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BankAmericard Travel Rewards Credit Card Review

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Who Is the BankAmericard Travel Rewards Card Good For?

The BankAmericard Travel Rewards credit card is good for anyone who wants to earn statement credits toward travel purchases. This card has no transfer partners, but it does have a generous earning scheme, a decent sign-up bonus and no annual fee.

One of the best features of this card is its earning abilities. You’ll get bonus miles with every purchase, which is unusual among travel rewards cards. Every dollar you spend earns 1.5 points, no matter what you buy or who you buy it from.

Bank of America customers earn even more. Depending on your account balance, you can get between 10 and 75 percent bonus points on card purchases.

The card also comes with a solid sign-up bonus of 20,000 points.  That’s worth $200 in travel purchases, which is basically free money since this is a no-fee card.

Bank of America offers a student version of this card: The BankAmericard Travel Rewards for Students card. It comes with the same earning scheme, sign-up bonus and other issuer benefits as the standard BoA Travel Rewards card, but is a basic Visa instead of a Visa Signature. That means you won’t get some perks offered directly from Visa, such as lost baggage reimbursement, trip cancellation insurance and some other travel-related benefits.

Since the BankAmericard for students is designed for those without a long credit history, it’s the perfect card to get if you’re still in school and looking for a way to start building your credit.

Sign-Up Bonus:

The BofA Travel Rewards card comes with a 20,000-point sign-up bonus. You must make $1,000 in purchases within the first three months to receive the bonus.

Points Earned:

  • 1.5 points per dollar spent on all purchases
BankAmericard Travel Rewards Credit Card
BankAmericard Travel Rewards credit card offers a 20,000 mile sign-up bonus

What Do Your Points Get You?

The Travel Rewards card works like a cashback card. You’ll earn points for every purchase you make, and those points can be redeemed for credit toward travel purchases. The simplicity and ease of use of this type of reward program is hard to beat, making it a good option for beginners to the points and miles game.

Simply buy the travel you want and redeem points toward those purchases. You don’t have to worry about award seat availability, blackout dates or anything else. With this card you always know what your points are worth and you’ll never be stuck with a poor redemption rate.

If you’d prefer a more traditional cash back card, consider a BankAmericard MasterCard. There are several cards in Bank of America’s lineup that offer general BankAmericard Rewards.

Usage Perks:

  • No annual fee
  • No foreign transaction fees
  • Points don’t expire
  • 0% introductory APR
  • Bank of America customers receive 10% to 75% bonus points on purchases
BankAmericard Travel Rewards Credit Card benefits
BankAmericard Travel Rewards credit card benefits

Usage Quirks:

  • No transfer partners
  • 3% balance transfer fee
  • Fixed redemption rate
  • No reward sweet spots or bargains

How Far Do Your Points Go?

The redemption rate of BankAmericard rewards points is fixed at one cent each. That’s not fantastic, but because you earn 1.5 points per dollar, you’re essentially getting a value of 1.5 cents per point. That’s not bad.

It gets even better if you’re already a Bank of America customer. Standard account holders get an extra 10 percent points for all purchases. Preferred Rewards clients get between a 25 and 75 percent bonus, depending on status.

Here’s how it breaks down. Standard cardholders get 150 points for every $100 spent. Bank of America account holders, though, get 165 points for the same $100 spend. Gold Preferred Rewards status holders earn 187 points, Platinum status gets 225 and Platinum Honors gets 262.

That means that top status holders get 2.62 cents back for every dollar they spend. That’s a really good return that even experienced travel hackers would be happy to get.

The customer bonus can add up quickly. For example, an average spend of just $2,000 a month would earn a standard cardholder statement credits worth $360 for the year. Platinum Honors clients would get $630 worth of credits for spending the same amount.

Status with Bank of America is determined by the total balance you’re carrying with the bank, including Merrill Edge and Merrill Lynch investment accounts. In addition to point bonuses, status holders also get a variety of other perks, including waived ATM fees, free trades, priority service, better interest rates on loans and more.

