Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

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Earl Lemongrab
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Re: Bank of America Preferred Rewards

Post by Earl Lemongrab »

Funancials wrote: Sat May 12, 2018 8:03 am Having said that, I’ve crunched the numbers and I would be better off (if I favored optimization over convenience) by spreading out my accounts. For example, investing directly with Vanguard, using a Chase CC and opening an online savings with Synchrony, GS or Ally. But, having everything in one place keeps it simple for me.
How would direct investing with Vanguard save money? Do you shun ETFs?
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Re: Bank of America Preferred Rewards

Post by hale2 »

fourwheelcycle wrote: Sat May 12, 2018 6:48 am
We do not use BoA's Merrill Edge programs at all, since they cannot hold Vanguard's Admiral mutual funds and we don't use any ETFs.

You might want to take a look at ME again. I transferred VTSAX and VTMSX from Vanguard to ME. Both are Admiral funds. I don't know if they will accept all Admiral funds but they took these. I don't plan to sell any shares so I'm not worried about any transaction costs. I just plan to leave them there to keep me qualified for Preferred Rewards.
LeanHogs
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by LeanHogs »

Sfynx wrote: Thu Apr 12, 2018 3:16 pm as a prior merrill edge employee i'd enlighten you to a few things:

-you can get higher bonuses. the bank will pay bonuses on 250k,500k, 1 million. the usual rule of thumb is a household could receive 2500$ in bonuses a year. (2500 was the bonus on 1 million, 1200 on 500k at the time) i've seen them also give bonuses on 350k etc...

-in california, they were giving .25 and .5% off your new mortgage rate (yes the rate, not a rate credit) if you transferred over 250k or 500k, this was on top of the merrill sign up bonuses. this was a no brainer for clients with an etrade or TDA account since they got cheaper stock trades, and good savings on the mortgage.

-spousal IRA cannot be added for PR benefit rewards, but you can sign a spousal IRA POA and it will merge the spouse IRA on your online, so you can see all the accounts under one login.

-their cash card (the red one) has a signup bonus that gets the 75% boost, but the travel and the premium card signup bonuses do not get the boost.

i believe the OP from years ago asked about how they make money if you basically just use their credit cards and free etf trades and don't keep high balances in cash, they make money off margin loans on your positions to other clients.
What does this mean?
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by xerxes101 »

-their cash card (the red one) has a signup bonus that gets the 75% boost, but the travel and the premium card signup bonuses do not get the boost.

I am not sure if this is true. I believe the travel card does get the 75% boost if you are a Preferred Rewards Platinum. Can someone verify that?
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by whodidntante »

j0nnyg1984 wrote: Thu Apr 12, 2018 11:27 pm
spacecadet610 wrote: Wed Apr 11, 2018 1:32 pm i have preferred rewards but never bothered getting a safe deposit box. What are people storing in there?
Mine is full of gold and silver.
Diamonds are more space efficient, so you don't have to upgrade your box.
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by mageedge »

xerxes101 wrote: Sat May 12, 2018 8:27 pm -their cash card (the red one) has a signup bonus that gets the 75% boost, but the travel and the premium card signup bonuses do not get the boost.

I am not sure if this is true. I believe the travel card does get the 75% boost if you are a Preferred Rewards Platinum. Can someone verify that?
Sorry to say the the initial comment is accurate. The way the cash card works is that the Platinum Honors bonus(75%) gets applied to any redemption of accumulated rewards into your BOA bank account (or Merrill Edge CMA account). So, if I've accumulated $100 in rewards and redeem it into my BOA checking account the actual deposit will be $175.
When I got the Cash Rewards card it showed a $200 sign up bonus on the card but, once redeemed, that became a $350 deposit.

The Premium and Travel cards generate the Platinum Honors bonus points on each monthly statement. So the sign up bonus for each of those is the advertised amount (50k or 20k points) with no additional boost.
SlowMovingInvestor
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by SlowMovingInvestor »

I posted before about asking BoA for a small safe deposit box (which I should get free as I am Platinum Honors).

