💳 A Guide to BoA: Best Cards, Perks, and Up to 5.25% Cash Back

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I used to think Bank of America wasn’t even in the conversation when it came to the best rewards cards. However, after digging in and now holding five BoA cards between my wife and me, I’ve realized they might actually have the strongest cashback lineup out there.

In this post, I’ll break down their full card lineup, how the Preferred Rewards program can supercharge your earnings, the rules and quirks you need to know, and the unique perks that make BoA a serious contender. 

Note: I also recorded a full podcast episode about the BoA line up on Ep #247 or you can watch the video version below. 

🥇 The BoA Cards Tier List

Here’s how I’d rank the Bank of America lineup, from the best of the best to the cards you can safely ignore.

S Tier – Top of the Pack

• Bank of America® Premium Rewards® Elite: My favorite card in the BoA lineup. At Platinum Honors, it earns 2.625% everywhere and 3.5% on travel/dining, with a 25% uplift on flight redemptions that pushes it to 3.28% and 4.375% respectively. Add $450 in credits, Priority Pass with restaurants, and great protections, it’s the best cashback card on the market today.
• The Atmos™ Rewards Visa Summit Card: The best option for Atmos/Alaska flyers. Huge signup bonus, 25k annual companion fare, waived same-day change fees, elite status boost, and 3x dining/foreign spend. If you fly Alaska regularly, this one’s a no-brainer.
• Bank of America® Business Advantage Unlimited Cash Rewards Mastercard®: Quietly one of the best business cash back cards available. At Platinum Honors for Business, it earns 2.625% cash back on everything, uncapped.

A Tier – Excellent Picks with a Few Caveats

• Bank of America® Unlimited Cash Rewards: A simple, no-fee card that earns 1.5% everywhere (2.625% with Platinum Honors). Great for everyday spend, though the foreign transaction fees make it less ideal for travel.
• Bank of America® Premium Rewards®: At $95/year, this card is a workhorse. You get a $100 airline incidental credit, TSA Pre/Global Entry, and at Platinum Honors it earns 2.625% everywhere and 3.5% on travel/dining.
• Bank of America® Business Advantage Customized Cash Rewards Mastercard®:Strong business card with 3% back in your chosen category (gas, office supply stores, travel, TV/telecom, business consulting). At Platinum Honors, that’s 5.25% up to $50k/year, worth up to $1,300 annually with no fee.

B Tier – Good, But With Limits

• Bank of America® Customized Cash Rewards: Earns 3% in a chosen category (gas, online shopping, dining, travel, drug stores, or home improvement/furnishing). With Platinum Honors that’s 5.25%, but capped at $10k/year. A solid card, but limited by the cap.
• Susan G. Komen® Customized Cash Rewards Visa®: Same structure as the Customized Cash, but tied to donations to the Susan G. Komen foundation. Nice if you want to support the cause, but otherwise identical and capped at $10k/year.
• Bank of America® Travel Rewards: No-fee card earning 1.5 points per dollar (2.625% with Platinum Honors). Points can only be redeemed against travel/dining purchases, which makes it less flexible than straight cash back but it has no foreign transaction fees.
• Bank of America® Business Advantage Travel Rewards World Mastercard®: Similar to the personal Travel Rewards, this earns 1.5 points per dollar (2.625% with Platinum Honors) but with the same travel-only redemption restriction.

C Tier – Niche Use or Limited Value

• The Atmos™ Rewards Ascent Visa Signature Card: The lower-tier Atmos/Alaska card. Comes with fewer perks and weaker earn rates than the Summit, so I’d only consider it for the signup bonus.
• Air France KLM World Elite Mastercard: Only valuable if you’re chasing Flying Blue elite status, particularly because that’s required to redeem miles for La Première first class. For most people, it’s too niche to be worthwhile.
• The Atmos™ Rewards Visa Business Card: Business version of the Alaska/Atmos card, but weaker than the Summit or Unlimited Cash. Makes sense only for frequent Alaska flyers who want to consolidate with BoA.

D Tier – Skip These

• Free Spirit® Travel More World Elite Mastercard®
• Allways Rewards Visa® Card
• Celebrity Cruises Visa Signature® Credit Card
• Royal Caribbean® Visa Signature® Credit Card
• Norwegian Cruise Line® World Mastercard® Credit Card

🎯 Best Uses for Preferred Rewards

Bank of America does not have a transferable points currency, so there’s no option to transfer BoA points to external airlines or hotel partners. However, the real reason BoA cards shine is their Preferred Rewards program.

