You may have seen a lot of commercials for a new and improved credit card offered by Bank of America called the BankAmericard Cash Rewards™. Although this card offers a solid rewards program with a good interest rate and no annual fee, it’s nothing new and it’s certainly not improved. In fact, there are other credit cards that offer exactly what this card offers with additional perks you won’t find from Bank of America. Here are the latest details for the BankAmericard Cash Rewards offer. From this, you can determine whether the card belongs in your wallet.
The big attraction for all potential Bank of America cardholders is a rewards program that offers the following:
- 3% cash back on all gasoline purchases.
- 2% cash back on all grocery purchases.
- 1% cash back on everything else.
The 3% and 2% cash back categories expire after spending $1,500 in those categories each quarter. After spending $1,500, all purchases earn 1% cash back.
In addition to the cash back percentages, the BankAmericard Cash Rewards offers a $50 bonus when spending $100 in the first sixty days and a 0% introductory APR on purchases and balance transfers for 12 months. The balance transfer must be made within the first sixty days to qualify for the 0% APR. Finally, this card carries no annual fee. When you look at all the benefits, it’s actually a pretty solid offer.
Despite the quality of this offer, there are cards that offer a better rewards program and a better introductory APR, but not together. The fact that the competing offers span two cards is irrelevant because cardholders of the BankAmericard Cash Rewards can’t effectively take advantage of both an introductory 0% APR for transfers and the cash back rewards. Either you use the card to reap the reward benefits or transfer a balance. If you do both, you’ll probably end up with more debt than you started with, making the situation even worse.
If you’re attracted to this card for the tiered rewards program, the Blue Cash Preferred℠ from American Express provides 6% cash back on groceries, 3% cash back on gas and department store purchases and 1% cash back on everything else with no quarterly limits. The card also includes a $100 up front bonus and perks only American Express can provide, but there is a $75 annual fee. That fee is small compared to the savings when you consider the high cash back rates and unlimited reward potential. In terms of rewards cash back, this is better than the BankAmericard Cash Rewards.
For borrowers looking for a 0% introductory APR on purchases and balance transfers, consider the Citi® Platinum Select® Card. This card includes a 0% introductory APR for 21 months and the balance transfer fee is 3%. Nine extra months to pay your bills interest free can go a long way. Customers can qualify for this card easier than the BankAmericard Cash Rewards card. There’s no annual fee for the Citi card, so it’s clearly the better choice for introductory rate needs.
Bank of America has put out a good card in launching the new and improved BankAmericard Cash Rewards™, but it might not be good enough when compared to a few other offers. For more information such as terms and conditions, visit the BankAmericard Cash Rewards application.
Published or updated September 9, 2011. If you enjoyed this article, subscribe to the RSS feed or receive daily emails. Follow @flexo on Twitter and visit our Facebook page for more updates.
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{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
Cash back rewards are always nice. It’s like getting paid to shop!
Visa is accepted in a lot of places. I would try to get a Visa card as a backup just in case your Amex card is not accepted.
All of these cards and the specifics make me dizzy. I wonder how long the rewards program will last—lots of banks are paring down the rewards at this point.
Minimum spend requirements to achieve fair cash back rates are often not disclosed. In my experience, many of the newer cards require a greater spend to receive you cash back. For example, one of my newer BofA CCs require $25,000 of spend before I can order a $250 rewards check. I can certainly order a check after $2,500 of spend, but it would only be for $12.50 or 0.5% cash back rate. Five or ten years ago, I would have only needed to spend $2,500 to order a $25 check. Higher minimums means you stupidly spend more than you should be spending, or it takes you a very long time to achieve fair cash back rate.
One might consider the PerkStreet 2% cash back debit rewards card instead.
I’m trying to cash in my “cash rewards” but—- as usual BOA makes it difficult or impossible. I see why BOA is in trouble
you do your best to drive customers away. your web sites are just ads WHERE IS MY CASH BACK??????