I tried 3-4 branches, but they all said they had none available. A little frustrating. I don't have status at another bank to get a free box. I did get callbacks from almost all branches asking me about investment possibilities -- etc. etc.
Funancials
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Re: Bank of America Preferred Rewards

Post by Funancials »

Earl Lemongrab wrote: Sat May 12, 2018 11:30 am
Funancials wrote: Sat May 12, 2018 8:03 am Having said that, I’ve crunched the numbers and I would be better off (if I favored optimization over convenience) by spreading out my accounts. For example, investing directly with Vanguard, using a Chase CC and opening an online savings with Synchrony, GS or Ally. But, having everything in one place keeps it simple for me.
How would direct investing with Vanguard save money? Do you shun ETFs?
You’re spot on that I wouldn’t save money. I thought I would be “better off” with the ability to automate contributions into a portfolio.
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Re: Bank of America Preferred Rewards

Post by NoHeat »

hale2 wrote: Sat May 12, 2018 1:23 pm
fourwheelcycle wrote: Sat May 12, 2018 6:48 am
We do not use BoA's Merrill Edge programs at all, since they cannot hold Vanguard's Admiral mutual funds and we don't use any ETFs.

You might want to take a look at ME again. I transferred VTSAX and VTMSX from Vanguard to ME. Both are Admiral funds. I don't know if they will accept all Admiral funds but they took these. I don't plan to sell any shares so I'm not worried about any transaction costs. I just plan to leave them there to keep me qualified for Preferred Rewards.
Merrill Edge accepted three out of my four Vanguard Admiral funds when I transferred accounts from Vanguard to ME in 2015.

Only one fund (Vanguard Emerging Markets Government Bond Index Fund Admiral Shares VGAVX) was turned away by ME as they said they could not hold it. No problem -- I just liquidated it from my Vanguard IRA and then bought a comparable Vanguard ETF at ME using the proceeds, with no commission or fee at either end.

Three years later, I’m still happy with my move from Vanguard to ME. It provided me the banking and credit-card perks of BoA’s Platinum Honors level, which are better than I could find elsewhere. At ME I like the free research reports, including Morningstar's. The cash bonus for opening the ME accounts was nice, too.
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by fareastwarriors »

SlowMovingInvestor wrote: Sun May 13, 2018 1:10 pm I posted before about asking BoA for a small safe deposit box (which I should get free as I am Platinum Honors).

I tried 3-4 branches, but they all said they had none available. A little frustrating. I don't have status at another bank to get a free box. I did get callbacks from almost all branches asking me about investment possibilities -- etc. etc.
Same. My local branches don't have boxes available. People must have too many diamonds to store...
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by LadyGeek »

I merged skseud's thread into here.
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SlowMovingInvestor
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Re: Bank of America Preferred Rewards

Post by SlowMovingInvestor »

NoHeat wrote: Sun May 13, 2018 5:28 pm
Three years later, I’m still happy with my move from Vanguard to ME. It provided me the banking and credit-card perks of BoA’s Platinum Honors level, which are better than I could find elsewhere. At ME I like the free research reports, including Morningstar's.
ME has Morningstar research reports (for MFs or ETFs) ? I don't see them.

ME does have research reports (including Merill Lynch reports) for many stocks.
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Re: Bank of America Preferred Rewards

Post by drk »

SlowMovingInvestor wrote: Sun May 13, 2018 7:12 pm
NoHeat wrote: Sun May 13, 2018 5:28 pm
Three years later, I’m still happy with my move from Vanguard to ME. It provided me the banking and credit-card perks of BoA’s Platinum Honors level, which are better than I could find elsewhere. At ME I like the free research reports, including Morningstar's.
ME has Morningstar research reports (for MFs or ETFs) ? I don't see them.

ME does have research reports (including Merill Lynch reports) for many stocks.
It has it for ETFs, albeit a little hidden. This is for IEMG:

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NoHeat
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Re: Bank of America Preferred Rewards

Post by NoHeat »

SlowMovingInvestor wrote: Sun May 13, 2018 7:12 pm ME has Morningstar research reports (for MFs or ETFs) ? I don't see them.
Yes, “profile” reports for mutual funds and ETFs alike. But it’s similar to what you can view for free on the Morningstar website.

Just look for the quote feature and enter a symbol. If I enter VTSAX for example I am offered a Morningstar “profile” which is a three-page pdf file with a recent date. This works with the ME mobile app and the ME website accessed with a desktop computer and browser.
SlowMovingInvestor
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Re: Bank of America Preferred Rewards

Post by SlowMovingInvestor »

NoHeat wrote: Sun May 13, 2018 8:53 pm
SlowMovingInvestor wrote: Sun May 13, 2018 7:12 pm ME has Morningstar research reports (for MFs or ETFs) ? I don't see them.
Yes, “profile” reports for mutual funds and ETFs alike. But it’s similar to what you can view for free on the Morningstar website.

