Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

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Earl Lemongrab
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by Earl Lemongrab »

Mrxyz wrote:So I should transfer my Roth IRA for the bonus and not my taxable accounts? Right now, I do not have that much money in Roth, and regular IRA is from work which is with TIAACREF, and cannot be 'transferred' out.
"Best" does not mean "only". I'm not sure what you mean about the IRA. Is it a SIMPLE or SEP?
Mrxyz wrote:So I can use my taxable money to earn this bonus? Transfer the money from Vanguard to Merrill Edge, get the bonus after xyz months, and then transfer back?
Yes. Or transfer to a different custodian and get another bonus. I use ETFs, so I can move about freely.

The number of custodians offering bonuses is lower these days, and will be further reduced when Scottrade merges with TD Ameritrade in a few months. Whether that's a lull or a trend towards phasing out of the bonuses due to the price war in commissions remains to be seen. So get them now while they certainly are available.

Edit: As we are starting a bit to get into transfer bonuses versus the specifics of Preferred Rewards, you might want to post a message on this thread:

viewtopic.php?f=10&t=196884

You can describe what accounts/amounts you have available for transfer for some advice.
SVT
Posts: 387
Joined: Mon Oct 13, 2008 8:56 am

Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by SVT »

Has anyone booked travel through the BofA Travel Center? Apparently if you book travel through the Travel Center, you get another 1.5x bonus on your points making it an effective 4.125% back. Anyone familiar with this and used the Travel Center before?
radiowave
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by radiowave »

Hi, does anyone have any experience with the BoA Business MasterCard? It has similar travel rewards to the personal BoA travel card, e.g. no foreign transfer fees, travel insurance, etc.. Does this card count for Preferred Rewards if included in an individual account? I'm doing a small amount of consulting as a DBA, so I would be eligible for the business card and I like the idea of having a Master Card in my wallet along with the Visa.

https://secure.bankofamerica.com/applynow/welcome.go

Note: "Earn 3 points per every dollar spent when you book your travel (car, hotel, airline) through the Bank of America Travel Center - powered by Orbitz" reference post above
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MisterBill
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by MisterBill »

radiowave wrote:Hi, does anyone have any experience with the BoA Business MasterCard? It has similar travel rewards to the personal BoA travel card, e.g. no foreign transfer fees, travel insurance, etc.. Does this card count for Preferred Rewards if included in an individual account? I'm doing a small amount of consulting as a DBA, so I would be eligible for the business card and I like the idea of having a Master Card in my wallet along with the Visa.

https://secure.bankofamerica.com/applynow/welcome.go

Note: "Earn 3 points per every dollar spent when you book your travel (car, hotel, airline) through the Bank of America Travel Center - powered by Orbitz" reference post above
Won't work, business cards are not eligible. If you want a Mastercard. get the MLB card.

From https://info.bankofamerica.com/preferre ... /#benefits

Cards not eligible for the rewards bonus:

Non-rewards credit cards
Business purpose credit cards
Bank of America Accolades®
BankAmericard Better Balance Rewards®
Merrill Lynch branded (including Merrill Accolades®, MERRILL+®, Merrill Lynch® Octave® and Private Banking and Investment Group Octave®)
U.S. Trust branded (including Bank of America Accolades® and U.S. Trust® Octave®)

AAA® Gas Rebate
Alaska Airlines®
Allegiant World MasterCard®
Amtrak Guest Rewards®
Amway™
Asiana Airlines®
Azamara Club Cruises®
Bass Pro Shops®
Celebrity Cruises®
MelaleucaSM
Royal Caribbean International®
Spirit Airlines®
Virgin Atlantic Airways®
radiowave
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by radiowave »

