Aug 18, 2015, 10:37 pm
Last edit by: muji
BankAmericard Travel Rewards Credit Card
20K points after $1,000 spend within 90 days.
No annual fee
No foreign transaction fees
https://www.bankofamerica.com/credit...credit-card.go
20K points after $1,000 spend within 90 days.
No annual fee
No foreign transaction fees
https://www.bankofamerica.com/credit...credit-card.go
New BoA Travel Rewards Credit Cards, up to 2.625% travel credits.
Apr 25, 2015, 2:55 am
#106
Join Date: Oct 2014
Posts: 76
might want to go to a finance specific place (eg www.reddit.com/r/portfolios, boglehead forums etc). this thread is about the travel rewards credit card
1) don't time the market... you can try Dollar Cost Averaging (DCA, i.e. put 10% every week, to minimize risk and get the best "average" cost), but some have said it's best to do lump sum investing. You are implicitly doing DCA anyways (100k this year, 10k every year for the next 20+years)
https://pressroom.vanguard.com/conte..._Averaging.pdf
2) seems like all the ETFs you listed are available at Merrill Edge. Do some research on the Edge... I've heard cases where people were bumped up to Merill Lynch when they had >250k in their Edge accounts, and don't qualify for the Edge benefits (free 100 trades/month)
3) Personal choice. I myself don't care enough to rebalance. anything more than monthly/quarterly is overkill. yearly is fine. try not to sell & rebuy(causing a taxable event) unless it's in a tax-shielded account or you want to harvest losses etc
1) don't time the market... you can try Dollar Cost Averaging (DCA, i.e. put 10% every week, to minimize risk and get the best "average" cost), but some have said it's best to do lump sum investing. You are implicitly doing DCA anyways (100k this year, 10k every year for the next 20+years)
https://pressroom.vanguard.com/conte..._Averaging.pdf
2) seems like all the ETFs you listed are available at Merrill Edge. Do some research on the Edge... I've heard cases where people were bumped up to Merill Lynch when they had >250k in their Edge accounts, and don't qualify for the Edge benefits (free 100 trades/month)
3) Personal choice. I myself don't care enough to rebalance. anything more than monthly/quarterly is overkill. yearly is fine. try not to sell & rebuy(causing a taxable event) unless it's in a tax-shielded account or you want to harvest losses etc
Apr 25, 2015, 6:48 pm
#107
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: BAY AREA
Posts: 1,125
I ordered a card replacement online and got it in 4 business days. It really looks better than the old version
May 9, 2015, 9:35 pm
#109
Join Date: Jun 2012
Posts: 3,384
i try not talk to the people in person, since I know all of their benefits/product holdings... all online, no chance for them to hard sell me
May 21, 2015, 2:09 pm
#110
Join Date: Feb 2015
Posts: 97
I have never spoken to any representative since I opened my Merrill Edge account online 6 1/2 months ago.
It only took me 15 minutes open an Merrill Edge online and I got $1000 cash bonus back one week ago for open 6 months.
It only took me 15 minutes open an Merrill Edge online and I got $1000 cash bonus back one week ago for open 6 months.
May 27, 2015, 8:23 am
#111
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: PVG
Programs: SK*G, QR*G
Posts: 514
Bank of America travel center
Booking travels through bank of America travel center gives additional bonus. Any experiences with booking through them ? How's customer service if flights needs to be changed etc ? Are prices generally same as other places ?
Jun 17, 2015, 3:06 pm
#112
Join Date: Dec 2011
Posts: 8
I'm a long-time ML (and more recently BofA) customer so this card was a no brainer for me at 2.625 points/$.
THIS! I find myself able to pay far more items by cc owed to this.
Prices are comparable as elsewhere. You get 3 *additional* points/$ spent (so in my case 5.625/$ which is amazing) though the 3 additional points are capped at 9000 per year ($3000 in spend) which isn't much when talking about an annual travel budget. Still nice though.
HOWEVER, this only applies when booking online, not over the phone. Not a big deal but worth noting. Far worse though, I've had two terrible experiences wherein I was trying to buy travel on the site. I'd search for flights, select an itinerary, go all the way through the process to the point where you click to purchase. And I'd be given an error message saying that the flights were no longer available. This happened over and over and over and over, regardless of which itinerary I selected. And, I started from scratch and did the same search again, the same itineraries it said were no longer available would appear (saying things like '8 seats left at this price') and still no joy when trying to buy.
On the second instance I called to complain. They tried to book travel themselves (but also couldn't!) so I wound up buying the tickets directly from Delta and BofA customer service made a manual adjustment to my account. I got the 3 points/$ in the end but it was frustrating.
Still, I like the card.
EDIT: earlier in the thread there is mention of a platinum version of the card; I don't think that exists anymore. Signature only.
SECOND EDIT:
I was curious so I went and read the fine print. Slightly different than I understood, and also different than the customer service person understood apparently! The FAQs say:
How do I earn bonus points at the Bank of America Travel Center?
With the BankAmericard Travel Rewards® Visa Signature® credit card, you have the flexibility to purchase travel whenever you want, however you want, through any travel website or through your travel agent.
