jan_believes

Have a "worthless" BOA credit card sitting around that you keep for aging your credit score? No points, no smiles?

Well, consider this. Take that card and call in to upgrade to a Better Balance Rewards Visa card. Why? Because just ONE charge of your choice of financial instrument ($10 store GC ) will qualify you for a $25 bonus back when you pay it off on time! If you are a banking customer, you receive an additional $5 bucks. And, you don't lose your card seniority, either (per BOA). No hard inquiry.

Here's why it's helpful. Do you fret over those $3-5.95 fees you pay to obtain 500 miles or rewards points? Well, this is one way to offset those. Use your rewards card(s) for all the other $500 GCs/VRs you need to buy.

So, at least 2000 miles or points are "gratis" when you redeem at the end of the quarter for this bonus. And, if you bank with BOA and take the bonus to your checking, buy another GC/VR with your rewards card and now you have 2500 miles free. Just cover it until your bonus is redeemable. If you buy only VRs, you can cover fees for 3000 miles/points ($26) and you can also decrease your MO costs, if you use those.

Aside from using your other rewards cards in the normal manner to collect miles/points, this has very little investment time. Just use your BOA card somewhere, once a month.

There are variations to suit comfort zones. Buy on your BOA BRR Visa, buy your instruments for miles/points, load your debit, pay off your charges, and wait for your BOA bonus. It is paid quarterly. HTH!

itchyfeet123

I don't see the value in this card. There are a bunch of cards, including some offered through BoA, that give you $100 sign up bonus (so as good as $25/quarter for the first year) plus cashback.

UA Fan

I am thinking of applying for this card. Never thought of converting an existing card. I am planning to put one of my small recurring charges on this card and sign up for auto pay. That way I can get $120 easily per year.

Happy

That is the Better Balance Rewards Card, right? as there is no such card called Better Rewards Visa.

I just X'ed my AS card this afternoon. The rep was suggesting the Travel Reward card (1.5%) and I turned it down. Could have converted it to this card and collect the $100 a year without much effort. Next time... since there would be more AS cards down the road...

You dont get $120.

It is $20 per quarter, but you get additional $5 if the rebate is transferred to your linked BofA checking account, so it is $25 x 4 = $100, not $120!

I did not go into the T&Cs to read the details whether this is just for the 1st year owning the card or it is an indefinite feature.

UA Fan

I think it's $30:

jan_believes

True.

But, the context is: This is a good BOA card to CHANGE to if one has a BOA card that is lying around with little ambition.

If one changes to the BOA Cash Rewards Visa, one does not qualify for the $100 bonus for the 90-day spend of $500. That would require a new application with a new hard inquiry (Experian). One can change to this BRR Visa and qualify for the quarterly bonus.

This is a way to supplement what is already being done with miles/points rewards cards. Adding it to the strategy is advantageous to cover those pesky fees one is paying to MS for those miles/points.

It's essentially making 2k-3k of miles/points free upon bonus redemption. In a year, that's 4 x 2000-3000 miles that you got free or very close to free depending on your method. No, it's not a game changer, just a supplement.

I've heard it said somewhere: "free is good".

Significance is in the eye of the beholder. It's not for everybody.

PS. It's definitely $25 per quarter, and $5 extra for BOA account transfer.

Also, copied from CCW:
One important caveat is that you cannot have a zero balance or a positive credit balance in a month in order to be eligible for the bonus. But according to the program terms and conditions, as long as you have a payment due in each monthly cycle (which can be accomplished with a small monthly charge), you can earn the reward.

Centurion

The only BofA card I like is US Airways. Yes it is real. Not sure how we got to keep it when almost everyone was switched to Barclays.

skibum7732

The AS card is a good one to get as well, or two or even three+

agarfield

I switched my sock-drawered 1-2-3 to Travel Rewards, which gives 1.5% and has no FTF.

BBR is a decent card to switch to but it doesn't have visa sig. I wonder if BBR still has BankAmeriDeals, however.

FTR 787

Interesting, not sure if this is the place to discuss this (since it's the CC forum) but are there any current deals going on for signing up for a new BoA checking or savings account?

Thanks!

Dieuwer

What's wrong with the BofA Better Balance Rewards card? You could make double digit returns!

PimpTheMonkey

My oldest card is a BoA, so I switched it to the Better Balance Rewards card last year. Now, it's earning me $120/year (I'm a BoA bank customer too, so +$5/quarter) for sitting in my sock drawer.

taxicabnumber

Do you have to spend more than the minimum payment (i.e. > $25) per month or just any old charge?

PimpTheMonkey

Nope, any old charge will do. From the terms:

"You must have a payment due in each of the monthly cycles of the calendar quarter to be eligible for the Quarterly Cash Reward; a zero balance or a credit balance does not qualify."

and from the FAQ:

"What is a qualifying payment?
A monthly payment received on or before the due date, which is more than the monthly payment due is considered a qualifying payment.
A payment in full received on or before the due date is a qualifying payment."

I just have a small monthly bill go on this card. Just make sure that you change the bonus to direct deposit instead of a credit to the card. I didn't make that change at first, so when my first credit hit, I no longer had a balance on my account, so I lost out on one quarter's payment.

taxicabnumber

Good to know! I actually just downgraded one of my annual-fee cards to this one last week (though new card hasn't arrived in the mail yet).