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Bank of America Unlimited Cash Rewards card Review: A Mediocre Pick Unless You're a Preferred Rewards Member

Review Updated
Brittney Myers
Brittney Myers
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Steven Porrello
Steven Porrello
Nathan Alderman
Fact Checked: Nathan Alderman
Nathan Alderman
Nathan Alderman
Fact checker

Nathan Alderman has been a full-time Motley Fool employee since 2005, making errors his arch-enemies in a variety of roles including a six-year stint as the dedicated fact-checker for The Motley Fool's premium newsletter services. As Motley Fool Money's Compliance Lead, he makes sure that all the site's information is accurate and up to date, which ensures we always steer readers right and keeps various financial partners happy. A graduate of Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism, Nathan spends his spare time volunteering for civic causes, writing and podcasting for fun, adoring his wife, and wrangling his two very large young children.

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OFFER STATUS

Bank of America® Unlimited Cash Rewards credit card is unavailable on Motley Fool Money. All information was collected independently and not reviewed for accuracy or provided by the credit card issuer. Some items may be out of date.

The Bank of America® Unlimited Cash Rewards credit card is good for Preferred Rewards members. Having this status will unlock a higher rewards rate that makes this card far more competitive. For everyone else, there are much better flat-rate rewards cards out there.

Read our full review to see how the rewards work as well as the card's other pros and cons.

Ratings Methodology

Bank of America® Unlimited Cash Rewards credit card

Bank of America® Unlimited Cash Rewards credit card
Rating image, 4.50 out of 5 stars.
4.50/5 Circle with letter I in it. Our ratings are based on a 5 star scale. 5 stars equals Best. 4 stars equals Excellent. 3 stars equals Good. 2 stars equals Fair. 1 star equals Poor. We want your money to work harder for you. Which is why our ratings are biased toward offers that deliver versatility while cutting out-of-pocket costs.
 = Best
= Excellent
= Good
= Fair
= Poor
Rating image, 4.50 out of 5 stars.
4.50/5 Circle with letter I in it. Our ratings are based on a 5 star scale. 5 stars equals Best. 4 stars equals Excellent. 3 stars equals Good. 2 stars equals Fair. 1 star equals Poor. We want your money to work harder for you. Which is why our ratings are biased toward offers that deliver versatility while cutting out-of-pocket costs.
 = Best
= Excellent
= Good
= Fair
= Poor
Credit Score: Circle with letter I in it. Falling within this credit range does not guarantee approval by the issuer. An application must be submitted to the issuer for a potential approval decision. There are different types of credit scores and creditors use a variety of credit scores to make lending decisions.
Recommended Credit Score required for this offer is: Good/Excellent (670-850)
Credit Score Circle with letter I in it. Falling within this credit range does not guarantee approval by the issuer. An application must be submitted to the issuer for a potential approval decision. There are different types of credit scores and creditors use a variety of credit scores to make lending decisions.

Good/Excellent (670-850)

Intro APR Circle with letter I in it. 0% Intro APR for 15 billing cycles for purchases. 0% Intro APR for 15 billing cycles for any balance transfers made in the first 60 days. After the intro APR offer ends, 18.24% - 28.24% Variable APR on purchases and balance transfers will apply. A 3% fee for 60 days from account opening, then 4% fee applies to all balance transfers. Balance transfers may not be used to pay any account provided by Bank of America.

Purchases: 0% Intro APR for 15 billing cycles for purchases

Balance Transfers: 0% Intro APR for 15 billing cycles for any balance transfers made in the first 60 days

Regular APR

18.24% - 28.24% (Variable)

Rewards Circle with letter I in it. Earn unlimited 1.5% cash back on all purchases.

1.5% cash back

Annual Fee

$0

Welcome Offer Circle with letter I in it. $200 online cash rewards bonus after you make at least $1,000 in purchases in the first 90 days of account opening

$200 cash back

  • This is a solid pick for one-card wallet seekers who want a straightforward, unlimited cash back card – plus a strong $200 bonus & Intro APR offer. It’s a particularly good fit for Bank of America Preferred Rewards members, who can earn 25%-75% more points on every purchase, depending on your tier.

