How to best set up a BofA Platinum Honors stack?

[xenon3030]

To be even more clear: "with or without any reason"

They may excercise their rights to do AA, at anytime that they want.

[losvedir]

Ah, gotcha. So the risk is *having* only BofA, not *using* only BofA?

I didn't get into our current situation because I was mostly looking for advice on the logistics of what I want to do, and not what I should do. But we currently have an Amazon Prime Visa and Fidelity 2% cash back visa, which we use for all our purchases. While we intend to transition all our Fidelity transactions to the BofA cards, sounds like keeping the Fidelity card around would be a good idea.

[Anonymous]

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@losvedir wrote:

Ah, gotcha. So the risk is *having* only BofA, not *using* only BofA?

I didn't get into our current situation because I was mostly looking for advice on the logistics of what I want to do, and not what I should do. But we currently have an Amazon Prime Visa and Fidelity 2% cash back visa, which we use for all our purchases. While we intend to transition all our Fidelity transactions to the BofA cards, sounds like keeping the Fidelity card around would be a good idea.

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Right, although using just BoA risks all other cards being closed from non-use, putting you into having only BoA!   So keep the other cards alive with small regular usage

[Anonymous]

Another risk of all eggs in one basket is system-wide nerfing.   In the case of BoA, this could easily happen for the definition of Platinum Honors.  $100K is a pretty low amount for top tier rewards, compare with $3M in MANAGED funds for Fidelity or Private Banking requirements at other banks.    They could up the limit, or exclude retirement funds (insufficiently liquid) from counting.   Then, you would have to put new funds in (if you have them) , live with lower rewards, or try to find a better solution elsewhere.

Not saying this is likely,  just a possible risk.

[markbeiser]

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@xenon3030 wrote:

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BOA is a money hungry place and it is slow in processing requests. It charges for any external money transfer (inbound, outbound). I kept my checking account with them, only to keep my premium rewards tier (Gold). I rolled over my 401k from my former employer to IRA ME to keep sufficient asset for the premium rewards tier.

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I've never had to pay a fee transferring money in and out of my CMA account with merril or my checking account on the BoA side to or from an external account.

[ptatohed]

I think the most important thing is to make sure you are earning as much or more on the $100,000 at BoA as you were at Fidelity.  @xenon3030  touched on this.

If you are averaging 5% at Fidelity but you will only average 4% with BoA,  that's $1,000 less earnings per year which will wipe out any and all increased cash back you get from your credit cards with Plat Honors.

I would walk into a branch and sit down with a banker and ask all your questions.  Speak to them about Merrill investing.  

If AOD nerfs its 3% CB, I might very well go with BoA Plat Honors and get the UCR for 2.625% CB.  

[Anonymous]

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@ptatohed wrote:

I think the most important thing is to make sure you are earning as much or more on the $100,000 at BoA as you were at Fidelity.  @xenon3030  touched on this.

If you are averaging 5% at Fidelity but you will only average 4% with BoA,  that's $1,000 less earnings per year which will wipe out any and all increased cash back you get from your credit cards with Plat Honors.

I would walk into a branch and sit down with a banker and ask all your questions.  Speak to them about Merrill investing.  

If AOD nerfs its 3% CB, I might very well go with BoA Plat Honors and get the UCR for 2.625% CB.  

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If you are transferring from an ETF at Fidelity to the same ETF at ML, then at most there might be a difference of fees and with the right ETFs in a self-directed ML account, not even that.

[losvedir]

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@ptatohed wrote:

I think the most important thing is to make sure you are earning as much or more on the $100,000 at BoA as you were at Fidelity.  @xenon3030  touched on this.

If you are averaging 5% at Fidelity but you will only average 4% with BoA,  that's $1,000 less earnings per year which will wipe out any and all increased cash back you get from your credit cards with Plat Honors.

I would walk into a branch and sit down with a banker and ask all your questions.  Speak to them about Merrill investing.  

If AOD nerfs its 3% CB, I might very well go with BoA Plat Honors and get the UCR for 2.625% CB.  

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I plan to transfer over enough VOO shares to cover it. VOO is just a stock (an ETF that tracks the S&P 500) so the earnings are the same whether they're sitting in Fidelity or in Merrill Lynch. I've looked everywhere I could for fees I may incur at Merrill and I don't see any. I think both brokerages allow "self directed investing" without any fees. The transfer itself might have a small fixed fee of something like ~$50, I can't tell. Also, I can't sell the VOO in Fidelity, transfer the cash, and then buy the VOO again in Merrill Lynch, because that would subject me to a lot of capital gains taxes and that would wipe out my cashback gains. But it looks like I can transfer the shares themselves, which would be fine. I'd love to hear if anyone has done this before, and if Merrill Lynch keeps track of the cost basis of all the shares and all that. At this point, I'm realizing I should probably call BofA or ML this week...

[xenon3030]

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@markbeiser wrote:

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I've never had to pay a fee transferring money in and out of my CMA account with merril or my checking account on the BoA side to or from an external account.

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The fees are for money transfers using BOA checking account to external banks like Chase. I am trying to find out their fees on their website. They make such fee info difficult to find and when the person transfers money, they get hit by fees

BOA transfer to ME is free and it is instant. ME money transfer to any external account is free and it gives also free check. So, somebody might use ME for money transfers instead of BOA checking.

[xenon3030]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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If you are transferring from an ETF at Fidelity to the same ETF at ML, then at most there might be a difference of fees and with the right ETFs in a self-directed ML account, not even that.

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Transferring stock from an external brokerage account (Etrade) to ML was a nightmare for me. They were rejecting all of my transfers around 5AM. I tried 3-4 times, even called them, and finally, I gave up. I simply sold them, transferred cash to ML and purchased some stock/ETF there.

Also, transferring stock/ETF from one brokerage to another might not be straightforward, from taxation point of view (they may not send the buy info and it may create confusions when trying to file tax, after selling them).