A couple of readers have asked me about the BankAmericard Better Balance Rewards credit card. It definitely has a unique rewards structure
- Earn a $25 cash reward for each calendar quarter in which all of your monthly payments are received on or before the due date and are more than the minimum payment due. Your account must remain open and 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.
- Earn an additional $5 cash reward per quarter if you have a Bank of America checking or savings account.
- Cash back is automatically credited to your card balance, unless otherwise directed into your BofA bank account.
- No annual fee.
The draw is that you could charge just $5 to the card every month, wait for the statement to close, and then pay off that $5 every month, and end up with $100 a year in rewards (or $120 a year with BofA account). It would take $5,000 of total purchases at a theoretical 2% cashback rate to get to $100 in rewards.
The first catch is that you need to maintain this every single month. If you skip just one month and have a zero balance, or somehow a refund has you end up with a negative balance, or you don’t pay the minimum due on time, then you forfeit the entire $25 for that quarter. Remember that by default the $25 reward is applied to your credit card balance, so even that could put you negative in a month. You have to pay attention to this card.
The second catch is that there is no other rewards structure, not even a flat 1% cash back. There is no incentive to put any significant purchases on this card, as you won’t get any additional cash back.
In the end, this card would work best for:
- People who naturally charge very little on their cards, but at least something every month. Maybe you’ll miss out on a quarter here and there, but with small total purchase amounts it would still be more than you’d get from a normal rewards card.
- Detail-oriented folks who are willing to jump through the hoops to get that $100 to $120 per year by charging small amounts and paying them off every month. (Then put all your other charges on a 1%/5% or flat 2% cashback card or other better card.) You could try and automate this somehow with a scheduled $5 monthly charitable contribution, put Netflix bill on auto-pay, or something similar. I can’t recall if BofA lets you also automate the payment.
I think the best play here is to try and convert an existing Bank of America credit card that you don’t use anymore (cash out the rewards completely first!). Ideally you’ll get access to the benefits without an additional credit check. Otherwise, in the current environment, it is quite easy to get $500 or more value upfront out of a new credit card application. A credit pull is valuable and I’d rather have a big bonus now instead of having to jump through hoops for 4-5 years. If/when the bonuses start to drop, then this card would start to look better.
The Best Credit Card Bonus Offers – March 2024
Big List of Free Stocks from Brokerage Apps
Best Interest Rates on Cash - March 2024
Free Credit Scores x 3 + Free Credit Monitoring
Best No Fee 0% APR Balance Transfer Offers
Little-Known Cellular Data Plans That Can Save Big Money
How To Haggle Your Cable or Direct TV Bill
Big List of Free Consumer Data Reports (Credit, Rent, Work)
I recently cancelled this card. I had a little used BoA card that I converted to this program a little more than a year ago. Out of 4-5 quarters, I only got the bonus once. They always has some reason why I didn’t qualify. I finally called them to close the account about a month back. Wasn’t worth the hassle.
Thanks for the comment as an actual customer.
I second this. I was on same boat. Converted an old unused BOA card, Of the 4 quarters I had received only once. I covered all the bases, as to not apply the reward to balance and direct to account and such. In the end BOA will find ways to have this not provided. On top of it, the auto payment you have setup will be a day or two delayed when the statement gets cut (say a weekend), then you are screwed again. Not worth it. In the end I end up closing the card and the BOA checking account. Something that’s long due. Not at all worth it. In the end I had spent many hours on phone and on-site to add my wife to account, pass their management tricks with smiley face and saying NO. All for nothing. Such a relief after closing. Spend your time elsewhere.
This is the first time I’ve come across this card. Sounds like it would make a good card to buy 1 thing 1 once a month. I like it!
In your example, you suggested charging $5 per month. I didn’t see any minimum balance specified in the T&C. So, theoretically, one can charge $0.01 (assuming that a retail store allows this) per month, correct?
For a given year, then, the schedule would then be
Month 1 = 0.01
Month 2 = 0.01
Month 3 = 0.01
Month 4 = 25.01
repeat
.
.
My main concern with that is that sometimes card issuers “waive” really small balances because it costs more to send you a statement than just to pay your $0.01 bill for you. But in that case, they could do it the day before your statement ends and poof, you don’t qualify for the bonus anymore.