Thanks, guess I'll consider the personal travel reward card.
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SVT
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by SVT »

radiowave wrote:Note: "Earn 3 points per every dollar spent when you book your travel (car, hotel, airline) through the Bank of America Travel Center - powered by Orbitz" reference post above
That is what I was referring to in my post previous to yours. Does anyone here have any experience with it? It gets you 4.125% back. I did one quick comparison for the same hotel for the same dates and same room and everything and the rate through the Travel Center was something like $20/night more expensive than hotels.com (just randomly picked a site). In that case, it wouldn't be worth it obviously. Definitely something to check when booking travel though. If it's the same price or cheaper, that's a great deal it seems to me.
Mrxyz
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by Mrxyz »

student wrote:
Mrxyz wrote:
Earl Lemongrab wrote:
Mrxyz wrote:I am not sure of which money to transfer (IRA vs CMA). I doubt if I can move my IRA as their are institutional.I do not have more than 200k in Roth.
I'm not sure what you mean by institutional here. Generally the best accounts to get bonuses in are Roths of course, because the bonus is never taxed.
So I should transfer my Roth IRA for the bonus and not my taxable accounts? Right now, I do not have that much money in Roth, and regular IRA is from work which is with TIAACREF, and cannot be 'transferred' out.
I don't understand about your IRA is from work. Is the following your scenario: You have your workplace retirement account such as 403b and 401k at TIAA-CREF; due to this relationship, you opened an IRA account with them with mutual funds that are not available to their retail customers. If so, I believe you can still transfer out.
Yes, you are correct about where these funds are. But I need to call them to find out if they can be transferred out or not. I was 'told' many years ago that I can move funds only when I leave my job or retire.
Earl Lemongrab wrote:
Mrxyz wrote:So I should transfer my Roth IRA for the bonus and not my taxable accounts? Right now, I do not have that much money in Roth, and regular IRA is from work which is with TIAACREF, and cannot be 'transferred' out.
"Best" does not mean "only". I'm not sure what you mean about the IRA. Is it a SIMPLE or SEP?
Mrxyz wrote:So I can use my taxable money to earn this bonus? Transfer the money from Vanguard to Merrill Edge, get the bonus after xyz months, and then transfer back?
Yes. Or transfer to a different custodian and get another bonus. I use ETFs, so I can move about freely.

The number of custodians offering bonuses is lower these days, and will be further reduced when Scottrade merges with TD Ameritrade in a few months. Whether that's a lull or a trend towards phasing out of the bonuses due to the price war in commissions remains to be seen. So get them now while they certainly are available.

Edit: As we are starting a bit to get into transfer bonuses versus the specifics of Preferred Rewards, you might want to post a message on this thread:

viewtopic.php?f=10&t=196884

You can describe what accounts/amounts you have available for transfer for some advice.

Thanks for sharing 'your' definitive thread!! It's awesome BTW- still reading through it...............

I have Vanguard admiral funds in my taxable account which I can move easily. I have 250G plus x 2 for me and spouse for 2 accounts. I would feel more comfortable with a shorter duration and thus Merrill Edge with 90 days of investment, and $600 bonus versus TD ameritrade with $1000 bonus for 12 months..........unless I did not get the details correct. I presume that my investments in Vanguard fund type will remain unchanged -The funds are 'rolled over' in kind.
I will cross post.
LifeIsGood
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by LifeIsGood »

Maybe someone else has had a different experience but when I tried to transfer Admiral shares out of Vanguard, they had to be converted to Investor shares.
student
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by student »

Mrxyz wrote:
student wrote:
Mrxyz wrote:
Earl Lemongrab wrote:
Mrxyz wrote:I am not sure of which money to transfer (IRA vs CMA). I doubt if I can move my IRA as their are institutional.I do not have more than 200k in Roth.
I'm not sure what you mean by institutional here. Generally the best accounts to get bonuses in are Roths of course, because the bonus is never taxed.
So I should transfer my Roth IRA for the bonus and not my taxable accounts? Right now, I do not have that much money in Roth, and regular IRA is from work which is with TIAACREF, and cannot be 'transferred' out.
I don't understand about your IRA is from work. Is the following your scenario: You have your workplace retirement account such as 403b and 401k at TIAA-CREF; due to this relationship, you opened an IRA account with them with mutual funds that are not available to their retail customers. If so, I believe you can still transfer out.
Yes, you are correct about where these funds are. But I need to call them to find out if they can be transferred out or not. I was 'told' many years ago that I can move funds only when I leave my job or retire.
I opened one many years ago under similar circumstance. I recently transferred it out for consolidation purpose. It was very easy. I only have to fill out a form online on TIAA-CREF.
jbolden1517
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by jbolden1517 »

