Majikow

Has anyone had luck getting a retention bonus for this card (I didn't see a thread for BofA retention offers)?

I'm more inclined to convert to an annual fee card anyway, so does anyone know if I can convert to the FIA Fidelity 2% Amex (no annual fee) card? Or do I have to convert to one of the BankAmericard cards?

Thanks.

bta15

My annual fee came up is January, I called and mentioned I was considering closing. The sent me to a retention specialist. At first the retention specialist offered me half off, so $37.50. I mentioned some bonus miles would be nice so they also offered 5k miles. So I ended up with both half off and 5000 miles.

edit: I told them I was unhappy that I could no longer use the companion fare for 1st class tickets and that they stopped the 1000 miles bonus when I purchased a ticket with the card.

Majikow

Thanks for the data point. Did you have a lot of spend on the card? I only spent a little at the beginning, and then maybe $1.1k in the past month because I got a 3x miles promo.

bta15

I had a decent amount of spend on it, probably like $10k per year for 5 years.

I live in Alaska so I fly AS almost exclusively, the companion fare is worth a ton, I wasn't really going to cancel, just seeing what they could do.

Majikow

Anybody else? I know BofA credit cards aren't popular, but there's gotta be some other Alaska Visa owners out there (or general BofA card converters).

Majikow

Just as any FYI, when I called BofA today, they said I could convert my Alaska Air Visa into a BofA card, but not any of the affinity cards (Fidelity, airlines, etc). I might see if I could convert it into a BofA AmeriCard and then later convert into Fidelity.

rwinn

I was going to convert from the "old" Mileage Plan Visa Platinum with companion fare to the BankAmericard Travel Rewards Visa, but found that the new Platinum included a $50 travel credit for a reduced $50 fee... Called BofA (back in Jan?) and they agreed to do a product change and to credit the difference to my account.

BofA sent a replacement Platinum card, followed about a week later by a new Signature Card. I was also credited 1,000 miles as "BANK OF AMERICA SIGNATURE CARD ENROLLMENT BONUS 2" and I was credited a new companion certificate. This isn't exactly what I wanted, but I am fine with this outcome and suppose I can find a way to use the cert (even if it is restricted to coach.)

JakeW

I called, they didn't offer a discount at all, so i ended up cancelling. After cancellation, they awarded me 2k bonus miles. Kinda weird.

arineumann

I called in February, about a month before my renewal, and was told that they were not offering any retention bonuses. I mentioned the decline in benefits, and that it was not really worth the $75 anymore, and was told something along the lines of "if you're having trouble paying the fee, we can transfer your credit to another BofA card." The CSA didn't offer anything helpful, so I plan to move my spend to other cards, and eventually phase this card out completely.

hsawaknow

I just got off the phone with them and ended up cancelling. They offered $30 to reduce the annual fee but I declined.

Majikow

After having a CSR tell me last week that I could transfer the card into a no fee BofA card, I called back today after my statement closed (wanted to make sure I got my Alaska miles since I had a 3x drugstore promo going last month) and then this CSR tells me I can't transfer the card into a BofA card. Not sure how they do their training there (or if they do any at all), but it really is a crap shoot.

I'm just going to try and call back again tomorrow.

BarryAZ

Quite an interesting discussion -- I use the B of A cards heavily -- been a checking account customer for 30 years with them. I am considering dumping off the business card though -- originally got it for the miles, and kept it for the companion 1st class award. I think I will follow up with them.

The curious thing (I live in AZ) is that I also use have and use the B of A USAirways cards -- not quite as heavily. With the merger, those might be the cards I kill off next year (and move over to whatever American Airlines card is out there with a promo offer.

For me the companion tickets are useful (we have friends in Portland and a timeshare in Hawaii so we can use the tickets for the Hawaii flight), and the partner awards can be awesome at times (just picked up two RT 1st Class Cathay Air tickets for next year to Australia and the Miles/ticket payoff is VERY high).

Majikow

As a belated update, I was able to transfer to any of the BofA BankAmericards and ended up picking the Cash Rewards card. I think now that it's been awhile I'm going to try and convert to the Fidelity Amex card.

Majikow

And I tried converting to Fidelity, but no dice. The guy on the phone said (after checking with a supervisor) that it's a different division (FIA) than the BankAmericards, so it's no possible to convert.

mster

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