Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

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28fe6
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by 28fe6 »

I hit my $2500 quarterly max for the first time this month (doing a home improvement project).

Is there any way to get an alert when you hit the quarterly max?

Is there any way to even see what your category spending is, and when it will "reset"? The BOA website is not the best...

I assume if I change my card category (e.g. change it to "Gas"), it doesn't reset the 2500 limit...or does it?
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BrandonBogle
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by BrandonBogle »

28fe6 wrote: Tue Nov 30, 2021 12:21 pm I hit my $2500 quarterly max for the first time this month (doing a home improvement project).

Is there any way to get an alert when you hit the quarterly max?

Is there any way to even see what your category spending is, and when it will "reset"? The BOA website is not the best...

I assume if I change my card category (e.g. change it to "Gas"), it doesn't reset the 2500 limit...or does it?
The only way if seeing you hit the quarterly limit is by seeing the rewards rebate (that you can see once the transaction posts) doesn’t have the boost or includes the comment of hitting the max on it (so you only have a partial boost). Changing categories does not reset the limit, they only reset on 1/1, 4/1, 7/1, and 10/1. Also note that the 3% category counts toward the quarterly limit.
SS Rambo
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by SS Rambo »

Has anyone else been charged a foreign transaction fee for an international flight, booked stateside with a US carrier?

I booked a return flight from Mexico on Delta and didn't think not to use my travel rewards card because it's preloaded on all my US airline apps for the 5.25% reward. But I got a 3% foreign transaction fee for a purchase from merchant: Delta Air. The purchase was in USD and the foreign transaction fee is exactly 3% of the USD amount. So it is clearly not for a currency conversion (FX), which is what BofA states their fee is for.
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BrandonBogle
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by BrandonBogle »

SS Rambo wrote: Tue Nov 30, 2021 12:35 pm Has anyone else been charged a foreign transaction fee for an international flight, booked stateside with a US carrier?

I booked a return flight from Mexico on Delta and didn't think not to use my travel rewards card because it's preloaded on all my US airline apps for the 5.25% reward. But I got a 3% foreign transaction fee for a purchase from merchant: Delta Air. The purchase was in USD and the foreign transaction fee is exactly 3% of the USD amount. So it is clearly not for a currency conversion (FX), which is what BofA states their fee is for.
I am going to assume you purchased this ticket by itself vs. part of a round trip that originated in the U.S. If so, the ticket would have been purchased by Delta’s international counterpart. Years ago, most banks/credit card vendors, added a stipulation that the FTF would apply for all foreign transactions even if no FX conversion is necessary (the charge originated in USD in your case).

https://www.bankofamerica.com/credit-ca ... cale=en_US
BofA Customized Cash Rewards T&C without logging in wrote: 3% of the U.S. dollar amount of each transaction (1) made in a foreign currency, or (2) made in U.S. dollars if the transaction is made or processed outside of the United States. This fee will be in addition to any other applicable fee.
Last edited by BrandonBogle on Tue Nov 30, 2021 1:08 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Chip Munk
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by Chip Munk »

28fe6 wrote: Tue Nov 30, 2021 12:21 pm I hit my $2500 quarterly max for the first time this month (doing a home improvement project).

Is there any way to get an alert when you hit the quarterly max?
I asked a similar question earlier today: viewtopic.php?p=6356066#p6356066 The answer is you need to track your spending yourself for your selected category plus grocery and warehouse spending since they also count against the $2500 quarterly max. BOA doesn't even show your quarterly category spending anywhere in your account. I can see why since they would prefer that you keep using the card, even though you have exceeded the quarterly max and aren't earning a bonus reward.
Is there any way to even see what your category spending is, and when it will "reset"? The BOA website is not the best...

I assume if I change my card category (e.g. change it to "Gas"), it doesn't reset the 2500 limit...or does it?
BOA's quarters are the calendar quarters: Jan-Mar, Apr-Jun, Jul-Sep, and Oct-Dec. Your spending limit should reset on the first of Jan, Apr, Jul and Oct.
SS Rambo
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by SS Rambo »

BrandonBogle wrote: Tue Nov 30, 2021 1:03 pm
SS Rambo wrote: Tue Nov 30, 2021 12:35 pm Has anyone else been charged a foreign transaction fee for an international flight, booked stateside with a US carrier?

I booked a return flight from Mexico on Delta and didn't think not to use my travel rewards card because it's preloaded on all my US airline apps for the 5.25% reward. But I got a 3% foreign transaction fee for a purchase from merchant: Delta Air. The purchase was in USD and the foreign transaction fee is exactly 3% of the USD amount. So it is clearly not for a currency conversion (FX), which is what BofA states their fee is for.
I am going to assume you purchased this ticket by itself vs. part of a round trip that originated in the U.S. If so, the ticket would have been purchased by Delta’s international counterpart. Years ago, most banks/credit card vendors, added a stipulation that the FTF would apply for all foreign transactions even if no FX conversion is necessary (the charge originated in USD in your case).

https://www.bankofamerica.com/credit-ca ... cale=en_US
BofA Customized Cash Rewards T&C without logging in wrote: 3% of the U.S. dollar amount of each transaction (1) made in a foreign currency, or (2) made in U.S. dollars if the transaction is made or processed outside of the United States. This fee will be in addition to any other applicable fee.
Thank you! And appreciate you finding the clause that I couldn't find. I guess that's how they do it for those transactions.
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BrandonBogle
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by BrandonBogle »

SS Rambo wrote: Tue Nov 30, 2021 5:19 pm
BrandonBogle wrote: Tue Nov 30, 2021 1:03 pm
SS Rambo wrote: Tue Nov 30, 2021 12:35 pm Has anyone else been charged a foreign transaction fee for an international flight, booked stateside with a US carrier?

