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Considering BofA Premium Rewards

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coldfusion
Community Leader
Mega Contributor

Re: Considering BofA Premium Rewards

I can't speak to what an advisor (was it a Merrill advisor attached to your local BoA branch or someone in Jacksonville FL?) may have told you, but I did have to wait the full 3 months even though I had moved more than $300K in new money into Merrill via a single transaction. 

(3/2024)
FICO 8 (EX) 846 (TU) 850 (EQ) 850
FICO 9 (EX) 850 (TU) 850 (EQ) 850

$1M+ club

Artist formerly known as the_old_curmudgeon who was formerly known as coldfusion
Message 21 of 53
wasCB14
Super Contributor

Re: Considering BofA Premium Rewards


@coldfusion wrote:

I can't speak to what an advisor (was it a Merrill advisor attached to your local BoA branch or someone in Jacksonville FL?) may have told you, but I did have to wait the full 3 months even though I had moved more than $300K in new money into Merrill via a single transaction. 


But presumably you lacked any sort of asset account at BofA...no checking or savings to have already gotten the 3-month timer started?

 

I can test when PH goes into effect by setting up a trade order (specifying the stock, price, and quantity...everything short of actually hitting "place order") and see when they start to charge $0 instead of $6.95.

 

Even with them giving me $600, I'm not paying the latter when the idea is to lower costs and Fidelity/Schwab charge less.

 

Does BofA send reliable prequal offers for PR? They've sent me via USPS ads for CR and TR offers for a long time.

Personal spend: Amex Gold, Amex Schwab Plat., BofA PR+CCR(x2), Costco
Business use: Amex Bus. Plat., BBP, Lowes Amex AU, CFU AU
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Message 22 of 53
FinStar
Moderator Emeritus

Re: Considering BofA Premium Rewards


@wasCB14 wrote:

@coldfusion wrote:

I can't speak to what an advisor (was it a Merrill advisor attached to your local BoA branch or someone in Jacksonville FL?) may have told you, but I did have to wait the full 3 months even though I had moved more than $300K in new money into Merrill via a single transaction. 


But presumably you lacked any sort of asset account at BofA...no checking or savings to have already gotten the 3-month timer started?

 

I can test when PH goes into effect by setting up a trade order (specifying the stock, price, and quantity...everything short of actually hitting "place order") and see when they start to charge $0 instead of $6.95.

 

Even with them giving me $600, I'm not paying the latter when the idea is to lower costs and Fidelity/Schwab charge less.

 

Does BofA send reliable prequal offers for PR? They've sent me via USPS ads for CR and TR offers for a long time.


IME, before getting approved for Premium Rewards, I never saw one, not even online under the Special Offers & Deals which is usually where some CC pre-approved offers display.  I've been able to nab others via that method such as a biz CC several months ago, but never saw one for PR.   Most of the mailers are usually pre-selected or standard invitations, but the BoA pre-approval ones are the unicorns. 

Message 23 of 53
imaximous
Valued Contributor

Re: Considering BofA Premium Rewards


@coldfusion wrote:

I can't speak to what an advisor (was it a Merrill advisor attached to your local BoA branch or someone in Jacksonville FL?) may have told you, but I did have to wait the full 3 months even though I had moved more than $300K in new money into Merrill via a single transaction. 


At first, I made an appointment with a local banker to talk about moving some investments to BofA and qualify for top tier PR. The very next day, I got a call from a rep at Merrill (supposedly) about my visit to the branch. He's the one that told me to move more money that the required tier to qualify faster. Again, it's probably because he knew I already had a checking account and I just needed to increase the 3-month average to get there.

Reason I didn't go through with opening a Merrill account is that I was doing it for the wrong reasons. I just wanted to maximize the earnings on the card, but even at 2.625% and 3.5%, I realized that I have better rewards cards and I still wouldn't use it as much. 

