Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

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avalpert
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by avalpert »

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

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

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

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

It's possible there systems are inconsistent but my guess is it has to do with the periods for calculating your qualifying balance and not the time the checking account was open that was the driving factor.
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Ethelred
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by Ethelred »

This is great, thanks to all three of you for the useful replies.
triceratop wrote:I had similar dates to you. My preferred rewards was activated about a week or two ago.

I am fairly sure that the CSR is incorrect about the requirement for the checking account being open for 90 days. Read the contract, I don't believe it is in there. Look at their own language: "All you need to qualify is an eligible Bank of America® personal checking account and maintain a three-month average combined balance of $20,000 in your Merrill Edge and Merrill Lynch investment accounts and/or your Bank of America deposit accounts." Pretty clear the CSR is wrong.
I think you're probably right, but I'm sure I've seen information elsewhere on the BoA site that the checking account must be open for three days. I wonder if the implementation has been changed some time in the last few months, but they've not updated their website everywhere.
The requirement is to have an eligible BOA personal checking account plus a three month average combined balance of $X dollars. Note that even though you transferred in more than $X dollars you still must have the account open for 90 days. The free trades should show up shortly; one can also always call Merrill Edge and inquire; they are quite responsive in my experience. You can also call ME and ask for some more free trades in the interim until this all gets worked out; they told me they would credit any commissions to my account if I asked. So in my opinion you are too worried about this.
Ah, there are two misunderstandings here:
1. I'm talking about a separate qualification for free trades that's separate to PR. Getting it requires $25k balance in a linked BoA account, or "$25k cash balance" in a ME or ML CMA account.
2. I'm more worried about their systems in general. I guess I'm asking if this is really a bank I can trust with my money. If their poor IT systems miss credit card fraud, say, it would cost us a lot.
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by SVT »

Which checking account is everyone opening? The Core checking or the Interest checking? Does either qualify for this program?
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Earl Lemongrab
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by Earl Lemongrab »

I use Core checking, because I wasn't planning to use the account for anything.
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by Longtermgrowth »

SVT wrote:Which checking account is everyone opening? The Core checking or the Interest checking? Does either qualify for this program?
I went with the interest checking. Just using it to pay an occasional bill to keep it active, though I'm not sure what their definition of active is.
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by jrbdmb »

*3!4!/5! wrote:^ Okay, just reporting my personal datapoint. It is certainly true that BoA IT systems are pretty bad.

That said, although the Preferred Rewards are nice, there's not that much financially at stake in getting them a month or two later, i.e. slightly higher credit card cash back for that time.
For me the largest benefit of Preferred Rewards (Platinum or above) is the free stock / ETF trades. To get that now I have $25,000 parked in a BoA savings account earning basically nothing. Once I qualify for Preferred Rewards I can move all that cash to my ME account. (Deleted incorrect info.)
Last edited by jrbdmb on Mon May 01, 2017 11:18 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by *3!4!/5! »

jrbdmb wrote:
*3!4!/5! wrote:^ Okay, just reporting my personal datapoint. It is certainly true that BoA IT systems are pretty bad.

That said, although the Preferred Rewards are nice, there's not that much financially at stake in getting them a month or two later, i.e. slightly higher credit card cash back for that time.
For me the largest benefit of Preferred Rewards (Platinum or above) is the free stock / ETF trades. To get that now I have $25,000 parked in a BoA savings account earning basically nothing. Once I qualify for Preferred Rewards I can move all that cash to my ME account. Preferred Rewards (Gold and above) also eliminates any monthly fees on BoA accounts, potentially saving me $37/month.
Hmmm that doesn't sound right to me.
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Earl Lemongrab
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by Earl Lemongrab »

jrbdmb wrote:For me the largest benefit of Preferred Rewards (Platinum or above) is the free stock / ETF trades. To get that now I have $25,000 parked in a BoA savings account earning basically nothing.
Did you ask about some free trades? Probably if you had deposited the 25k to ME they would have given you some to start out with until the Preferred Rewards kicks in. I think it's part of their standard bonus offer.
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by jrbdmb »

Earl Lemongrab wrote:
jrbdmb wrote:For me the largest benefit of Preferred Rewards (Platinum or above) is the free stock / ETF trades. To get that now I have $25,000 parked in a BoA savings account earning basically nothing.
Did you ask about some free trades? Probably if you had deposited the 25k to ME they would have given you some to start out with until the Preferred Rewards kicks in. I think it's part of their standard bonus offer.
Good point. My original ME account was for a small amount, so I didn't even ask for (or get) any free trades. However, the IRA account I transferred in did qualify for free trades which should be good for three months.