I booked a return flight from Mexico on Delta and didn't think not to use my travel rewards card because it's preloaded on all my US airline apps for the 5.25% reward. But I got a 3% foreign transaction fee for a purchase from merchant: Delta Air. The purchase was in USD and the foreign transaction fee is exactly 3% of the USD amount. So it is clearly not for a currency conversion (FX), which is what BofA states their fee is for.
I am going to assume you purchased this ticket by itself vs. part of a round trip that originated in the U.S. If so, the ticket would have been purchased by Delta’s international counterpart. Years ago, most banks/credit card vendors, added a stipulation that the FTF would apply for all foreign transactions even if no FX conversion is necessary (the charge originated in USD in your case).

https://www.bankofamerica.com/credit-ca ... cale=en_US
BofA Customized Cash Rewards T&C without logging in wrote: 3% of the U.S. dollar amount of each transaction (1) made in a foreign currency, or (2) made in U.S. dollars if the transaction is made or processed outside of the United States. This fee will be in addition to any other applicable fee.
Thank you! And appreciate you finding the clause that I couldn't find. I guess that's how they do it for those transactions.
It is a sneaky way to grab a fee for essentially no work, but it is also sneaky that Delta processes it that way too. But I guess I can understand that for a stand-alone ticket, the country of departure has ultimate rule on the regulations.

I learned this same lesson when buying a British Airways ticket from London back to the US and their US site reloaded to the UK site to purchase the ticket. But at least they clearly called it out when I went through the checkout process.
JackoC
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by JackoC »

BrandonBogle wrote: Tue Nov 30, 2021 12:08 pm
cvsvm2007 wrote: Tue Nov 30, 2021 11:58 am Friends,

Quick question: Using CCR, have any of you got 5% cashback for online transactions such as paying house tax? They charge 2.5% if I pay through CC and just trying to see whether it makes sense.

Thanks
In general, taxes and insurance are categories that are exempted from the “online shopping” category. There was a list posted before about it. They will still get 2.625% on Premium Rewards and the new no-fee version, but the CCRs give only the base 1.75% on those.

Just note, I said in general. It could be that your provider uses a MCC that isn’t exempt and would get the 5.25%.
Just to corroborate, though yes it's been mentioned before in this thread and others, there are no cases for me of taxes or insurance that can be made to 'code' as online directly.

The indirect way is to buy a general gift card online (such as Visa, VGC), definitely earns the 5.25%, then use the gift card to pay online (or in person) for things that wouldn't qualify. Though you must factor in the fees on the gift card (~0.75% on a 2*$1k, max card size, purchase of Simon Properties VGC's during their periodic 50% off fees sales) and any fees by the payee. In case of federal income tax this is favorable since the authorized payment companies treat VGC's as debit cards and only charge flat $2.00-2.58 per card vs ca. 2% paying directly with CC so still ~4.25% net cash back, limited by 2 payments (each of which can only use one card) to each of the three payment companies per qtr, if you pay that much estimated tax and have the hoop jumping appetite (plus I had a bad experience with PayUSATax.com, a payment did not register with the IRS and 1hr hold time to inquire with them, 1-1/2 hr to follow up, long time for them to refund it onto the card, minus $2.55 fee on a payment they failed to make: I've struck them from my list for this maneuver). But my state income tax online payment set up treats DC and CC same, 2% fee so still nets a fraction of % to pay directly with PR/UCR, but my property tax charges a fee >2.625% even for a bank electronic transfer: I send them a paper check. This may work favorably for some other 'online but not online' type payments like insurance but I use up my capacity ($ and patience) on federal tax.

A bit of a tangent, but maybe others have useful experience on this, is using PR/UCR at 2.625% with PayPal Bill Pay with no fee by PP, to providers like utilities which wouldn't take CC's or charge convenience fee. For example I now pay my gas/electric this way. Previously I'd pay directly with BOA PR with $3.95 convenience fee when the bill was >$3.95/.02625~$150 (winter gas bills, sometimes summer electric bills), otherwise with bank bill pay (0% cashback). I tried it first with CCR via PayPal but it coded 'not online' (I've also done it with Chase Freedom when PayPal is a 5% category). The limitation is whether various providers are in the lookup list on PayPal. My water utility well as gas/electric is on it, my sewer utility isn't. My health insurance co isn't on it either, but I see some HI companies on the list.
Last edited by JackoC on Wed Dec 01, 2021 9:25 am, edited 1 time in total.
spickups09
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by spickups09 »

Chip Munk wrote: Tue Nov 30, 2021 1:06 pm
28fe6 wrote: Tue Nov 30, 2021 12:21 pm I hit my $2500 quarterly max for the first time this month (doing a home improvement project).

Is there any way to get an alert when you hit the quarterly max?
I asked a similar question earlier today: viewtopic.php?p=6356066#p6356066 The answer is you need to track your spending yourself for your selected category plus grocery and warehouse spending since they also count against the $2500 quarterly max. BOA doesn't even show your quarterly category spending anywhere in your account. I can see why since they would prefer that you keep using the card, even though you have exceeded the quarterly max and aren't earning a bonus reward.
Is there any way to even see what your category spending is, and when it will "reset"? The BOA website is not the best...

I assume if I change my card category (e.g. change it to "Gas"), it doesn't reset the 2500 limit...or does it?
BOA's quarters are the calendar quarters: Jan-Mar, Apr-Jun, Jul-Sep, and Oct-Dec. Your spending limit should reset on the first of Jan, Apr, Jul and Oct.
If you're optimizing correctly, you should be using your CCRs exclusively for the bonus categories, and use the PR for anything that won't code as a bonus category. So it should be pretty easy to look at your CCR accounts online and add up how much you've spent on one card in any calendar quarter. It's annoying that BOA doesn't give you any notice, but I don't really blame them - they are hoping you blow past the cap and continue racking up charges that they only have to pay 1% base cash back.
EnjoyIt
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by EnjoyIt »

spickups09 wrote: Wed Dec 01, 2021 9:24 am
Chip Munk wrote: Tue Nov 30, 2021 1:06 pm
28fe6 wrote: Tue Nov 30, 2021 12:21 pm I hit my $2500 quarterly max for the first time this month (doing a home improvement project).

Is there any way to get an alert when you hit the quarterly max?
I asked a similar question earlier today: viewtopic.php?p=6356066#p6356066 The answer is you need to track your spending yourself for your selected category plus grocery and warehouse spending since they also count against the $2500 quarterly max. BOA doesn't even show your quarterly category spending anywhere in your account. I can see why since they would prefer that you keep using the card, even though you have exceeded the quarterly max and aren't earning a bonus reward.
Is there any way to even see what your category spending is, and when it will "reset"? The BOA website is not the best...