Just look for the quote feature and enter a symbol. If I enter VTSAX for example I am offered a Morningstar “profile” which is a three-page pdf file with a recent date. This works with the ME mobile app and the ME website accessed with a desktop computer and browser.
I found them. But, as you say, these are the same as the data available on the free Morningstar website.

Morningstar has analyst reports for several larger ETFs and funds (i.e. they include some commentary by humans). Unfortunately, ME doesn't seem to have those. Scottrade used to have them, but after the merger with TDAM, they don't any more.
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by jrbdmb »

bgf wrote: Tue Apr 10, 2018 7:07 am
Justin W wrote: Mon Apr 09, 2018 11:49 pm
jrbdmb wrote: Thu Feb 01, 2018 12:29 pm What I'm curious about is if her new ME IRA balance would be combined with my existing accounts (IRA and taxable) for Preferred Rewards purposes. If they are kept separate then moving her IRA to ME doesn't make much sense. Feedback appreciated from anyone who has ME accounts in their name and their spouse's name.
I had the same thinking about my wife's and my IRAs, asked ME this question (if, hypothetically, we both had a $25k IRA, would we qualify together for the $50k+ Preferred Rewards level?), and got the following response:

"Each individual has to qualify and enroll within Preferred Rewards. Eligibility is based on accounts in which the individual is listed as an owner. Accordingly, using a jointly owned Bank of America checking account you would qualify for the Gold tier within Preferred Rewards with an individually owned IRA worth $25,000.00. Similarly, your wife would qualify for the Gold tier within Preferred Rewards with her individually owned IRA worth $25,000.00."

So the answer is "no," spouse IRA balances can't add together to reach a higher tier of rewards.
my wife and I have our taxable account listed as a Joint CMA, so it 'counts double.' when combined with my IRA it pushes me over the top tier and when combined with my wife's IRA it does the same.

we just switched our accounts over a few months ago and so far so good. we've received the account bonuses and just signed up with the cash back rewards credit card because we now get a 75% boost to all cash back rewards.

so, you should make your taxable account a joint account if it is not already.
Thanks for the feedback. Since my initial post in February I had called a rep at ME and been told that as long as our BoA accounts were jointly held, all BoA and ME accounts including both our IRAs would be included in my Preferred Rewards balance. Apparently that information was at least partially incorrect.

Since I am the primary for our BoA credit cards, the goal is to keep my total balance over $100K. Since my wife's IRAs will have no impact on that, no rush to move her money over.
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by triceratop »

One thing I just realized -- Merrill Edge with preferred rewards has no fees on incoming wire transfers (and for international for platinum and platinum honors). Meanwhile, Marcus Online Savings has no outgoing wire transfer fees. Therefore this is a frictionless and fast way to execute a transfer between the accounts.
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by whodidntante »

triceratop wrote: Wed Jul 25, 2018 11:08 am One thing I just realized -- Merrill Edge with preferred rewards has no fees on incoming wire transfers (and for international for platinum and platinum honors). Meanwhile, Marcus Online Savings has no outgoing wire transfer fees. Therefore this is a frictionless and fast way to execute a transfer between the accounts.
I buy on margin and initiate an ach transfer in on T for the amount of the margin debit. No interest.
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by triceratop »

whodidntante wrote: Wed Jul 25, 2018 12:25 pm
triceratop wrote: Wed Jul 25, 2018 11:08 am One thing I just realized -- Merrill Edge with preferred rewards has no fees on incoming wire transfers (and for international for platinum and platinum honors). Meanwhile, Marcus Online Savings has no outgoing wire transfer fees. Therefore this is a frictionless and fast way to execute a transfer between the accounts.
I buy on margin and initiate an ach transfer in on T for the amount of the margin debit. No interest.
That's a good idea; I have never had a margin account before (but I could always ask ME to change my account type), I'm not sure if there are any downsides. Is it pretty seamless?
"To play the stock market is to play musical chairs under the chord progression of a bid-ask spread."
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by whodidntante »

triceratop wrote: Wed Jul 25, 2018 12:36 pm
whodidntante wrote: Wed Jul 25, 2018 12:25 pm
triceratop wrote: Wed Jul 25, 2018 11:08 am One thing I just realized -- Merrill Edge with preferred rewards has no fees on incoming wire transfers (and for international for platinum and platinum honors). Meanwhile, Marcus Online Savings has no outgoing wire transfer fees. Therefore this is a frictionless and fast way to execute a transfer between the accounts.
I buy on margin and initiate an ach transfer in on T for the amount of the margin debit. No interest.
That's a good idea; I have never had a margin account before (but I could always ask ME to change my account type), I'm not sure if there are any downsides. Is it pretty seamless?
I have margin accounts at several brokers and have not seen any downsides in practice, other than brokers using different terms and moments of slight confusion on my part. I always ask for margin when I open an account.
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by dink2win »

I think Bank of America / Merrill Edge is the best mortar banking/investing combo out there. It sure does beat Chase or Wells Fargo.

