Merrill Lynch Octave
 

Does anyone have details on this card? I'm expecting some more from my financial advisor soon, but he said 2.5 "Merrill Points" per dollar spent. That should be about 2.5% in rewards currency. My issue with my existing Merrill points is that I'm tied to gift cards which are 100 points:$1, or using their travel booking, which can do at max 100 points:$2. The latter would be pretty good with the 2.5x earning he mentioned. That would make travel bookings via their engine be worth anywhere in the range of 2.5%-5%.

Please do share when you have more details. I have some assets at Merrill Lynch too. Do you know the requirements to get this card?

If you have Merrill+ VISA they can also be transferred to British Airways, or at least they could be in 2014. Haven't asked if this arrangement was renewed again in 2015.

There are photos of the card in this forum thread: http://creditcardforum.com/american-...n-express.html

It's a very nice card, but if the requirements are true about needing $10M in assets, it'd better have some amazing benefits :D

I have some assets with ML (but I am in "Edge", because I'm cheap,) so haven't been contacted about this... but let us know what you hear!

I've contacted somebody at ML for more information, will post it here when I find out. Was going to post the CCF link, but NYCflyer beat me to it!

tried posting a photo - but still haven't figured how to do that on FT - I know I know #n00b

Details:

2.5 points per dollar
No expiration on points
$350 travel credit or Delta Lounge membership
$100 credit for Global Entry Application
"Save on business/first international fares" - no clue what this means exactly
"20% off base fare for two round trip domestic coach tickets" - what base, not sure
Luxury Hotel Program
.. and other things one would expect from a card of this stature that aren't worth detailing.

$950 annual fee.

My initial calculations show that you get $450/year back if you count the Global Entry fee, so at best $500, more likely $600/year. At 2.5%, which would be the cash back equivalent on this card, you'd need a spend of $20k-$24k to cover those annual fees, respectively.

Paying US Federal income tax at 1.87% on this card would make you 63bps.

No word on if the annual fee can be waived, but if they have one, and this card is only being offered to WM clients, I'm guessing not.

The non-real-estate part of inheritance/trust is managed my ML. Time to call my banker.

Just an update: the 20% off of coach class tickets is provided at the lowest published fare. You must use their booking mechanism, but it does take the same fare you find from the airline, then they subtract 20%. So, definitely some value if you purchase a lot of tickets in coach.

i wish i was born into wealth and would never have to work :(

too bad i sold bitcoin too early.

Does anyone know if the ML Octave card is only available to BofA US Trust Private Bank clients & ML clients or is it open to anyone regardless of banking relationship with BofA?

I do think you need to be a ML or US Trust client, but I dont think you need to have 10 million to get the card. Its probably like the Palladium.

Just want to confirm getting effectively ~5% back when booking domestic flights. You need a Merrill+ and an Octave card to make this work, but you earn 2.5 per $1, then transfer to Merrill+ and use their Anytime, Anywhere rewards for 25k points up to $500 value. Airline mileage earning is limited on these fares because they're bulk/discount rates, but you do get a little, so that's a bonus on top of all of it.

That's incredible.

Now I've got to figure out how to get an Octave card to supplement my Merrill+ without having to have $XX million with Merrill Lynch (as I prefer putting my money/investments elsewhere). :rolleyes: