Travel Card with no AF

[Open123]

The BofA Travel Rewards is a "best in class" card assuming a person has (1) a $100K orphan IRA and (2) Fid Amex. 

I wouldn't use any of BofA's deposit accounts (nor any Bank's, for that matter).  And, in a few months, the "pure" cashback option will disappear.  However, 2.65% with no-FTF for the right person (assuming an IRA with 30+ free trades per month), it's still an excellent option.

[kdm31091]

I did forget one option, which is the AAA card. Depending where you live it's now issued by either Bank of America or US Bank, but both versions seem to have the same rewards, the noteworthy one being 3% on travel (note, fairly tightly defined: hotels, airfare, car rentals and cruises only, no train tickets, no tourist attractions etc).

There's a few caveats, at least with the BOA version. Rewards expire in 5 years and you need a lot of points ($50 worth) to redeem for cash. Other than that, it's a possible option. The US Bank version may or may not have the same caveats, but generally the 5 year expiry and $50 threshold sound unappealing to me. YMMV.

[galahad15]

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@kdm31091 wrote:

I did forget one option, which is the AAA card. Depending where you live it's now issued by either Bank of America or US Bank, but both versions seem to have the same rewards, the noteworthy one being 3% on travel (note, fairly tightly defined: hotels, airfare, car rentals and cruises only, no train tickets, no tourist attractions etc).

There's a few caveats, at least with the BOA version. Rewards expire in 5 years and you need a lot of points ($50 worth) to redeem for cash. Other than that, it's a possible option. The US Bank version may or may not have the same caveats, but generally the 5 year expiry and $50 threshold sound unappealing to me. YMMV.

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Thanks for the helpful FYI about the AAA card.  Unfortunately, since as you had mentioned, train-related purchases are not counted towards the 3% travel rewards category (and the majority of my current travel costs are applicable towards trains atm), I think I'll stick with my Cap1 and BoA travel rewards cards for now.  If AAA ever decides to add trains to the permanent 3% rewards category, I would love to try to app for this card!

[GeorgiaBulldog]

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@kdm31091 wrote:

Everyone talks about the no FTF on the BOA Travel Rewards, but again, you get the same 1.5% back with no FTF on a Quicksilver, which you can redeem for anything. I just don't see much advantage in the BOA card post-bonus except for a very specific person -- one who has enough assets to make 2.625%, one who travels a ton and FTF is a concern, and one who is ok with the redemption restrictions. So yes, that may describe a few people, but otherwise, don't see much point in the card.  Most of the people who are really supportive of it are indeed the ones who have the money to make it a 2.625% card.

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No doubt it's a truly great card for only a select few--I just figured I'd let OP know the whole story on it, since there's a bit more in the fine print that isn't often discussed on here.  Rewards, albeit not the best, with no FTF on a widely accepted card and with a bank I'm already well-established with made it a decent option for me to have, but of course, that won't be the case for everyone.

[Anonymous]

I'm a fan of the Travel Rewards card, personally--it's mostly sock-drawered when I'm in the US, but when I travel it gets virtually all my spend, since Citi DC has a FTF. The "restrictive" redemption has never been a problem for me; if I ever went 12 months without using it for anything that fits their (fairly broad) definition of "travel," I'd just put my monthly subway pass or a couple of cab rides on it and have things covered for a while. I chose it over the Quicksilver because of the higher opening bonus ($200 vs. $100) and 1.65% cashback as opposed to 1.5%, and while it would be nice to not have the $25 redemption threshhold, it doesn't bug me enough to want to go with a triple-pull to get a QS. But to each their own! They're both solid choices long-term. 

Travel Rewards is also a good card for taking advantage of Bank Amerideals, since those 5-15% offers stack on top of the 1.65%