Bank of America Premium Rewards Visa Signature Review
Updated June 10, 2023
The Facts
The Math
BofA Premium Rewards Via (PR Visa) has a $95 annual fee but offers $100 annual airline incidental credit.
Without a Preferred Rewards status, PR Visa offers mediocre cashback rewards of 1.5% (or 1.65% with a banking relationship) for general spending and 2% (or 2.2% with a banking relationship) for travel/dining. You would be better to go with a non-fee 2% cashback card like Citi Double Cash or Fidelity Visa. Also bear in mind that PR Visa's points can't be transferred to frequent traveler miles/points, if you appreciate the value or benefits of miles/points, you would be better to consider premium travel cards with enhanced category bonus such as Chase Sapphire Reserve, Citi Premier, Amex Gold, etc.
For higher-tier BofA Preferred Rewards clients, however, this card may be hugely lucrative. The following table summarizes the enhanced rewards after the banking relationship bonus.
The Facts
- Annual Fee: $95
- Signup Bonus: 60,000 points when you spend at least $4,000 within 3 months of new account opening. Historical best bonus of this card: 60,000 points in 2023; 50,000 points since introduced in 2017.
- Application Landing Page
- Rewards: 2x travel and dining, 1.5x everywhere else. In addition, you receive banking relationship bonus for all your earned rewards: (1) a 10% bonus when you have a BofA checking or savings account or Merrill Lynch account, (2) a 25% bonus when your 3-month average combined balance with BofA is $20K to $50K (Preferred Rewards Gold level), (3) 50% when your balance is $50K to $100K (Preferred Rewards Platinum level), and (4) 75% when your balance is $100K+ (Preferred Rewards Platinum Honors level).
- Best Use of Premium Rewards points: you may redeem your points for cash, statement credit, deposit into your BofA checking or savings account, or contribution to an eligible Merrill Lynch account, at 1 cent per point. You may also redeem points for travel or gift cards at the same rate.
- Annual $100 airline incidental credit each calendar year; incidentals include check bag fees, change ticket fees, preferred seating upgrades, onboard meals, airport lounge day passes, and so on. There have been reports of successful reimbursement of certain airline gift cards.
- Other Benefits: (1) Waived foreign transaction fees, with an embedded EMV chip. (2) TSA PreCheck ($85) or Global Entry ($100) application fee reimbursement, every four years.
- Travel and Consumer Protection: BofA Premium Rewards enjoys the highest level of travel and consumer protection among all BofA cards.
The Math
BofA Premium Rewards Via (PR Visa) has a $95 annual fee but offers $100 annual airline incidental credit.
Without a Preferred Rewards status, PR Visa offers mediocre cashback rewards of 1.5% (or 1.65% with a banking relationship) for general spending and 2% (or 2.2% with a banking relationship) for travel/dining. You would be better to go with a non-fee 2% cashback card like Citi Double Cash or Fidelity Visa. Also bear in mind that PR Visa's points can't be transferred to frequent traveler miles/points, if you appreciate the value or benefits of miles/points, you would be better to consider premium travel cards with enhanced category bonus such as Chase Sapphire Reserve, Citi Premier, Amex Gold, etc.
For higher-tier BofA Preferred Rewards clients, however, this card may be hugely lucrative. The following table summarizes the enhanced rewards after the banking relationship bonus.
| BofA Preferred Rewards level | BofA and Merrill combined balance | General spending rewards | Travel | Dining rewards |
| Gold | 20K-50K | 1.875% | 2.5% |
| Platinum | 50K-100K | 2.25% | 3% |
| Platinum Honors | 100K+ | 2.625% | 3.5% |
As you can see, once you reach Platinum or Platinum Honors level, this card becomes so lucrative that it has the potential to beat all other cashback cards in the market. And if you set aside the flexibility of miles/points transfer feature of those premium travel cards mentioned above, PR Visa may also have them beaten, at least on paper.
PR Visa vs. BofA Travel Rewards Visa (TR Visa): They are actually very similar with 1.5% rewards (and potentially as high as 2.625% for Preferred Rewards clients) for general spending. The differences are: (1) PR Visa has a $95 annual fee but offers annual $100 airline credit; (2) PR Visa offers 2x for dining and travel categories; (3) While the travel & gift card redemption rates are the same at 1 cent, PR Visa's cash redemption rate is better than TR Visa's (1 cent vs. 0.6 cent); (4) PR Visa offers TSA PreCheck or Global Entry application credit. The bottom line: if you could make use of the annual $100 airline credit, you should definitely go with PR Visa.
Conclusion
BofA PR Visa is unimpressive for customers with a combined balance less than 50K, but will be a cashback powerhouse for Platinum or Platinum Honors clients. Whether or not you could/should keep such a high balance with BofA/Merrill is obviously down to your own financial situation.
PR Visa vs. BofA Travel Rewards Visa (TR Visa): They are actually very similar with 1.5% rewards (and potentially as high as 2.625% for Preferred Rewards clients) for general spending. The differences are: (1) PR Visa has a $95 annual fee but offers annual $100 airline credit; (2) PR Visa offers 2x for dining and travel categories; (3) While the travel & gift card redemption rates are the same at 1 cent, PR Visa's cash redemption rate is better than TR Visa's (1 cent vs. 0.6 cent); (4) PR Visa offers TSA PreCheck or Global Entry application credit. The bottom line: if you could make use of the annual $100 airline credit, you should definitely go with PR Visa.
Conclusion
BofA PR Visa is unimpressive for customers with a combined balance less than 50K, but will be a cashback powerhouse for Platinum or Platinum Honors clients. Whether or not you could/should keep such a high balance with BofA/Merrill is obviously down to your own financial situation.