    • Unlimited cash back
    • Sign-up bonus
    • No annual fee
    • Great intro APR offer
    • No bonus categories
    • Balance transfer fee
    • Foreign transaction fee
    • $200 online cash rewards bonus after you make at least $1,000 in purchases in the first 90 days of account opening.
    • Earn unlimited 1.5% cash back on all purchases.
    • If you're a Bank of America Preferred Rewards® member, you can earn 25%-75% more cash back on every purchase. That means you could earn 1.87%-2.62% cash back on every purchase with Preferred Rewards.
    • No annual fee.
    • No limit to the amount of cash back you can earn and cash rewards don’t expire as long as your account remains open.
    • 0% Intro APR for 15 billing cycles for purchases, and for any balance transfers made in the first 60 days. After the Intro APR offer ends, a Variable APR that’s currently 18.24% - 28.24% will apply. A 3% Intro balance transfer fee will apply for the first 60 days your account is open. After the Intro balance transfer fee offer ends, the fee for future balance transfers is 4%. Balance transfers may not be used to pay any account provided by Bank of America.
    • Contactless Cards - The security of a chip card, with the convenience of a tap.
    • This online only offer may not be available if you leave this page or if you visit a Bank of America financial center. You can take advantage of this offer when you apply now.
Bank of America Unlimited Cash Rewards is unavailable on Motley Fool Money. All information was collected independently and not reviewed for accuracy or provided by the credit card issuer. Some items may be out of date.

Bank of America® Unlimited Cash Rewards credit card review

Is the Bank of America Unlimited Cash Rewards card worth it?

This card is definitely worth checking out if you're already a Bank of America/Merrill Preferred Rewards member with Platinum or Platinum Honors status. The rewards boost you receive at these tiers will put you over 2% cash back, which makes this an excellent flat-rate rewards card.

If you don't have the $50,000 or more in eligible Bank of America/Merrill deposits to qualify for at least Platinum tier, then this card becomes a lot less interesting. You can find several no annual fee unlimited 2% cash back cards that won't make you jump through expensive hoops. The welcome bonus and intro APR offer could still be worthwhile, but that's about it here.

Author's note
Image of reviewer

This card isn't on my radar since Preferred Rewards status is out of my reach (I don't bank with Bank of America or invest with Merrill). Without that status, this is a pretty basic 1.5% cash back card that just doesn't stack up to the competition, in my opinion. I can easily find (and already have) cards that earn 2% cash back -- or better, since I prefer travel rewards cards -- on all of my non-bonus-category purchases.

What everyone else is saying

We all look for different features in our cards, so different perspectives can help when card shopping. Here's what others are saying about the Bank of America® Unlimited Cash Rewards credit card.

What other review sites say

Average review site rating: 4.0 / 5.0 stars

We averaged scores from six of our top competitors to get an average of 4 stars out of 5, with individual ratings ranging from 3.5 to 4.6 stars. Overall, they find this card to be a solid option, lauding its unlimited rewards, welcome bonus, and intro APR offer.

That said, several of our competitors agree with us that the card's rewards aren't necessarily competitive unless you're a Bank of America Preferred Rewards member. Most competitors also point out the foreign transaction fees that make it unwise to use this card abroad.

Online consensus

Social media doesn't mince words about this card, with most posts about it very quick to point out that its base rewards rate isn't competitive at all. Any recommendations for this card are reserved for people who have the Preferred Rewards status to unlock a rate over 2% back. (The only exception to this that I found was folks who suggested this as a card to churn for the welcome bonus.)

Bank of America® Unlimited Cash Rewards credit card features and benefits

Marquee feature: Excellent rewards for BoA Preferred Rewards members

From a rewards point of view, this cash back rewards card doesn't really stand out from the crowd for most people. You can get 1.5% cash back and bonus categories from other cards, or cards with unlimited 2% flat-rate rewards.

Everything changes if you have the savings to become a Bank of America Preferred Rewards member. Preferred Rewards members get boosted cash back on their BoA credit cards, and that bonus can make this card significantly more competitive.

How much of a boost you get depends on your Preferred Rewards tier. These tiers are determined based on the total amount you have in your combined BoA savings and Merrill investment accounts.

Preferred Rewards Tier Combined Minimum Balance Bonus Cash Back
Gold $20,000 to $49,999 25%
Platinum $50,000 to $99,999 50%
Platinum Honors $100,000+ 75%
Data source: Bank of America.

Applying tier bonuses to the Bank of America® Unlimited Cash Rewards credit card's unlimited 1.5% cash back gets you:

  • Gold: Unlimited 1.87% cash back
  • Platinum: Unlimited 2.25% cash back
  • Platinum Honors: Unlimited 2.62% cash back

For the folks who can manage to reach Platinum Honors, the boosted rewards turn the Bank of America® Unlimited Cash Rewards credit card into one of the best flat-rate cash back cards I've ever seen.

Another reason to sign up: Competitive $200 cash back welcome bonus

Whether you're a Preferred Rewards member or not, the welcome bonus could be enough reason to get a new Bank of America® Unlimited Cash Rewards credit card.