Looking again at the BoA Interest Checking and MM Savings requirements, all I need to do to avoid monthly fees is keep $10000 somewhere between BoA and ME. So I can move that $25K out the savings account without incurring additional costs.
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by triceratop »

jrbdmb wrote:
Earl Lemongrab wrote:
jrbdmb wrote:For me the largest benefit of Preferred Rewards (Platinum or above) is the free stock / ETF trades. To get that now I have $25,000 parked in a BoA savings account earning basically nothing.
Did you ask about some free trades? Probably if you had deposited the 25k to ME they would have given you some to start out with until the Preferred Rewards kicks in. I think it's part of their standard bonus offer.
Good point. My original ME account was for a small amount, so I didn't even ask for (or get) any free trades. However, the IRA account I transferred in did qualify for free trades which should be good for three months.

Looking again at the BoA Interest Checking and MM Savings requirements, all I need to do to avoid monthly fees is keep $10000 somewhere between BoA and ME. So I can move that $25K out the savings account without incurring additional costs.
This still doesn't sound right. The point people are making is that $10k is likely to yield greater returns when invested at a rate not equal to 0.00000001%, or whatever joke of a rate they offer, than the few commissions you might pay. Or, free commissions at Vanguard / Schwab/ Fidelity.

Even if you didn't invest the $10k in mutual funds or ETFs, imagine if you put that in Ally savings at a 1.05%APY rate. You would earn $536 over a 5 year period until you hypothetically qualified for free trades by having $50k in assets. Are you really going to spend $536 on trades at Merrill Edge?
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by *3!4!/5! »

According to DoC, the BBR card is being discontinued (unsurprisingly).
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by *3!4!/5! »

*3!4!/5! wrote:According to DoC, the BBR card is being discontinued (unsurprisingly).
... and now it's gone.
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by SVT »

BofA just increased the sign up bonus for the Cash Rewards CC. With the 75% bonus for Platinum Honors status, it's now a $262 bonus instead of $175. I wish I waited a little longer...

http://www.doctorofcredit.com/bank-amer ... nding-500/

http://www.bankofamerica.com/credit-car ... edit-card/
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by Longtermgrowth »

I got closer to 200 with the 75% bonus, but it depends on how much gas vs other purchases (1% everything, 2% groceries, 3% gas with 75% added to that in addition to the bonus). I think their boglehead experience (great customers) has temped them to raise the bonus to tempt more bogleheads :wink:
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by triceratop »

SVT wrote:BofA just increased the sign up bonus for the Cash Rewards CC. With the 75% bonus for Platinum Honors status, it's now a $262 bonus instead of $175. I wish I waited a little longer...

http://www.doctorofcredit.com/bank-amer ... nding-500/

http://www.bankofamerica.com/credit-car ... edit-card/
The BOA link is broken. I am able to get to it via google though, which is strange. I'll probably take this deal since I'm not in the Platinum rewards category and only have the travel rewards card. Thanks!
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by SVT »

triceratop wrote:
SVT wrote:BofA just increased the sign up bonus for the Cash Rewards CC. With the 75% bonus for Platinum Honors status, it's now a $262 bonus instead of $175. I wish I waited a little longer...

http://www.doctorofcredit.com/bank-amer ... nding-500/

http://www.bankofamerica.com/credit-car ... edit-card/
The BOA link is broken. I am able to get to it via google though, which is strange. I'll probably take this deal since I'm not in the Platinum rewards category and only have the travel rewards card. Thanks!
Yeah, I already got the Cash Rewards card because I knew I could spend with it now and wait to redeem the cash back once I'm Platinum Honors. I decided to wait on the Travel Rewards until I hit Platinum to have a little more time for the 0% interest for 12 months, although it's only a 2 month difference. I probably should've just applied for both at the same time but I imagine it's too late for them to use the previous inquiry for the Travel Rewards application.
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by triceratop »

Sorry, that was a "now" not a "not" in my previous message. :oops:
"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 SVT »

Does anyone know if I apply for the Travel Rewards card now, would BofA count both apps as 1 inquiry? I applied for the Cash Rewards card on 4/17, so it's been about 1.5 months. I know BofA will count multiple apps at the same time as 1 inquiry, I just don't know how far apart the apps can actually be to count as 1 inquiry.
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by SVT »

