Free Museums With Bank of America & “Museums On Us” Program

Yesterday Bank of America celebrated it’s 18th year of running the Museums on Us program, I thought it would be a good chance to have a look at this program and what it offers. Basically the Museums On Us program gives access to Bank of America & Merril Lynch credit card holders and deposit account owners access to “150 prominent cultural institutions across 98 cities in 32 states on the first full weekend of every month”.

How It Works

The first full weekend of every month you are able to access participating institutions. To gain access you need to show two things: photo I.D and your Bank of America/Merrill Lynch debit or credit card. The 2015 calendar can be seen below:

museums on us 2015 calendar

You only get general admission to these institutions (e.g if their is a special event on then you won’t get free admission to that). You also only get access for free for one person per card (e.g you can’t use one card for a couple or a family).

In some cases you might be able to get multiple tickets using the same name/I.D but multiple Bank of America cards but this is really up to the museum.

Participating Institutions

In total there are a 150 institutions that participate in this program in 32 different states. A full list up to date list can be found here. You can also use their “Find A Location Near You Tool“.

It’s a pretty diverse mix of what they offer, to give you some idea there are three institutions offered in Los Angeles and they are ranked 11th, 23rd and 38th most popular things to do in Los Angeles on TripAdvisor.

Final Thoughts

I always like to see credit cards offering a benefit that is a bit different than what everybody else is offering and this certainly fits this description. A lot of the museums seem to be free for everybody, not just those with a Bank of America card.

I also wish that one card was good for two people, that way a couple could do if only one of them had a Bank of America card and a family of four could go if both parents had cards. This is a nice additional benefit, but really shouldn’t effect whether you apply for a card or not.

 

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Terry
Terry (@guest_470411)
September 2, 2017 10:43

The link for up to date list of museums is broken. Here is a good link:
https://about.bankofamerica.com/en-us/what-guides-us/arts-and-culture/partners.html#fbid=BqnKOa6sAkO

avi
avi (@guest_82161)
February 26, 2015 20:39

if you can use AU cards then you should get a card for your whole family, and everybody will be free

Seth
Seth (@guest_81998)
February 26, 2015 09:59

The Childrens Museume of Richmond is on the list. While it has the word Museume in the name, I wouldn’t guess it would be part of this program as it is more of a big play land for kids. A great value for sure!