I assume if I change my card category (e.g. change it to "Gas"), it doesn't reset the 2500 limit...or does it?
BOA's quarters are the calendar quarters: Jan-Mar, Apr-Jun, Jul-Sep, and Oct-Dec. Your spending limit should reset on the first of Jan, Apr, Jul and Oct.
If you're optimizing correctly, you should be using your CCRs exclusively for the bonus categories, and use the PR for anything that won't code as a bonus category. So it should be pretty easy to look at your CCR accounts online and add up how much you've spent on one card in any calendar quarter. It's annoying that BOA doesn't give you any notice, but I don't really blame them - they are hoping you blow past the cap and continue racking up charges that they only have to pay 1% base cash back.
I find the easiest way to do that is search transactions for that quarter and then download as a cvs file which you open in excel and just add them up.
A time to EVALUATE your jitters: | viewtopic.php?p=1139732#p1139732
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anon_investor
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by anon_investor »

JackoC wrote: Wed Dec 01, 2021 9:13 am A bit of a tangent, but maybe others have useful experience on this, is using PR/UCR at 2.625% with PayPal Bill Pay with no fee by PP, to providers like utilities which wouldn't take CC's or charge convenience fee. For example I now pay my gas/electric this way. Previously I'd pay directly with BOA PR with $3.95 convenience fee when the bill was >$3.95/.02625~$150 (winter gas bills, sometimes summer electric bills), otherwise with bank bill pay (0% cashback). I tried it first with CCR via PayPal but it coded 'not online' (I've also done it with Chase Freedom when PayPal is a 5% category). The limitation is whether various providers are in the lookup list on PayPal. My water utility well as gas/electric is on it, my sewer utility isn't. My health insurance co isn't on it either, but I see some HI companies on the list.
I always assumed PayPal bill pay had a fee. It doesn't?
calwatch
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by calwatch »

spickups09 wrote: Wed Dec 01, 2021 9:24 am If you're optimizing correctly, you should be using your CCRs exclusively for the bonus categories, and use the PR for anything that won't code as a bonus category. So it should be pretty easy to look at your CCR accounts online and add up how much you've spent on one card in any calendar quarter. It's annoying that BOA doesn't give you any notice, but I don't really blame them - they are hoping you blow past the cap and continue racking up charges that they only have to pay 1% base cash back.
What I do is use one CCR for only online and one for drug stores, and use gift cards that get unloaded to taxes for the latter at the end of the quarter (which then turn into I Bonds, eventually). The issue is if you sometimes mix in warehouse or grocery spending, like I do. I don't hit $2500 naturally on either category so I spend organically until the end of the quarter and then fill it up. For CCR online you might consider Costco gift cards as their return//warranty policy doesn't change based on the card used. The CCR for drug stores generally is the one used for grocery spend.
tomsense76
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by tomsense76 »

BrandonBogle wrote: Tue Nov 30, 2021 5:49 pm
SS Rambo wrote: Tue Nov 30, 2021 5:19 pm
BrandonBogle wrote: Tue Nov 30, 2021 1:03 pm
SS Rambo wrote: Tue Nov 30, 2021 12:35 pm Has anyone else been charged a foreign transaction fee for an international flight, booked stateside with a US carrier?

I booked a return flight from Mexico on Delta and didn't think not to use my travel rewards card because it's preloaded on all my US airline apps for the 5.25% reward. But I got a 3% foreign transaction fee for a purchase from merchant: Delta Air. The purchase was in USD and the foreign transaction fee is exactly 3% of the USD amount. So it is clearly not for a currency conversion (FX), which is what BofA states their fee is for.
I am going to assume you purchased this ticket by itself vs. part of a round trip that originated in the U.S. If so, the ticket would have been purchased by Delta’s international counterpart. Years ago, most banks/credit card vendors, added a stipulation that the FTF would apply for all foreign transactions even if no FX conversion is necessary (the charge originated in USD in your case).

https://www.bankofamerica.com/credit-ca ... cale=en_US
BofA Customized Cash Rewards T&C without logging in wrote: 3% of the U.S. dollar amount of each transaction (1) made in a foreign currency, or (2) made in U.S. dollars if the transaction is made or processed outside of the United States. This fee will be in addition to any other applicable fee.
Thank you! And appreciate you finding the clause that I couldn't find. I guess that's how they do it for those transactions.
It is a sneaky way to grab a fee for essentially no work, but it is also sneaky that Delta processes it that way too. But I guess I can understand that for a stand-alone ticket, the country of departure has ultimate rule on the regulations.

I learned this same lesson when buying a British Airways ticket from London back to the US and their US site reloaded to the UK site to purchase the ticket. But at least they clearly called it out when I went through the checkout process.
Not sure how you booked it, but sometimes using a VPN that shows up as a US IP address can prevent this sort of thing. Not a guarantee and there may be other issues as people already noted.

Though it is worth noting that even after the 3% fee, this is 2.25% cash back (assuming it did count for the highest category). So it is not no cash back (or a loss to the fee). Just less. Idk what travel cards you have (and so unsure how that compares). Though cashback on generic category cards with no FTF hover around 3% (likely higher for program cards with points though that's a more restrictive benefit). So that would be ~0.75% less. IOW maybe not the best you could do, but certainly not bad.
"Anyone who claims to understand quantum theory is either lying or crazy" -- Richard Feynman
tomsense76
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by tomsense76 »

calwatch wrote: Thu Dec 02, 2021 1:56 am What I do is use one CCR for only online and one for drug stores, and use gift cards that get unloaded to taxes for the latter at the end of the quarter (which then turn into I Bonds, eventually). The issue is if you sometimes mix in warehouse or grocery spending, like I do. I don't hit $2500 naturally on either category so I spend organically until the end of the quarter and then fill it up. For CCR online you might consider Costco gift cards as their return//warranty policy doesn't change based on the card used. The CCR for drug stores generally is the one used for grocery spend.
Could also use Amazon Pharmacy ( https://pharmacy.amazon.com/main ) and double down on online :greedy
"Anyone who claims to understand quantum theory is either lying or crazy" -- Richard Feynman
tomsense76
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by tomsense76 »