So just got off the phone with a Preferred Rewards rep. I asked about when I'd be eligible to enroll in the program. I opened a checking account and a Merrill Edge account with enough to be eligible for Platinum Honors on 4/29. Based on reading others' datapoints in this thread, I thought that I might be eligible to enroll today or tomorrow. I don't see anything about enrolling yet on my home page and the rep at first said my ME accounts weren't linked with BofA accounts. She talked to a ME rep to get the accounts linked but when she got back on the phone with me she said the accounts are already linked but the problem is I need to have the ME accounts opened for 3 months before BofA will be able to see those accounts and therefore be eligible for Preferred Rewards.

Based on reading previous pages on this thread, at least my understanding of what I read, this rep is wrong. Am I correct? I believe it was @*3!4!/5! who said they became eligible 2 days after opening a checking account and 1.5 months after opening and funding ME accounts.

I need to be more patient. I'm just anxious to get going here and get to at least the Platinum tier.
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Earl Lemongrab
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by Earl Lemongrab »

The terms say:
You are eligible to enroll in the Preferred Rewards program if you have an active, eligible Bank of America® personal checking account and maintain a 3-month average combined balance in your qualifying Bank of America deposit accounts and/or your qualifying Merrill Edge® and Merrill Lynch® investment accounts of at least $20,000 for the Gold tier, $50,000 for the Platinum tier, or $100,000 for the Platinum Honors tier.
To have a three-month average, you have to have the accounts for three months. For me it didn't matter because I didn't have the credit card at first and the free trades at Merrill Edge covered the initial period. I seem to recall them explaining the waiting period to me but it was a few years ago.
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by SVT »

Earl Lemongrab wrote:The terms say:
You are eligible to enroll in the Preferred Rewards program if you have an active, eligible Bank of America® personal checking account and maintain a 3-month average combined balance in your qualifying Bank of America deposit accounts and/or your qualifying Merrill Edge® and Merrill Lynch® investment accounts of at least $20,000 for the Gold tier, $50,000 for the Platinum tier, or $100,000 for the Platinum Honors tier.
To have a three-month average, you have to have the accounts for three months. For me it didn't matter because I didn't have the credit card at first and the free trades at Merrill Edge covered the initial period. I seem to recall them explaining the waiting period to me but it was a few years ago.
But I thought it was determined a few pages back that the accounts don't need to be open for 3 months? If you deposit say $150k into Merrill Edge, 1 month later, that would be a 3 month average of $50k. Unless I misunderstood, I thought that was the consensus on how it was determined. There was I think a couple of people who were eligible for Preferred Rewards before 3 months.
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by triceratop »

SVT wrote:
Earl Lemongrab wrote:The terms say:
You are eligible to enroll in the Preferred Rewards program if you have an active, eligible Bank of America® personal checking account and maintain a 3-month average combined balance in your qualifying Bank of America deposit accounts and/or your qualifying Merrill Edge® and Merrill Lynch® investment accounts of at least $20,000 for the Gold tier, $50,000 for the Platinum tier, or $100,000 for the Platinum Honors tier.
To have a three-month average, you have to have the accounts for three months. For me it didn't matter because I didn't have the credit card at first and the free trades at Merrill Edge covered the initial period. I seem to recall them explaining the waiting period to me but it was a few years ago.
But I thought it was determined a few pages back that the accounts don't need to be open for 3 months? If you deposit say $150k into Merrill Edge, 1 month later, that would be a 3 month average of $50k. Unless I misunderstood, I thought that was the consensus on how it was determined. There was I think a couple of people who were eligible for Preferred Rewards before 3 months.
That was argued, yes. But it ran contrary to my lived experience and the words of a ME CSR who I directly asked about this. I didn't want to get into a big deal over it (plus maybe I made some mistake in recalling the details).
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by SVT »

OK, no biggie. I'll just be patient and wait it out for 3 months.
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by *3!4!/5! »

SVT wrote:Based on reading previous pages on this thread, at least my understanding of what I read, this rep is wrong. Am I correct? I believe it was @*3!4!/5! who said they became eligible 2 days after opening a checking account and 1.5 months after opening and funding ME accounts.
Yes, that was my experience. Also the Preferred Rewards qualifying balance updates once a month at about this time, so check in the next day or so.
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by avalpert »

