Bank of America to Discontinue Better Balance Rewards Card!

[MrDisco99]

They offered a quarterly bonus (like $25 I think) for paying your full balance on time each month.

So people applied and started putting like $5 a month on them and earning some free money.  One guy on YouTube had like 5 of them going at once after PCs.

[minski]

They pulled EX for me and it dropped 3 points. :\ I was hoping not because my Blispay shows up as a relatively new account (less than 2 years). 

[yfan]

Definitely not great news, but we knew this was coming. No bank wants to just give away money without getting some benefit and/or making it up elsewhere. Part of the paradox of credit boards is that while it has made it easy to popularize products, it has also made it easy to exploit so-called "free money." No doubt BofA intended this product for people who actually carry a balance and intended the bonus as a reward for paying it down. But enough of us got wind and decided we'd use it for "free" money. And so the party must end.

[AverageJoesCredit]

Sincerely when apping for my 1st Boa, i really did choose the BBR for exactly thst reason, i knew i carried balances so the free money played no part in my decision. To find that card became a great card for BTs and such and get the extra money are bonus for me. No card is safe from the Fico stampede

[Blackswizz750]

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@yfan wrote:

Definitely not great news, but we knew this was coming. No bank wants to just give away money without getting some benefit and/or making it up elsewhere. Part of the paradox of credit boards is that while it has made it easy to popularize products, it has also made it easy to exploit so-called "free money." No doubt BofA intended this product for people who actually carry a balance and intended the bonus as a reward for paying it down. But enough of us got wind and decided we'd use it for "free" money. And so the party must end.

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This seems to be the trend the last year and a half. The party is rocking then it stops(cards Nerfed). I guess they were meant for a mix of customers and when a bank is paying out millions of bucks in cash back something has to give. I am assuming other cards like this will have this fate.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the notice, op!

I've always wanted this card so I bit the bullet. Already in an AAoA hole because of my app spree I figured what the heck. Instant approval $12k SL. So I say to myself, "why not dig the hole a little deeper?" and go for a combine pull and sign up for the Alaska card. Immediately went to pending but a few hours later was approved for $21k. Crap, time to garden whilst I work on all my minimum spends...

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Thanks for the notice, op!

I've always wanted this card so I bit the bullet. Already in an AAoA hole because of my app spree I figured what the heck. Instant approval $12k SL. So I say to myself, "why not dig the hole a little deeper?" and go for a combine pull and sign up for the Alaska card. Immediately went to pending but a few hours later was approved for $21k. Crap, time to garden whilst I work on all my minimum spends...

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Congrats on the approval! 21K is a great SL glad you were able to get the card now

[longtimelurker]

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@Blackswizz750 wrote:

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@yfan wrote:

Definitely not great news, but we knew this was coming. No bank wants to just give away money without getting some benefit and/or making it up elsewhere. Part of the paradox of credit boards is that while it has made it easy to popularize products, it has also made it easy to exploit so-called "free money." No doubt BofA intended this product for people who actually carry a balance and intended the bonus as a reward for paying it down. But enough of us got wind and decided we'd use it for "free" money. And so the party must end.

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This seems to be the trend the last year and a half. The party is rocking then it stops(cards Nerfed). I guess they were meant for a mix of customers and when a bank is paying out millions of bucks in cash back something has to give. I am assuming other cards like this will have this fate.

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It's been going on much longer than that.   Banks issue cards that are obviously great, or have some exploitable "flaw" that they hadn't thought of, and as word spreads, the banks are forced to nerf.   Despite the love of the BBR here, I don't think it is a huge loss maker compared to several of the other cards that have been nerfed in recent years.  But if BoA is seeing a bunch of small losses for no obvious gains, worth closing down!

[K-in-Boston]

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@UncleB wrote:

Oh no!  I just made an audible 'gasp' when I read the news (yeah, I know I should get out more... haha.)

Well what can I say... it was nice while it lasted.  If they do turn it into a product that has no BT fees that would turn out about the same for me (and would still have value)... I actually use my two BBRs (at least one of them) for balance transfers anyway, and in my case the quarterly credits offset my BT fee(s).  The new card might be OK, at least for my purposes.

It will be interesting to see how this situation works out...

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All of my BOA cards are used for balance transers only (seriously, the last swipe on the older ones were at least a decade ago and the BankAmericard has never left the envelope it arrived in).  Somehow, by Slate-ish, I would assume no BT fees when the card is opened and only if done within X days.  In my experience (I had a Slate previous to the new one and my wife's Freedom Unlimited used to be a Slate), there were always balance transfer offers but like BOA's current cards (which also always have BT offers) there were always 3-5% transfer fees after the initial sign-up period.  I should have done a PC to BBR instead of TR on my old FIA card last year for the "free money" since I really DO use it for BTs.

[Anonymous]

Ah....its too bad to hear this but I expected it a while ago. $120 a year for doing practically nothing. Luckily/hopefully those of is with a BBR get to keep it around for a while.