Bank Of America Premium Rewards Credit Card Review 2025

• Introducing the Bank of America Premium Rewards Credit Card
• Bank of America Premium Rewards Credit Card Quick Facts
• What Is the Bank of America Premium Rewards Credit Card Best For?
• Bank of America Premium Rewards Credit Card Rewards
• Other Bank of America Premium Rewards Credit Card Benefits
• Fine Print
• How the Bank of America Premium Rewards Credit Card Stacks Up
• Is the Bank of America Premium Rewards Card for You?
• Methodology

The Bank of America® Premium Rewards® credit card has established itself as a solid card for travel rewards. The card earns 2 points per dollar on travel and dining purchases and 1.5 points per dollar on all other purchases. While there are certainly cards out there that will return greater value, those cards may not offer the additional travel benefits this card does. The only potential red flag with this card is its $95 annual fee.

The lack of foreign transaction fees makes the card good for international travel, especially for those who’ll take advantage of the TSA PreCheck or Global Entry statement credit. Trip cancellation and trip delay coverage, baggage delay or loss coverage, and emergency evacuation and transportation coverage are all perks with this card. Even a secondary auto rental damage and collision benefit is included among the array of other benefits.

The card’s lack of an introductory APR means it isn’t great for kicking payments for larger purchases down the road or giving yourself slack from paying the bills for a while. Its balance transfer fees and high APR don’t make it a great card for balance transfers, either. But generally, those benefits aren’t what most seek regarding premium travel rewards cards.

• No foreign transaction fees
• $95 annual fee
• Earn 2 points per dollar on travel and dining purchases and 1.5 points per dollar on all other purchases
• New cardholders can earn 60,000 online bonus points after spending $4,000 in purchases in the first 90 days of account opening
• $100 in annual airline incidental statement credits for eligible purchases, such as seat upgrades and baggage costs
• Trip delay, trip cancellation, baggage, and auto rental damage coverage included
• Statement credits for TSA PreCheck and Global Entry costs every four years

The Bank of America Premium Rewards card may be a good fit for frequent travelers—especially those who are already Bank of America customers—who want travel benefits from their credit card but don’t want the cost of a premium card. The Premium Rewards card’s comprehensive suite of travel benefits provides substantial coverage without locking you into an expensive yearly fee. This may be valuable to those who travel on a budget.

Earning Rewards

Earning rewards with the Bank of America® Premium Rewards® credit card is fairly straightforward. Cardholders earn an unlimited 2 points per dollar on travel and dining purchases and 1.5 points per dollar on all other purchases. There are no caps on rewards earnings and no rewards expirations unless the cardholder closes the account.

Bank of America Preferred Rewards members earn 25% to 75% more points on each purchase, meaning up to 3.5 points per dollar on travel and dining and 2.62 points per dollar on all other purchases.

The card offers a welcome bonus that allows new cardholders to earn 60,000 online bonus points after spending $4,000 in purchases in the first 90 days of account opening.

Redeeming Rewards

Bank of America advertises reward redemption flexibility by offering cash redemptions via direct deposit to qualifying Bank of America checking or savings accounts, credit redemptions to Merrill accounts, as statement credits back on the card or for gift cards or purchases at the Bank of America Travel Center.

To make the $95 annual fee worthwhile in comparison to cash-value point redemptions in years without a welcome bonus, a cardholder would need to spend at least $4,750 on travel and dining or $6,333.33 on all other purchases before breaking even. Cardholders who plan to spend between these amounts on a combination of travel, dining and other purchases should be aware that they won’t see a positive net return on points until after reaching these spending levels.

Some may prefer to value the annual fee against the card’s other benefits, like the annual $100 statement credit toward airline incidentals, which can cover things like seat upgrades and checked baggage fees.

Rewards Potential

To determine the reward potential of the Bank of America® Premium Rewards® credit card, we look at the bonus categories and calculate what an average household might spend in those areas. Forbes Advisor uses data from various government agencies to determine baseline income and spending averages across various categories. The 70th percentile of wage-earning households earns $118,438 annually with $39,337 in spending that can be reasonably charged to a credit card. We base spending on these numbers.

Bank of America® Premium Rewards® credit card Rewards Potential

Category	Earning Rate	Estimated Annual Spend	Estimated Annual Earnings
Travel	2X	$8,573	17,146 points
Dining	2X	$4,622	9,244 points
All Other Purchases	1X	$26,142	26,142 points
			Total: 52,532 points

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These points could be redeemed for $525.32 in statement credits each year.

Cardholders who are members of the Bank of America Preferred Rewards program can do even better.

• Gold—65,665 points (Equivalent to $656.65 in statement credits)
• Platinum—78,798 points (Equivalent to $787.98 in statement credits)
• Platinum Honors—91,931 points (Equivalent to $919.31 in statement credits)

• Annual $100 statement credit for airline incidentals. The annual incidental credit with this card can be used on any airline.
• TSA PreCheck or Global Entry statement credits. Receive a statement credit every four years toward TSA PreCheck or Global Entry memberships.
• Trip delay reimbursement. Reimbursement is valid for the cardholder and cardholder’s family members for covered delays over 12 hours.
• Trip cancellation or interruption coverage. This policy is valid for unused, non-refundable, prepaid travel expenses for canceled trips due to a covered reason.
• Baggage delay coverage. Coverage is valid for up to five days for essential items when bags are delayed for more than six hours.
• Lost baggage reimbursement. Luggage and its contents are covered if stolen or lost due to misdirection by a common carrier.
• Emergency evacuation and transportation coverage. If a cardholder or a cardholder’s family member is injured or sick while traveling during a trip away from home that results in an emergency evacuation, you can be covered for eligible medical services and transportation.
• Purchase security. This policy covers repair, replacement or reimbursement if an eligible item is stolen or damaged within 90 days of purchase, up to $10,000 per claim.
• Extended warranty service. This coverage extends warranties up to one additional year.
• Return protection. Return protection will reimburse for the cost of a covered item that a retailer won’t allow to be returned within 90 days of the purchase up to $250 per eligible item and up to $1,000 annually.
• Auto rental collision damage waiver. When declining damage coverage at a rental agency, the card’s coverage provides secondary protection for damage to or theft of a rental vehicle.