SVT wrote: Does anyone here have any experience with it? It gets you 4.125% back.
It gets you a lot more than that. You get double points so 3 points per dollar spent. When you redeem the points you get a 1.75 multiplier. So it is 5.25% back on travel booked through them. Obviously though your point about the prices are worth checking. I haven't had a chance to try and take advantage of this deal yet.
SVT
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by SVT »

jbolden1517 wrote:
SVT wrote: Does anyone here have any experience with it? It gets you 4.125% back.
It gets you a lot more than that. You get double points so 3 points per dollar spent. When you redeem the points you get a 1.75 multiplier. So it is 5.25% back on travel booked through them. Obviously though your point about the prices are worth checking. I haven't had a chance to try and take advantage of this deal yet.
Are you sure it's calculated like that? I read that it's actually 1.5 points * the preferred rewards bonus (up to 75%) + 1.5. Not the 75% bonus on the 3 points but on the base 1.5 points.
*3!4!/5!
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by *3!4!/5! »

LifeIsGood wrote:Maybe someone else has had a different experience but when I tried to transfer Admiral shares out of Vanguard, they had to be converted to Investor shares.
Where were you transferring them to?
robbierob03
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by robbierob03 »

Data Point: Just received my $1,000 bonus from last December's brokerage promotion at Merrill Edge. Took every bit of the 180 day qualifying period + one week in the terms, but it paid on time without any intervention from my end.

Still a happy client and pleased with the Preferred Rewards program overall.
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indexfundfan
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by indexfundfan »

SVT wrote:
jbolden1517 wrote:
SVT wrote: Does anyone here have any experience with it? It gets you 4.125% back.
It gets you a lot more than that. You get double points so 3 points per dollar spent. When you redeem the points you get a 1.75 multiplier. So it is 5.25% back on travel booked through them. Obviously though your point about the prices are worth checking. I haven't had a chance to try and take advantage of this deal yet.
Are you sure it's calculated like that? I read that it's actually 1.5 points * the preferred rewards bonus (up to 75%) + 1.5. Not the 75% bonus on the 3 points but on the base 1.5 points.
I have used it that way before. You get 4.125% back if you are at the highest tier.
My signature has been deleted.
MisterBill
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by MisterBill »

robbierob03 wrote:Data Point: Just received my $1,000 bonus from last December's brokerage promotion at Merrill Edge. Took every bit of the 180 day qualifying period + one week in the terms, but it paid on time without any intervention from my end.

Still a happy client and pleased with the Preferred Rewards program overall.
I have another week as my transfer only got credited on 1/9.

I'm very happy with the PR program. Can't beat 2.625% on everything with more for gas and groceries. And their system decided that all of the tours for my upcoming European trip and paid for using Paypal (telling it to let the card issuer do the currency conversion) were determined to qualify for travel credit redemption.
tj
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by tj »

Can't beat 2.625% on everything
I can. My Alliant Credit Union card gets 3% cashback. :D

http://www.alliantcreditunion.org/bank/ ... ature-card
*3!4!/5!
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by *3!4!/5! »

tj wrote:
Can't beat 2.625% on everything
I can. My Alliant Credit Union card gets 3% cashback. :D
http://www.alliantcreditunion.org/bank/ ... ature-card
Really?
"$59 annual fee, waived the first year"
"A true cashback card: 3% cash back in year one & 2.5% cash back after"
:oops:
tj
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by tj »

*3!4!/5! wrote:
tj wrote:
Can't beat 2.625% on everything
I can. My Alliant Credit Union card gets 3% cashback. :D
http://www.alliantcreditunion.org/bank/ ... ature-card
Really?
"$59 annual fee, waived the first year"
"A true cashback card: 3% cash back in year one & 2.5% cash back after"
:oops:
I'll clos it after the first year and use USAA's no-fee 2.5% cashback card instead.
jbolden1517
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by jbolden1517 »

indexfundfan wrote:
SVT wrote:
jbolden1517 wrote:
SVT wrote: Does anyone here have any experience with it? It gets you 4.125% back.
It gets you a lot more than that. You get double points so 3 points per dollar spent. When you redeem the points you get a 1.75 multiplier. So it is 5.25% back on travel booked through them. Obviously though your point about the prices are worth checking. I haven't had a chance to try and take advantage of this deal yet.
Are you sure it's calculated like that? I read that it's actually 1.5 points * the preferred rewards bonus (up to 75%) + 1.5. Not the 75% bonus on the 3 points but on the base 1.5 points.
I have used it that way before. You get 4.125% back if you are at the highest tier.
Thanks I stand corrected. Still good but not nearly enough of a swing to aggressively make sure everything gets booked on BofA's Orbitz.
*3!4!/5!
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by *3!4!/5! »

