- Intro bonus:$200
- Annual fee:$0
- Regular APR:13.99% – 23.99% Variable APR on purchases and balance transfers
- Recommended credit score:670-850 (Good to Excellent)
Earn 3% cash back in the category of your choice (up to $2,500 in combined choice category/grocery store/wholesale club quarterly purchases). Earn automatic 2% at grocery stores and wholesale clubs (up to $2,500 in combined choice category/grocery store/wholesale club quarterly purchases). Earn unlimited 1% on all other purchases.
NextAdvisor’s Take
- Tiered cash back rewards
- 0% Introductory APR for 15 billing cycles on purchases and balance transfers
- $200 online cash rewards bonus
- No annual fee
- Limited rewards potential if you consistently exceed rewards caps in choice categories
- 3% balance transfer fee ($10 minimum)
Additional Card Details
- Introductory 0% APR for first 15 billing cycles after account opening for purchases and for any balance transfers made within the first 60 days, after which you will receive a variable APR of 13.99% to 23.99%. A 3% fee (minimum $10) applies to all balance transfers.
- You can change your selection for the 3% category every calendar month, among: gas, online shopping, dining, travel, drug stores, or home improvement/furnishings
- Earn 25%-75% boosted rewards if you’re a Bank of America Preferred Rewards member
- Access free FICO score, updated monthly
Bank of America Customized Cash Rewards Credit Card Full Review
Card Type
The Bank of America Customized Cash Rewards Credit Card is a cash back credit card with tiered bonus rewards categories.
Annual Fee
The Bank of America Customized Cash Rewards credit card has no annual fee.
Welcome Offer
You can earn a $200 cash rewards bonus after making $1,000 in purchases during the first 90 days of account opening.
This card also has an introductory 0% APR offer for new purchases and balance transfers made within 60 days of account opening. There’s a variable 13.99% – 23.99% variable APR after that, and balance transfers incur a 3% ($10 minimum) fee.
Rewards
The Bank of America Customized Cash Rewards Credit Card offers tiered cash back rewards, but this card stands apart for the choice you’ll have in your rewards categories. You can earn 3% cash back on a category of your choice (up to $2,500 in combined choice category/grocery store/wholesale club quarterly purchases), among:
- Gas
- Online shopping
- Dining
- Travel
- Drug stores
- Home improvement/furnishings
You’ll also get 2% cash back at grocery stores and wholesale clubs (up to $2,500 in combined choice category/grocery store/wholesale club quarterly purchases), and 1% cash back on all other purchases.
Fees
After the introductory 0% APR, you’ll pay a variable APR of 13.99%-23.99% on any balances. There is also a 3% fee (minimum $10) applied to all balance transfers.
If you make a late payment, you may be charged a fee up to $40 and potentially take on this card’s penalty APR up to 29.99%. There’s also a 3% foreign transaction fee on any purchases you make abroad.
Benefits of the Bank of America Customized Cash Rewards Credit Card
One of the big benefits of this card is the ability to customize rewards to fit the categories where you do most of your spending. You can change your selection for the 3% category every calendar month, and customize to your advantage. For example, if you have a road trip coming up you can change the 3% category to gas, or to online shopping for the holiday season.
This card’s 0% intro APR on purchases and balance transfers is also a great benefit. Fifteen months isn’t the longest intro period available, but it still gives you more than a year to pay down a large upcoming purchase or existing debt interest-free.
Preferred Rewards
You can maximize rewards even further if you are a Bank of America Preferred Rewards member. You’ll earn 25% – 75% more cash back on every purchase, meaning your choice of 3% category could go up to 5.25% cash back — a great value. You need an active Bank of America checking account and a three-month combined average daily balance of $20,000 or more in qualifying deposit or investment accounts to enroll in Preferred Rewards.
Drawbacks of the Bank of America Customized Cash Rewards Credit Card
The $2,500 cap on combined rewards in the 3% and 2% cash back categories can be limiting if you spend heavily in those categories. Other cards may offer unlimited or more lucrative rewards offerings for categories where you spend the most.
How to Use the Bank of America Customized Cash Rewards Credit Card
If you’re dedicated to paying it off on time every month, there’s no reason why this card couldn’t be used for everyday spending — but there may be better cards out there. Groceries, for example, are not a top cash back category option. And other cards may offer as much as 6% cash back on groceries or dining.
