Bank of America® Unlimited Cash Rewards credit card review

This no-annual-fee rewards credit card from Bank of America offers cardholders the opportunity to earn 1.5% cash back on all purchases. Better yet, Bank of America preferred customers can earn 25%-75% over the average cardholder.

Written by
Jennifer Doss
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Key Features

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Editor Analysis:

Pros
  • If you are a Bank of America Preferred Rewards member, you can earn 25% to 75% more cash back. So instead of 1.5% cash back, you might get as much as 2.62% cash back on every purchase.
  • This card works great along other Bank of America credit cards which earn cash back in bonus categories. Use this card alongside those cards for a bonus on all "other" purchases.
  • New cardholders can earn a $200 online cash rewards bonus after spending at least $1,000 in purchases within the first 90 days of opening an account.
Cons
  • If you're willing to be savvy with how you use your cards, you could stand to earn more with other cash-back rewards cards as there are other options with higher cash-back rates; however, these cards often charge annual fees or only offer bonus rewards in select categories. This is a good card to use alongside those cards, or on its own if you're looking for a simple and easy way to earn rewards on all purchases.
ALTERNATE CARD TO CONSIDER

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The CardName is a great no-annual-fee credit card for anyone looking to earn cash back on all purchases, but it’s a particularly good option for Bank of America customers. Here’s why: Bank of America Preferred Rewards members can earn 25%-75% more cash back on every purchase, meaning that this card could earn eligible cardholders up to 2.62% back on every purchase – a great offer for a card with no annual fee.

card_name benefits

There are a number of benefits offered with the CardName. The main ones you’ll want to consider include:

  • Solid cash back rewards – you’ll get 1.5% cash back on all purchases. And there is no limit to the cash back that you can earn.
  • No annual fee. Annual fees often mean the potential for more cash back, but at the same time it can be nice to not have to hassle with an annual fee.
  • You will earn a $200 online cash rewards bonus after spending at least $1,000 in purchases within the first 90 days of opening an account.
  • Are you a Bank of America Preferred Rewards member? (In order to be one, you need to have an active, eligible Bank of America checking account and a three-month combined average daily balance of $20,000 or more in qualifying Bank of America deposit accounts and/or Merrill Investment accounts.) If you are a Preferred Rewards member, you can receive a 25% to 75% bonus on rewards earned. So instead of 1.5% cash back, you might get as much as 2.62% cash back on every purchase.
  • You’ll receive IntroAPRRate, and balance_transfer_intro_apr,balance_transfer_intro_duration. After the introductory APR offer is over, the card will have a RegAPR. The intro balance transfer fee is balance_transfer_fees.

Who is a good fit for the card_name?

The CardName is a good credit card for anyone who wants a credit card with no annual fee – and who wants to earn a little more than the standard 1% fee on all purchases. If you want to earn considerably more, like, 3% or 5% cash back, you generally will have to pay an annual fee, or those bonus rewards will only be on select spend categories.

If you are a Bank of America cardholder, it starts to make even more sense to have this card because – well, it’s a good credit card at your own bank.

That said, if you’re a Bank of America Preferred Rewards member, it really begins to make sense because, as noted, you’ll be getting more back than 1.5%. You’ll receive 25% to 75% more than 1.5%, which comes to about 1.87% to 2.62% cash back on every purchase.

Moreover, if you have other Bank of America credit cards that earn cash back in bonus categories, the CardName can be a good one to use in addition to those cards for all of those "other" 1% purchases.

In other words, if you really play your cards right (that is, your Bank of America credit cards), you can strategically save more money than the average consumer.

Potential downsides of the card_name

Every up has a down, and the CardName is no exception. A couple downsides include:

  • There is a foreign transaction fee of foreign_fee, which is common with no-annual-fee cash-back cards, but when you have a credit card with that type of fee, it makes traveling internationally more expensive. If you have another credit card without a foreign transaction fee that you can use abroad, then this card becomes even more appealing.
  • Also, if you aren’t a Preferred Rewards member of Bank of America, and if your bank account simply isn’t full and robust enough to become one, you might feel like you’re losing out a bit on the cash back rewards available.

How do cardholders rate the card_name?