Has anyone mixed Groupon (or similar) with CCR's online category? Seems like a potentially great way to really optimize the rewards.
"Anyone who claims to understand quantum theory is either lying or crazy" -- Richard Feynman
JackoC
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by JackoC »

anon_investor wrote: Wed Dec 01, 2021 9:13 pm
JackoC wrote: Wed Dec 01, 2021 9:13 am A bit of a tangent, but maybe others have useful experience on this, is using PR/UCR at 2.625% with PayPal Bill Pay with no fee by PP, to providers like utilities which wouldn't take CC's or charge convenience fee.
I always assumed PayPal bill pay had a fee. It doesn't?
I could not get a 100% clear answer to that, including a thread here which got derailed by somebody ranting about PayPal and fraud in China or something. :happy So I just tried it. I've seen no fees so far by PayPal or the recipients (utilities).
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anon_investor
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by anon_investor »

JackoC wrote: Thu Dec 02, 2021 10:00 am
anon_investor wrote: Wed Dec 01, 2021 9:13 pm
JackoC wrote: Wed Dec 01, 2021 9:13 am A bit of a tangent, but maybe others have useful experience on this, is using PR/UCR at 2.625% with PayPal Bill Pay with no fee by PP, to providers like utilities which wouldn't take CC's or charge convenience fee.
I always assumed PayPal bill pay had a fee. It doesn't?
I could not get a 100% clear answer to that, including a thread here which got derailed by somebody ranting about PayPal and fraud in China or something. :happy So I just tried it. I've seen no fees so far by PayPal or the recipients (utilities).
Really? I will have to try this. One of my utility companies appears to accept PayPal bill pay.
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by dodecahedron »

anon_investor wrote: Wed Dec 01, 2021 9:13 pm
JackoC wrote: Wed Dec 01, 2021 9:13 am A bit of a tangent, but maybe others have useful experience on this, is using PR/UCR at 2.625% with PayPal Bill Pay with no fee by PP, to providers like utilities which wouldn't take CC's or charge convenience fee. For example I now pay my gas/electric this way. Previously I'd pay directly with BOA PR with $3.95 convenience fee when the bill was >$3.95/.02625~$150 (winter gas bills, sometimes summer electric bills), otherwise with bank bill pay (0% cashback). I tried it first with CCR via PayPal but it coded 'not online' (I've also done it with Chase Freedom when PayPal is a 5% category). The limitation is whether various providers are in the lookup list on PayPal. My water utility well as gas/electric is on it, my sewer utility isn't. My health insurance co isn't on it either, but I see some HI companies on the list.
I always assumed PayPal bill pay had a fee. It doesn't?
For reasons I don't understand, when I use a CCR to pay with PayPal, including charitable donations! and also purchases in general, it now codes as online for BoA 5.25% purposes. And no fee to me. (The vendors apparently get charged a fee and charities sometimes disclose the fees they are charged for accepting donations in this manner and invite me to make an additional contribution to cover it, but it is always less than 5.25% so it is more cost effective to donate by PayPal than by check, not to mention more convenient!)
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anon_investor
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by anon_investor »

dodecahedron wrote: Thu Dec 02, 2021 12:17 pm
anon_investor wrote: Wed Dec 01, 2021 9:13 pm
JackoC wrote: Wed Dec 01, 2021 9:13 am A bit of a tangent, but maybe others have useful experience on this, is using PR/UCR at 2.625% with PayPal Bill Pay with no fee by PP, to providers like utilities which wouldn't take CC's or charge convenience fee. For example I now pay my gas/electric this way. Previously I'd pay directly with BOA PR with $3.95 convenience fee when the bill was >$3.95/.02625~$150 (winter gas bills, sometimes summer electric bills), otherwise with bank bill pay (0% cashback). I tried it first with CCR via PayPal but it coded 'not online' (I've also done it with Chase Freedom when PayPal is a 5% category). The limitation is whether various providers are in the lookup list on PayPal. My water utility well as gas/electric is on it, my sewer utility isn't. My health insurance co isn't on it either, but I see some HI companies on the list.
I always assumed PayPal bill pay had a fee. It doesn't?
For reasons I don't understand, when I use a CCR to pay with PayPal, including charitable donations! and also purchases in general, it now codes as online for BoA 5.25% purposes. And no fee to me. (The vendors apparently get charged a fee and charities sometimes disclose the fees they are charged for accepting donations in this manner and invite me to make an additional contribution to cover it, but it is always less than 5.25% so it is more cost effective to donate by PayPal than by check, not to mention more convenient!)
I think pay by PayPal is different than PayPal Bill Pay. My utility company has no option to pay by credit card or even PayPal on their website (only pay by ACH), but it sounds like with PayPal Bill Pay, my utility company will be sent an electronic payment by PayPal, who will charge my CC on file. Now I need to find out whether this results in some kind of service fee, and whether it get reported as an online charge (to use CCR vs PR). In either case 1.75% cash back or 2.62% cash back is still more than the 0% cash back I get now by paying via ACH.
JackoC
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by JackoC »

