bonus...". It's not made clear whether or not the Premium Rewards card receives that 10% customer bonus.
Message 5 of 22
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: BOA Premium Rewards vs Travel Rewards

I have both cards. They both get the 10% bonus. For both if you then qualify for Preferred Rewards you get that instead of the 10%. It doesn't stack--you start earning 25% instead of 10%. 

 

The biggest differences is in the way you get your cash back. With the PR card you just get cash deposited into your bank account. With the TR you have to "redeem" travel points by ticking off things on your statement that counted as travel--but since it's defined so loosely, and includes everything from Uber to Parking to restaurants, there's always something there you can credit, and then you get cash back in your bank account, so it's basically cash back with a hoop you have to jump through.

 

The Premium Rewards card has an annual fee but it's easy to wipe that out: the $100 for airline incidentals (in flight food, entertainment, bag fees, etc.) is more than the annual fee by itself.

 

One thing to consider is pairing either of them with the BoA CashBack card with is a no-AF card. Especially if you were looking for dining, you could pick dining as your 3.3% category on cash back card and use travel at 1.6% for all else. It would only make sense to go to the premium card in that case if you were going to blow past the $2500/quarter limit on the 2% and 3% categories on the CashBack card. Also note you can get a co-branded Visa version of the CashBack card if, like me, you wanted to use it at Costco in the 2.2% category. Note these grow with preferred rewards too--it can be a 5.25% back on dining card and 3.5% back at Costco, at which point you might find you want two of them (the $2500/quarter thing starts to be a real limit for groceries+dining for me).

 

BoA does let you re-use a hard pull so if you apped the TR or PR card, you could follow up with an app for the cashback a few days later without getting hit with a second HP (but you do get a second new account, so it's not totally "free" to your credit score.)

Message 6 of 22
imaximous
Valued Contributor

Re: BOA Premium Rewards vs Travel Rewards

The Premium Rewards card doesn’t offer the 10% relationship bonus.
Only the Cash Rewards and Travel Rewards cards offer that, which is increased if you’re a Preferred Rewards customer.

PR only gets the Preferred Rewards bonuses (25%, 50% or 75%) after meeting the qualification requirements, and you must average the amount for 3 months, so it’s not like you deposit $100k and immediately earn 75% more. You have to wait till the 3-month average is $100k.
Message 7 of 22
kdm31091
Super Contributor

Re: BOA Premium Rewards vs Travel Rewards

The Premium card doesn't offer the 10% bonus. The Cash and Travel cards do. They seem to be downplaying the feature recently. On the revamp of the Cash card, the 10% bonus still exists, but it is only mentioned on buried portions of the site. For the Premium I see no mention of it anywhere at all.

 

It basically will come down to your travel and dining spend. The base earn rate on the Travel and Premium is the same. If your travel and dining spend is sufficient that the increased rewards will cover the AF, then the Premium is worth it.

Message 8 of 22
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: BOA Premium Rewards vs Travel Rewards


@kdm31091 wrote:

The Premium card doesn't offer the 10% bonus. The Cash and Travel cards do. They seem to be downplaying the feature recently. On the revamp of the Cash card, the 10% bonus still exists, but it is only mentioned on buried portions of the site. For the Premium I see no mention of it anywhere at all.

 

It basically will come down to your travel and dining spend. The base earn rate on the Travel and Premium is the same. If your travel and dining spend is sufficient that the increased rewards will cover the AF, then the Premium is worth it.


+1

 

The PR card benefits preferred rewards clients the most.

Message 9 of 22
UpperNwGuy
Valued Contributor

Re: BOA Premium Rewards vs Travel Rewards


@Anonymous wrote:

The PR card benefits preferred rewards clients the most.

Seems like that's the direction BofA is heading.  They want your retirement account too, not just your checking account, and they'll reward you accordingly.

Daily Carry: PenFed Power Cash • NFCU Flagship • NFCU More Rewards • Chase Freedom
Sock Drawer: PenFed Promise • NFCU cashRewards • Chase Sapphire Preferred • Chase Freedom Unlimited • United Explorer • UNFCU Azure
Message 10 of 22
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