CardRatings conducts a survey annually to learn what actual cardholders think of their cards. Here are the results for the card_name:

 Current ScoresPast Scores
Overall Score83.882.8
Features Satisfaction8.48.2
Customer Service7.98.4
Website/App Usability8.78.4
Likelihood of Continuing to Use8.98.4
Recommend to a Friend/Colleague8.38.2

How the card_name compares to other credit cards

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Learn More

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Rewards
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Annual Fee
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Regular APR
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CardName vs. CardName

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At first glance, the CardName seems to wallop the CardName in the rewards department.

The "customized" version gives you 3% in a category of your choice (cash back on gas and EV charging stations, online shopping/cable/internet/phone plan/streaming, dining, travel, drug store/pharmacy or home improvement/furnishings purchases). At grocery stores and wholesale clubs, you’ll get 2% (up to $2,500 in combined choice category/grocery store/wholesale club quarterly purchases, then 1%), and unlimited 1% on all other purchases.

Because there is a limit to how much you can earn in bonus categories, and because some cardholders don’t like dealing with categories of their choice and just love the simplicity of saving money and figuring nothing out, the CardName might be the better way to go. However, savvy cardholders could benefit from having both cards in their wallet by using the CardName for bonus category spend, and then the CardName for all "other" purchases earning 1.5% cash back instead of the standard 1%.

Learn more about how these two cards compare side-by-side.

CardName vs. CardName

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These are both pretty equally matched cards. The CardName offers unlimited 1.5% cash back on purchases, just like Bank of America card. Capital One’s intro perk for this card is a one-time $200 bonus after you spend $500 on purchases within the first three months; the CardName gives you $200 after you spend $1,000 in 90 days. Both have intro APR offers. With the Quicksilver card, cardholders can look forward to 0% intro APR on purchases and balance transfers for 15 months (then, RegAPR; balance transfer fee applies.

If you frequently travel aboard, the Quicksilver card might be of more interest to you though as it doesn’t charge fees on foreign transactions – a rare perk for a no-annual-fee cash-back card.

Is the CardName a good card?

Yes, particularly for Bank of America Preferred Rewards cardholders, the CardName is good credit card. Unlimited 1.5% cash back, no annual fee, a $200 welcome bonus after you spend $1,000 in 90 days, and additional bonus rewards for preferred cardholders makes this a good, easy-to-use and easy-to-benefit-from credit card option for a variety of different types of credit card users.

Frequently asked questions

The CardName is reserved for people with good to excellent credit scores. This usually means a FICO score of at least 670 or higher. However, having a higher score, such as 700 or above, could increase your chances of approval and may lead to better terms, such as a higher credit limit or lower interest rate. Keep in mind that other factors, such as your income, existing debt, and overall credit history, can also play a role in the approval process.
No, the CardName does not charge annual fees.
The CardName offers IntroAPRRate, and balance_transfer_intro_apr,balance_transfer_intro_duration. After the introductory APR offer is over, the card will have a RegAPR. The intro balance transfer fee is balance_transfer_fees.
No, the CardName charges a foreign_fee fee on all foreign transactions.

Our Methodology

Survey methodology: CardRatings commissioned Op4G in September 2023 to conduct surveys among 1,869 cardholders nationwide. CardRatings website analytics from Jan. 1, 2023-Aug. 31, 2023 were used to determine a selection of the most popular cards and additional cards were included to add survey breadth. Responses to each of nine questions were given on a scale of 1-10 and respondents’ scores were then averaged under broad topics. To determine the overall score, responses from questions 1-8 were summed and the answer to "How likely are you to recommend this card to a friend, coworker or family member?" was double weighted. Current Scores reflect scores from the most recent survey (2023); “Past Scores” reflect scores from the 2022 survey.

Disclaimer:The information in this article is believed to be accurate as of the date it was written. Please keep in mind that credit card offers change frequently. Therefore, we cannot guarantee the accuracy of the information in this article. Reasonable efforts are made to maintain accurate information. See the online credit card application for full terms and conditions on offers and rewards. Please verify all terms and conditions of any credit card prior to applying.


This content is not provided by any company mentioned in this article. Any opinions, analyses, reviews or recommendations expressed here are those of the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any such company. CardRatings.com does not review every company or every offer available on the market.


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