BankAmericard Cash Rewards Visa: Preselected

[Anonymous]

Hi, long-time lurker and member who can't recover his account here.

I got a mailer yesterday from Bank of America that said that I'm preselected for their BankAmericard Cash Rewards Visa. I was wondering if anyone has received a mailer like this and what their results have been. It has the prescreen/opt-out box that apparently indicates a soft pull based on my credit report and it's offering a single rate (not a range). The letter also has a personal secure code to enter on their website. It also says: This Preselected offer is part of a firm offer of credit.

The offer overall:

$500 minimum credit line

0% APR for 12 months

23.99% APR

3% cash back on gas/2% on groceries/wholesale/1% everything else

I've never done business wtih them, but I do like the offer. I haven't decided what I'm going to do yet. If I did apply, would it help my approval odds if opened a checking or savings account with them first? I have a charge-off from four years ago and some student loan issuses. But otherwise, I have 100% on-time payments on my currently open cards and utilization is at 15%. My Experian FICO08 score as of a couple weeks ago was 638. This offer doesn't have the sign-on bonus that some get, but I know those aren't easy to get with my credit score. Tbh, I was kind of taken aback when I got this offer (I had assumed BofA was very strict in their offers). I would certainly like to take it, considering it's a prime card with some good benefits. Does anyone have experience with their offers/mailers/etc?

[K-in-Boston]

Their offers with single APRs have been rock solid for me. Have you checked their online prequalification page to see if anything shows there too? As long as you pay the statement balance in full no real concern on the APR being so high. You can request them to lower it in the future as your scores improve. And in time BOA limits can grow huuuge.

[AverageJoesCredit]

+1 KiB Seems solid. Once you get one foot in the door the other is sure to follow

[Anonymous]

Check their prequal offers. You might get the same or similar rates and then also get the signup bonus. You've got nothing to lose. Also you sure there is no bonus? I thought they came standard on all their cash rewards cards?

[Anonymous]

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@K-in-Boston wrote:
Their offers with single APRs have been rock solid for me. Have you checked their online prequalification page to see if anything shows there too? As long as you pay the statement balance in full no real concern on the APR being so high. You can request them to lower it in the future as your scores improve. And in time BOA limits can grow huuuge.

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Their prequal site just shows a recommended offer, with a wide-range APR and sign-on bonus (quite different from my offer). When I got an offer for a Capital One Quicksilver Visa earlier this year, it was a mailer that didn't show up as prequal on their site. That offer also didn't have a sign-on bonus (and I called customer service just in case). On a card like this, I'm not too worried about not getting a sign-on bonus or low APR. I'm just elated that I'm getting an offer for a card like this.

I'd definitely like to get my foot in the door with a prime lender like Bank of America. I never really considered them as a near-term option until I got this offer. I always thought you had to have scores well over 700. If I do, I'm going to wait about a week or so until after my current cards report (more positive information and a slight reduction in utilization). I've looked around this forum and apparently preselected is a very good thing with Bank of America.

Does anyone know if perhaps opening a checking or savings account with them (prior to any application) would approve my odds?

[K-in-Boston]

Not sure about improving odds, but depositing the rewards into a BOA account does get you a 10% bonus, so it becomes a 3.3/2.2/1.1 card.