Bank of America® Customized Cash Rewards Credit Card review: Choose your bonus category

With no annual fee, a $200 online cash rewards bonus after you spend $1,000 in the first 90 days of account opening, and the ability to choose which category you'll earn 3% back in (up to a quarterly cap), it's hard to beat the CardName.

It's a straight-forward, simple credit card. Rewards don't expire, there is no annual fee, and categories for earning your 3% back don't change unless you want them to. It doesn't get much easier than that.

BANK OF AMERICA® CUSTOMIZED CASH REWARDS CATEGORIES

The categories in which you can earn cash back rewards with the CardName are on a tiered system.

• The first one is the 3% cash back tier where you can earn 3% cash back in one of the following categories: gas (now to include electric vehicle charging stations), online shopping (including cable, streaming, internet and phone services), dining, travel, drug stores or home improvement/furnishings. You choose which category depending on where you spend the most money.
• The second tier is 2% at grocery stores and wholesale clubs (up to $2,500 in combined choice category/grocery store/wholesale club quarterly purchases).
• The last tier is 1% cash back on all other purchases.

In addition to these three tiers of cash-back rewards, if you’re a Bank of America Premier Rewards member you can earn 25%-75% more cash back on every purchase made. That means the 3% choice category rewards could be worth as much as 5.25% and the 2% categories could be worth as much as 3.5% back! That’s a steal for a card with no annual fee.

FEATURED CARD

 

Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express

• Earn a $250 statement credit after you spend $3,000 in purchases on your new Card within the first 6 months.
• $0 intro annual fee for the first year, then $95.
• Buy Now, Pay Later: Enjoy $0 intro plan fees when you use Plan It® to split up large purchases into monthly installments. Pay $0 intro plan fees on plans created during the first 12 months from the date of account opening. Plans created after that will have a monthly plan fee up to 1.33% of each eligible purchase amount moved into a plan based on the plan duration, the APR that would otherwise apply to the purchase, and other factors.
• Low Intro APR: 0% on purchases and balance transfers for 12 months from the date of account opening. After that, your APR will be a variable APR of 19.24% - 29.99%. Variable APRs will not exceed 29.99%.
• 6% Cash Back at U.S. supermarkets on up to $6,000 per year in purchases (then 1%).
• 6% Cash Back on select U.S. streaming subscriptions.
• 3% Cash Back at U.S. gas stations.
• 3% Cash Back on transit (including taxis/rideshare, parking, tolls, trains, buses and more).
• 1% Cash Back on other purchases.
• Cash Back is received in the form of Reward Dollars that can be redeemed as a statement credit.
• Get up to $120 in statement credits annually when you pay for an auto-renewing subscription to Equinox+ at equinoxplus.com with your Blue Cash Preferred® Card. That's $10 in statement credits each month. Enrollment required.
• Thinking about getting the Disney Bundle which can include Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+? Your decision made easy with $7/month back in the form of a statement credit after you spend $9.99 or more each month on an eligible subscription (subject to auto renewal) with your Blue Cash Preferred® Card. Enrollment required.
• Terms Apply.

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BANK OF AMERICA® CUSTOMIZED CASH REWARDS REDEMPTION OPTIONS

Just as the name says, this is a cash back rewards-based card. Rewards don't expire. They can be redeemed as a credit on your statement, deposited directly into your Bank of America accounts, or to eligible Merrill accounts.

BANK OF AMERICA® CUSTOMIZED CASH REWARDS FOREIGN TRANSACTION FEE AND OTHER DRAWBACKS

The CardName charges a foreign_fee foreign transaction fee, so if you frequently travel abroad, you might want to consider bringing another card along for your international purchases. This fee might not seem like much in the grand scheme of things, but think about it this way: if you spend $3,000 on a trip abroad with your CardName, you’ll be looking at an extra $90 in fees. This might not be a huge deal to if you rarely travel internationally, especially because this card has no annual fee, however, if you’re taking multiple trips abroad each year, the extra money you’ll spend because of this fee can quickly add up.