tj wrote:
*3!4!/5! wrote:
tj wrote:
Can't beat 2.625% on everything
I can. My Alliant Credit Union card gets 3% cashback. :D
http://www.alliantcreditunion.org/bank/ ... ature-card
Really?
"$59 annual fee, waived the first year"
"A true cashback card: 3% cash back in year one & 2.5% cash back after"
:oops:
I'll clos it after the first year and use USAA's no-fee 2.5% cashback card instead.
But anytime you get a card that you'll only use temporarily, it's almost always better to get a card with a large signup bonus.
SVT
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by SVT »

You all might find this interesting: https://www.doctorofcredit.com/bank-ame ... ilable-yet

BofA is coming out with a new card by the end of the year. 50k point bonus, 3.5% back on restaurants, 3.5% back on travel, 2.625% back on everything else, if it will be eligible for Preferred Rewards, which it will be according to the article. $100 annual travel credit, $100 global entry/tsa precheck, $95 annual fee.
*3!4!/5!
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by *3!4!/5! »

SVT wrote:You all might find this interesting: https://www.doctorofcredit.com/bank-ame ... ilable-yet

BofA is coming out with a new card by the end of the year. 50k point bonus, 3.5% back on restaurants, 3.5% back on travel, 2.625% back on everything else, if it will be eligible for Preferred Rewards, which it will be according to the article. $100 annual travel credit, $100 global entry/tsa precheck, $95 annual fee.
It would certainly be interesting if it has Preferred Rewards, but the bloggers are guessing, even if they have some inside info.
ETA: also BoA has tightened up approvals, so approval is not automatic.
Last edited by *3!4!/5! on Mon Jul 31, 2017 6:01 am, edited 1 time in total.
*3!4!/5!
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by *3!4!/5! »

I just found that walmart.com is 1% not 2% (*1.75) cashback on Cash Rewards card. I had thought otherwise. Now I'm wondering what are the datapoints on samsclub.com and costco.com.
SVT
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by SVT »

*3!4!/5! wrote:
SVT wrote:You all might find this interesting: https://www.doctorofcredit.com/bank-ame ... ilable-yet

BofA is coming out with a new card by the end of the year. 50k point bonus, 3.5% back on restaurants, 3.5% back on travel, 2.625% back on everything else, if it will be eligible for Preferred Rewards, which it will be according to the article. $100 annual travel credit, $100 global entry/tsa precheck, $95 annual fee.
It would certainly be interesting if it has Preferred Rewards, but the bloggers are guessing, even if they have some inside info.
ETA: also BoA has tightened up approvals, so approval is not automatic.
Well, check this out: https://www.doctorofcredit.com/bank-ame ... tore-card/

With that matching all the other details and it saying Preferred Rewards, I think it's safe to assume it will.
*3!4!/5!
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by *3!4!/5! »

SVT wrote:
*3!4!/5! wrote:
SVT wrote:You all might find this interesting: https://www.doctorofcredit.com/bank-ame ... ilable-yet

BofA is coming out with a new card by the end of the year. 50k point bonus, 3.5% back on restaurants, 3.5% back on travel, 2.625% back on everything else, if it will be eligible for Preferred Rewards, which it will be according to the article. $100 annual travel credit, $100 global entry/tsa precheck, $95 annual fee.
It would certainly be interesting if it has Preferred Rewards, but the bloggers are guessing, even if they have some inside info.
ETA: also BoA has tightened up approvals, so approval is not automatic.
Well, check this out: https://www.doctorofcredit.com/bank-ame ... tore-card/

With that matching all the other details and it saying Preferred Rewards, I think it's safe to assume it will.
Ah, okay, I remember reading that but had forgotten. I guess that's more evidence, but will wait and see. It would be my main card if it really had all the features.
*3!4!/5!
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by *3!4!/5! »

