BankAmericard Privileges with Cash Rewards Discontinuing

[Anonymous]

Just received a letter in the mail:

"In August you will be receiving a BankAmericard Cash Rewards credit card to replace you current BankAmericard Privileges with Cash Rewards Card, which is being discontinued." 

"The 50% customer bonus on your discontinued card will be replaced with 10% customer bonus every time you redeem your cash back into a Bank of America checking or savings account."

Big game changer for me, Amex Blue Everyday lets me keep my 3% on groceries and will probably move my gas purchases from BOA to Citi Premier till the annual fee comes around from Citi at least.

From 1.5/3.0/4.5

To     1.1/2.2/3.3

Everyday/Grocery/Gas

[eddie84]

I used to have that Privilege card w/ Cash Rewards and asked them to PC to a regular Cash Rewards for me since I saw there's an annual fee if you don't have a Merril Lynch account with them (AF is $75 a year or something like that).  I'm surprised they kept it this long.

[Anonymous]

Interesting...never heard of that card before.

[Anonymous]

Yeah I talked them into waiving the fee when the product launched, nice for the years I had it I guess.

My real question is what to do with the account? It is pretty much going to remain dormant come July for at minimum the next year depending on how the premium rewards card market is looking when my Citi accounts come up for renewal. 

1) Since its no annual fee should I leave it alone as a fallback from some of the "premium" reward cards I have now?

2) This account has twice the age of any of my other accounts other than the Amex Blue should I be concerned of closing it?

3) I'm hesitant to end my oldest banking relationship but PNC/USAA/NCSECU have them beat all around from a deposit/savings product perspective. 

[Anonymous]

You still get the 50% bonus, (or 25%, 75%) as long as you're Preferred Rewards. Either have 20k-100k either in BOA or Merrill. They're just making the card for everyone the same but the bonuses are still there if you have the balances. If you've had the card without an AF and no 50K then consider yourself lucky.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

You still get the 50% bonus, (or 25%, 75%) as long as you're Preferred Rewards. Either have 20k-100k either in BOA or Merrill. They're just making the card for everyone the same but the bonuses are still there if you have the balances. If you've had the card without an AF and no 50K then consider yourself lucky.

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True, and even without the Citi Prestige/Premier combo (4.8% back in AA dollars on all travel including gas) I have for now if I really value the gas cashback I could go after the USAA Amex for 5% cashback on gas down the road. 

Doubt I'll heavilly invest in Merrill Lynch to get back into the BOA rewards program, just sad to see my first CC account become useless.

[FinStar]

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@MstrPTato wrote:

Interesting...never heard of that card before.

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I have one which I'll be rolling the CL to one of my other BOA CCs.  It used to be available a while ago but they discontinued applications for it last year (along with the Privileges Travel Rewards CC)

[Anonymous]

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@FinStar wrote:

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@MstrPTato wrote:

Interesting...never heard of that card before.

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I have one which I'll be rolling the CL to one of my other BOA CCs.  It used to be available a while ago but they discontinued applications for it last year (along with the Privileges Travel Rewards CC)

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Worth trying to convert to a BOA product other than the Cash Rewards? They only really have 3 core products (Cash, Travel, Better Balance) 

[FinStar]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

You still get the 50% bonus, (or 25%, 75%) as long as you're Preferred Rewards. Either have 20k-100k either in BOA or Merrill. They're just making the card for everyone the same but the bonuses are still there if you have the balances. If you've had the card without an AF and no 50K then consider yourself lucky.

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True, and even without the Citi Prestige/Premier combo (4.8% back in AA dollars on all travel including gas) I have for now if I really value the gas cashback I could go after the USAA Amex for 5% cashback on gas down the road. 

Doubt I'll heavilly invest in Merrill Lynch to get back into the BOA rewards program, just sad to see my first CC account become useless.

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I agree.  It was good while it lasted I suppose.  The AF was waived due to my overall banking relationship with BOA/ML so it's going to be sad to see this one go.  I'll likely reallocate the CL to my other BOA Cash Rewards or Merrill+.

[leoment]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Just received a letter in the mail:

"In August you will be receiving a BankAmericard Cash Rewards credit card to replace you current BankAmericard Privileges with Cash Rewards Card, which is being discontinued." 

"The 50% customer bonus on your discontinued card will be replaced with 10% customer bonus every time you redeem your cash back into a Bank of America checking or savings account."

Big game changer for me, Amex Blue Everyday lets me keep my 3% on groceries and will probably move my gas purchases from BOA to Citi Premier till the annual fee comes around from Citi at least.

From 1.5/3.0/4.5

To     1.1/2.2/3.3

Everyday/Grocery/Gas

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Thanks for posting this, OP.  I still have the Travel version of the Privileges card that was cancelled a while back,  but they've never pushed me over to the regular Travel rewards card.  Now I'm wondering if that'll be the case.  I guess I'll keep an eye out for any letters for my account as well.

And one product change I'd recommend if you do decide to change over would be the Better Balance card.  Since you have a banking relationship with them, it's a pretty no fuss way to earn $120 a year