💵 Cash Back

Depending on how much you keep with Bank of America and Merrill Lynch accounts (including checking, CDs, brokerage accounts, and retirement accounts like a Roth IRA), you get a 25–75% boost on all rewards.

• Gold ($20k): +25% bonus
• Platinum ($50k): +50% bonus
• Platinum Honors ($100k): +75% bonus
• Diamond ($1M+): Still just 75%, so no need to overshoot

At Platinum Honors, a simple 1.5% Unlimited Cash card becomes 2.625% back everywhere. Pair that with Premium Rewards Elite and you’re looking at uncapped earnings that beat every other cash back setup out there.

🧳 Premium Rewards Elite Travel Portal

This is where you get the most outsized value. If you use points from the Premium Rewards Elite Card (or points transferred to it from other BoA cards) to book flights through the BoA travel portal, you get a 20% discount on the points required. This is where the 2.625% earning rate turns into 3.282%.

🚫 Skip These Uses

The only real “bad” use is locking yourself into limited redemptions. For example, the Travel Rewards card earns “points” that can only offset travel/dining, which is less flexible than straight cash back. Same with BankAmeriDeals because I’d never choose BoA just for those offers.

📋 Key BoA Rules to Know

Bank of America has its own set of rules and quirks you need to be aware of when applying.

🕒 Application Rules

• The 2-3-4 Rule: You can open a maximum of two cards every two months, three cards every 12 months, and four cards every 24 months.
• The 3-12 Rule (General): Similar to Chase 5/24, you are usually unlikely to be approved if you’ve opened three or more cards with any bank in the past 12 months.
• The 7-12 Rule (BoA Customer): If you have a Bank of America checking account, the rule relaxes to seven accounts opened in the past 12 months, giving you a much higher likelihood of approval.
• 5 Consumer Card Limit: You are limited to a maximum of five Consumer Bank of America cards.
• Combining Hard Inquiries: BoA often combines hard inquiries if you apply for multiple cards (personal and business) on the same day, or sometimes up to 30 days apart.
• 24 Month Rule: Some Bank of America cards require waiting 24 months after opening or canceling before reapplying, but the rule isn’t applied consistently and can vary by card and person.

🔐 Credit Limits

Bank of America is really generous with credit lines over time. Initial limits can be high ($20,000 to $30,000), and I’ve seen them increase up to $100,000 on some cards. You can call in every 90 days to request an increase, and often these increases are processed without a hard inquiry. Plus, can also reallocate credit between cards, though the process is a little slow.

🤔 Other Nuances

• Business Card UI: A small pain point is that every business card has two accounts when you log in (a confusing corporate account and a card account).
• Bill Pay Issues: It’s historically been difficult to pay your credit card bill if you are not paying it from a Bank of America account, although they are about to launch a new bill pay system that hopefully fixes this.
• IT Infrastructure: The app and website are not the best; they seem to be running on old school infrastructure, even though they have the basic features you need.

🤩 Unique BoA Perks

🤑 BankAmeriDeals

These are BoA’s card-linked offers which are mostly online and not as compelling as other portals like Rakuten. Sometimes you’ll find decent retail offers like 10% off at Uniqlo or Shake Shack, but the business offers seem "totally useless.”

🏛️ Free Museum Access 

I love this perk via the Museums on Us program, where you get free access to 235 museums across 41 states on the first full weekend of the month. This includes major institutions like the MET and MoMA in New York. The catch: you need a Bank of America or Merrill Lynch credit card or debit card for each person. A hack we’re looking into is getting free SafeBalance accounts/debit cards for our kids, as accounts are often free for those under 25, so they can get in free too.

🔚 Final Thoughts: How BoA Stacks Up

Bank of America right now might have the best cash back card lineup out there. Assuming you can qualify for Platinum Honors status and get that 1.75x boost, the ability to earn 2.625% on everything (or 3.282% with the Elite card transfer strategy) uncapped and with the potential for really high credit limits is incredible.

On the business side, getting 2.625% cash back uncapped is also amazing. The new Atmos Summit card is also awesome, offering unique high earning categories and great travel perks.

The biggest downside is that it’s hard to get outsized transfer value from their rewards because they don't have a transferable points currency. But overall, I’m really stoked with Bank of America lately. If you’re on team cash back, you need to be looking at their Platinum Honors boosted cards.

Editor’s Note: The content on this page is accurate as of the posting date; however, some of our partner offers may have expired. Opinions expressed here are the author's alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, hotel, airline, or other entity. This content has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of the entities included within the post.