If they don’t do that, then yes $0.01 would be fine just make sure to charge that $25 at the end of the calendar quarters (not just 3 months from an arbitrary date).
For absolute ease, you’d want to charge $9 a month to make it over $25 over three months so the credit won’t make you negative either. But then again, the first calendar quarter as a new customer they will let you earn the $25 over less than three months. See, tricky. 🙂
Do the rewards have to be redeemed as cash? Can they be used as worldpoints or other points that can be redeemed for travel?
I think it is cash only. I see no mention of Worldpoints in their Program Rules.
I have been using this card for a while. I just set up automatic payments for my bill from Comcast and I get a $30 statement credit every quarter.
Thanks for your comment as an actual customer as well.
So I’m confused. Do you have to carry a balance to get the bonus or can you zero out (pay off) your balance (provided there is still some activity during each month) every month and still get the bonus?
I never carry a balance and don’t want to start carrying even a small one just to get this bonus. But if I can set up a recurring charge to hit this car every month and pay it off each month I will do that for $120 per year. Should be entirely automate-able.
You need to let the balance post. So, make a $10 charge, let the billing cycle end, receive a statement saying you owe $10, and then pay off the $10.
What Naveen said. 🙂
You technically have a balance that month, but you just pay it off within the grace period and no interest is charged. You are not carrying a balance from month to month.
Got it, thanks. I’m going to try to get one of my old BoA cards that I never use changed to this card. Then I will get my Netflix set up to bill to this card ($20/month) and either set up e-bills and pay this card monthly or more likely set up a recurring monthly payment plan for the exact bill amount to post before the bill due date. I further plan to specify that my quarterly bonus go into a BoA savings account I have set up to receive my other credit card cash back from my other card, so I don’t have to worry about a bill credit on this card messing up my balance (and therefore my bonus). We’ll see how it goes.
I have had this card for about 9 months and it does its job in my small collection of rewards credit cards. I converted it from a little used no rewards BofA card. I would recommend it especially if you can get it without a hard pull by converting a card like Jonathan says.
No, you do not need to carry a balance to get the rewards. I use it to pay my DSL bill every month which has varied from $50 to $70 a month. I buy everything else with my other 1%/2%3% rewards credit cards.
Here is a hopefully explanatory example of my recent card activity:
Statement for March 11, 2014: minimum payment due is $25, balance is $50.02. I paid $50.02.
On April 3, my first quarter reward of $25 posts to my account.
Statement for April 9, 2014: I forgot to pay my DSL bill so my minimum payment due is $0, balance is -$25. I paid $10.
Statement for May 10, 2014: minimum payment due is $25, balance is $66.69. I paid $66.69.
Statement for June 10, 2014: minimum payment due is $25, balance is $73.72. I paid $73.72.
On July 3, my second quarter reward of $25 posts to my account.
Here is what my statement says about the rewards program: “Receive $25 each quarter that you pay any amount more than the monthly minimum due and you pay each bill on time. Get an extra $5 bonus for a total of $30 per quarter if you or the co-applicant have at least one other qualifying account with us.”
So, in the month where my payment due was $0, I paid $10 which kept me qualified for the reward because it was more than what was due. I suppose I could have paid $1 or $0.10, but I knew that I was going to charge the money the next month so the exact amount didn’t really matter to me.
As far as I can tell the rewards can only be redeemed as a statement credit. It is credited automatically which is something I like. There is no need to log in and request the reward.
Finally I will add that even though I got this card in the middle of Q4 2013, I complied with the rewards requirements for the portion of that quarter when I had the card, and BofA gave me the full $25 reward for that quarter!
How do I convert my current card to this one? Has anyone done this way?
Do I need to complete an application?
TIA
Just talked with customer service and made the conversion. CSP say it will take 2-4 weeks getting my card.
I’ve been using this card for some time and I converted one of my old no-reward BofA cards to it. It has worked very well for me. Every quarter I got a direct payment credit of $30. I just use this card to pay my monthly pre-paid cell phone bill $30 and set up automatic payment to pay off the balance. Simply as that, no tricks, no hidden fees at all.