Earl Lemongrab wrote:The terms say:
You are eligible to enroll in the Preferred Rewards program if you have an active, eligible Bank of America® personal checking account and maintain a 3-month average combined balance in your qualifying Bank of America deposit accounts and/or your qualifying Merrill Edge® and Merrill Lynch® investment accounts of at least $20,000 for the Gold tier, $50,000 for the Platinum tier, or $100,000 for the Platinum Honors tier.
To have a three-month average, you have to have the accounts for three months. For me it didn't matter because I didn't have the credit card at first and the free trades at Merrill Edge covered the initial period. I seem to recall them explaining the waiting period to me but it was a few years ago.
This isn't true, I qualified before I had the accounts for 3 months because my 3-month average, even with the 0, was above the threshold.
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by avalpert »

SVT wrote:
Earl Lemongrab wrote:The terms say:
You are eligible to enroll in the Preferred Rewards program if you have an active, eligible Bank of America® personal checking account and maintain a 3-month average combined balance in your qualifying Bank of America deposit accounts and/or your qualifying Merrill Edge® and Merrill Lynch® investment accounts of at least $20,000 for the Gold tier, $50,000 for the Platinum tier, or $100,000 for the Platinum Honors tier.
To have a three-month average, you have to have the accounts for three months. For me it didn't matter because I didn't have the credit card at first and the free trades at Merrill Edge covered the initial period. I seem to recall them explaining the waiting period to me but it was a few years ago.
But I thought it was determined a few pages back that the accounts don't need to be open for 3 months? If you deposit say $150k into Merrill Edge, 1 month later, that would be a 3 month average of $50k. Unless I misunderstood, I thought that was the consensus on how it was determined. There was I think a couple of people who were eligible for Preferred Rewards before 3 months.
Yes, that was my experience. You probably just need to wait a few days before they update the numbers.
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Ethelred
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by Ethelred »

SVT wrote:So just got off the phone with a Preferred Rewards rep. I asked about when I'd be eligible to enroll in the program. I opened a checking account and a Merrill Edge account with enough to be eligible for Platinum Honors on 4/29. Based on reading others' datapoints in this thread, I thought that I might be eligible to enroll today or tomorrow. I don't see anything about enrolling yet on my home page and the rep at first said my ME accounts weren't linked with BofA accounts. She talked to a ME rep to get the accounts linked but when she got back on the phone with me she said the accounts are already linked but the problem is I need to have the ME accounts opened for 3 months before BofA will be able to see those accounts and therefore be eligible for Preferred Rewards.

Based on reading previous pages on this thread, at least my understanding of what I read, this rep is wrong. Am I correct? I believe it was @*3!4!/5! who said they became eligible 2 days after opening a checking account and 1.5 months after opening and funding ME accounts.

I need to be more patient. I'm just anxious to get going here and get to at least the Platinum tier.
I can confirm that it took me about three months after opening the checking account to get PR.

My timeline is:
Merrill Edge account
- application 31 Dec
- approved 17 Jan
- transfer submitted 17 Jan (about $105k)
I'm not sure of the exact date the transfer completed, maybe 10 days after?
BoA account
- application 5 Feb
- approved 5 Feb
- welcome email 15 Feb (not sure why this was delayed)
- Preferred Rewards became available 10 May

Looking back through this thread, I suspect that it was always intended that PR would only become available 3 months after opening the checking account, and BoA reps were told this was the way it worked. It was originally implemented differently, and has recently been changed to work as intended. Avalpert and 3/4/5's experiences would have been before this recent change.
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by triceratop »

Ethelred your timeline and experience is almost identical to mine.
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by *3!4!/5! »

triceratop wrote:I just enrolled in the program after becoming eligible. :beer

There was a highly interesting part of the Terms & Conditions (everybody reads those in full detail....right?).
We will perform an annual review of your qualifying balances in the month following the anniversary date of your initial enrollment in the program. The annual review will calculate your three month average combined balance as of the end of your anniversary month and place you in the balance tier for which you meet the qualification requirements. If the result of the annual review would be to move you to a lower tier, you will have a three month period after your anniversary month in which to restore your qualifying balance before you are moved to that lower balance tier. If you are moved to a lower balance tier, your benefits may be changed to those of the balance tier for which you qualify without further notice. Please note that while you can be moved to a higher balance tier after any month in which you satisfy the combined balance requirement for that tier, you will only be moved to a lower balance tier as a result of the annual review.
Sure looks like one can move assets around during the year to collect other brokerage bonuses, then move the assets back for the annual review. All the while retaining one's Preferred Rewards benefits.