But when you book travel through the Travel Center, you’ll earn 1.5 bonus points for every $1 in qualifying purchases, in addition to your base points earn. That’s a total of 3 points for every $1 in qualifying purchases made at the Travel Center.
[So, it's supposed to be a total of 3 points, not 3 bonus points; this is not what the CSR gave me - they gave me the full 3, and I automatically earned the 2.625 on the purchase itself. Still, this total would be bonused since they reference the initial 1.5. So instead of 1.5 + 75% + 3 = 5.625 you'd get 3 + 75% = 5.25. Not quite as high but still high.]
Is there a limit to the bonus points I can earn at the Bank of America Travel Center?
Airline purchases made at the Travel Center are limited to 9,000 bonus points per year. There is no bonus point limit on other Travel Center purchases.
[This is interesting. Hotels and car rentals can add up so the fact that bonuses on them are not capped could be significant.]
HOWEVER, this only applies when booking online, not over the phone. Not a big deal but worth noting. Far worse though, I've had two terrible experiences wherein I was trying to buy travel on the site. I'd search for flights, select an itinerary, go all the way through the process to the point where you click to purchase. And I'd be given an error message saying that the flights were no longer available. This happened over and over and over and over, regardless of which itinerary I selected. And, I started from scratch and did the same search again, the same itineraries it said were no longer available would appear (saying things like '8 seats left at this price') and still no joy when trying to buy.
On the second instance I called to complain. They tried to book travel themselves (but also couldn't!) so I wound up buying the tickets directly from Delta and BofA customer service made a manual adjustment to my account. I got the 3 points/$ in the end but it was frustrating.
Still, I like the card.
EDIT: earlier in the thread there is mention of a platinum version of the card; I don't think that exists anymore. Signature only.
SECOND EDIT:
I was curious so I went and read the fine print. Slightly different than I understood, and also different than the customer service person understood apparently! The FAQs say:
How do I earn bonus points at the Bank of America Travel Center?
With the BankAmericard Travel Rewards® Visa Signature® credit card, you have the flexibility to purchase travel whenever you want, however you want, through any travel website or through your travel agent.
But when you book travel through the Travel Center, you’ll earn 1.5 bonus points for every $1 in qualifying purchases, in addition to your base points earn. That’s a total of 3 points for every $1 in qualifying purchases made at the Travel Center.
[So, it's supposed to be a total of 3 points, not 3 bonus points; this is not what the CSR gave me - they gave me the full 3, and I automatically earned the 2.625 on the purchase itself. Still, this total would be bonused since they reference the initial 1.5. So instead of 1.5 + 75% + 3 = 5.625 you'd get 3 + 75% = 5.25. Not quite as high but still high.]
Is there a limit to the bonus points I can earn at the Bank of America Travel Center?
Airline purchases made at the Travel Center are limited to 9,000 bonus points per year. There is no bonus point limit on other Travel Center purchases.
[This is interesting. Hotels and car rentals can add up so the fact that bonuses on them are not capped could be significant.]
Last edited by anthonymoody; Jun 17, 2015 at 3:26 pm
Jun 25, 2015, 10:13 pm
#113
Join Date: Sep 2013
Posts: 12
Will try my luck again but just so people are aware, Priceline shows up as travel about half the time.
Jun 25, 2015, 11:29 pm
#114
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: PVG
Programs: SK*G, QR*G
Posts: 514
[So, it's supposed to be a total of 3 points, not 3 bonus points; this is not what the CSR gave me - they gave me the full 3, and I automatically earned the 2.625 on the purchase itself. Still, this total would be bonused since they reference the initial 1.5. So instead of 1.5 + 75% + 3 = 5.625 you'd get 3 + 75% = 5.25. Not quite as high but still high.]
Last edited by nick5000; Jun 26, 2015 at 12:14 am
Jun 29, 2015, 11:22 am
#115
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: NYC
Programs: Hilton Diamond, SPG Gold, Hyatt
Posts: 43
I can confirm this. I purchased airline tickets through the BofA travel portal a few months ago and received a rewards rate of 4.125.
Jul 7, 2015, 11:02 pm
#117
Join Date: Nov 2014
Location: NYC
Posts: 557
Jul 8, 2015, 12:49 am
#118
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: SF
Programs: UA, VX, QF, EY, VA
Posts: 756
Jul 8, 2015, 10:08 am
#119
Join Date: Jun 2012
Posts: 3,384
(20% credit until april 2016... if you use more than $1000 in Uber until april, you're "earning" $200 back)
https://help.uber.com/h/f37b22ff-25a...7-0e6748a7da6b
Jul 9, 2015, 11:00 am
#120
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: SF
Programs: UA, VX, QF, EY, VA
Posts: 756
eh, get a capital one QS/QS One card if you use Uber often ... though capital one usually does triple pull for new apps
(20% credit until april 2016... if you use more than $1000 in Uber until april, you're "earning" $200 back)
https://help.uber.com/h/f37b22ff-25a...7-0e6748a7da6b
(20% credit until april 2016... if you use more than $1000 in Uber until april, you're "earning" $200 back)
https://help.uber.com/h/f37b22ff-25a...7-0e6748a7da6b
