Bank of America Credit Card Review
Bank of America offers over 400 different credit cards, including Visa cards Master Cards, American Express Cards, Student credit cards, secured credit cards, travel miles credit cards, and credit cards dedicated to a host of good causes for which Bank of America will donate a percentage of whatever you charge to the card out of their own pocket, not yours.
All four hundred plus cards and their descriptions and special features can be viewed at the Bank of America website at:
If you like to leisurely look over banking material however, you may enjoy learning about the cards at Bankrate.com instead, since the Bank of America credit card website will interrupt you with annoying pop-ups that let you know that a live operator would just love to take your answer all of your questions and take your application right away. Since Bankrate.com partners with Bank of America you can still get accurate and complete information at their website, without the annoying pop-ups:
Many of the cards come with a $25 or $50 gift credit once you qualify and accept the card, and many of the cards have no annual fee. One nice aspect of having so many choices is that each consumer can decide what is most useful in a credit card and choose a card tailored to those needs. If you travel often, you can choose a card associated with US Airways, Alaska Airlines, Mexicana Airlines, or several others, or you can choose a World Points Reward card that offers more flexible rewards for frequent travelers than an air miles card.
Read the descriptions of the cards with care, however. Bank of America credit cards associated with air miles come with a $90 annual fee and a variable interest rate at prime plus 9.99%. If you qualify for a Visa Signature card with World Points rewards, you can earn ‘’points” instead, that you can apply to all kinds of travel-related purchases and get 0% APR for the first year, a $50 gift card, and no annual fee. With the World Points card, if you qualify for Platinum status, the interest rate after the first year is a flat 9.9%, not prime plus or minus.
Several Bank of America credit cards are associated with specific cruise lines and vacation spots, and come with an introductory rate of only 1.9% and no annual fee, so if you will be taking a vacation soon, one of these cards may be more than worth your while. Chrysler, Dodge and jeep also offer an introductory rate of 1.9% on cards which give users points towards new vehicles and automobile merchandise.
If you are a doctor or an attorney, Bank of America will happily issue you a credit card that lets everyplace you spend money know that you have achieved that, and they will waive your annual fee, but you get the same 9.99% or 15.99% interest rate that everybody else does. Same deal if you are a veteran or a graduate of the United States Air Force Academy.
If you are in the process of rebuilding your credit, Bank of America can issue you a secured credit card against a deposit of anywhere from $300 to $10,000, at a rate of prime plus 10.99% with a $29 annual fee. While that may seem a hefty price to pay for essentially spending your own money, if you are in a place where you can work on rebuilding a strong financial record, it’s not a bad idea.
Bank of America offers a Cash Rewards Master Card that pays 1% cash back on all purchases made with the card. The interest rate is the standard 15.99% or 9.99% for Platinum status, with no annual fee, plus you get a $50 gift card once you qualify. If you are the kind of person who can pay off your credit card bill every month, then paying for gas and groceries this way will save you 1% off of everything you buy. While that doesn’t sound like a lot, it is 1% more than you would have had otherwise, plus you get the convenience of the card itself.
For people who are devoted to social change and environmental causes, Bank of America credit cards are available that make donations to various causes which include AIDS, diabetes research, Habitat for Humanity, the Humane Society, the Sierra Club, and more.
One caveat: Do read the small print. If you are late on a payment, if you spend over your limit, if you miss a payment, if you default in any way, your interest on any and all of these cards can be increased to 29.9% instantly and stay there. Credit card rates are not written in stone; so even if you are good customer, your rates can still be adjusted or changed upward or downward, legally, at the discretion of the lender. So keep this in mind before getting in too deep for the sake of point, rewards, or air miles.
If you know that you can handle credit however, Bank of America would love to give you some. And they’ll give you enough choices to pretty much kill an entire afternoon.
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