Bank of America Preferred Rewards 1 Year Review - You Ain't' Special

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Chapters
0:00 Hey
0:30 Overview
1:59 Checking
3:30 Merrill Lynch
6:19 Savings
7:08 Cards
9:38 User Interface
10:38 Program Thoughts
13:06 Bank Thoughts
15:33 Worth it?
19:36 Bye
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Editorial Note:
Opinions expressed here are the author’s alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, airlines or hotel chain, vendors or companies, and have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities.

[@RJFinancial]

Get started here - www.profitablecontent.com

[@TheCreditFrog]

BofA has really annoying transfer limits, for sure. I’ve always found it to be easier to pull/push from an external account from/to BofA when I need to do transfers because this circumvents those limits!

[@RJFinancial]

The OG Honors member here, it's an honor. That's usually the move but Ally has blocked me from adding more accounts so I had to get creative

[@ilvbunnies]

Interesting, BofA says I have $75K monthly transfer limit for checking, and $50K for Merrill Edge CMA (although unknown whether this is a daily limit or monthly limit ). However BofA's new system can't even link my Schwab checking account to BofA checking so I always have to push out of Merrill lol.

[@mlodyme3675]

I have been BofA customer since LaSalle days. i find the website interface to be very satisfying to use once you get a hang of it. I like the navigation menu and the fact everything is compact and in the same areas. I agree that PNC bank is by far the worse when it comes to not only online interface, but the app is also horrendous. US Bank is also in my opinion at the bottom of the barrel for online interface and app is not that much better. Chase and Citi are nothing to rave about either. I actually never like the new Chase web interface which is only few year old since the change which took them way to long and it seemed that for the longest time I lived in two different worlds when it came to Chase online banking. the one part that I wish BoFA done better and copy Chase is the Zelle management and ability to request reoccurring money requests etc.

[@RJFinancial]

Interesting. I'd say the best UI's are Amex, Citi, Chase, and Capital one... that I've used. Agree on US Bank, horrible. The apps seem better in all cases and for Chase I use my business login which is a different look and layout than my personal was. But hey, I do agree that you can get the hang of it and I've seen some upgrades, especially in the app.

[@mlodyme3675]

@@RJFinancial I appreciate the response. To add to my comments about BofA vs Chase. I am not sure what kind of clown designed the Chase's top navigation menu, not only you are forced to click on each item - nothing auto expends (like with BofA), but you never what what happens next. Some menus will expand, some will take you to the next page, and the pages are not even consistent, as if each page was designed by a different team. BofA suffers from similar problem, that some of pages follow different styles/designs, but at least menu auto expands :) The Chase's MFA is annoying as it asks to repeat the password and I find that many Password manager apps get confused and try to re-populate both user name and password, but the 2nd field is used for the Text code and the first box is for password. BofA provides details about every checking transaction, in a nice pop-up box, Chase, does not, and the transactions that offer additional details have a little arrow at the end of the line, and that takes you to a new page and going back resets the position on the screen to to top - horrible UI for a basic navigation. Perhaps I am biased cause I ahve been using BofA for so long, but I have been dealing with Chase for a decade as well, and there are many other examples where Chase leaves me scratching my head. Like I said before, I only wish Bofa adopted some of the Zelle functionality that Chase has, otherwise, I find BofA much more cohesive and satisfying experience in my opinion. I will add that I have experienced a delayed MFA code from BofA, but I log to the account 5-10 times a day and that happens perhaps once a month. I almost want to blame my cell carrier for the occasional delay, but who knows. I will say to whoever is new to either bank - they both have UI navigation quicks and both will allow you to accomplish pretty much the same thing.

[@ilvbunnies]

@@RJFinancial My feeling is BofA and US Bank both try to shove the entire website functionality into a mobile app. After 5 years with both BofA and US Bank I guess I got used to the mobile apps and tapping around to get what I want is second nature at this point... modern day stockholm syndrome.

[@PatrickDKing]

I got the custom cash because of the 3% home improvement category. This week I had to get a leaky roof fixed, so last year I started making quarterly prepayments to tap out the 3% and then maxed the card out for the year of 0%. My goal is to try to always pay, especially big ticket items, with a 0% card and cash back. However!!!...I called to get my monthly payment date changed because you can't do it online and yes the web interface sucks and after an hour and a half of being on hold I hung up. Never did get the date changed. Truly horrible experience.

[@RJFinancial]

Even regional Huntington has a call back feature... I believe some places are designed horrible on purpose

[@aaronhersom7230]

When we started banking with BOA and eventually Merrill we went into a branch and had their ME representative assist in setting up the accounts. Any of the investments that we moved into the account the checks never came to us always to Merrill. Were happy with the CC with Preferred Rewards. I'm no day trader but for mostly holding ETF's it's straight forward to me.

[@RJFinancial]

That's fair. The relationship stuff likely works better if you into a branch vs dealing with the back office

[@siumaka]

I've used BOA for a long time and pretty much feel the same way. It's love/hate relationship. I wish BOA would waive FTFs for Customized cash reward cards if you're platinum honors. Also, it would be nice if they made it easier to track when you near the 1/4ly $2,500 threshold. Merrill Lynch UI is clunky... I just buys ETFs and leave. BOA branches have always given good/excellent customer service. The priority phone line for higher preferred rewards tier members is a joke.

