(EXPIRED) (Targeted) Earn Double Cashback With Bank of America Cash Rewards Card – Earn Up To 6%

A targeted promotion for Bank of America Cash Rewards cardholders came out a couple of days ago which offers double cashback in all categories until September 30, 2019. This card offers 3% cashback in a select category of your choice, so this could earn you 6% cashback for online purchases, at drugstores, on gas or on a different category.

The Deal

• Earn double cashback on the Bank of America Cash Rewards card.

Key Terms

• Expires September 30, 2019.
• Maximum bonus cashback of $150.
• Up to $2,500 in combined choice category/grocery store/wholesale club quarterly purchases.
• You will qualify to earn double the value of your Cash Rewards, up to $150, earned from the date you receive this offer through 09/30/2019.
• Cash Rewards earned as a result of this promotion will not earn any Preferred Rewards/Preferred Rewards for Wealth Management Program rewards bonus.
• This offer is only valid on the account identified within this communication.
• Allow up to 12 weeks from the end of the promotion for the Cash Rewards to be added to your Rewards balance.
• Your account must be open and have active charging privileges in order to receive this offer.
• Other advertised promotional offers can vary from this promotion and may not be substituted.
• The value of this reward may constitute taxable income to you. You may be issued an Internal Revenue Service Form 1099 (or other appropriate form) that reflects the value of such reward. Please consult your tax advisor, as neither we, nor our affiliates, provide tax advice.

Quick Thoughts

There’s no link to register for this promotion; I received an email about it the other day and it looks like you’re automatically enrolled in the promotion if you’re targeted. It’s a pretty decent deal if you were targeted, so it’s worth considering which category you want to select as your 3% category as that’ll become 6% until September 30.

As a reminder, with the Bank of America Cash Rewards card you get to choose one of the following categories to earn 3%:

• Gas
• Online shopping
• Dining
• Travel
• Drugstores
• Home improvement & furnishings

If you’ve never specifically selected a 3% category, BoA automatically enrolls you in the gas category, so check your account to see if that’s the case.

I’d selected drugstores a month or two ago so that I could use my Cash Rewards card when taking advantage of gift card deals at Rite Aid, Walgreens, etc. This offer has me second-guessing my choice though.

Gas doesn’t interest me as it’s a 5% category with Chase Freedom next quarter. I’m working on minimum spend for my recently upgraded Hilton Ascend Amex card, so I’m happy earning 6x (albeit Hilton Honors points) on dining to help meet that spend. I’m happy earning 3x on travel with the Chase Sapphire Reserve, while 6% back at home improvement stores doesn’t interest me as I don’t have a home. In theory that means you can earn 6% on third party gift card purchases at Lowe’s or Home Depot, but it’s often possible to get better discounts, so that holds little appeal.

It’s the remaining category that’s causing the dilemma. Earning 6% for online shopping would be sweet, but the Discover card is earning 5% next quarter on PayPal transactions. Most of the stuff I buy online is paid for through PayPal, so I’d only be earning an additional 1% versus using my Discover card.

What I’ll probably do is keep my Cash Rewards card as earning 3% (well, 6%) at drugstores until I’ve maxed out next quarter’s 5% category on my Discover card. The BoA Cash Rewards card allows you to change your selection each month for future purposes, so I’ll hopefully be able to max out the Discover cashback by the end of July or August, giving me a month or two to then earn 6% on PayPal purchases.

The double cashback also makes grocery stores and wholesale clubs a 4% category. While it’s often possible to earn rewards in excess of 4% at grocery stores, wholesale clubs haven’t been included as a 5% category this year on any card like Discover, Citi Dividend, Chase Freedom, etc. Using your Cash Rewards card at Sam’s Club, Costco, BJ’s, etc. could therefore make sense for the next few months if you weren’t already using it there.

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