*3!4!/5! wrote:
SVT wrote:
*3!4!/5! wrote:
SVT wrote:You all might find this interesting: https://www.doctorofcredit.com/bank-ame ... ilable-yet

BofA is coming out with a new card by the end of the year. 50k point bonus, 3.5% back on restaurants, 3.5% back on travel, 2.625% back on everything else, if it will be eligible for Preferred Rewards, which it will be according to the article. $100 annual travel credit, $100 global entry/tsa precheck, $95 annual fee.
It would certainly be interesting if it has Preferred Rewards, but the bloggers are guessing, even if they have some inside info.
ETA: also BoA has tightened up approvals, so approval is not automatic.
Well, check this out: https://www.doctorofcredit.com/bank-ame ... tore-card/

With that matching all the other details and it saying Preferred Rewards, I think it's safe to assume it will.
Ah, okay, I remember reading that but had forgotten. I guess that's more evidence, but will wait and see. It would be my main card if it really had all the features.
Another reason I'm not putting too much stock in rumored card features is that blog has two different rumored versions of the card.
https://www.doctorofcredit.com/rumor-ba ... rd-market/
https://www.doctorofcredit.com/bank-ame ... lable-yet/
SVT
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by SVT »

Now confirmed. BofA is coming out with a Premium Rewards CC in September:

http://www.foxbusiness.com/features/201 ... twist.html

For those of us with Platinum Honors status, that's 3.5% back on travel and dining, and 2.625% on everything else. Some may not want to get a 3rd card with BofA if you already have the Cash Rewards and the Travel Rewards card combo but maybe one can product change to the new card? Of course, if you did that, you'd miss out on the 50k point bonus. Also spending $95 on an annual fee might not be worth it to you if you don't spend enough on travel and dining for it to be worth it. Of course, there's rumored to be a travel credit that may make up for the annual fee.

Luckily for me, I haven't applied for the Travel Rewards card yet because I just reached Platinum Honors status a few days ago and at this point, I'm obviously going to wait for this new Premium Rewards card to come out and get that one instead of the Travel Rewards card. That way I get the 50k point bonus, plus the extra cash back on the travel and dining expenses.
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by triceratop »

It looks interesting, but as the credit is for travel incidentals which I never pay for it seems to be a poorer card than the existing BoA Travel Rewards card, for me. That is, unless there are as many loopholes for the travel incidentals category as there are for the travel category on the TR card.
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avalpert
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by avalpert »

SVT wrote:Now confirmed. BofA is coming out with a Premium Rewards CC in September:

http://www.foxbusiness.com/features/201 ... twist.html

For those of us with Platinum Honors status, that's 3.5% back on travel and dining, and 2.625% on everything else. Some may not want to get a 3rd card with BofA if you already have the Cash Rewards and the Travel Rewards card combo but maybe one can product change to the new card? Of course, if you did that, you'd miss out on the 50k point bonus. Also spending $95 on an annual fee might not be worth it to you if you don't spend enough on travel and dining for it to be worth it. Of course, there's rumored to be a travel credit that may make up for the annual fee.

Luckily for me, I haven't applied for the Travel Rewards card yet because I just reached Platinum Honors status a few days ago and at this point, I'm obviously going to wait for this new Premium Rewards card to come out and get that one instead of the Travel Rewards card. That way I get the 50k point bonus, plus the extra cash back on the travel and dining expenses.
The rewards on travel/dining is less than you get from Chase Sapphire and everything else isn't any higher than the current card. The real fee difference between this and the Chase card is $55 - so in any case where your spending on travel/dining is low enough that the $55 is more than a 1% increase in rewards, the $95 will be more than the .875% increase from the current card.

Maybe for the sign-up bonus or if they have an expansive enough credit to realistically eliminate the fee (and even then, it might be enough when you include the amortized value of the global entry credit in the Chase fee), but it doesn't seem like a keeper to me.
BashDash
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by BashDash »

I am thinking of opening a bank of america cashback credit card for a easy $150 bonus. I am already a merril edge customer with over 100k.

https://secure.bankofamerica.com/applynow/welcome.go


I received a 500 bonus earlier this year thanks to this thread.

Questions:
Will I receive a 75% bonus on the 150$ bonus?