I did notice the fine print said you need to pay at least the minimum payment shown on the statement. This could get tricky, I thought although I didn’t bother to try out myself, if you only charge this card for a small amount. Since after the first $30 (or $25 if you don’t have a BofA checking account) credit, you may end up with a negative balance, which will impact the following month’s calculation (you need to charge a “positive” amount to this card so you will have a bill).
Found the following on their Program Rules PDF:
“How do I receive my Quarterly Cash Rewards?
When you qualify for a Quarterly Cash Reward, we’ll automatically issue it in the form of a statement credit to your Card account. You can also choose to have it deposited directly into a Bank of America checking or savings account, or a Merrill Lynch Cash Management Account.”
It seems like you can go about the $1/month route and just have the money added to your savings/checking account. Just converted today from an unused BoA card with minimal rewards, so I’ll be giving this a try!
That’s right, no risk to your card account if you have the $25 deposited to your checking/sav account. Also I converted 3 cards at one time in one phone call. My wife did 2 of hers. So we have 5 of these cards and will get 2 more soon. So 7 total or an extra $840/yr. Prior cards were all Alaksa cards (had multiples) – you can apply for more than 1 – and Virgin Atlantic cards.
The only downside with BofA vs Chase or Citi or AE, BofA autopay is so convoluted and nonsensical, almost sets you up to fail. You’ve got to do your homework to get it to work right.
I would suggest appling for regular credit cards for the promos/miles, like Alaska, then convert and get a nice chunk of cash with no further hard pulls.
I received a BankAmericard credit card last month. Once I receive my bonus I am considering switching to this card. Does anyone know if I will be able to keep my 0% APY if I switch? Does the Better Balance Rewards card offer Cash Back Deals (ie 10% cash back on Lowe’s purchase) like the BankAmericard?
I believe this is dead. I called BofA twice now (last 2 weeks) to convert another card and both reps and a supervisor said new rules, no conversions allowed to Better Balance. Must reapply with a hard pull. Be my guest and keep trying though. I would call and inquire if you are curious.
So I have a few BT cards already, and I stumbled upon this BOA Better Balance Rewards. So if I were to use this as a BT card, would I be eligible to receive the Quarterly bonuses? Say I transfer a balance of $1000, I would carry this entire balance while paying timely. Would I qualify? Or do they want you to make timely monthly payment on new purchases?
Hope my question made sense. Thank you for your help!
Joseph, I think this card would work for you because BofA appears to be targeting this rewards structure for people who carry a balance (hence the name of the card). In order to get the rewards, you would have to pay more than the minimum payment every month, but not the full balance of the card. For example, you could add $5 onto the minimum payment due and that would qualify you for the rewards. I don’t know of any requirement to make purchases on the card. There have been months that I didn’t make purchases and I actually had a credit due to the rewards, but I still made a $10 payment even when $0 was due, and it counted towards getting the next reward.
So you need to spend at least $10 a month just to overcome the credit and avoid a negative balance, and remember to pay it all on time, defeating all the tricks they’ll employ to make you later. I’ll stick with my Cap One card, 2% back on everything, usable as credit on your present bill.
I just checked with BofA and they said they no longer convert to better balance reward card any more. There was a policy changed in Mar. 2015 anyone want this card have to apply instead meaning your credit score will be pulled.
To make sure that I get the quarterly rewards, I charge $26 a month. I have this unfounded belief that the minimum payment required by Bank of America is $25. It would qualify for the cash rewards by paying off the $26, which is more than minimum. I pay automatically, and this coming year I plan to just charge my monthly newspaper bill to this card automatically. So, I would not have to do much to get the $100 annual cash.
Me and a Friend of mine have the BOA Better Balance Rewards MasterCard now for 4 Months and l see Today She finally got the $30 Deposited lnto Her BOA Account but l did NOT, She carries a Balance and Pays MORE than the minimum, l Don’t carry a Balance, l charge $10 every month and always pay ln Full, l don’t know what happened that l did NOT get my $30, So l will be calling BOA tomorrow to see what they tell me…………………Maybe l have to spend over $25 to get the $30 every 3 months, l don’t know….
You have to pay more than the minimum each month. If you only have a balance of $10, it is likely that your minimum payment is equal to your balance, and therefore you would have to pay more than your balance in order to qualify for that month.