[Update] Bank of America Unlimited Cash Rewards Card Review – 1.5% (2.62%) Cashback, $200 Signup Bonus, No Annual Fee

(Update 7/20/21: There’s also a Student card version of this card. All the rest of the details are the same, including signup bonus, just maybe they’ll approve students easier. Could be a nice first card.)

Bank of America has launched a new Unlimited Cash Rewards consumer card which has no annual fee and earns an unlimited 1.5% cashback on all purchases. Preferred Rewards Platinum Honors members will earn 2.62% on all purchases.

Bank of America Unlimited Cash Rewards signup link | Student Version | Secured Card Version| Press Release

Signup Bonus

  • Get $200 signup bonus after you spend $1,000 within 90 days.

Card Details

  • No annual fee
  • 3% foreign transaction fee
  • Card earns 1.5% cash back on all purchases with no limit. Preferred Rewards Platinum Honors members will earn 2.62% on all purchases. Rewards do not expire.
  • Cash rewards can be redeemed as a statement credit to your credit or a deposit to your Bank of America checking, savings, or Merrill investing account.
  • Low Introductory APR Offer of 0% APR for your first 15 billing cycles for purchases, and for any balance transfers made within 60 days of opening your account. After that, a Variable APR that’s currently 13.99% to 23.99% will apply. 3% fee (min $10) applies to balance transfers.

Our Verdict

This card is similar to the old Travel Rewards card, just as cashback instead of points. This is a terrific new card since it removes the annoyance of having to redeem the rewards against travel purchases and creates a straight 2.62% cashback card with no annual fee.

A lot of people carry the Premium Rewards card, with its $95 annual fee, specifically to avoid the annoyance of having to redeem against travel. There are other advantages of the Premium Rewards, including $100 airline incidental credit, 2x (3.5x) on travel & dining purchases, and no foreign transaction fee. But if you don’t care for those benefits you can simply get the Unlimited Cash Rewards and then you won’t need the Premium Rewards card anymore.

Hopefully they’ll allow product changes from the Travel Rewards and the Premium Rewards cards to the new Unlimited Cash Rewards card. You won’t get a signup bonus when product changing, but some will prefer that to opening a new account.

Some people were targeted with a $200 bonus for product changing into this Unlimited Cash Rewards card. 

There’s also a Student version of the Unlimited Cash Rewards card with all of the same details as the regular card, just maybe a bit easier for students to get approved when using that Student link. There’s also a Secured version of this card which is mostly the same, but does not have the $200 signup bonus. The bank plans to launch a similar 1.5%/2.62% Business Unlimited Cash Rewards in October.

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Andrew
Andrew (@guest_1801803)
February 22, 2024 20:45

Mine comes with a cash advance limit of $200 which cannot be lowered

Ken
Ken (@guest_1560021)
February 20, 2023 00:55

Anybody get a 0% APR and 0% fee offer for balance transfers until June 2024 on an existing card? Surprised at the 0% fee part and wondering if it is a mistake.

ieatdogfood
ieatdogfood (@guest_1509174)
December 13, 2022 19:18

 William Charles  Chuck

I just noticed the ability to use cashback rewards from BofA Unlimited to pay on Amazon. Go to the rewards summary page in app. Time to expect a promotion later? I do not see this feature on my CCR business card.

007
007 (@guest_1500544)
December 2, 2022 13:11

Can you transfer points from Travel Rewards card to the Unlimited Cash Rewards card?

007
007 (@guest_1698143)
September 19, 2023 22:50

Thanks so much for the helpful DP!

007
007 (@guest_1698387)
September 20, 2023 09:11

That does sound like a conundrum. It sounds like you are trying to simplify. I have not had a premium rewards but I opened a premium rewards elite last year for sign up bonus and was able to use credits fairly easily, now closed mine out and P2 opened one recently. But obviously depends on being able to utilize credits…

Al
Al (@guest_1387940)
May 30, 2022 18:43

If you do not have a BoA checking with a preferred rewards then there is a better all category reward card out there since this card just earns 1.5%.cahs back . Most Banks these days are forcing us to have checking Acc with them to get higher rewards such as this card, Alliant CU signature card, Union Bank freely and etc.
Also with Wells Fargo active cash card you can’t redeem the cash back into your checking and or receive check in the mail if you don’t have their checking account, So that Leaves us with the Good Old Citi Double Cash back if you want a no hassle straight 2% cash back or if you want to switch your checking account for the sake of little bit more with Alliant Cu or get this card if you already have preferred reward platinum or above status,

taxpayer
taxpayer (@guest_1362762)
April 12, 2022 14:14

Does anyone know what cashback do Bofa Customized and Unlimited reward cards code as for IRS tax payments?

fearthez
fearthez (@guest_1369456)
April 19, 2022 18:22

I have the premium rewards card and earned the standard 1.5x on the purchase. My preferred rewards boost applied as well

TJ
TJ (@guest_1593509)
April 8, 2023 05:48

I got the 2.62% back on my taxes with PR Honors. I used PayUSATAX, the cheapest of the three official IRS approved sites that take CCs and it worked fine. It coded as “TAX PAYMENTS” for merchant. I say it worked fine because Google shows a lot of people stating the CC payment never applied to their tax accounts. Mine hit in a couple days.

m
m (@guest_1362622)
April 12, 2022 12:02

Success! And much quicker payout than expected.

March 25: Applied and Approved.
April 9: $1k Spending completed.
April 11: Final transaction passes “pending stage.” Login splash screen on app shows “Congrats! You earned your bonus.” No rewards show yet in the rewards section on the app, but the rewards section of the website does show “New Account Spend Bonus” as pending. Looks like it’ll come through soon!

SGS
SGS (@guest_1299786)
December 14, 2021 23:44

BofA has never offered me this card as the customized cash rewards is my most heavily-used card. They don’t want me to get 2.625% where I am now getting 1.75% 🙂 I will have to go after this myself. Contrast this with a newbie who got their first-ever card last month (from Citi). They got a preapproval letter recently for this card!

Glenn
Glenn (@guest_1290477)
November 27, 2021 19:00

I was forced into a product change coming from the BOA AMEX Accelerated Reward card (Fixed APR 7.9%). This card does nothing for me (neither did the AMEX) as I already have the Premium Reward card. I was not given any incentive either as some of you mentioned to earn the $200 bonus.

I also tried today to do a product change from the unlimited cash back to the custom cash back and was denied. I was told the only card I can change to the custom cash back would be the Premium Reward card which I do not want to do.

The only other option would be to apply for a third card which I don’t really understand why… I may call back and try to push this up the chain for a better answer.

Andy
Andy (@guest_1285492)
November 18, 2021 14:01

They forced me into the switch a few months back, but the same deal applies, so I’m going to bag the $200, then go back to hardly ever using it. I don’t like Skank of America, but refuse to ditch the card, as it is among my oldest CCs, with a sizeable limit. I will continue to make them my b*tch for as long as possible, rather than the other way around.