Will I receive a 75% bonus on the earlier 500 bonus I received earlier this year? ( I don't think so but was wondering)

I did read that I have to transfer them to a BOA checking account ( i have one already for free ) to get this bonus. I would be happy to do that and then transfer them back to the merril edge acount to buy commission free VTI.


Thanks!!
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triceratop
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by triceratop »

If you are a Preferred Rewards Platinum Honors customer you will receive a 75% bonus on the cash back credit card signup bonus, provided you deposit the reward into a BOA checking account. The same does not hold for the travel rewards card.

You will not receive a bonus on the $500 bonus from earlier in the year.
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j0nnyg1984
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by j0nnyg1984 »

I was auto approved for the new premium rewards card, luckily. Lots of data points on Reddit about existing BoA customers with perfect credit and low applications getting denied.

I've already charged my $100 for the travel credit, renewed my global entry membership, and spent ~6k to clear the bonus. My first billing cycle closes in a couple of days so I'm eager to see all of the credits post.
SlowMovingInvestor
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by SlowMovingInvestor »

The only BoA card I have is the Alaska AIr card.

It only earns Alaska air miles (which are actually very valuable for international travel), but no Preferred Rewards. Are there any extra awards available on that card for BoA/ME Platinum members ?
eljcm
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by eljcm »

avalpert wrote: Fri Apr 28, 2017 3:02 pm
triceratop wrote:
*3!4!/5! wrote:Reiterating
viewtopic.php?p=3172906#p3172906
*3!4!/5! wrote:Datapoints: We got Preferred status about two days after opening checking accounts, and it was about 1.5 months after opening/funding brokerage accounts.

In other words, neither account needs to be open for 3 months. The checking accounts instantly fills one of the necessary conditions. And for the tier calculation they use the average daily balance over 3 months (so that will include some zeroes for younger accounts, e.g. a 1.5 month old account that has had a steady $50k for that time will be calculated as having "average daily balance over 3 months" of $25k).

The "average daily balance over 3 months" calculation is updated monthly.
And I tell you that that was not the case for me personally, for whatever that is worth. I had balances that exceeded a balance tier and was not switched over until precisely 90 days had passed. In fact a CSR told me this as well and predicted the exact date that I would be enrolled into Preferred Rewards (the prediction was precisely accurate).

It is possible that their systems are so screwed up that there is a lack of consistency.
I also did not need to have it open for 3 months to qualify - the checking account was opened 1/13 and my platinum preferred rewards was activated on 3/5.

It's possible there systems are inconsistent but my guess is it has to do with the periods for calculating your qualifying balance and not the time the checking account was open that was the driving factor.
Just to provide another data point on this: indeed, it appears that neither your accounts at Merrill Edge nor Bank of America must be open for 90 days (or 3 months). Rather, they use a 3-mo. rolling average, so for young accounts, you'd simply have $0 for some of the months in the calculation. Here's my timeline:

9/27/17 Opened Merrill Edge CMA & IRA
10/4-11/30/17 Moved $100K+ in assets to Merrill Edge accounts (various sources, multiple transfers)
11/16/17 Opened BoA Interest Checking

On 12/5/17, I had a CSR on the Preferred Rewards hotline insist that the checking account had to be open for 90 days to be eligible to enroll in Preferred Rewards, and yet the next day their system allowed me to enroll online at the Platinum level (it showed a qualifying balance of approx. $70K). My guess is that you become eligible at the next monthly batch update of your qualifying balances across ME/BoA after the date on which you open a BoA checking account. Their batch update seems to occur on or around the 5th of each month.
MisterBill
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by MisterBill »

eljcm wrote: Thu Dec 07, 2017 3:46 pm Just to provide another data point on this: indeed, it appears that neither your accounts at Merrill Edge nor Bank of America must be open for 90 days (or 3 months). Rather, they use a 3-mo. rolling average, so for young accounts, you'd simply have $0 for some of the months in the calculation. Here's my timeline:

Their batch update seems to occur on or around the 5th of each month.
So basically you need to have at least one account for 3 of those reporting cycles. So somewhere between roughly 61 and 90 days, plus whenever the batch hits.