Bank of America Checking and Savings aren't anything special but do get the job done. At the platinum honors level ($100k+) you get a lot of perks like waived ATM fees and free checks and what not.

Bank of America Cash Rewards credit card is really good, with the PH level like everyone mentioned you would get the 5.25% on one category of choice, plus 3.5% on markets and Costco (which ironically is better at Costco's than it's own card) and 1.75% on everything else.

If you get over $100k in combined balance, ME gives you 100 commission free trades a month. You can but 1 ETF 100 times and have no fee.

As everyone mentioned, the balance limit is the combined balance at Bank of America and Merrill Edge, so if you move over your IRAs to ME, and if that combined with your checking doesn't get you to $100k, you can put money in the ME CMA account and call them to move it to the preferred deposit which currently nets you 2.07%. However, you need $100k to open it, however, you can take money out after. So a workaround is to put in $100k, then take out $99k, you can still have the preferred deposit. You can add more money anytime, but you need to do so in $1000 increments. And, like everyone mentioned, the annoying part is they only do transactions over the phone.

Currently if you are a rewards customer, if you move $200k into their CMA account or an IRA, you get $900 bonus after 90 days. I believe if you do both then you can get $1800. But you have to make sure you use the promo code when you do it to make sure your account gets coded for it.
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by pshonore »

azianbob wrote: Mon Jan 21, 2019 8:44 pm I think Bank of America / Merrill Edge is the best mortar banking/investing combo out there. It sure does beat Chase or Wells Fargo.

Bank of America Checking and Savings aren't anything special but do get the job done. At the platinum honors level ($100k+) you get a lot of perks like waived ATM fees and free checks and what not.

Bank of America Cash Rewards credit card is really good, with the PH level like everyone mentioned you would get the 5.25% on one category of choice, plus 3.5% on markets and Costco (which ironically is better at Costco's than it's own card) and 1.75% on everything else.

Note that Costco does not accept the BOA Master Card so you need the BOA Visa card if you want 3.5% at Costco. Not a problem with with BJs, etc.
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by PDX_Traveler »

I am thinking of exploring ME's offer of $900 bonus for $200K+ new money.
https://www.merrilledge.com/offers/900offer
We have a few remnant individual stock holdings at Vanguard (simplified over the past few years to closely approximate 3-fund portfolio with everything else in Vanguard). From what I read at the ME site and in this thread, I can transfer enough of the individual stock holdings to ME brokerage account and meet the ~$200K requirement for the cash back. Do I *have* to open a BoA checking/savings account in order to get the 50% boost for Preferred Platinum Honors? i.e., could I meet the requirements by just having the ME brokerage account? I might be interested in a BoA credit card perhaps, but that would be a separate thing. I am going to check with the horse's mouth directly, but if someone here already knows the answer it'd spare me some time with BA/ME reps. Thank you-
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Earl Lemongrab
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by Earl Lemongrab »

PDX_Traveler wrote: Wed Mar 27, 2019 12:39 pm I am thinking of exploring ME's offer of $900 bonus for $200K+ new money.
https://www.merrilledge.com/offers/900offer
We have a few remnant individual stock holdings at Vanguard (simplified over the past few years to closely approximate 3-fund portfolio with everything else in Vanguard). From what I read at the ME site and in this thread, I can transfer enough of the individual stock holdings to ME brokerage account and meet the ~$200K requirement for the cash back. Do I *have* to open a BoA checking/savings account in order to get the 50% boost for Preferred Platinum Honors? i.e., could I meet the requirements by just having the ME brokerage account? I might be interested in a BoA credit card perhaps, but that would be a separate thing. I am going to check with the horse's mouth directly, but if someone here already knows the answer it'd spare me some time with BA/ME reps. Thank you-
You do need the checking account. However, you don't need to use it. I opened it with $25, which I think they said was a minimum at the time (DON'T rely on my memory).
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by whodidntante »

What Earl said. Also, it's a 75% bonus, not 50%.
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by atdharris »

