Bank of america business cash rewards card
No annual fee
$300
$3,000 initial spend
($270 net value, .09/$)
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 operates a "Preferred Reward" program that provides extra benefits to their customers, based on the total amount of assets they 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 be a Platinum Honors member, and get a 75% reward bonus. If you have between $50-100,000 in assets, you'll be a Platinum member, and get a 50% reward bonus. And, if you have at least $25,000 in assets, you'll be a Gold member, and get a 25% reward bonus.
This can make a big difference in how competitive a Bank of America rewards card is, compared to the competition. For example, this card earns 3% on the category of your choice, which is pretty good. But, if you have $100,000 in combined assets at BOA and Merrill, you'll get a 75% reward bonus, and the card will earn 5.25% instead. Similarly, the Travel Rewards cards earns 1.5% on everyday purchases, which is less attractive than a good no-annual-fee cash-back cards (which earn 2%). However, with the 75% bonus, it earns 2.625% instead, which is the best permanent cashback rate of any no-annual-fee card.
Even if you have that much money, you don't want to keep tens of thousands of dollars around in a low-interest rate checking account. But, you don't have to. If you have existing investment assets, you can transfer them over to Merrill Lynch and qualify for the extra rewards without any substantial additional expense. Your existing mutual funds, ETFs, bonds, stocks, and other investments should transfer over, without you having to sell them, and you won't incur any fees, except potentially a small account transfer or closing fee at your existing broker. 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 for bonus rewards on business credit cards or vice versa. If you want higher rewards from this card (and the business Travel Rewards Card), the assets will be associated with your business. However, depending on the type of business you have, you may easily be able to transfer personal assets to a business-titled account in order to qualify for the extra bonus.
Collecting the Signup Bonus
- The signup bonus on the Cash Rewards card is a not that interesting. You'll receive $200 (with $500 initial spend). The primary reason to get the card is for the bonus category reward rates. In the past, we would have recommended signing up for the Premium Rewards card (for its 50,000 point bonus) and converting it to a Cash Rewards card. But with the new restrictions on getting the Premium Rewards card, you are more likely to have to get the Cash Rewards card directly.
- There are restrictions to earning the signup bonuses multiple times. You aren't eligible for the Cash Rewards card, if you already have the card, unless you've had it for at least 24 months. But, you don't have to cancel it, in order to apply for another card. Curiously, the co-branded variants don't have this language in their terms, so you may be able to get them instead.
Regardless, you are still subject to BOA's overall rules of two new cards every three months, three new cards every year, and four new cards every two years.
Bonus categories
Up through 2018, the Cash Rewards card earned 3% on gas. Starting in 2019, it earns 3% in one of category of your choice of:
- Gas
- Dining
- Drug Stores
- Home Improvements & Furnishings
- Online Shopping
- Travel (and Rent)
At the maximum Preferred Rewards level, the 3% rate turns into a 5.25% rate. You can even change your category every month, so you could earn 5.25% on online shopping in one month, and 5.25% on Home Improvement in another month.
However, bonus rewards are capped on the first $2,500 of spending each quarter. Given that you can a Platinum Honors member earns 2.625% on any purchase with the Travel or Premium Rewards card, the Cash Rewards card earns an extra 2.625% on its bonus categories, capped at a maximum of $262.50 in extra rewards per year.
Since the bonus rewards are capped, it can be useful to get multiple cards. It is also generally better to use the card for categories like online shopping and home improvement, rather on categories like gas and dining, where you can already earn high reward rates from other cards.
Keep in mind that most rent or homeowners association charges are classified as part of BOA's travel category and for many people will be an easy way to qualify for the 3-5.25% reward rate.
The card also earns 2% at grocery store and warehouse clubs, which turns into 3.25% at the Platinum Honors level. But, since spending in these categories counts against the cap, you'll want to focus on the the choose your 3% categories, and only use the card at the 2% categories to fill in any remaining cap space.
Other 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 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.