anon_investor wrote: Thu Dec 02, 2021 12:38 pm
dodecahedron wrote: Thu Dec 02, 2021 12:17 pm
anon_investor wrote: Wed Dec 01, 2021 9:13 pm
JackoC wrote: Wed Dec 01, 2021 9:13 am A bit of a tangent, but maybe others have useful experience on this, is using PR/UCR at 2.625% with PayPal Bill Pay with no fee by PP, to providers like utilities which wouldn't take CC's or charge convenience fee. For example I now pay my gas/electric this way. Previously I'd pay directly with BOA PR with $3.95 convenience fee when the bill was >$3.95/.02625~$150 (winter gas bills, sometimes summer electric bills), otherwise with bank bill pay (0% cashback). I tried it first with CCR via PayPal but it coded 'not online' (I've also done it with Chase Freedom when PayPal is a 5% category). The limitation is whether various providers are in the lookup list on PayPal. My water utility well as gas/electric is on it, my sewer utility isn't. My health insurance co isn't on it either, but I see some HI companies on the list.
I always assumed PayPal bill pay had a fee. It doesn't?
For reasons I don't understand, when I use a CCR to pay with PayPal, including charitable donations! and also purchases in general, it now codes as online for BoA 5.25% purposes. And no fee to me.
I think pay by PayPal is different than PayPal Bill Pay. My utility company has no option to pay by credit card or even PayPal on their website (only pay by ACH), but it sounds like with PayPal Bill Pay, my utility company will be sent an electronic payment by PayPal, who will charge my CC on file. Now I need to find out whether this results in some kind of service fee, and whether it get reported as an online charge (to use CCR vs PR). In either case 1.75% cash back or 2.62% cash back is still more than the 0% cash back I get now by paying via ACH.
Yes it's different. Further on my experiments, no fees have appeared in paying utility bills with PayPal Bill Pay. However, using CCR card the reward was 1.75% not 5.25%. Assuming this would generally be true I've shifted to doing it with PR card at 2.625% (except when PayPal is a Chase Freedom 5% category).
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anon_investor
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by anon_investor »

JackoC wrote: Thu Dec 02, 2021 1:52 pm
anon_investor wrote: Thu Dec 02, 2021 12:38 pm
dodecahedron wrote: Thu Dec 02, 2021 12:17 pm
anon_investor wrote: Wed Dec 01, 2021 9:13 pm
JackoC wrote: Wed Dec 01, 2021 9:13 am A bit of a tangent, but maybe others have useful experience on this, is using PR/UCR at 2.625% with PayPal Bill Pay with no fee by PP, to providers like utilities which wouldn't take CC's or charge convenience fee. For example I now pay my gas/electric this way. Previously I'd pay directly with BOA PR with $3.95 convenience fee when the bill was >$3.95/.02625~$150 (winter gas bills, sometimes summer electric bills), otherwise with bank bill pay (0% cashback). I tried it first with CCR via PayPal but it coded 'not online' (I've also done it with Chase Freedom when PayPal is a 5% category). The limitation is whether various providers are in the lookup list on PayPal. My water utility well as gas/electric is on it, my sewer utility isn't. My health insurance co isn't on it either, but I see some HI companies on the list.
I always assumed PayPal bill pay had a fee. It doesn't?
For reasons I don't understand, when I use a CCR to pay with PayPal, including charitable donations! and also purchases in general, it now codes as online for BoA 5.25% purposes. And no fee to me.
I think pay by PayPal is different than PayPal Bill Pay. My utility company has no option to pay by credit card or even PayPal on their website (only pay by ACH), but it sounds like with PayPal Bill Pay, my utility company will be sent an electronic payment by PayPal, who will charge my CC on file. Now I need to find out whether this results in some kind of service fee, and whether it get reported as an online charge (to use CCR vs PR). In either case 1.75% cash back or 2.62% cash back is still more than the 0% cash back I get now by paying via ACH.
Yes it's different. Further on my experiments, no fees have appeared in paying utility bills with PayPal Bill Pay. However, using CCR card the reward was 1.75% not 5.25%. Assuming this would generally be true I've shifted to doing it with PR card at 2.625% (except when PayPal is a Chase Freedom 5% category).
I will have a utility bill later this month I can test out, hopefully I won't have a fee either.
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anon_investor
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by anon_investor »

I saw this in another thread, it looks like BoA debit and CC card holders can get free admission to some museums:
viewtopic.php?p=6360256#p6360256
gatorking wrote: Thu Dec 02, 2021 6:38 am
anon_investor wrote: Thu Dec 02, 2021 6:16 am
softwaregeek wrote: Wed Dec 01, 2021 11:20 am I have a small backup bank account at Bank of America.

I had to have it as part of getting a mortgage discount but I kept it because they have a free museum access card which is worth more to me than whatever pitiful interest I would get on a small account anywhere now.

I probably got $200 worth of value out of the musuem card in 2019.
I have a BoA account, what is this museum access card you speak of?
https://about.bankofamerica.com/en-us/w ... lQHpX_Mvrq
erictiger12
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by erictiger12 »

I just showed my BOA credit card and got one free admission to the museum in Chicago.
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Cranberry44
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by Cranberry44 »

Hi Folks!

Unfortunately, I didn't transfer enough funds to my new ME account to protect against this recent downturn. I now have had just a hair under 100k at ME for the last few days.

Question: How much money do you keep in your ME account to ensure that you stay above the 100k level?

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

Post by sailaway »

Cranberry44 wrote: Fri Dec 03, 2021 9:41 am Hi Folks!

Unfortunately, I didn't transfer enough funds to my new ME account to protect against this recent downturn. I now have had just a hair under 100k at ME for the last few days.

Question: How much money do you keep in your ME account to ensure that you stay above the 100k level?

Thanks!
We each transferred enough to get the bigger bonus, so free and clear on the $100k.
stilllurking
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by stilllurking »

Cranberry44 wrote: Fri Dec 03, 2021 9:41 am Hi Folks!

Unfortunately, I didn't transfer enough funds to my new ME account to protect against this recent downturn. I now have had just a hair under 100k at ME for the last few days.

Question: How much money do you keep in your ME account to ensure that you stay above the 100k level?

Thanks!
If you transferred enough to be over 100k the first day, you should be fine as losses are not counted against you.

Edit: I was thinking you were concerned about the bonus. Hard to say what amount would be needed in any downturn.
Last edited by stilllurking on Fri Dec 03, 2021 11:09 am, edited 1 time in total.
Marseille07
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by Marseille07 »

Cranberry44 wrote: Fri Dec 03, 2021 9:41 am Hi Folks!

Unfortunately, I didn't transfer enough funds to my new ME account to protect against this recent downturn. I now have had just a hair under 100k at ME for the last few days.

Question: How much money do you keep in your ME account to ensure that you stay above the 100k level?

Thanks!
I hold way above 100K because downturns can and do happen. I would recommend 120K~130K.
EnjoyIt
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by EnjoyIt »

I hold vanguard tax exempt intermediate term bonds in there. They don't go up and they don't go down (much.)

