Bank of America Travel Rewards Card: What You Actually Earn

The base earn rate is simple: 1.5 points per dollar on all purchases, everywhere. No category restrictions. No spending caps. No bonus activation required. Every dollar you spend — groceries, gas, dining, subscriptions — earns at the same rate.

Structurally, this puts the card in a different category from tiered-reward cards that offer 3x on dining or 5x on travel but fall back to 1x everywhere else. A flat-rate card trades ceiling for consistency. You will never earn the highest possible rate on any single category, but you will also never accidentally earn the lowest rate because you forgot which card to use at the grocery store.

This earning structure is built for people who want travel rewards without building a points strategy around it — one card, one rate, no management required.

What a Point Is Worth

One point is worth 1 cent when redeemed as a travel statement credit. That makes the math clean: 1.5 points per dollar equals 1.5% back on everything you spend, applied toward travel. There are no transfer partners, no point valuation swings based on how you redeem, and no portal you have to book through to unlock full value.

You charge a travel purchase to the card — a flight, a hotel, a car rental — and then redeem points against that charge as a statement credit. The value is fixed. What you see is what you get.

For cardholders who have experience with transferable points programs, the fixed value can feel like a ceiling. For cardholders who want to know exactly what their points are worth without learning a new redemption system, fixed value is the feature, not the limitation.

How Preferred Rewards Works

Preferred Rewards is Bank of America's relationship program — it ties rewards across Bank of America banking accounts and Merrill investment accounts into a single qualifying balance. The higher your combined balance, the higher your tier, and the higher your points multiplier on this card.

There are five tiers. Each one applies a percentage bonus on top of the base 1.5 points per dollar earn rate:

• Gold (qualifying balance $20,000–$49,999): 25% bonus → 1.875 points per dollar
• Platinum ($50,000–$99,999): 50% bonus → 2.25 points per dollar
• Platinum Honors ($100,000–$249,999): 75% bonus → 2.62 points per dollar
• Diamond ($250,000–$999,999): 75% bonus → 2.62 points per dollar
• Diamond Honors ($1,000,000+): 75% bonus → 2.62 points per dollar

Once you are enrolled in Preferred Rewards and qualified at a tier, the multiplier applies to purchases automatically. No activation, no opt-in, no annual renewal process required on the card side.

For a customer at Platinum Honors, earning 2.62 points per dollar on all purchases with no annual fee is a rate that is genuinely hard to match on any no-fee card.

Who the Multiplier Is Built For

The Preferred Rewards multiplier is designed for existing Bank of America and Merrill customers who already have meaningful balances parked there. The program works on money you already have in place — you do not need to move assets specifically to chase a credit card benefit.

For a customer at Platinum Honors, earning 2.62 points per dollar on all purchases with no annual fee is a rate that is genuinely hard to match on any no-fee card. That combination — flat earn rate, no annual fee, no foreign transaction fees, and a multiplier that rewards the banking relationship — is what makes this card stand out for the right cardholder.

For cardholders with no Bank of America banking relationship, the multiplier is not available, and the card competes on its base rate alone: 1.5% back on everything, no annual fee, no foreign transaction fees.

Eligible Travel Categories

Travel purchases eligible for statement credit redemption include:

• Airlines
• Hotels
• Vacation packages
• Car rentals
• Cruises
• Baggage fees and seat upgrades charged directly to the card
• Travel agencies

How Redemption Works

You book travel wherever you want — no portal required. Charge the purchase to the card, then redeem points as a statement credit against that charge. The minimum redemption is 2,500 points, which equals a $25 statement credit. Points must be redeemed within 12 months of the travel purchase they are being applied against.

Not booking through a portal matters for some travelers. It means you can use airline and hotel sites directly to find the best price or apply a loyalty number, then use this card to pay — and still get full redemption value.

What Redemption Does Not Cover at Full Value

Points redeemed outside of travel — for cash back, gift cards, or merchandise — come back at a lower rate than the 1-cent travel value. This card is designed to be used as a travel card. Cardholders who want flexibility to redeem for cash back at the same rate as travel should compare flat-rate cash back cards instead.

There are also no transfer partners. Points cannot be moved to airline miles or hotel points programs. The value is fixed at 1 cent per point for travel, and that is the ceiling.

Annual Fee

There is no annual fee. The card does not charge a fee at any Preferred Rewards tier — the relationship program enhances earning but does not add a cost layer to the card itself.

Foreign Transaction Fee

There are no foreign transaction fees. Every purchase made outside the United States processes at the same cost as a domestic purchase. For travelers who use this card internationally, there is no surcharge per transaction to account for.

Points Expiration

Points do not expire as long as the account stays open and in good standing. There is no calendar pressure to redeem before a deadline. Points accumulate until you are ready to use them.

Sign-Up Offer

New cardholders who meet a minimum spend threshold in the first 90 days of account opening can earn introductory bonus points. Those points redeem as a travel statement credit at the same 1-cent rate. The exact offer changes — the current terms on Bank of America's site are the authoritative source before applying.

Earning Cap

There is no cap on how many points you can earn. Points accumulate without a ceiling at both the base rate and the Preferred Rewards multiplier rates.

For the Everyday Travel Earner

No categories to manage means every dollar — groceries, gas, subscriptions, dining — earns at the same rate. For travelers who want to accumulate points toward flights and hotels without thinking about which card to use at which merchant, the flat rate does that work automatically.

It works well as a primary card for cardholders who do not want to juggle multiple cards for category bonuses. One card, one rate, points toward travel. The math is always the same.

For Cardholders Seeking Premium Perks

This card is not built for premium travel perks. There is no airport lounge access, no Global Entry or TSA PreCheck statement credit, no concierge service, and no travel insurance stack comparable to premium travel cards.

Cardholders who want those benefits will find them on cards that carry annual fees — the fee funds the perks. The trade-off here is stated plainly: the $0 annual fee means this card earns its value through points accumulation, not through built-in travel benefits. That is the right trade-off for some travelers and the wrong one for others.