My daughter opened BofA and ME accounts at the end of September but when she looked for PR info on her account other day, she said she did not see anything. She didn't have much of a balance at the end of September, but hit $100k in October, so she should definitely qualify. Perhaps I will tell her to look again.
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Earl Lemongrab
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by Earl Lemongrab »

Unfortunately it's been a while since I went through this. I do recall being confused about the 90-day average. There are two main features Bogleheads would be interested in using, free trades and credit-card rewards. The former isn't a problem because you get 90 days of trades as a bonus with Merrill Edge.

The latter you have be careful with. For the cash-back card, it only affects the rewards when they are "redeemed" not earned. That is, you get the bonus when the earned rewards are transferred to a BOA checking or ME brokerage account. So as long as you wait until you're a Preferred Rewards customer at the appropriate level to move the rewards, you'll be fine. With points cards, the level when they are earned is set. So one might want to wait on getting those cards.

I recommend reading over the terms and conditions.
TN Bogle
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by TN Bogle »

I got my cash back card last month. The $150 posted this month and I redeemed it with the bonus applied to it. Quick $250. Although I did not sign up for the bonus I plan on using the card for day to day purchases.
investor997
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by investor997 »

FYI:

BofA is presently offering a $100 new account bonus on checking accounts for new customers. The account must be funded with two Direct Deposits of at least $250 within 90 days. I opened an account with them on 11/15 and immediately changed my employer direct deposit settings (biweekly). The bonus was paid to me just this week.

At the time I created the account, I had no idea they were offering this promotion. I just did it in advance of moving other assets to ME. I don't know how widely they're advertising it. I used the BofA iOS app to create the account.
zeugmite
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by zeugmite »

navyitaly wrote: Sun Nov 02, 2014 2:59 amI know about the 10% redemption fee for partial shares...I solve that by not reinvesting dividends..I take my dividends, and rebuy after they post and buying up to the next whole share so that doesn't happen.
What's this 10% redemption fee for partial shares? I never heard about this, where can I find details? Also it seems signing up for automatic reinvestments cannot be done online.
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triceratop
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by triceratop »

Earl Lemongrab wrote: Sun Dec 10, 2017 10:52 am Unfortunately it's been a while since I went through this. I do recall being confused about the 90-day average. There are two main features Bogleheads would be interested in using, free trades and credit-card rewards. The former isn't a problem because you get 90 days of trades as a bonus with Merrill Edge.

The latter you have be careful with. For the cash-back card, it only affects the rewards when they are "redeemed" not earned. That is, you get the bonus when the earned rewards are transferred to a BOA checking or ME brokerage account. So as long as you wait until you're a Preferred Rewards customer at the appropriate level to move the rewards, you'll be fine. With points cards, the level when they are earned is set. So one might want to wait on getting those cards.

I recommend reading over the terms and conditions.
The other thing that matters for the cards is the rewards bonus is the sign-up bonus on the card follows the same rules and the same premium applies.
"To play the stock market is to play musical chairs under the chord progression of a bid-ask spread."
jrbdmb
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by jrbdmb »

zeugmite wrote: Thu Jan 18, 2018 3:23 pm
navyitaly wrote: Sun Nov 02, 2014 2:59 amI know about the 10% redemption fee for partial shares...I solve that by not reinvesting dividends..I take my dividends, and rebuy after they post and buying up to the next whole share so that doesn't happen.
What's this 10% redemption fee for partial shares? I never heard about this, where can I find details? Also it seems signing up for automatic reinvestments cannot be done online.
When you login to your account, one of the options is to manage dividend reinvestments. You can select to reinvest automatically (and get partial shares) or get dividends in cash.

As for the 10% partial share liquidation fee, I thought I had read somewhere that it had been discontinued, but I cannot find any links to back that up. Agreed that if you have 1.95 shares of the Vanguard 500 Index ETF (VOO) it would be very annoying to be charged around $25 to liquidate that last fractional share.
BashDash
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by BashDash »

Anyone want free money? Hear me out.

I don't often see any discussion of the bank of amerideals that are associated with the cash rewards credit card. Basically statement credits for some merchants. Some are % values while others are cash amount.
You have to link you care ahead of time before purchasing. Most are small 5% etc.

Well recently I saw one for the tv streaming service directtvnow for 35$ credit. So I looked online their site and their one month package is 35$. So basically that gets credited plus my platinum honors will get 75% of that reward as well. Now, here is the kicker. For the one month they had a promotion for a free roku for one month sign up. This can be now sold on eBay I would think. It is 50$ retail.