[@RJFinancial]

All good points and I agree. These are easy things to implement that should be done

[@caribdude8151]

Happy 5/24 Day RJ! 😁

[@RJFinancial]

Lol thank you sir

[@DallinBunnell]

I had a business checking account with BOA and it was abismal. We now only have the Alaska Airlines card. It's still a pretty bad UI, but it's bearable. If someone wanted a "1 and done" setup, Chase or SoFi would be way better.

[@RJFinancial]

I did the biz checking too and the cards, both awful. I'm doing one now for a $500 offer... I can endure for the money I suppose.

[@StrongLikeWater612]

If you were going to try to do everything with one financial institution, would you choose BofA (with Platinum Honors Preferred Rewards) or a different bank/credit union?

[@RJFinancial]

You could do it and it'd probably be fine. I don't think I would due to the horrible UI on all their platforms. App is getting better to be fair. I'd likely go with Chase, tho they're notorious for random shutdowns on deposit accounts so I don't feel great about that either

[@PatrickDKing]

Never do everything with one financial institution, especially never have all your cash/investments with a bank where you have debt obligations.

[@jinWhuang]

Then it will be Chase over BoA, easily beat BoA in every category. Even US bank is giving me a better experience. And Wells Fargo feels not too bad now, but it was the old shady business practices that kept them having bad reputation.

[@thejokerspeaks]

I liked Preferred Rewards, Merill Edge, and some of the credit cards. Not a fan of BofA for very similar reasons.

[@RJFinancial]

They're so awful. Since I taped this I got another biz card with them... you have to register it in bill pay to pay it. You can't simply hit pay now like all other cards

[@evangibson8020]

Based RJ

[@scarling9367]

Your online experience sounds a lot like my regional bank. It was a pain to link and transfer funds with my Capital One account.

[@RJFinancial]

I just tried again with a BOA biz card... have to register it within BOA bill pay to pay a BOA card... why

[@juliegreb6859]

I also have the primer status, use it to get 5.25% on gas.

[@RJFinancial]

Shout out!

[@curmudgeonextraordinaire1884]

When I rolled over my 457b in an IRA with Schwab, the old custodian sent the check directly to Schwab. All I had to do was fill out some paperwork. I personally would avoid anything BoA. It’s a shame that such as shit bank has that rewards program.

[@RJFinancial]

I'm in too deep now. Got another biz card last month lol. That is much better though, the mailing a check thing is so silly

[@ctcristo]

I don't understand the diamond status at all. It requires 10x the deposit and not a lot of additional benefits.

[@RJFinancial]

It's a joke... I remember when they came out with it. At that point you should get the premier elite card for free at the least

[@jinWhuang]

BoA’s consumer side is terrible, cards, communication, service, banking engineering, apps, bill pay, etc. the business side, the product is not as bad, at least there are some services. Can’t understand how they are number 2.

[@RJFinancial]

You also get that big via mergers and people never leave. Plus the big name makes people feel safer for some reason

[@flubberghosted2472]

💰💰💰💯💯💯

[@Doggieman1111]

Sounds like a lot of work and uncertainty

[@RJFinancial]

Eh, I'd say more tediousness due to the awful UI. I got another biz card bonus and figuring out how to make the payment took way longer than it should have for example

[@kazi1]

Yo

[@kennethbatts5182]

Bank of America is the only major bank I really ever see besides wells fargo.

[@RJFinancial]

True, I can only think of a handful of branch locations here. They also don't advertise much compared to the others. Not having referral links also kills their popularity in our groups.

[@newagain9964]

BofA has subpar service, cards, and tech. And doesn’t respect no solicitation (worse, they physically mailed me offers for junk cards!). no way I’d let them/merrilllynch manage my wealth. As if ML even knows what it’s doing. How did BofA end up owning them again…😂

[@RJFinancial]

I actually read the book written about the takeover. Mostly classic case of being over leveraged on mortgage back securities and bad management.

[@newagain9964]

@@RJFinancial yup. Aka incompetence. They were also one of the worst brokerages for personal accts. I hope Air France/klm leaves BofA soon. Would be cool if went to cap one

[@Pkpkpk78]

BoA sucks! Closed 2 of my credit cards out of the blue!

[@RJFinancial]

Yep, that'll happen sometimes. All banks can do it, one of the things that needs to change most for regulations in my opinion

[@Pkpkpk78]

@@RJFinancial 100%

[@bctsteve]

I couldn’t agree more. I was so disappointed when I transferred in funds to be a preferred rewards member and then had to deal with the clunky interface for both Bank of America and Merrill Lynch. I don’t understand how they can continue to not fix it and not be totally embarrassed by it.

[@RJFinancial]

Its so awful and they have so much money... which makes it worse because now it's a choice to be that awful

[@lopezzepol1]

I’m banking on Trump being the preferred candidate by the American electorate! You ain’t special Biden!

[@RJFinancial]

Did you see the Russian satellite launch story... getting set for another fix

[@lopezzepol1]

@@RJFinancialyou’re Russian to conclusions! Putin is a good man!

[@flubberghosted2472]

🥴🥴🥴🥴🥴🥴

[@daw7773]

It’s shows how far the US political parties have declined…the Republicans encouraged Nixon to resign as President after just a Watergate scandal and Trump has been charged with 40 felonies have gained full support. Biden and Trump are both suffering from Dementia and Biden should definitely not run a second term. But the Democratic Party will not tell him to let another appropriate, mentally stable candidate run for President. SMH

[@daw7773]

@@lopezzepol1 Some thought Hitler was a “good” man too.