As others said, you do need a checking account, but I believe all fees and minimums are waived for Platinum Honors clients. I have a savings account there that I don't use, but they never charge me a fee on it.
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Earl Lemongrab
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by Earl Lemongrab »

whodidntante wrote: Wed Mar 27, 2019 12:51 pm What Earl said. Also, it's a 75% bonus, not 50%.
Right, missed that. The 75% gives you 5.25% on the top category, which has a number of options these days rather than just gas. 3.5% on groceries.
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by grtwallchina75 »

What is this preferred deposit of neting 2.07 % ?

azianbob wrote: Mon Jan 21, 2019 8:44 pm As everyone mentioned, the balance limit is the combined balance at Bank of America and Merrill Edge, so if you move over your IRAs to ME, and if that combined with your checking doesn't get you to $100k, you can put money in the ME CMA account and call them to move it to the preferred deposit which currently nets you 2.07%. then you can get $1800. But you have to make sure you use the promo code when you do it to make sure your account gets coded for it.
Augustus
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by Augustus »

Just read that free trades (10/month) will be extended to Gold clients at some point this year: https://www.investmentnews.com/article/ ... ve-loyalty
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by LocusCoeruleus »

An update regarding 10% liquidation fee which is listed on their website https://www.merrilledge.com/help-support:
Thank you for contacting Merrill Edge.

Upon review, we can confirm that the fee for fractional share liquidations is no longer charged. We have forwarded your email to our Technical Support Team for review and removal from the website.

If your account holds a fractional share along with a whole share of a security, the fractional share will remain in the account. If a fractional share of a security is held in the account alone, the fractional share will be automatically liquidated. The fractional shares will liquidate automatically during the third week of the month. This is contingent upon the aggregate sum of fractional shares in our inventory being sufficient to total at least one whole share. Once the fractional shares have liquidated, you can view the completed transaction at Accounts > Activity.
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by ChicagoBear7 »

confusedinvestor wrote: Sun Apr 14, 2019 3:41 pm What is this preferred deposit of neting 2.07 % ?

azianbob wrote: Mon Jan 21, 2019 8:44 pm As everyone mentioned, the balance limit is the combined balance at Bank of America and Merrill Edge, so if you move over your IRAs to ME, and if that combined with your checking doesn't get you to $100k, you can put money in the ME CMA account and call them to move it to the preferred deposit which currently nets you 2.07%. then you can get $1800. But you have to make sure you use the promo code when you do it to make sure your account gets coded for it.
Preferred Deposit is a way of getting much better interest on your free funds. I just signed up for this a few weeks ago.

The product is a common pass through NOW account (day in/day out account - no fixed maturity) that Merrill has at Bank of America. The bank is paying Merrill a better interest rate since Merrill is bringing in an enormous amount of funds. The FDIC insurance coverage flows through to the Merrill clients; however, the Preferred Deposit balance would be combined with any other Bank of America deposits held by the same client for FDIC purposes - if that is a concern for you.

Things to be aware of:

1. This is NOT an automatic sweep product. You must call your financial adviser or the 800 Merrill Edge customer service line for each deposit or withdrawal. It's simple, easy and takes only 1 or 2 minutes.

2. The minimum INITIAL deposit is $100k. Your balance can drop below $100k after the initial deposit. Subsequent deposit transactions are minimum $1k - any withdrawals must be in whole dollar amounts.

3. If you call during market hours you get same day investment or delivery of funds.
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by MisterBill »

ChicagoBear7 wrote: Tue May 07, 2019 11:40 am 1. This is NOT an automatic sweep product. You must call your financial adviser or the 800 Merrill Edge customer service line for each deposit or withdrawal. It's simple, easy and takes only 1 or 2 minutes.
Sorry but having to call to add or remove funds does NOT sound simple or easy. Plus you can do better than 2.07% elsewhere. Of course, if you want/need to keep the money with BofA/ME, it's likely your best option.
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by RevFran »

So if one does not use boa credit cards, is it worth the hassle to move some accounts to ME simply to get the $600 or $1000 opening incentive?
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by NativeTxn »

RevFran wrote: Mon Jul 08, 2019 10:19 pm So if one does not use boa credit cards, is it worth the hassle to move some accounts to ME simply to get the $600 or $1000 opening incentive?
If I didn't use BOA credit cards, it would depend. As long as I could move it in kind, it might be worth it to move it and let it sit for a while to earn the bonus, figuring that if I would invest it the exact same way where it was now, what's the harm in moving it to ME, investing it the same way regardless, and collecting some extra cash.