Interest Rates

• Regular APR: 20.24% - 28.24% Variable APR on purchases and balance transfers
• Purchase intro APR: N/A
• Balance transfer intro APR: N/A

Fees

• Annual fee: $95
• Balance transfer fee: 4% of the amount of each transaction
• Foreign purchase transaction fee: None

Bank of America® Premium Rewards® credit card vs. Bank of America® Travel Rewards credit card

Bank of America also offers the Bank of America® Travel Rewards credit card, a watered-down version of the Premium Rewards card that forgoes the annual fee. While its welcome bonus is smaller, it also carries no foreign transaction fees and offers a 0% introductory APR for 15 billing cycles for purchases, and for any balance transfers made in the first 60 days, followed by a 18.24% to 28.24% variable APR on purchases and balance transfers. A 3% fee applies to all balance transfers made in the first 60 days, then 4%.

In exchange for a lower annual fee, the card also earns a lower rewards rate of 3 points per $1 spent on travel purchases booked through the Bank of America Travel Center and unlimited 1.5 points per $1 spent on all purchases. It also lacks the lengthy protections and benefits of the Premium Rewards card. But for those who can’t stomach an annual fee or who value the intro offer more than the slightly higher ongoing rewards, it could be an appealing option.

Bank of America® Premium Rewards® credit card vs. Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card

With similar premium benefits and annual fee, the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card provides serious competition to the Bank of America® Premium Rewards® credit card. The Sapphire Preferred earns 5 points per dollar on travel purchased through Chase Travel℠, 3 points per dollar on dining, select streaming services, and online grocery purchases (excluding Walmart, Target and wholesale clubs), 2 points per dollar on all other travel purchases and 1 point per dollar on other purchases, plus a 10% bonus on all spending each cardmember year. That means someone who spends $25,000 on their card in a year will earn an extra 2,500 bonus Ultimate Rewards points.

The Sapphire Preferred card also offers 1:1 point transfers to participating airline and hotel programs and redemptions for travel through Chase Travel℠ at 1.25 cents per point, 25% more than redeeming for cash back. These features allow account holders to leverage points for even more value.

New Sapphire Preferred cardholders can also benefit from a $50 annual credit on hotel stays purchased through Chase Travel. Remember that cardholders who care about status benefits with hotel chains won’t receive elite benefits on bookings made through Chase Travel.

Bigger spenders will likely benefit more from the Premium Rewards card’s unlimited 1.5 points per dollar earnings, especially those who regularly spend in non-bonused categories. But some may get greater value from the Sapphire Preferred’s ability to transfer points to travel loyalty partners. Choosing between the Bank of America® Premium Rewards® credit card and the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card comes down to your spending habits. Both cards offer significant wallet power when leveraged properly, but from where we’re sitting, the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card seems like the better choice.

Bank of America® Premium Rewards® credit card vs. Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card

The Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card outshines the Bank of America® Premium Rewards® credit card in many ways. The Venture, which also has a $95 annual fee (rates & fees), offers a welcome bonus: 75,000 miles after spending $4,000 on purchases within three months of account opening plus a one-time $250 Capital One Travel credit to use in your first cardholder year. The card earns 5 miles per dollar on hotels, vacation rentals, and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel, 5 miles per dollar spent on Capital One Entertainment purchases through 12/31/25 and an unlimited 2 miles per dollar spent on other purchases, has no foreign transaction fees and even offers a similar TSA PreCheck or Global Entry benefit.

Most of the benefits the Venture can’t keep up with are related to trip and baggage reimbursement coverage; the Venture offers some protection, but it isn’t nearly as comprehensive as what the Premium Rewards card offers. One other benefit the Bank of America card offers over the Venture is the annual $100 airline incidental fee statement credit. For those who’ll use it, this alone could make up for the annual fee entirely, changing the comparison quite a bit.

Overall, the Venture is a more powerful card for the price.

The Bank of America® Premium Rewards® credit card packs in the premium benefits for anyone big on travel. The rewards are attractive for those who can stomach paying the annual fee. Extras like TSA PreCheck or Global Entry application fee statement credits and an annual $100 airline incidentals credit can more than outweigh the cost of holding the card, assuming you use them.

The extra travel benefits like travel protections, baggage and auto rental damage coverage, plus a lack of foreign transaction fees, make the card a great addition for domestic and international travelers alike. It’s recommended applicants have good to excellent credit before applying, but for those who are approved, it likely won’t disappoint.

Forbes Advisor considers a variety of criteria when assigning credit cards a rating. Cards are graded based on numerous factors, including:

• Annual fees
• Welcome bonus offers
• Ongoing earning rates
• Value of individual rewards
• Included travel or merchant credits
• Additional cardholder benefits

We give greater weight to the card features we believe cardholders will use most frequently. These factors combine to generate a star rating for each card.

To learn more about our rating and review methodology and editorial process, check out our guide on how Forbes Advisor rates credit cards.