Another potential downside of the CardName also depends on your spending habits. You do get to choose the category you want your cash back rewards in, but the cap is $2,500 per quarter. Do the math, do your homework, and make sure it's worth it for you. You don't want to leave money on the table if you could earn more with another card.

Finally, unless you're a Preferred Rewards member, you won't be able to unlock every benefit of the card, including the 25%-75% more cash back on every purchase.

BANK OF AMERICA CUSTOMIZED CASH REWARDS® CARDHOLDER SCORES

CardRatings conducts a survey annually to learn what actual cardholders think of their cards. Here are the results:

HOW BANK OF AMERICA® CUSTOMIZED CASH REWARDS COMPARES TO OTHER CREDIT CARDS

CardName vs. CardName

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With the CardName you'll get 18 months of introductory 0% APR on balance transfers. After the intro period, the APR jumps to RegAPR. If you have a major purchase on the horizon that would be easier to pay off in smaller increments, the balance transfer intro could be appealing. Citi is a CardRatings advertiser.

One unique thing about the Citi Double Cash® Card is that it earns you 1% cash back when you buy and 1% cash back as you pay for those purchases (whether you pay your balance in full or over time, though you must make the minimum payment on time to earn cash back). So while the structure is different than the Bank of America card that offers tiered reward levels of 3%, 2%, and 1%, the Citi card gives you double the opportunity to earn cash back on every purchase made.

CardName vs. CardName

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If it’s the foreign transaction fees that make you weary of the CardName, the CardName might be a suitable alternative as it does not charge the 3% fee that the cash rewards card does.

The other main difference between these two cards is that the CardName gives rewards in points, not in cash. Its welcome offer has the same low spend threshold of at least $1,000 spent in the first 90 days that the account is open; however, instead of getting $200 cash as you would with the cash back rewards card, you earn 25,000 bonus points, which is worth $250 toward travel.

Neither card has an annual fee, and rewards on both cards don't expire as long as your account is open and in good standing. The decision between these two will likely be the question of whether you frequently travel or keep closer to home.

CardName vs. CardName

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These two cards showcase a couple of similar features, but their reward structures are vastly different.

Let's start with the similarities. CardName offers new cardholders a $200 cash-back bonus after spending $500 within three months, which is a lower spending threshold. Neither card charges an annual fee, but both charge a 3% foreign transaction fee on purchases made abroad.

Now for the differences: The primary difference between these two cash back cards is the structure of categories. CardName offers 5% cash back when you activate on up to $1,500 spent in combined purchases in bonus categories that rotate each quarter. The differing quarterly categories could make the decision between which card is best for each cardholder. Sure, you earn a higher percentage back with the Chase card, but you don't get to select the category. You'll have to decide how much control you want when it comes to your rewards earning power if your decision boils down to these two cards.

Information related to Chase Freedom Flex^SM has been collected independently by CardRatings and was neither reviewed nor provided by the card issuer

IS THE BANK OF AMERICA® CUSTOMIZED CASH REWARDS CARD A GOOD CREDIT CARD?

If you like having choices and flexibility and don’t plan to frequently make foreign transactions, CardName could be a good fit for you. To make the most of it though, you need to be on top of your spending habits and know which category would be the best in terms of earning cash back.

This card is also great if you are not the type of person who wants to spend all of their rewards. Instead, you could use it as a savings tool by depositing your cash back rewards into one of your Bank of America accounts.

The CardName is also a sweet deal for Bank of America Preferred Rewards clients as this status helps you to earn additional cash back on every dollar you spend.

Survey Methodology: CardRatings commissioned Op4G in September and October 2022 to conduct surveys among 1,554 cardholders nationwide. CardRatings website analytics from Jan. 1, 2022-Aug. 31, 2022 were used to determine a selection of the most popular cards and additional cards were included to add survey breadth. Responses to each of nine questions were given on a scale of 1-10 and respondents' scores were then averaged under broad topics. To determine the overall score, responses from questions 1-8 were summed and the answer to "How likely are you to recommend this card to a friend, coworker or family member?" was double weighted. "Current Scores" reflect scores from the most recent survey (2022); "Past Scores" reflect scores from the 2021 survey.