This card can be a valuable rewards tool if you use it responsibly. The ability to choose your 3% cash back category makes this card a more-customizable cash back tool than other similar cards. You can choose from gas, online shopping, dining, travel, drug stores, or home improvement/furnishings for your top cash back category. You’ll get automatic 2% cash back at grocery stores and wholesale clubs (up to $2,500 in combined choice category/grocery store/wholesale club quarterly purchases), and 1% on all other purchases.
The combination of tiered rewards and introductory APR gives this card some serious rewards potential. If you have any large expenses coming up, like home improvements, this card may make it easier for you to spread out the costs of bigger purchases, like appliances, thanks to the intro 0% APR on purchases and balance transfers for the first 15 billing cycles (13.99% to 23.99% variable APR thereafter). And if you choose home improvements as your 3% cash back category, you can get an even larger rewards boost.
It may be limiting depending on how much you typically spend per month. For the 3% category of your choice and the 2% grocery store/wholesale club category, you’ll only earn those percentages on the combined first $2,500 spent each quarter, then 1% on both categories after that. Again, Other cards may offer higher rewards rates on some of these categories without the same spending cap.
Where this card excels, though, is customization. The ability to choose your top cash back category puts the power in your hands to actually choose a category you spend the most in. Whether that’s gas, online shopping, dining, travel, drug stores, or home improvement/furnishings, you’ll be able to have a say in how dollars are coming back to your wallet.
Balance Transfers
Again, if your main goal is to pay off existing debt or finance a large purchase to pay off over the 0% APR intro period, you can find longer periods and lower fees elsewhere. Either way, you need a plan in place to actually pay off your existing balance by the time that period is over, or you run the risk of being hit with a high-penalty APR and fees.
You also need to be prepared to make that balance transfer as soon as possible after opening your card, as transactions must be posted to your account within 60 days. And your balance transfer fee will be either $10 or 3% of the amount of the transaction, whichever is greater.
Bank of America Customized Cash Rewards Credit Card Compared to Other Cards
Bank of America® Customized Cash Rewards credit card
- Intro bonus:$200
- Annual fee:$0
- Regular APR:13.99% – 23.99% Variable APR on purchases and balance transfers
- Recommended credit:670-850 (Good to Excellent)
- Learn more At our partner’s secure site
Chase Freedom Unlimited®
- Intro bonus:$200
- Annual fee:$0
- Regular APR:14.99% – 24.74% Variable
- Recommended credit:670-850 (Good to Excellent)
- Apply Now At Chase’s secure site
Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express
- Intro bonus:$300
- Annual fee:$0 introductory annual fee for the first year, then $95.
- Regular APR:13.99%-23.99% Variable
- Recommended credit:670-850 (Good to Excellent)
- Learn more At our partner’s secure site See Rates & Fees, Terms Apply.
Is the Bank of America Customized Cash Rewards Credit Card Right for You?
This card makes the most sense for you if you are using it to get rewards in categories you actually shop the most. You can also take advantage of the 15-billing cycle 0% intro APR on purchases, and balance transfers made in the first 60 days (13.99% to 23.99% variable APR thereafter; balance transfer fee of 3% or $10, whichever is greater), but there are other balance transfer cards that offer longer intro periods and smaller (or no) balance transfer fees. So if that’s the main draw you should shop around other offers.
If you’re dedicated to paying it off on time every month, there’s no reason why this card couldn’t be used for everyday spending — but there may be better cards out there. Groceries, for example, are not a top cash back category option. And other cards may offer as much as 6% cash back on groceries or dining.
It also may be limiting depending on how much you typically spend per month. For the 3% category of your choice and the 2% grocery store/wholesale club category, you’ll only earn those percentages on the combined first $2,500 spent each quarter, then 1% on both categories after that. Again, you can earn up to 5% on unlimited purchases in these categories with other rewards cards.
Editorial Independence
As with all of our credit card reviews, our analysis is not influenced by any partnerships or advertising relationships.
*All information about the Bank of America Customized Cash Rewards credit card has been collected independently by NextAdvisor and has not been reviewed by the issuer.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does the Bank of America Cash Rewards Credit Card have a foreign transaction fee?
Yes. You’ll be subject to pay 3% of the U.S. dollar amount of each transaction made in a foreign currency or made in U.S. dollars if the transaction is made or processed outside of the United States.
How do you redeem your Bank of America Cash Rewards Credit Card rewards?
You can redeem your cash rewards for any amount, any time for statement credits, deposits to a Bank of America checking or savings account, or for credits to a Merrill account. You can also contribute your redemptions to a qualifying Merrill 529 account for a check, starting at $25.