It is just where I keep some of my bonds. Other than that the rest of my bonds are in my 401k as Vanguard total bond.
A time to EVALUATE your jitters: | viewtopic.php?p=1139732#p1139732
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sarabayo
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by sarabayo »

Cranberry44 wrote: Fri Dec 03, 2021 9:41 am Hi Folks!

Unfortunately, I didn't transfer enough funds to my new ME account to protect against this recent downturn. I now have had just a hair under 100k at ME for the last few days.

Question: How much money do you keep in your ME account to ensure that you stay above the 100k level?

Thanks!
They only check once a year to downgrade you, and even if you fail the annual check they give you three months to get back up to the level before they actually downgrade you. So I don't really worry about it - if I fail the check I'll just move some more stuff there for a few months and then take it back out again.
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by drk »

Cranberry44 wrote: Fri Dec 03, 2021 9:41 am Question: How much money do you keep in your ME account to ensure that you stay above the 100k level?
You keep your status for 12 months. If your assets have dipped below the requirements at the 12-month mark, you get three months to bring in additional assets to get your three-month daily average back up to the required level. BofA will send you an email if that's necessary to maintain your status.
A useful razor: anyone asking about speculative strategies on Bogleheads.org has no business using them.
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anon_investor
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by anon_investor »

Cranberry44 wrote: Fri Dec 03, 2021 9:41 am Hi Folks!

Unfortunately, I didn't transfer enough funds to my new ME account to protect against this recent downturn. I now have had just a hair under 100k at ME for the last few days.

Question: How much money do you keep in your ME account to ensure that you stay above the 100k level?

Thanks!
I initially transfered $125k+, I felt that was a good number.
EnjoyIt
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by EnjoyIt »

drk wrote: Fri Dec 03, 2021 2:24 pm
Cranberry44 wrote: Fri Dec 03, 2021 9:41 am Question: How much money do you keep in your ME account to ensure that you stay above the 100k level?
You keep your status for 12 months. If your assets have dipped below the requirements at the 12-month mark, you get three months to bring in additional assets to get your three-month daily average back up to the required level. BofA will send you an email if that's necessary to maintain your status.
Had no idea. That’s great to know.

Technically, I assume that would mean you can pull the cash out for another bonus elsewhere and then bring it back when done. That’s an interesting idea.
A time to EVALUATE your jitters: | viewtopic.php?p=1139732#p1139732
vernong1992
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by vernong1992 »

It’s been a couple of weeks, but I haven’t had the ability to switch to Preferred Rewards yet.

Another question that’s semi-related. I’m assuming all of you redeem your credit card and sign up bonuses through Merrill Edge? They apparently don’t do partial shares. Is there an even cheaper (per share) option for VTI? Bank of America autoredeems monthly at $25 increments so I’d rather my money not just sit.

EDIT: found ITOT and SPLG.
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riverant
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by riverant »

vernong1992 wrote: Sat Dec 04, 2021 8:15 am It’s been a couple of weeks, but I haven’t had the ability to switch to Preferred Rewards yet.

Another question that’s semi-related. I’m assuming all of you redeem your credit card and sign up bonuses through Merrill Edge? They apparently don’t do partial shares. Is there an even cheaper (per share) option for VTI? Bank of America autoredeems monthly at $25 increments so I’d rather my money not just sit.

EDIT: found ITOT and SPLG.
Nope I just so statement credits. Money is fungible so there is no benefit to sending cash back to Merrill. If you’d like to, just redeem as a statement credit and transfer from checking to Merrill. Plus you don’t have to deal with the annoying problem you’ve identified
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by jeffyscott »

anon_investor wrote: Thu Dec 02, 2021 2:00 pm
JackoC wrote: Thu Dec 02, 2021 1:52 pm
anon_investor wrote: Thu Dec 02, 2021 12:38 pm
dodecahedron wrote: Thu Dec 02, 2021 12:17 pm
anon_investor wrote: Wed Dec 01, 2021 9:13 pm
I always assumed PayPal bill pay had a fee. It doesn't?
For reasons I don't understand, when I use a CCR to pay with PayPal, including charitable donations! and also purchases in general, it now codes as online for BoA 5.25% purposes. And no fee to me.
I think pay by PayPal is different than PayPal Bill Pay. My utility company has no option to pay by credit card or even PayPal on their website (only pay by ACH), but it sounds like with PayPal Bill Pay, my utility company will be sent an electronic payment by PayPal, who will charge my CC on file. Now I need to find out whether this results in some kind of service fee, and whether it get reported as an online charge (to use CCR vs PR). In either case 1.75% cash back or 2.62% cash back is still more than the 0% cash back I get now by paying via ACH.
Yes it's different. Further on my experiments, no fees have appeared in paying utility bills with PayPal Bill Pay. However, using CCR card the reward was 1.75% not 5.25%. Assuming this would generally be true I've shifted to doing it with PR card at 2.625% (except when PayPal is a Chase Freedom 5% category).
I will have a utility bill later this month I can test out, hopefully I won't have a fee either.
I decided to try this bill pay feature for a utility bill, since it'd be a 5% rebate with chase freedom this month, so I'd come out ahead even with a fee. It had the utility listed and accepted my account number, but each time I try to pay (yesterday and today) it says:
Sorry about that
Look’s like something went wrong on our end. Let’s try that again.

and then after clicking to try again, it says:
Sorry about that
It looks like something still isn’t working. Try again later.
stilllurking
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by stilllurking »

Where on the PayPal site does it give the option to set up bill pay?
spammagnet
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by spammagnet »

stilllurking wrote: Sat Dec 04, 2021 9:17 am Where on the PayPal site does it give the option to set up bill pay?
Settings (gear) icon, payments, manage automatic payments, find more merchants.

To my knowledge, you can't use it to pay merchants that don't have existing relationships with Paypal. In that case, it seems to me that you'd already know you could use Paypal because it would already be on the merchant's payment page on their web site.