But if I had to liquidate and then transfer, or the account I was going to transfer held assets that wouldn't fall under the free trades if/when I needed to place a trade, then I might not worry about it. Don't get me wrong, $600 or $1,000 is $600 or $1,000, but when you account for potential time out of the market (which could cut both ways depending on what happens during that period) and commissions (albeit $6.95 a trade, so not a ton) eating into the bonus, it may not be worth the hassle.
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by JackoC »

NativeTxn wrote: Tue Jul 09, 2019 1:03 pm
RevFran wrote: Mon Jul 08, 2019 10:19 pm So if one does not use boa credit cards, is it worth the hassle to move some accounts to ME simply to get the $600 or $1000 opening incentive?
If I didn't use BOA credit cards, it would depend. As long as I could move it in kind, it might be worth it to move it and let it sit for a while to earn the bonus, figuring that if I would invest it the exact same way where it was now, what's the harm in moving it to ME, investing it the same way regardless, and collecting some extra cash.

But if I had to liquidate and then transfer, or the account I was going to transfer held assets that wouldn't fall under the free trades if/when I needed to place a trade, then I might not worry about it. Don't get me wrong, $600 or $1,000 is $600 or $1,000, but when you account for potential time out of the market (which could cut both ways depending on what happens during that period) and commissions (albeit $6.95 a trade, so not a ton) eating into the bonus, it may not be worth the hassle.
If you had to liquidate it might involve capital gains recognition and of course that could just outweigh the bonus in $'s before considering hassle.

Lack of free trades though might be gotten around by xferring an mutual fund and just having it autoinvest. But everything I xferred qualifies for free trades, and I have a mix of ETF and MF. This is one reason BTW that the 'MF only' position in the ETF v MF debate is not ideal, ETF's are easy to move around to harvest sign up bonuses.

In actual case I xferred cash and one ETF I happened to hold at Vanguard to Merrill taxable 'CMA' to reach the required level. I had to pay a transaction fee to get the cash into a short term Vanguard bond fund at Merrill to run on autopilot but from then on I'll leave it and the ETF alone until, probably, I eventually shift the assets back to Vanguard. It's a non-BHish stock ETF I'd sell if it wasn't so appreciated so I'm not reinvesting in it and can just xfer dividends to BOA checking account to spend or suck back up to Vanguard. I didn't consider that much of a hassle for $900, though that's ordinary income unlike a credit card bonus which is generally non-taxable.

On IRA side I xferred ETF, individual TIPS issues and cash, clear out my whole IRA from Vanguard (I have other non-V non-M IRA's but in this case it's possible I'll consolidate them all at Merrill eventually). The stuff does qualify for free trades. That's well worth $1,500 (the bonuses are higher for transfer amounts higher than the max listed in the ads) IMO though again that's added to the IRA and tax is due on it eventually.

Also from my POV not using the BOA cards is questionable unless one is really into the airline points game or really against credit cards. For straight cash back at the 'Platinum Honors' level the BOA cards are hard to beat. And I got (non taxable) sign up bonuses on top for opening those, big enough to be worth getting them and doing the required spending to get the sign up bonus even if you weren't going to use them after that.
dcdcdc724
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by dcdcdc724 »

Sfynx wrote: Thu Apr 12, 2018 3:16 pm as a prior merrill edge employee i'd enlighten you to a few things:

-you can get higher bonuses. the bank will pay bonuses on 250k,500k, 1 million. the usual rule of thumb is a household could receive 2500$ in bonuses a year. (2500 was the bonus on 1 million, 1200 on 500k at the time) i've seen them also give bonuses on 350k etc...

-in california, they were giving .25 and .5% off your new mortgage rate (yes the rate, not a rate credit) if you transferred over 250k or 500k, this was on top of the merrill sign up bonuses. this was a no brainer for clients with an etrade or TDA account since they got cheaper stock trades, and good savings on the mortgage.

-spousal IRA cannot be added for PR benefit rewards, but you can sign a spousal IRA POA and it will merge the spouse IRA on your online, so you can see all the accounts under one login.

-their cash card (the red one) has a signup bonus that gets the 75% boost, but the travel and the premium card signup bonuses do not get the boost.

i believe the OP from years ago asked about how they make money if you basically just use their credit cards and free etf trades and don't keep high balances in cash, they make money off margin loans on your positions to other clients.
Ok so I have a question. After one has reached “Banking rewards for wealth management” status via ME since it’s affiliated with ML, could one spot for a ML cobranded cards such as their premium rewards visa or Octave card?

https://www.ml.com/content/dam/ML/Artic ... -image.png
RudyS
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by RudyS »

SlowMovingInvestor wrote: Sun May 13, 2018 1:10 pm I posted before about asking BoA for a small safe deposit box (which I should get free as I am Platinum Honors).

