In June I published some inside info that was leaked to me about an upcoming new card from BankAmericard. I had been told that the new card would have the following characteristics:
- $450 annual fee
- Travel fee reimbursement (he didn’t know how much)
- Redeem points for 1.5 cents each towards travel
- No transfer partners
- To be released September or October 2017
BOA Premium Rewards
Now, the Wall Street Journal has unveiled details about the new card (Doctor of Credit has a summary, here):
- Name: Bank of America Premium Rewards credit card
- Signup Bonus: 50K points after $3K spend
- Base earning rates: 2X travel and dining, 1.5X everywhere else
- Earning rates for those enrolled in BOA’s Preferred Rewards Program:
- Those with $20K held with BOA and Merrill Edge: 2.5X travel & dining, 1.875 everywhere else
- Those with $50K held with BOA and Merrill Edge: 3X travel & dining, 2.25 everywhere else
- Those with $100K held with BOA and Merrill Edge: 3.5X travel & dining, 2.6 everywhere else
- Annual fee: $95
- $100 airline incidentals credit, including baggage fee and flight drinks (does not include airfare)
- Issued as a Visa card
- To be released in September
Wow, if this is the same card, then plans changed a lot since info was leaked to me. On the plus side, the annual fee is only $95 instead of the expected $450. On the other hand, it doesn’t look like we’ll be able to redeem points for 1.5 cents each. How do we know? Doctor of Credit had previously posted a leaked online ad for the card that said “50,000 bonus points offer — a $500 value“. In other words, if this leaked ad is real, then points are worth just a penny each.
Compare to BOA Travel Rewards
The new card can’t fairly be compared to the Sapphire Reserve, or any other premium card. Instead, the best comparison is to BankAmericard’s existing Travel Rewards card (which I wrote about previously, here). Let’s look at the cards side by side based on what we know today:
| Travel Rewards | _ | Premium Rewards | |
| Annual Fee | $0 | $95 | |
| Airline incidentals credit | $0 | $100 | |
| Foreign Transaction Fee | $0 | $0 | |
| Base Earning Rate | 1.5X | 2X travel & dining; 1.5X everywhere else |
|
| Top Earning Rate (w/ $100K invested) |
2.6X | 3.5X travel & dining; 2.6X everywhere else |
Who should get the card?
The signup bonus is 50,000 points after $3K spend, and those 50,000 points are presumably worth $500. So, anyone who can meet the spend requirements would do pretty well signing up for this card.
Who should keep the card?
If you have top tier status in BOA’s Preferred Rewards Program (which requires $100K in deposits), then the card offers near best-in-class earnings for non-category spend. 2.625% back (towards travel) on all spend is very good. That said, the no-fee Travel Rewards card offers that exact same value. You could argue that the Premium Rewards card is fee free as well since the $100 airline credit more than rebates the $95 annual fee, but that would only hold true if you’re sure you’ll always pay $100 or more in such fees each year. Personally, I wouldn’t want to worry about that.
The main advantage of the Premium Rewards card over its no-fee sibling is that it offers up to 3.5X for travel & dining. 3.5% back for travel & dining, though, is not that exciting. Consider that the Sapphire Reserve offers 3X for travel & dining and let’s you redeem points for 1.5 cents value. In that case, you get 4.5% back towards travel. Plus, with the Chase Sapphire Reserve, you have the flexibility to transfer points to hotel & airline programs. With BankAmericard, you cannot. On the other hand, the Sapphire Reserve does have a much higher annual fee. And BankAmericard’s points are easier to use: simply pay for travel with the card and then use points after the fact to pay for those charges.
Ultimately, I think that this new card is a keeper only for very specific circumstances. It’s a keeper for those who keep a lot of money with Bank of America and/or Merrill Edge and who do not want to carry a second card that offers better value for travel & dining. With the Premium Rewards card, you can keep things simple: charge everything to one card and earn very good returns.
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What happened to it …?
Well, there simply IS no BofA competitor to the CSR.
It’s very funny … people have gotten angry for saying this, but facts are simply facts.
If you read the benefits, compare them, and do some simple math – even independent of which air line you work with – it’s beyond obvious that that new BofA card is a mid section card, comparable to the CSP, whereas the CSR – or the Amex Plat, for that matter – are so called premium or high-end cards.
I don’t work for either bank, I just wish these promotions and ads wouldn’t strive towards confusing people so much …
I take the 50,000 points equals $500 to be the cash redemption rate this doesn’t mean that points can’t be worth more than a cent a point against travel.
Since I use the BOA travel card, moving to this when offered is an easy decision.
I’m not impressed with this Premium card, I have the regular BOA Travel Rewards card, and it’s ok, no annual fee, and 12 months to redeem a travel charge. Better than the $49 AF US Bank Flex Perks Travel Rewards card, that I also have,(got it during the last Olympics promotion), it gives you only a few months to redeem a travel credit. I’m waiting for the delivery of the Merrill + card, also no AF, I have hopes that it will replace the US Bank Travel card I now have. The Merrill card sounds better than both Travel Rewards cards. I was disappointed with The Prestige card, got the most I could out of it, then downgraded the card. My CSR card will pick up that spending.
FYI With my Current BOA travel Rewards Card (I have platinum honors) somethings you would not consider travel are available to redeem my 2.625% back as statement credits. Thus by extension I assume the same things that I can redeem for “travel” currently will earn 3.5% as well after platinum honors extra 75% is applied. Things I am talking about that count are tickets to festivals, napa wine club shipments, ect…. I am not sure if I will apply for this card right away as I am trying to get under 5/24 for both my wife and myself and I am only around 10 months from being there, but If the signup remains I may apply after I hit up chase next June.
This card is meh! Amex BBP or USB Altitude Reserve + Samsung Pay or CSR much better than this. But the bonus is $500, may go for the bonus. Is it redeemable for travel only?
That’s a good question… this card is being pulled as the “premium rewards” card rather than the “travel rewards” card, so maybe the points can be redeemed simply as statement credits and don’t have to be credited towards a specific travel expense? If that is the case, then hopefully we can transfer points earned from the travel rewards card to this card to get a straight cash redemption option rather than having to play games and/or jump through hoops to cash out our travel rewards points… this could very well make the card worth it for previous heavy users of the travel rewards card.
I’ll take the $500, but agree not a very compelling card. That’s ok, because there is Presige and Sapphire Reserved for that.
I think Blue Business Plus has similar benefits at no annual fee. If you’re a huge spender or travel internationally a lot then you benefit from TR. For most, BBP and. CSR is a MUCH better option. Greg, I haven’t done the calculations, but I imagine CSR + Ink + Freedom + Freedom Unlimited is probably the highest points/$ for annual fee. That ensures your floor of 2 MR or 1.5 UR/$ and you will have several options for 3x and 5x.
Yep, that’s why I think there’s a very limited audience for this card: people who just want a single go-to card, have $100K+ invested, etc.
Those with $20K held with BOA and Merrill Edge: 3.5X travel & dining, 2.6 everywhere else
==
It should be $100K
Oops. Thanks. Fixed.