I use Paypal whenever I can for automatic payments, not only to get online payment credit, but it's much easier to change the payment card I'm using if I'm churning cards and need to meet minimum spending requirements. I only have to go to one site (Paypal) to revise the payment card, instead of a separate web site for each merchant. I've been doing that for years for ease of use, before I got into card churning.
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jeffyscott
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by jeffyscott »

spammagnet wrote: Sat Dec 04, 2021 9:38 am
stilllurking wrote: Sat Dec 04, 2021 9:17 am Where on the PayPal site does it give the option to set up bill pay?
Settings (gear) icon, payments, manage automatic payments, find more merchants.

To my knowledge, you can't use it to pay merchants that don't have existing relationships with Paypal. In that case, it seems to me that you'd already know you could use Paypal because it would already be on the merchant's payment page on their web site.

I use Paypal whenever I can for automatic payments, not only to get online payment credit, but it's much easier to change the payment card I'm using if I'm churning cards and need to meet minimum spending requirements. I only have to go to one site (Paypal) to revise the payment card, instead of a separate web site for each merchant. I've been doing that for years for ease of use, before I got into card churning.
Hmm, that is not what I did, when I follow that path it leads to a page that says: Go to your provider's website and set up PayPal as your preferred way to pay.
Even if I wanted to do that (and I don't think that I do :?: ), I see no way to do it on the biller's site.

I clicked on the three dots for "more" on the dashboard page, then "pay your bills", and "add a new bill". By that route, there is no indication that you need to do anything more than identify the biller and your account number.
spammagnet
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by spammagnet »

jeffyscott wrote: Sat Dec 04, 2021 11:08 am... I clicked on the three dots for "more" on the dashboard page, then "pay your bills", and "add a new bill". By that route, there is no indication that you need to do anything more than identify the biller and your account number.
I see what you described. It seems to be a good way to use Paypal to pay billers that don't normally use them.

The disadvantage to me is that I don't think I can set them up for auto-pay. (If I'm wrong, please advise.) Some people prefer not to, anyway, but some of my accounts are dependent on auto-pay for a discount which exceeds the kickback from BA, and auto-pay is simply more convenient. For those who object for lack of control, I get notice of the amount (if variable) weeks before it actually posts. Usually I have to do nothing. If action is required, I have plenty of time to change something.

To set up Paypal as the auto-pay source requires that the vendor already accepts Paypal. I do have to go to the vendor site to do that, but only once. Future revisions can be done in a central location, that being the Paypal web site. If you don't designate a specific card with each vendor, adding a new card and deleting the old one changes all auto-pay vendors at the same time in one action.
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by jeffyscott »

spammagnet wrote: Sat Dec 04, 2021 12:41 pm
jeffyscott wrote: Sat Dec 04, 2021 11:08 am... I clicked on the three dots for "more" on the dashboard page, then "pay your bills", and "add a new bill". By that route, there is no indication that you need to do anything more than identify the biller and your account number.
I see what you described. It seems to be a good way to use Paypal to pay billers that don't normally use them.

The disadvantage to me is that I don't think I can set them up for auto-pay.
Well, so far the even bigger disadvantage is that I can't pay the bill at all. :annoyed
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anon_investor
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by anon_investor »

jeffyscott wrote: Sat Dec 04, 2021 1:57 pm
spammagnet wrote: Sat Dec 04, 2021 12:41 pm
jeffyscott wrote: Sat Dec 04, 2021 11:08 am... I clicked on the three dots for "more" on the dashboard page, then "pay your bills", and "add a new bill". By that route, there is no indication that you need to do anything more than identify the biller and your account number.
I see what you described. It seems to be a good way to use Paypal to pay billers that don't normally use them.

The disadvantage to me is that I don't think I can set them up for auto-pay.
Well, so far the even bigger disadvantage is that I can't pay the bill at all. :annoyed
Update if you ever get it to work. I play to try this on one of my utility bills later this month.
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jeffyscott
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by jeffyscott »

anon_investor wrote: Sat Dec 04, 2021 2:27 pm
jeffyscott wrote: Sat Dec 04, 2021 1:57 pm
spammagnet wrote: Sat Dec 04, 2021 12:41 pm
jeffyscott wrote: Sat Dec 04, 2021 11:08 am... I clicked on the three dots for "more" on the dashboard page, then "pay your bills", and "add a new bill". By that route, there is no indication that you need to do anything more than identify the biller and your account number.
I see what you described. It seems to be a good way to use Paypal to pay billers that don't normally use them.

The disadvantage to me is that I don't think I can set them up for auto-pay.
Well, so far the even bigger disadvantage is that I can't pay the bill at all. :annoyed
Update if you ever get it to work. I play to try this on one of my utility bills later this month.
Well, you don't have to wait for me :) , exactly what has not worked for me did work for JackoC:
JackoC wrote: Wed Dec 01, 2021 9:13 amA bit of a tangent, but maybe others have useful experience on this, is using PR/UCR at 2.625% with PayPal Bill Pay with no fee by PP, to providers like utilities which wouldn't take CC's or charge convenience fee. For example I now pay my gas/electric this way. Previously I'd pay directly with BOA PR with $3.95 convenience fee when the bill was >$3.95/.02625~$150 (winter gas bills, sometimes summer electric bills), otherwise with bank bill pay (0% cashback). I tried it first with CCR via PayPal but it coded 'not online' (I've also done it with Chase Freedom when PayPal is a 5% category). The limitation is whether various providers are in the lookup list on PayPal. My water utility well as gas/electric is on it, my sewer utility isn't. My health insurance co isn't on it either, but I see some HI companies on the list.
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anon_investor
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by anon_investor »

jeffyscott wrote: Sat Dec 04, 2021 3:09 pm
anon_investor wrote: Sat Dec 04, 2021 2:27 pm
jeffyscott wrote: Sat Dec 04, 2021 1:57 pm
spammagnet wrote: Sat Dec 04, 2021 12:41 pm
jeffyscott wrote: Sat Dec 04, 2021 11:08 am... I clicked on the three dots for "more" on the dashboard page, then "pay your bills", and "add a new bill". By that route, there is no indication that you need to do anything more than identify the biller and your account number.
I see what you described. It seems to be a good way to use Paypal to pay billers that don't normally use them.