I didn't know of this from reading on the forums so maybe nobody has spotted it before, but it sure sounds like a great loophole.
Where did you find these T&C. I can't find them.
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by dodecahedron »

triceratop wrote:Ethelred your timeline and experience is almost identical to mine.
My timeline is that I had had a BoA checking account with modest operating balances at that branch for years, but I moved in some large balances temporarily into my checking account in the process of settling/consolidating an estate and got promoted to PR within a few weeks of moving those big balances there. (No ME at all first.) Those temporary large balances got invested elsewhere but I retained PR status for almost a year (despite lower bank balances) and then before the anniversary, I opened a Merrill Edge Roth IRA account and moved some Vanguard ETFs (in-kind) there, which not only renewed my PR status but qualified me for $1K in bonus monus after the Roth had been funded for six months. Then a year later I moved some of my Vanguard ETFs in my taxable account (again in-kind) to get another $1K bonus six months after that transfer. I have since transferred out most of my Vanguard ETF holdings (again in-kind) to other custodians but I maintain at least enough at ME to get continuing PR status.
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by triceratop »

*3!4!/5! wrote:
triceratop wrote:I just enrolled in the program after becoming eligible. :beer

There was a highly interesting part of the Terms & Conditions (everybody reads those in full detail....right?).
We will perform an annual review of your qualifying balances in the month following the anniversary date of your initial enrollment in the program. The annual review will calculate your three month average combined balance as of the end of your anniversary month and place you in the balance tier for which you meet the qualification requirements. If the result of the annual review would be to move you to a lower tier, you will have a three month period after your anniversary month in which to restore your qualifying balance before you are moved to that lower balance tier. If you are moved to a lower balance tier, your benefits may be changed to those of the balance tier for which you qualify without further notice. Please note that while you can be moved to a higher balance tier after any month in which you satisfy the combined balance requirement for that tier, you will only be moved to a lower balance tier as a result of the annual review.
Sure looks like one can move assets around during the year to collect other brokerage bonuses, then move the assets back for the annual review. All the while retaining one's Preferred Rewards benefits.

I didn't know of this from reading on the forums so maybe nobody has spotted it before, but it sure sounds like a great loophole.
Where did you find these T&C. I can't find them.
These were the T&C I agreed to when I signed up. I saved them in a PDF titled "Preferred Rewards Terms & Conditions". So most proximally I found them on my harddrive. ;)

They are also on the BoA website by clicking on the PR box, scrolling to the bottom and clicking "See full program Terms and Conditions".
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by *3!4!/5! »

I've looked here
http://info.bankofamerica.com/preferred-rewards/
and various related pages, and I cannot find downloadable T&C anywhere.
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by triceratop »

*3!4!/5! wrote:I've looked here
http://info.bankofamerica.com/preferred-rewards/
and various related pages, and I cannot find downloadable T&C anywhere.
Did you follow the specific instructions I gave to find the T&C? My PDF is simply a screenshot of the page at the time I signed it.

When one is logged in, the "Preferred Rewards" box is clickable. Do that.
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by *3!4!/5! »

triceratop wrote:
*3!4!/5! wrote:I've looked here
http://info.bankofamerica.com/preferred-rewards/
and various related pages, and I cannot find downloadable T&C anywhere.
Did you follow the specific instructions I gave to find the T&C? My PDF is simply a screenshot of the page at the time I signed it.

When one is logged in, the "Preferred Rewards" box is clickable. Do that.
My question was whether you know of a publicly available downloadable copy of the T&Cs.
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triceratop
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by triceratop »

*3!4!/5! wrote:
triceratop wrote:
*3!4!/5! wrote:I've looked here
http://info.bankofamerica.com/preferred-rewards/
and various related pages, and I cannot find downloadable T&C anywhere.
Did you follow the specific instructions I gave to find the T&C? My PDF is simply a screenshot of the page at the time I signed it.