Might be something to think about if you are into checking out a streaming service and want a free roku.
tj
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by tj »

No DirecTVNow on my Bank AmeriDeals.
MisterBill
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by MisterBill »

BashDash wrote: Thu Jan 18, 2018 6:50 pm Well recently I saw one for the tv streaming service directtvnow for 35$ credit. So I looked online their site and their one month package is 35$. So basically that gets credited plus my platinum honors will get 75% of that reward as well. Now, here is the kicker. For the one month they had a promotion for a free roku for one month sign up. This can be now sold on eBay I would think. It is 50$ retail.
I had that offer back in December but don't have it now. I hadn't thought about the 2.625% bonus making it a money maker. The best deal I've found is the AT&T offer that I've had a couple of times. Mine was a $50 back when you make 2 $15 transactions. I bought an Amazon Dot, which they had on sale for $29.99 for the holidays. I was able to split the purchase into two transactions (they can do it on their tablets when paying), paid $32 w/tax and got $50 back. If you are an AT&T customer (I am not) you can just pay your bill and get the money back. Other people have $75 and $100 offers. I don't have the offer currently but I've had it twice so hopefully it will come back.

So it's definitely worth checking out the Bank Americadeals. Even if you don't have a great offer like that, they often have 10% back at Starbucks and other places that you may be shopping at anyway. You have to activate them before using.
zeugmite
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by zeugmite »

jrbdmb wrote: Thu Jan 18, 2018 6:20 pm When you login to your account, one of the options is to manage dividend reinvestments. You can select to reinvest automatically (and get partial shares) or get dividends in cash.

As for the 10% partial share liquidation fee, I thought I had read somewhere that it had been discontinued, but I cannot find any links to back that up. Agreed that if you have 1.95 shares of the Vanguard 500 Index ETF (VOO) it would be very annoying to be charged around $25 to liquidate that last fractional share.
Okay, thanks, found the online link to dividend reinvestment settings here:
https://olui2.fs.ml.com/SingleClickForm ... tment.aspx

The 10% fractional share liquidation fee is stated in footnote 1:
https://www.merrilledge.com/help-support
Your stock or ETF commissions sell orders may also be subject to a fractional share liquidation fee of 10% of proceeds.
The other annoying thing about Merrill Edge is that I am not able to trade with cash transferred in until the T+3 settlement date. Anybody know if the same happens to proceeds from sales of things already in the account?
j0nnyg1984
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by j0nnyg1984 »

I've earned a ton of money / reward with the bankamerideals for Hilton hotels and advance auto parts (20%!!!).

Most of them are crap I don't buy, but it's awesome when I find something I actually need.
hmw
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by hmw »

Questions about the preferred rewards.

I recently opened a BAC premium reward visa for their signing bonus. I plan to use this as my primary card if I can get to the platinum honor level of the preferred rewards. I have opened a Merrill Edge account, transferred >100k and opened a checking account this month. According to their web site, I won't be eligible for enrollment in Preferred Rewards until I have reached those funding levels for 3 months. So assuming I get the platinum honor level in 3 months, will BAC apply to the 75% bonus rewards points retroactively? i.e. will my cc spending over the next 2-3 months get the 75% boost as well? I couldn't find the answer on their web site, and no one is answering the phone at this hour. Also, interestingly I couldn't send BAC a secure message on their web site.

Thanks
jjbiv
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by jjbiv »

The answer depends on which card you have. The cash rewards card applies the bonus when you redeem the points so you can earn points now and wait to redeem them until you have platinum honors status. The travel rewards card accrues points with each purchase so you might want to wait until you have status to use the card.
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Earl Lemongrab
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by Earl Lemongrab »

Right. With the cash-back card, you don't get the extra until you redeem the points into either a BOA account or a Merrill Edge account. So don't use it for statement credit and just sit on it until the PP level is achieved.
hmw
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by hmw »

Thanks for your replies.

I have another question. Is it possible to set up automatic monthly payment for my credit card at BAC so that it pays off the entire balance each month? I found the BAC web site very confusing. It allows me to set up recurring monthly payment for a set amount but not for the full balance. Anyone has done it?

Thanks
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