The disadvantage to me is that I don't think I can set them up for auto-pay.
Well, so far the even bigger disadvantage is that I can't pay the bill at all. :annoyed
Update if you ever get it to work. I play to try this on one of my utility bills later this month.
Well, you don't have to wait for me, exactly what has not worked for me did work for JackoC:
JackoC wrote: Wed Dec 01, 2021 9:13 amA bit of a tangent, but maybe others have useful experience on this, is using PR/UCR at 2.625% with PayPal Bill Pay with no fee by PP, to providers like utilities which wouldn't take CC's or charge convenience fee. For example I now pay my gas/electric this way. Previously I'd pay directly with BOA PR with $3.95 convenience fee when the bill was >$3.95/.02625~$150 (winter gas bills, sometimes summer electric bills), otherwise with bank bill pay (0% cashback). I tried it first with CCR via PayPal but it coded 'not online' (I've also done it with Chase Freedom when PayPal is a 5% category). The limitation is whether various providers are in the lookup list on PayPal. My water utility well as gas/electric is on it, my sewer utility isn't. My health insurance co isn't on it either, but I see some HI companies on the list.
Yeah, I plan to try when my bill comes later this month.
stilllurking
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by stilllurking »

jeffyscott wrote: Sat Dec 04, 2021 11:08 am
spammagnet wrote: Sat Dec 04, 2021 9:38 am
stilllurking wrote: Sat Dec 04, 2021 9:17 am Where on the PayPal site does it give the option to set up bill pay?
Settings (gear) icon, payments, manage automatic payments, find more merchants.

To my knowledge, you can't use it to pay merchants that don't have existing relationships with Paypal. In that case, it seems to me that you'd already know you could use Paypal because it would already be on the merchant's payment page on their web site.

I use Paypal whenever I can for automatic payments, not only to get online payment credit, but it's much easier to change the payment card I'm using if I'm churning cards and need to meet minimum spending requirements. I only have to go to one site (Paypal) to revise the payment card, instead of a separate web site for each merchant. I've been doing that for years for ease of use, before I got into card churning.
Hmm, that is not what I did, when I follow that path it leads to a page that says: Go to your provider's website and set up PayPal as your preferred way to pay.
Even if I wanted to do that (and I don't think that I do :?: ), I see no way to do it on the biller's site.

I clicked on the three dots for "more" on the dashboard page, then "pay your bills", and "add a new bill". By that route, there is no indication that you need to do anything more than identify the biller and your account number.
Thank you both for this!
FedGuy
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by FedGuy »

Question for those who use their BoA Premium Rewards card $100 airline incidental credit to buy an American Airlines gift card and then sell it: do I have to have the buyer lined up before I buy the gift card? I've never bought an airline gift card and don't know the intricacies of transferring them. When I buy the card, do I provide my name and contact information, and then I can sell it to a (currently unknown) third party later?

Separately, are there any sites you particularly recommend to sell the card?

Thank you.
tj
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by tj »

FedGuy wrote: Sun Dec 05, 2021 9:32 am Question for those who use their BoA Premium Rewards card $100 airline incidental credit to buy an American Airlines gift card and then sell it: do I have to have the buyer lined up before I buy the gift card? I've never bought an airline gift card and don't know the intricacies of transferring them. When I buy the card, do I provide my name and contact information, and then I can sell it to a (currently unknown) third party later?

Separately, are there any sites you particularly recommend to sell the card?

Thank you.
No you don't need a buyer lined up, you sell it whenever you feel like selling it. I sold to CardCash, which i'm pretty sure I have previously mentioned in this thread.
FedGuy
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by FedGuy »

Thanks, TJ!
ChicagoBear7
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by ChicagoBear7 »

I have a new data point concerning wire transfer fees for Diamond status. (We have had multiple 7 figures with Merrill for several years so we got the Diamond status when it became available in November.)

We are just finishing a basement remodel and made a couple of progress payments via wire before the new Diamond status and were charged $30 as per the fee schedule - the last payment was a week or so before Diamond became effective. On Friday we made the completion payment and expected to be socked again - but today I signed on and the fee was waived and it references Preferred rewards waiver! I didn't call and complain or otherwise ask for a fee waiver. I'm glad BofA is doing this. Absent this building project, we might only have one wire transfer every few years, but the thought that Chase gives free transfers for having only $150k with them was gnawing at me. From the website today:

Transaction details

Posting dateDec 3, 2021
Description
Preferred Rewards-Wire Fee Waiver of $30
TypePreferred Rewards
StatusReconciled
Amount$0.00
DescriptionPreferred Rewards-Wire Fee Waiver of $30
Merchant name
Preferred Rewards-Wire Fee Waiver of $30
Transaction category
Finance: Service Charges/Fees
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anon_investor
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by anon_investor »

ChicagoBear7 wrote: Mon Dec 06, 2021 9:10 am I have a new data point concerning wire transfer fees for Diamond status. (We have had multiple 7 figures with Merrill for several years so we got the Diamond status when it became available in November.)

We are just finishing a basement remodel and made a couple of progress payments via wire before the new Diamond status and were charged $30 as per the fee schedule - the last payment was a week or so before Diamond became effective. On Friday we made the completion payment and expected to be socked again - but today I signed on and the fee was waived and it references Preferred rewards waiver! I didn't call and complain or otherwise ask for a fee waiver. I'm glad BofA is doing this. Absent this building project, we might only have one wire transfer every few years, but the thought that Chase gives free transfers for having only $150k with them was gnawing at me. From the website today:

Transaction details

Posting dateDec 3, 2021
Description
Preferred Rewards-Wire Fee Waiver of $30
TypePreferred Rewards
StatusReconciled
Amount$0.00
DescriptionPreferred Rewards-Wire Fee Waiver of $30
Merchant name
Preferred Rewards-Wire Fee Waiver of $30
Transaction category
Finance: Service Charges/Fees
So you need $1M to get free wires? Crazy, they are free at Fidelity.
endersgame
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by endersgame »

Has anyone had any recent experience trying to ask for a retention offer on the Premium Rewards card? My annual fee is coming up, but now with the Unlimited Cash card out there, it seems like there's an easy downgrade option.
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