When one is logged in, the "Preferred Rewards" box is clickable. Do that.
My question was whether you know of a publicly available downloadable copy of the T&Cs.
Ah, I didn't see the word public. No I don't know of such a source.
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by *3!4!/5! »

Our balances (for Preferred Rewards tier) normally update monthly on about the 5th, but this month, they just updated now. Not sure why the inconsistency, other than BoA's flaky software.
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tooluser
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by tooluser »

Any idea whether/when the Merrill Edge signup bonus will increase to $1000 as it has done in the past? Is there a historical time frame?
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by JDCarpenter »

tooluser wrote:Any idea whether/when the Merrill Edge signup bonus will increase to $1000 as it has done in the past? Is there a historical time frame?
If he doesn't respond, you should PM Earl Lemongrab. I think he likely knows of the tendencies...
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by Earl Lemongrab »

tooluser wrote:Any idea whether/when the Merrill Edge signup bonus will increase to $1000 as it has done in the past? Is there a historical time frame?
I haven't tracked it closely enough to tell whether there is a trend.
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by SVT »

Well, I just logged into my account today and noticed that I am already eligible to be enrolled in Preferred Rewards! I opened my accounts on 4/29 and deposited the money about a week later. So in my case, I didn't end up having to wait 3 months after all! 8-)
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by madbrain »

JDCarpenter wrote:
tooluser wrote:Any idea whether/when the Merrill Edge signup bonus will increase to $1000 as it has done in the past? Is there a historical time frame?
If he doesn't respond, you should PM Earl Lemongrab. I think he likely knows of the tendencies...
FYI, I had signed up for $600 bonus for $250k after 90 days earlier this year.
Then, I got screwed over by Fidelity about my second $100k account and denied bonus.
I spoke to Merill Edge this week and told them I had an extra $100k ready to transfer. They agree to increase the bonus from $600 to $1000. I have to wait another 6 months, though (9 months total from my initial transfer).
So, I think you can probably get the offer if you talk to them.
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by triceratop »

Has anyone qualified for and used the Level Ii quotes that Merrill offers? I was thinking into may be occasionally useful in submitting limit orders. Only problem is of course you need to have either (a) $1MM invested with Merrill or (b) made 15 trades a quarter with Merrill.

It seems like a dumb requirement to be quite honest. Has anyone found a loophole to access this feature?
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by Mrxyz »

Hi all,
I recently got involved with money churning and have received a modest 1800$ in total bonuses in the last 4 months or so.
I am interested in BOA/ME bonus. I read about it and probably need to call them. I already have a BOA CC and checking account.
I am not sure of which money to transfer (IRA vs CMA). I doubt if I can move my IRA as their are institutional.I do not have more than 200k in Roth.
The website also says a CMA account can be used. What is a CMA account ? Is this same as my taxable account or savings?
Thanks!
Mrxyz
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by Mrxyz »

Mrxyz wrote:Hi all,
I recently got involved with money churning and have received a modest 1800$ in total bonuses in the last 4 months or so.
I am interested in BOA/ME bonus. I read about it and probably need to call them. I already have a BOA CC and checking account.
I am not sure of which money to transfer (IRA vs CMA). I doubt if I can move my IRA as their are institutional.I do not have more than 200k in Roth.
The website also says a CMA account can be used. What is a CMA account ? Is this same as my taxable account or savings?
I follow 3 fund portfolio and have total US stock and total International for my taxable account with bonds in IRAs. If I use my taxable money, then how do I keep my money in the same asset allocation using Merrill Edge?
Thanks!
student
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by student »

Mrxyz wrote:Hi all,
I recently got involved with money churning and have received a modest 1800$ in total bonuses in the last 4 months or so.
I am interested in BOA/ME bonus. I read about it and probably need to call them. I already have a BOA CC and checking account.
I am not sure of which money to transfer (IRA vs CMA). I doubt if I can move my IRA as their are institutional.I do not have more than 200k in Roth.
The website also says a CMA account can be used. What is a CMA account ? Is this same as my taxable account or savings?
Thanks!
Yes. CMA is just their name for taxable account. It probably stands for Cash Management Account. Congratulations of getting $1800 for money churning.
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Earl Lemongrab
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by Earl Lemongrab »

Mrxyz wrote:I am not sure of which money to transfer (IRA vs CMA). I doubt if I can move my IRA as their are institutional.I do not have more than 200k in Roth.
I'm not sure what you mean by institutional here. Generally the best accounts to get bonuses in are Roths of course, because the bonus is never taxed.
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tooluser
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by tooluser »

triceratop wrote:Has anyone qualified for and used the Level Ii quotes that Merrill offers?
This doesn't directly answer your question, but TD Ameritrade offers Level II quotes to all non-professional accounts.

https://www.tdameritrade.com/tools-and-platforms.page
(Table about 2/3 down the page.)