I tried 3-4 branches, but they all said they had none available. A little frustrating. I don't have status at another bank to get a free box. I did get callbacks from almost all branches asking me about investment possibilities -- etc. etc.
Don't know where you are, but BofA in Stoughton MA has boxes available right now.
MisterBill
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by MisterBill »

dcdcdc724 wrote: Sun Aug 04, 2019 12:28 am Ok so I have a question. After one has reached “Banking rewards for wealth management” status via ME since it’s affiliated with ML, could one spot for a ML cobranded cards such as their premium rewards visa or Octave card?

https://www.ml.com/content/dam/ML/Artic ... -image.png
I've never heard of anyone getting it, but if you were thinking of it so you could get the 75% bonus, be aware that it does not apply to ML cards.

Cards not eligible for the rewards bonus:
Non-rewards credit cards
Business purpose credit cards
BankAmericard Better Balance Rewards®
Merrill Lynch branded (including MERRILL+®, Merrill Lynch® Octave® and Merrill Private Wealth Management Octave®)
Bank of America Private Bank® Octave®


Also I found a post on DOC saying you needed $10m at ML to get the Octave card.
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whodidntante
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by whodidntante »

MisterBill wrote: Sun Aug 04, 2019 6:17 pm
dcdcdc724 wrote: Sun Aug 04, 2019 12:28 am Ok so I have a question. After one has reached “Banking rewards for wealth management” status via ME since it’s affiliated with ML, could one spot for a ML cobranded cards such as their premium rewards visa or Octave card?

https://www.ml.com/content/dam/ML/Artic ... -image.png
I've never heard of anyone getting it, but if you were thinking of it so you could get the 75% bonus, be aware that it does not apply to ML cards.

Cards not eligible for the rewards bonus:
Non-rewards credit cards
Business purpose credit cards
BankAmericard Better Balance Rewards®
Merrill Lynch branded (including MERRILL+®, Merrill Lynch® Octave® and Merrill Private Wealth Management Octave®)
Bank of America Private Bank® Octave®


Also I found a post on DOC saying you needed $10m at ML to get the Octave card.
Can confirm. I had the Merrill+ card that I opened for a large bonus. Preferred Rewards did not apply to the card.
MisterBill
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by MisterBill »

whodidntante wrote: Sun Aug 04, 2019 6:34 pm Can confirm. I had the Merrill+ card that I opened for a large bonus. Preferred Rewards did not apply to the card.
Can you even apply for ML cards if you are only a ME customer? I'm not familiar with ML so I don't know, just curious.
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whodidntante
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by whodidntante »

MisterBill wrote: Sun Aug 04, 2019 7:35 pm
whodidntante wrote: Sun Aug 04, 2019 6:34 pm Can confirm. I had the Merrill+ card that I opened for a large bonus. Preferred Rewards did not apply to the card.
Can you even apply for ML cards if you are only a ME customer? I'm not familiar with ML so I don't know, just curious.
I assume so though YMMV. I have never been a ML (full service) customer, and they happily issued me the Merrill+ card.
SlowMovingInvestor
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by SlowMovingInvestor »

whodidntante wrote: Sun Aug 04, 2019 6:34 pm Can confirm. I had the Merrill+ card that I opened for a large bonus. Preferred Rewards did not apply to the card.
Not available any more, right ? Is there any Merrill card worth getting for bonus now ?
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whodidntante
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by whodidntante »

SlowMovingInvestor wrote: Sun Aug 04, 2019 7:56 pm
whodidntante wrote: Sun Aug 04, 2019 6:34 pm Can confirm. I had the Merrill+ card that I opened for a large bonus. Preferred Rewards did not apply to the card.
Not available any more, right ? Is there any Merrill card worth getting for bonus now ?
I don't know if that card is still issued. I don't think so. They were taking phone applications for a whle after they stop accepting online applications. Check doctorofcredit.
MisterBill
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by MisterBill »

whodidntante wrote: Sun Aug 04, 2019 8:38 pm
SlowMovingInvestor wrote: Sun Aug 04, 2019 7:56 pm
whodidntante wrote: Sun Aug 04, 2019 6:34 pm Can confirm. I had the Merrill+ card that I opened for a large bonus. Preferred Rewards did not apply to the card.
Not available any more, right ? Is there any Merrill card worth getting for bonus now ?
I don't know if that card is still issued. I don't think so. They were taking phone applications for a whle after they stop accepting online applications. Check doctorofcredit.
Looks like the only ML card currently offered is their version of the BofA Premium Rewards card (which appears to be the same card except for the Merrill Lynch logo).
student
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by student »