Message 24 of 53
coldfusion
Community Leader
Mega Contributor

Re: Considering BofA Premium Rewards


@wasCB14 wrote:

@coldfusion wrote:

I can't speak to what an advisor (was it a Merrill advisor attached to your local BoA branch or someone in Jacksonville FL?) may have told you, but I did have to wait the full 3 months even though I had moved more than $300K in new money into Merrill via a single transaction. 


But presumably you lacked any sort of asset account at BofA...no checking or savings to have already gotten the 3-month timer started?

 

I can test when PH goes into effect by setting up a trade order (specifying the stock, price, and quantity...everything short of actually hitting "place order") and see when they start to charge $0 instead of $6.95.

 

Even with them giving me $600, I'm not paying the latter when the idea is to lower costs and Fidelity/Schwab charge less.

 

Does BofA send reliable prequal offers for PR? They've sent me via USPS ads for CR and TR offers for a long time.


I only had a BoA checking account that carried over when they absorbed Fleet Bank about 15 years ago (no savings or brokerage account), which due to their broad footprint had proven to be useful during the time I was performing extensive domestic business and personal travel.   Fidelity managed to PO me enough to look to relocate assets and take some business elsewhere, so I created a Merrill Edge brokerage account and made the transfer.

 

I did get my PR via a prequal made as a Special Offer.  I was already at the point where CLI requests would be referred to a senior UW to be approved and as I recall the application was also referred to a senior UW, who approved it. 

 

(3/2024)
FICO 8 (EX) 846 (TU) 850 (EQ) 850
FICO 9 (EX) 850 (TU) 850 (EQ) 850

$1M+ club

Artist formerly known as the_old_curmudgeon who was formerly known as coldfusion
Message 25 of 53
K-in-Boston
Credit Mentor

Re: Considering BofA Premium Rewards

It’s been 2 years (I believe I was the 3rd approval posted here when the card became available; they took $21k from another card automatically to open it) but I also want to say I had an offer in my online account for the card. I know my now-closed BankAmericard and Cash Rewards were both preapprovals (former while on phone with senior underwriter about my Travel Rewards Card, latter when logging out of my account one day). Also just got an unsolicited new contactless version of the card in the mail.
Message 26 of 53
Aim_High
Super Contributor

Re: Considering BofA Premium Rewards


@imaximous wrote:

I just wanted to maximize the earnings on the card, but even at 2.625% and 3.5%, I realized that I have better rewards cards and I still wouldn't use it as much. 

Which cards beat that rate?  Not in cash? 

Do you mean MR or UR points?

That's the best, long-term, uncapped noncategory cash payout that I am aware of anywhere.  (2.625%)


Business Cards


Length of Credit > 40 years; Total Credit Limits >$850K
Top Lender TCL - Chase 156.4 - BofA 99.7 - AMEX 95.0 - CITI 94.5 - NFCU 80.0
AoOA > 30 years (Jun 1993); AoYA (Aug 2023)
* Hover cursor over cards to see name & CL, or press & hold on mobile app.
Message 27 of 53
Aim_High
Super Contributor

Re: Considering BofA Premium Rewards

@K-in-Boston

Questions for you. 

 

You appear to be in the Preferred Rewards program, I'm assuming Platinum Honors? 

 

You have Premium Rewards card but also have the Travel Rewards card.  Is your reference to PCing the older Travel card the only reason you keep it - for the history?  Or is there some other benefit?  Do you use both the Travel Rewards and Premium Rewards cards?

 

And with the exception of cash value, does the Travel Rewards card work the same for everyday noncategorized spending as far as cashback valuation?  (Both earn 1.5% base x 1.75% = 2.625 when redeemed for travel.  Premium also gets 2.625 for cashback?)

 

If you're in Preferred Rewards Program, I noticed you don't also have the Cash Rewards card.  Wouldn't that benefit you, especially for the 5.5% selected category with bonus for Platinum Honors??  (3% x 1.75%)  *You mentioned a "now-closed" Bankamericard and Cash Rewards cards.