And here I am trying to move some things to Merrill Edge... :)
Like good comrades to the utmost of their strength, we shall go on to the end. -- Winston Churchill
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by Mrxyz »

Earl Lemongrab wrote:
Mrxyz wrote:I am not sure of which money to transfer (IRA vs CMA). I doubt if I can move my IRA as their are institutional.I do not have more than 200k in Roth.
I'm not sure what you mean by institutional here. Generally the best accounts to get bonuses in are Roths of course, because the bonus is never taxed.
So I should transfer my Roth IRA for the bonus and not my taxable accounts? Right now, I do not have that much money in Roth, and regular IRA is from work which is with TIAACREF, and cannot be 'transferred' out.
student wrote:
Mrxyz wrote:Hi all,
I recently got involved with money churning and have received a modest 1800$ in total bonuses in the last 4 months or so.
I am interested in BOA/ME bonus. I read about it and probably need to call them. I already have a BOA CC and checking account.
I am not sure of which money to transfer (IRA vs CMA). I doubt if I can move my IRA as their are institutional.I do not have more than 200k in Roth.
The website also says a CMA account can be used. What is a CMA account ? Is this same as my taxable account or savings?
Thanks!
Yes. CMA is just their name for taxable account. It probably stands for Cash Management Account. Congratulations of getting $1800 for money churning.
So I can use my taxable money to earn this bonus? Transfer the money from Vanguard to Merrill Edge, get the bonus after xyz months, and then transfer back?

Perhaps all this is obvious to others, but not to me. Please advice. Thanks
student
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by student »

Mrxyz wrote:
Earl Lemongrab wrote:
Mrxyz wrote:I am not sure of which money to transfer (IRA vs CMA). I doubt if I can move my IRA as their are institutional.I do not have more than 200k in Roth.
I'm not sure what you mean by institutional here. Generally the best accounts to get bonuses in are Roths of course, because the bonus is never taxed.
So I should transfer my Roth IRA for the bonus and not my taxable accounts? Right now, I do not have that much money in Roth, and regular IRA is from work which is with TIAACREF, and cannot be 'transferred' out.
student wrote:
Mrxyz wrote:Hi all,
I recently got involved with money churning and have received a modest 1800$ in total bonuses in the last 4 months or so.
I am interested in BOA/ME bonus. I read about it and probably need to call them. I already have a BOA CC and checking account.
I am not sure of which money to transfer (IRA vs CMA). I doubt if I can move my IRA as their are institutional.I do not have more than 200k in Roth.
The website also says a CMA account can be used. What is a CMA account ? Is this same as my taxable account or savings?
Thanks!
Yes. CMA is just their name for taxable account. It probably stands for Cash Management Account. Congratulations of getting $1800 for money churning.
So I can use my taxable money to earn this bonus? Transfer the money from Vanguard to Merrill Edge, get the bonus after xyz months, and then transfer back?

Perhaps all this is obvious to others, but not to me. Please advice. Thanks
Yes. It is my understanding. However, read the fine print. The rule is
"make a qualifying deposit to your new account within 45 days," "maintain your qualifying deposit for at least 90 days," and "you'll receive your cash bonus within 2 weeks after the 90-day qualifying period." However, there will be account closing fee.

You may want to give Merrill Edge a chance, there are a number of members of this forum who are satisfied with them especially when they are enrolled in their Preferred Rewards program. viewtopic.php?t=150033
student
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by student »

Mrxyz wrote:
Earl Lemongrab wrote:
Mrxyz wrote:I am not sure of which money to transfer (IRA vs CMA). I doubt if I can move my IRA as their are institutional.I do not have more than 200k in Roth.
I'm not sure what you mean by institutional here. Generally the best accounts to get bonuses in are Roths of course, because the bonus is never taxed.
So I should transfer my Roth IRA for the bonus and not my taxable accounts? Right now, I do not have that much money in Roth, and regular IRA is from work which is with TIAACREF, and cannot be 'transferred' out.
I don't understand about your IRA is from work. Is the following your scenario: You have your workplace retirement account such as 403b and 401k at TIAA-CREF; due to this relationship, you opened an IRA account with them with mutual funds that are not available to their retail customers. If so, I believe you can still transfer out.
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