Bank Of America Premium Rewards Card Review: Earn 2.625% Back

I've used the $100 airline incidental credit for:
* seat upgrades (AMEX airline credit doesn't cover, though they will sometimes comp a 1-time credit)

* United Airlines Travel Bank

And I've seen credible reports of the "cheap airfare" technique working. It's basically $100 cash every year (presuming you travel and ever need something besides a regular economy seat).

Need to know what interest rate BofA is offering on accounts to do a proper analysis. A quick Google search shows that's it's.....0.01%.

So for $100,000 you are giving up almost $3,000 a year (pre-tax) in interest. That's a lot of money just to hit that cash back tier.

This card made sense in a low interest rate environment but unless you're spending a ton of money on it I don't see how it works for most people.

$100K can easily get 4% at say Ally savings, ($4K per year.) BAC pays next to nothing. But back when all interest bearing accounts were next to nothing, this made sense.

It's a tough sell given the current interest rate environment. Was much better before.
1. BoA does not offer the most competitive IRA accounts.
2. $100k would generate $4000-5000 in another bank (pre-tax though)
3. Assuming I pay $300,000-400,000 in taxes (spread of .77 percent ~ $2600). Also, spread on delaying the actual cash outlay by another 30-45 days from the charge (.5%)
4. If I put all other non bonus category spend on it - maybe another $200,000 ~ $1400
5. Best case scenario, I come out slightly ahead given the rewards are not taxes.
If we ever get crazy low interest rate environment again, it would make sense.

Last two commenters miss the point.

Any securities in a Merrill account fulfill the requirements, including SEP-IRA. I just transferred an IRA, including all the securities, I had at Schwab. No trade off involved.

Not limited to BofA, anything in a Merrill account also “counts” including an IRA.

Not limited to BofA, anything in a Merrill account also “counts”, including an IRA.

Basically everyone getting 2.6 has a brokerage account at Merrill. Obviously, sticking more than 100k in a .1 savings account is dumb.

I'm a Preferred Rewards member, and this is my primary credit card I use while working here in the middle east. During the December holidays I used account credits to help off-set my trips to Thailand and Vietnam.

What you don't discuss is the premium version of this card which charges a higher annual fee but does not give enough more in benefits to justify it.

It does qualify but you will also need a BofA checking account too. It does qualify for receiving the bonus.

Exactly

It is not limited to BofA or to savings accounts. Investment accounts with BofA or Merrill count too.

A word of caution: you must open and MAINTAIN a Bank of America checking account to get the enhanced benefits. As a significant Merrill Lynch investment customer, I had specifically asked the BofA rep what minimum balance I needed to maintain to qualify and was told "zero" so I let them open an account which I left unfunded and unused. Several months later, however, BofA closed the checking account due to "inactivity" so in response I have cancelled the credit card. The BofA app in general is about the most "kludgy" of the banking apps -- difficult to use, short on information, and rather confusing.

And even if one does happen to have cash to park, it would be best to use Merrill Edge's Institutional Money Market funds which have some of the lowest expense ratios and highest yields available to consumers (significantly better than what you would get at Schwab and Fidelity).

Merrill Edge is the best kept secret to overcome many of Bank of America's deficiencies.