The catch is the amount of the balance you have to keep in order to earn status. Gold status requires an average balance of $20,000 to $50,000 for three months; Platinum requires $50,000 to $100,000; and Platinum Honors requires over $100,000. Remember, though, that all Bank of America account holders get a 10 percent bonus, no matter what their balance is.

Additional Cardholder Benefits

  • Zero Liability Guarantee
  • ShopSafe online shopping security
  • Free monthly FICO scores
  • Travel accident insurance
  • Lost luggage reimbursement
  • Trip cancellation coverage
  • Trip delay reimbursement

Editorial Disclosure: Opinions expressed here are 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.

UGC Disclosure: The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.

The Travel Rewards World MasterCard Business Credit Card Review

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Who Is the Travel Rewards World MasterCard for Business Credit Card Good For?

The Travel Rewards World MasterCard for Business from Bank of America is designed for any small business owner or independent contractor who wants to earn WorldPoints travel rewards. It comes with a generous sign-up bonus and earning scheme, particularly for a no-fee card. You’ll be saving money on travel expenses in no time with this WorldPoints credit card.

The WorldPoints Bank of America card comes with a 25,000-point sign-up bonus. That’s worth $250 in statement credits toward travel, which is essentially free money since this card has no annual fee. All you have to do is spend $1,000 in the first 60 days of having the card.

You’ll also earn bonus points on every purchase you make, which is unusual for a travel rewards card. You’ll get 1.5 points per dollar spent for all purchases and an additional 1.5 points per dollar for any purchases made through the Bank of America Travel Center.

It’s worth noting that the Bank of America travel portal is powered by Orbitz. So if you already use Orbitz, you could make the same purchases through the Bank of America portal instead and earn a total of 3 points per dollar. At the very least, you can be confident that Bank of America isn’t inflating the prices offered through their online travel center.

Sign-Up Bonus:

You’ll get 25,000 points after spending only $1,000 in the first two months of having the card.

Points Earned:

  • 3 points per dollar for travel booked through the Bank of America Travel Center
  • 1.5 points per dollar for all other purchases

What Do Your Points Get You?

The Travel Rewards World MasterCard functions like a cashback card. The Bank of America WorldPoints you earn with this card can be redeemed for statement credits toward travel purchases. There are no transfer partners and you can’t redeem for any other BankAmericard rewards.

That isn’t necessarily a bad thing, though. While it’s true that you can get the most value for points or miles by transferring them and redeeming for airfare directly through a frequent flyer program, earning statement credits toward any travel purchases is extremely flexible.

Just buy the travel you want from whomever you want and apply your points to that purchase. There are no blackout dates. Plus you always know exactly what your points are worth. You’ll never be stuck with a poor redemption or a lack of award seats.

Travel is generously defined by the WorldPoints reward program. Travel Center purchases, airfare, hotels, car rentals, cruises, travel agents, taxis, trains, ferries, buses, campgrounds, timeshares, tourist attractions, art galleries, amusement parks, boat rentals and more qualify.

You can redeem points for a travel credit up to a year after making the purchase and transfer points between any WorldPoints accounts in good standing.

Earn points with Travel Rewards World MasterCard for Business Credit
Earn points with Travel Rewards World MasterCard for Business Credit

Usage Perks:

  • No limit on points earned
  • Points don’t expire
  • No foreign transaction fees
  • Transfer points between any WorldPoints accounts
  • No annual fee

Usage Quirks:

  • No transfer partners
  • Points value is fixed

How Far Do Your Points Go?

Since points can only be redeemed for statement credits, their value is fixed. You’ll get 1 cent per WorldPoint. While that’s not great, it isn’t the worst redemption either. And if you factor in the fact that you’ll get 1.5 points for every purchase, it starts to look a bit better. That works out to 1.5 cents per dollar you spend.

While an experienced travel hacker could get a much better value than that with some careful planning, it’s not a bad return considering the flexibility the program offers. You don’t have to wait for award seats to open up or schedule travel on off days or at less popular times. You can travel when you want and still get a solid 1.5-cent return per dollar.

Additional Cardholder Benefits

  • Travel accident insurance
  • Lost luggage reimbursement
  • Trip cancellation coverage
  • Trip delay reimbursement
  • Access to online business cash flow management tools
  • Zero liability
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