 

I read the disclosure on Travel Rewards and it appears you get less value for cash (6/10 penny per point) but if you redeem for travel, it appears the value DOUBLES from 1.5 ccp to 3 ccp???  (Disclosure says, "Bonus Points At The Travel Center: Earn 3 points (consisting of 1.5 bonus points and 1.5 base points) for every $1 in Net Purchases, excluding insurance purchases, made through the Travel Center, with no limit on the number of bonus points you can earn")  Can you clarify?   Where in the process is the Preferred Rewards bonus applied and where is the 3 points reference applied??  It sounds like if you're Platinum Honors, you'd earn 1.5  cents per dollar spend, then your Preferred Bonus  x .75% = 2.625  and then double that to 5.25????  If so, the Travel Rewards card would work out to an even higher payout rate than the Premium Rewards card!  Where am I getting confused or is Travel Rewards actually better in some respects?

 

Does anyone know if you can PC down from/up to Premium Rewards card or is it in a category all its' own?


Business Cards


Length of Credit > 40 years; Total Credit Limits >$850K
Top Lender TCL - Chase 156.4 - BofA 99.7 - AMEX 95.0 - CITI 94.5 - NFCU 80.0
AoOA > 30 years (Jun 1993); AoYA (Aug 2023)
* Hover cursor over cards to see name & CL, or press & hold on mobile app.
Message 28 of 53
K-in-Boston
Credit Mentor

Re: Considering BofA Premium Rewards

@Aim_High  I am a BoA checking customer (also inherited from Fleet) only; no Preferred Rewards (it's possible that if I moved around all of my payment dates to come out on the same day I'd qualify for Gold, though).  The money goes out as fast as it comes in.

 

Yes, I only keep the Travel Rewards (inherited from MBNA) for its age, since the account was opened in 2005, and I use it heavily for BTs.  It has not had a single swipe in at least 12 or 13 years.  Earnings are essentially the same for non-category spending, yes.

 

Cash Rewards would really only be beneficial if I had Platinum Honors, and that spend is capped.  As it is, I value my other CC earnings more than BoA so they really don't get much in the way of swipes.  Premium Rewards was more of a placeholder for the future, and an attempt to grow my BoA accounts to or beyond $100k (I am in the infamous $99.9k club, and am also an AU on a $99.9k card).

 

The doubling you are referring to is by purchasing travel in the BoA portal (which is really just Orbitz), you earn 3x on the purchase.  You don't get double value on redemptions.  I'm not sure if Premium Rewards also earns a bonus for purchasing through the Travel Portal.  Annoyingly, BoA does require that you use ALL points or ALL cash for your purchase there, unlike Chase, Citi, and Amex that allow you to mix the two.

 

As for PCs up or down, I mentioned earlier upthread that I have not seen any DPs on either scenario.

Message 29 of 53
imaximous
Valued Contributor

Re: Considering BofA Premium Rewards


@Aim_High wrote:

@imaximous wrote:

I just wanted to maximize the earnings on the card, but even at 2.625% and 3.5%, I realized that I have better rewards cards and I still wouldn't use it as much. 

Which cards beat that rate?  Not in cash? 

Do you mean MR or UR points?

That's the best, long-term, uncapped noncategory cash payout that I am aware of anywhere.  (2.625%)


Aside from MRs and URs I also earn, for my type of spend, the Altitude Reserve beats the PR by a long shot on non-category purchases. Almost anywhere I go, I can use it with Samsung Pay, so at the very least, it’s 3% uncapped. But I only use my points for travel purchases, so I get an effective 4.5% by redeeming through RTR. The very few places where I can’t use it, I have a similar o better earning card anyway. 

Again, this is what works for me, but others may feel differently about it based on where or how they make their purchases. 

I still use my PR card, but only to have some activity on it. Most of the purchases I put on it, I can do better with a different card, but I like giving BofA some swipes because they’ve given me generous CLs.

Message 30 of 53
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