Table of Contents
The Bank of America® Travel Rewards credit card is a basic travel rewards card that offers 0% intro APR on purchases, no annual or foreign transaction fees, and 1.5%–3% cash back rewards. In addition to its easy-to-understand rewards program, you also receive $250 in bonus reward points when you spend $1000 in your first 3 months of borrowing.
Quick Review
The Bank of America® Travel Rewards card is a straightforward travel rewards card that offers 1.5% cash back rewards points towards travel and dining expenses with an increased rate of 3% on purchases made through the Bank of America® travel center. There’s also a welcome bonus of $250 in cash back rewards points when you spend $1000 in 90 days.
The flat cashback rates make it easy to manage your rewards without worrying about your spending categories, quarterly caps, or rotating points structures. However, your overall rewards rate is lower than many comparable cards that offer up to 5% cash back in rotating or specialized categories.
A huge point in this card’s favor is that it offers an intro APR of 0% for purchases for 15 months. However, there’s no intro APR for balance transfers, so this card is not a good choice for people who need to consolidate credit card debt through a balance transfer.
This card is less expensive than many other rewards cards, as it has no annual or foreign transaction fees. On the other hand, it has a potentially high APR of 16.99%–26.99% (variable), so if you’re likely to carry a balance, you may want to shop around for a card with a better rate.
Bank of America® Travel Rewards Important Details
Basic Card Details
- Regular APR: 16.99%–26.99% (variable)
- Introductory purchase APR: 0% for 15 months
- Annual fee: $0
- Credit card issuer: Bank of America
Additional Information
- Earn unlimited 1.5 rewards points for every $1 you spend
- 25,000 points sign on bonus ($250) if you make $1,000 in purchases in the first 90 days
- $0 liability for fraudulent charges
- No foreign transaction fees
Bank of America® Travel Rewards Feature Breakdown
Fees
- Annual fee: $0
- Wire transfer purchase fee: $10 or 5% (whichever is greater)
- Balance transfer fee: $10 or 3% (whichever is greater)
- Direct deposit and check cash advance fee: $10 or 3% (whichever is greater)
- ATM, over-the-counter, same-day online and cash equivalent cash advance fee: $10 or 5% (whichever is greater)
- Foreign transaction fee: None
- Late payment fee: up to $40
Notably, this card doesn’t charge the usual Bank of America foreign transaction fee of 3%, making it a great card to carry abroad.
Interest Rates
- Purchase APR: 16.99%–26.99% (variable)
- Introductory purchase APR: 0% for 15 months
- Balance transfer APR: 16.99%–26.99% (variable)
- Direct deposit and check cash advance APR: 19.24% to 29.24% (variable)
- Bank cash advance APR: 31.24% (variable)
- Penalty APR: 29.99% (variable)
Rewards
With the Bank of America® Travel Rewards card, you earn 1.5 points for every dollar you spend using the card. The points can be redeemed as statement credit for dining or travel purchases including: flights, hotels, vacation packages, cruises, rental cars, or baggage fees. You earn 3 points for every dollar spent on travel booked through the Bank of America® travel center.
This card also has a Preferred Rewards program which allows you to earn extra rewards points as well as access to other benefits such as:
- Increased saving interest rates
- No fees for using other banks’ ATMs
- Discounted fees when using Merrill® Guided Investing
- Priority member service
- Discounted mortgage origination fees
- Discounted interest rate for a home equity line of credit
- Discounted interest rate for an an auto loan
- No fees for additional bank accounts
- No fees for banking services
- Discounted foreign currency exchange rates
To qualify for Gold Level of preferred rewards with a 25% more bonus points, you need to have a three-month combined average daily balance of $20,000 or more in Bank of America deposit accounts and/or Merrill® investment accounts.
The Platinum level earns 50% more bonus points, and you need to have a three month combined average daily balance of $50,000 or more.
The Platinum Honors level earns 75% more bonus points and requires a three month combined average daily balance of $100,000 or more.
Cash Advance
The Bank of America® Travel Rewards card allows cash advances. They make a distinction between two types of advances.
The first type of cash advances includes direct deposit and check cash advances. A direct deposit cash advance allows you to deposit cash from your credit card into your checking account. A check cash advance allows you to use a check linked to your credit card account to make a payment. These two types of cash advances are charged an APR of 19.24% to 29.24% and a fee of $10 or 3% (whichever is higher).
The second type of cash advances are bank cash advances. These are charged a higher APR of 31.24% and a higher fee of $10 or 5% (whichever is higher). Bank cash advances include:
- ATM withdrawals
- Withdrawals from a bank teller
- Same-day online money transfers
- Overdraft protection
- Money orders,
- Foreign currency
- Travelers checks
- Person-to-person money transfers
- Bets
- Lottery tickets purchased outside the United States
- Casino gaming chips
- Bail bonds
Balance Transfers
The Bank of America® Travel Rewards card allows for balance transfers, however the introductory 0% APR only applies to purchases. For that reason, this card is not your best choice if you want to transfer a balance, especially because the APR is 16.24%–26.24%, so your transferred balance will likely gain expensive interest charges.
Other Benefits
The Bank of America® travel rewards card comes with other benefits including:
- 0% liability for fraudulent transactions
- Optional overdraft protection for your checking account through Balance Connect®
- Optional fee monthly access to your updated FICO® Score
- Contactless payment
Should You Get the Bank of America® Travel Rewards?
FinanceJar verdict
The Bank of America® Travel Rewards card is a basic travel rewards card with no annual fee, no foreign transaction fees, and 1.5% unlimited travel rewards points earned on all purchases.
If you travel frequently and want a credit card with a simple rewards program at a low cost, this card is a decent pick. However, it may be worth looking at other options that offer higher rewards and lower APR.
Who is this card for?
- Frequent travelers: With no foreign transaction fee and 1.5% cashback rewards that can be redeemed as statement credit towards travel and dining purchases, this card is clearly geared towards travelers. This card offers flexibility because you can redeem your rewards when you book travel yourself, but booking through Bank of America travel center will allow you to earn a higher cashback rate of 3%.
- Bank of America banking customers: Bank of America® offers preferred rewards for their banking customers. Depending on the amount of money you have in your bank accounts, you can qualify for 25%–75% more rewards points, along with access to other perks such as increased savings rates and discounts on banking services.
Comparable Cards
To help you decide if the Bank of America® Travel Rewards card is for you, let’s see how it compares to other rewards cards.