MisterBill wrote: Mon Aug 05, 2019 12:08 am
whodidntante wrote: Sun Aug 04, 2019 8:38 pm
SlowMovingInvestor wrote: Sun Aug 04, 2019 7:56 pm
whodidntante wrote: Sun Aug 04, 2019 6:34 pm Can confirm. I had the Merrill+ card that I opened for a large bonus. Preferred Rewards did not apply to the card.
Not available any more, right ? Is there any Merrill card worth getting for bonus now ?
I don't know if that card is still issued. I don't think so. They were taking phone applications for a whle after they stop accepting online applications. Check doctorofcredit.
Looks like the only ML card currently offered is their version of the BofA Premium Rewards card (which appears to be the same card except for the Merrill Lynch logo).
This is my understanding too.
ChicagoBear7
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by ChicagoBear7 »

MisterBill wrote: Mon Jul 08, 2019 1:02 pm
ChicagoBear7 wrote: Tue May 07, 2019 11:40 am 1. This is NOT an automatic sweep product. You must call your financial adviser or the 800 Merrill Edge customer service line for each deposit or withdrawal. It's simple, easy and takes only 1 or 2 minutes.
Sorry but having to call to add or remove funds does NOT sound simple or easy. Plus you can do better than 2.07% elsewhere. Of course, if you want/need to keep the money with BofA/ME, it's likely your best option.
FYI - last week I called to make a deposit and the representative said that they are looking to have preferred deposit functionality on the website soon. No details, no target date - just to look out for more information.
MisterBill
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by MisterBill »

ChicagoBear7 wrote: Tue Aug 06, 2019 12:59 pm FYI - last week I called to make a deposit and the representative said that they are looking to have preferred deposit functionality on the website soon. No details, no target date - just to look out for more information.
If they're gonna do work on it, they should just do what Fidelity does and let you select a different core account so you don't have to manually move it to the higher interest account. Of course, Fidelity does not offer that on their CMA account.
rascott
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by rascott »

I rolled a 401k to ME 1st of May. ($200k+)..... my old 401k sent a check directly to them. I had to talk to a ME Rep for the specific instructions....but that was no issue. Money showed up fine, then took about 10 days for funds to clear to allow it to invest (got lucky with timing, and the May market pullback).

Opened a BOA Safe Balance checking account with $25.

Then waited, and waited, and waited.... Expecting the "invite" to sign up for PRs. Called, emailed, several times....got different answers every time. Was promised they would code me for free trades on 3 different occasions while waiting for PR eligibility....never happened.

Finally in early July got the notification I could sign up for PR. Free trades showed up within a day or two. Then my $900 bonus showed up this week...right at 3 months.

Also just got my BOA Premium Rewards card...and will get 50k bonus points after $3k in spend. Then 3.5% cash back travel/restaurants....2.625% on everything else. Best all around card I've seen, recently. Does have a $95 annual fee....but they reimburse $100/yr in incidental airline costs (and free pre-check or Global entry)
jimmyg
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by jimmyg »

ChicagoBear7 wrote: Tue Aug 06, 2019 12:59 pm FYI - last week I called to make a deposit and the representative said that they are looking to have preferred deposit functionality on the website soon. No details, no target date - just to look out for more information.
I just noticed "Deposit" and "Withdraw" options on my Preferred Deposit account, so it looks like the online functionality is active now...
isira
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by isira »

BofA has given me exceptional service since I've joined their platform. Here's the rundown.
  • July 23, wired $100k into Merrill Edge.
  • July 23, transferred $100 into BofA.
  • September 25, applied for BofA Cash Rewards and BofA Premium Rewards credit cards. Requested expedited delivery of cards.
  • September 26, received new credit cards via UPS Overnight.
  • October 3, was able to sign up for Preferred Rewards (Platinum Level) 1 month earlier than expected.
Merrill has also changed their system to allow us to move funds in and out of (all?) their money market funds without having to call in. Previously, you could only do this with one money market fund (BPTXX). I've been able to move money in and out of GOTXX via the mobile app over the past week.
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