Sure, $200 cash back is a pretty standard welcome bonus in the no annual fee card world. But it's still $200 cash back, and you don't even need to reach an absurd spending requirement to earn it. While some cards will require $1,500 or more in spending, the Bank of America® Unlimited Cash Rewards credit card requires a very reasonable $1,000 in the first 90 days.

Icing on the cake: 0% Intro APR offer for 15 billing cycles

I call this the icing, but it could really be the main drive for the right cardholder. The Bank of America® Unlimited Cash Rewards credit card has a competitive 0% Intro APR offer that gives you 15 billing cycles of introductory interest on purchases. After this, the go-to 18.24% - 28.24% (Variable) APR applies.

Introductory offers can provide a fantastic way to pay for larger purchases over time. Normally, carrying a balance on a credit card is ridiculously expensive because of the interest fees.

With a 0% Intro APR offer, as long as you make at least your minimum payment on time every month, you can reduce the interest fees on your balance until the offer period ends.

What could be improved

The big problem: Rewards are lackluster without lots of money

The long and short of things is that flat-rate 1.5% cash back, without any other categories or perks, is simply not competitive these days. And that's true no matter how you look at it.

  • If you want a one-card wallet, get an unlimited 2% cash back card or a 1.5% flat-rate card that also has useful bonus categories.
  • If you want a card to cover non-category purchases as part of a larger strategy, again, you're going to want a 2% (or better) flat-rate card.

The only way the Bank of America® Unlimited Cash Rewards credit card stands out from the competition is with the Preferred Rewards boost. Unfortunately, that not only requires at least $50,000, but $50,000 in a BoA savings account and/or Merrill investment account.

Everything else aside, BoA savings accounts aren't good places to put a lot of savings. They have a low APY (even with Preferred Rewards status) that's a teeny fraction of what the best high-yield savings accounts offer.

A 3% foreign transaction fee makes this a bad card for travelers

Even assuming you have the Preferred Rewards status to make this card worthwhile, there's another huge downside: the foreign transaction fees. The 3% foreign transaction fee applies to any transaction that occurs in a foreign currency or that routes through a foreign bank.

In other words, if you travel abroad and make a purchase with this card, you'll be charged an extra 3% of the transaction every time. You don't necessarily need to travel to get hit with this, though; certain online purchases (such as from marketplace sites) may go through foreign banks in some cases.

That awesome 2.62% cash back rate you get with your top-tier status? Yeah, even that isn't enough to break even on a 3% foreign transaction fee. Without status, you'll only earn 1.5% cash back on a purchase with a 3% fee, so it'll cost you 1.5% every time you make a purchase abroad.

What to know before applying

Bank of America Unlimited Cash Rewards card credit score

The Bank of America® Unlimited Cash Rewards credit card is intended for cardholders with at least good credit, which typically means credit scores of 670 or better. Bank of America will look at your entire credit profile when evaluating your application, not just your credit scores. So, you could potentially qualify with a lower credit score, but you'll have the best chances of approval if you have a good to excellent credit score.

Pre-approval process

You can find Bank of America pre-approval offers in a few ways:

  • Online through the Bank of America personalized offers tool
  • By stopping in a Bank of America branch to speak with a teller
  • Via offers in your existing Bank of America account
  • Through a mail offer sent to your physical address

Intro APR

The Bank of America® Unlimited Cash Rewards credit card comes with 15 billing cycles of 0% Intro APR on purchases. After this, the go-to 18.24% - 28.24% (Variable) APR applies

New cardholders can also get 0% Intro APR for 15 billing cycles for any balance transfers made in the first 60 days. After that, the go-to 18.24% - 28.24% (Variable) APR applies.

Fees

Annual fee: $0

Balance transfer fee: 3% for 60 days from account opening, then 4%

Foreign transaction fee: 3%

Credit limit

Credit limits for the Bank of America® Unlimited Cash Rewards credit card vary by cardholder from around $1,000 to over $50,000. Bank of America uses several factors, including your annual income and credit history, to set your credit limit upon approving you for the card.

Our credit card methodology

At Motley Fool Money, we rate credit cards on a five-star scale (1 = poor, 5 = best). Our rating criteria includes rewards rates, welcome bonuses, fees, and perks like travel credits and 0% intro APR offers to evaluate our ratings.

We combine these factors with an evaluation of brand reputation and customer satisfaction to ensure you're getting the best card recommendations. Learn more about how Motley Fool Money rates credit cards.

FAQs

  • Bank of America cash rewards don't expire as long as the card account is open and in good standing

  • Yes, you can use the Bank of America® Unlimited Cash Rewards credit card internationally. However, it charges a foreign transaction fee of 3%, so you may not want to.

  • No, the Bank of America® Unlimited Cash Rewards credit card isn't generally considered to be hard to get. We recommend having at least good credit, or a score above 670, before applying.