Difference between revisions of "Bank of america business cash rewards card"
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Latest revision as of 13:29, 10 September 2021
No annual fee
$500 ($5,000 initial spend).
Offer Link.$300
$3,000 initial spend
($250 net value, .09/$)
Signup Bonus Chart3-5.25% on 1 category of your choice
2-3.5% Restaurants
1-1.75% Everything Else
3%% Foreign Transaction Fee
For most people, this card is primarily interesting for its signup bonus, particular when larger-than-normal offers are available. Some people can take advantage of the 3% reward rate on one of its less-common categories like "business consulting services". However, if you are willing to transfer $100,000 in assets to Merrill Edge Investment account under your business' name, you can get a 75% reward boost, bring the reward rate to as high as 5.25%.
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Bank of America Preferred Rewards Program
Bank of America's "Preferred Reward" program provides extra benefits based on the total amount of assets you have at Bank of America and Merrill Edge. Among the most valuable benefits is a boost to the rewards earned from many of Bank of America's credit cards. Preferred Reward Program.
If you have over $100,000 in assets, you'll achieve Platinum Honors status and get a 75% reward bonus. If you have between $50-100,000 in assets, you'll get Platinum status and a 50% reward bonus. And if you have at least $25,000 in assets, you'll get Gold status and a 25% reward bonus.
This can make a big difference in your Bank of America rewards rates, compared to the competition. For example, the Bank of America Unlimited Cash Rewards card earns 1.5% on your purchases, which is less attractive than the best no-annual-fee cashback cards. However, if you have $100,000 in combined assets at BOA and Merrill, you'll receive a 75% reward bonus, and the card will earn 2.625%, which is the best rate of any no-annual-fee card. With a 50% reward bonus, the rate would still be 2.25%.
Even if you have that much money available, you probably don't want to keep it in a low-interest checking account. But you don't have to. If you have an existing retirement account or other investment assets that you can transfer over to Merrill Lynch, you can qualify for the extra rewards without any substantial additional expense. Your existing mutual funds, ETFs, bonds, stocks, and other investments should transfer over, without having to sell them, you won't incur any fees, except potentially a small account transfer or closing fee at your existing broker, and there is no tax implication. Rates for any future sales or purchases are comparable to what is available elsewhere. And you don't need to move over all your assets, just enough to qualify.
Unfortunately, Bank of America doesn't count personal assets towards qualifying for Preferred Rewards status for business credit cards (or vice versa). If you want higher rewards from this card (and the business Travel Rewards Card), the assets will need to be associated with your business. But depending on the type of business you have, you may be able to transfer personal assets to a business-titled account in order to qualify for status for your Bank of America business credit cards and accounts.
Collecting the Signup Bonus
- When the $500 signup offer is available, it is worth signing up for this card just for the bonus. The $300 normal bonus is less attractive. However, since the card isn't affected by most of Bank of America's restrictions and doesn't show up on your personal credit report, there isn't much of a downside to get the card. And you'll likely earn a few extra bonus points from its bonus categories during the first year.
- Most of Bank of America's restrictions don't apply to their business cards. For example, you can still be approved even if you've signed up for more than 3 cards in the last 12 months (7 for Bank of America customers). There are no explicit rules about having multiple copies of this card.
Bonus categories
You can choose to earn a base rate of 3% on one of six categories:
- Gas
- Office Supply Stores
- Travel
- TV, Telcom & Wireless
- Computer Services
- Business Consulting Services
Bonus Category rewards from your choice of 3% category and the fixed 2% on dining are capped at $50,000 in spending each calendar year. This is much higher than the personal version's $2,500 in spending each quarter.
At the maximum Preferred Rewards level, the 3% rate turns into a 5.25% rate. You can even change your category every calendar month, so you could earn 3-5.25% on computer services during one month, and 3-5.25% on office supply stores during another month.
Notable Benefits
- Access to Mastercard luxury hotel program. When you book at one of the participating hotels, you'll get an number of valuable benefits, like free breakfast, a $100 hotel credit, a room upgrade, and late checkout.Take Advantage of Luxury Hotel Programs for Valuable Extra Perks
- Free ShopRunner membership. Like all World Elite Mastercards, your card entitles you to a complimentary ShopRunner membership, which provides free two-day and return shipping from around 150 of the largest online retailers. ShopRunner
- DoorDash and Hello Fresh discounts. Cardmembers who have a DoorDash membership get $5 off their first two orders each month when paid for by their Mastercard. If you don't have a free membership from Chase, you can get your first three months membership for free through Mastercard. You also get a 5% credit back on each HelloFresh purchase.
- Free museum entry. As with all Bank of America credit cards, you'll get free admission to hundreds of museums on the first weekend of every month. Admission is for the cardholder only. Guests are not included, nor are any special exhibitions and other ticketed shows. Museums on Us.
- BankAmeriDeals. Bank of America has a shopping discount program that works like Amex Offers. To get each discount, you'll need to "activate" it through their website. Once activated, discounts are automatically applied when you use your card for the corresponding purchase. Most deals are cash-back based (typically 10%). BankAmeriDeals.
Getting Rid of the Card
Make sure to cash out your rewards before cancelling your card.
If you aren't currently using your Business Cash Rewards card, consider keeping it anyway. You aren't paying an annual fee and, sometime in the future, you may decide that you are willing to make the extra effort to maximize your rewards using its flexible bonus categories.