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Bank of America® Premium Rewards® credit card: Great cash back rewards on dining and travel if you have Platinum Honors

Bank of America® Premium Rewards® credit card art
Bank of America® Premium Rewards® credit card

The Bank of America® Premium Rewards® credit card is the upgraded version of the Bank of America® Unlimited Cash Rewards credit card. The card adds travel insurance benefits, a few statement credit opportunities, and additional rewards on dining and travel for its $95 annual fee.

The card offers unlimited 2x points on travel and dining and 1.5x points on other purchases. If you have Bank of America Preferred Rewards, at the Platinum Honors level, your rewards multiplier can turn this into a 3.5x card for travel and dining and 2.62x everywhere else. Points can be redeemed for cash back, starting at 2,500 points/$25.

The card offers an annual $100 airline incidental credit that can be used on most U.S. domestic airlines and a reasonable suite of travel benefits like lost luggage reimbursement, trip delay protection, and baggage delay insurance. The card’s consumer benefits include the trifecta of extended warranty, purchase protection, and return protection.

Bank of America® Premium Rewards® credit card welcome bonus:

60,000 online bonus points — a $600 value — after you make at least $4,000 in purchases in the first 90 days of account opening.

All information about the Bank of America® Premium Rewards® credit card has been collected independently by cardsandpoints.com.

Click here to learn more and apply.

Our take on the welcome bonus: This is a pretty good welcome offer, considering that the card only has a $95 and the points are easily redeemable for cash.

The link above is a link directly to the bank’s website. We don’t make money when you use the above link, but we always show you the best offer.

Bank of America® Premium Rewards® credit card art
Bank of America® Premium Rewards® credit card

Bank of America® Premium Rewards® credit card at a glance:
Annual fee: $95
Rewards: 2x travel and dining. 1.5x other purchases.
Benefits: Extended warranty. Trip delay reimbursement. $100 annual airline incidentals statement credit.

Bank of America® Premium Rewards® credit card at a glance

Here’s what you need to know about the Bank of America® Premium Rewards® credit card.

Rewards

2x
(Up to 3.5x*)
Travel purchases
2x
(Up to 3.5x*)
Dining
1.5x
(Up to 2.26x*)
All other purchases
Rewards of the Bank of America® Premium Rewards® credit card

* Get up to a 75% bonus on the rewards you earn if you have Bank of America Preferred Rewards. Gold status gets you a 25% rewards bonus; Platinum gets you a 50% bonus; Platinum Honors gets you a 75% bonus.

Benefits

Consumer insurance benefits
Purchase security
Extended warranty
Return protection
Travel insurance benefits
Auto rental collision damage waiver
Baggage delay insurance
Lost luggage reimbursement
Roadside dispatch service
Trip cancellation and interruption insurance
Trip delay reimbursement
Emergency evacuation and repatriation of remains coverage
Travel benefits
TSA PreCheck® or Global Entry® statement credit.
Statement credits
$100 annual airline incidental credit
Benefits of the Bank of America® Premium Rewards® credit card

Other important terms

Annual fee: $95
Foreign transaction fee: None

My take on the Bank of America® Premium Rewards® credit card

This card isn’t terribly exciting on its own. For 1.5% cash back (earned as Ultimate Rewards®) everywhere, I’d greatly prefer the Chase Freedom Unlimited®, which will give you more rewards in most places (and 3% on dining and at drugstores) for no annual fee. But the Bank of America® Premium Rewards® credit card becomes substantially more interesting once you have enough assets with Bank of America and Merrill to get the Platinum Honors tier of the bank’s Preferred Rewards program.

Once you achieve Platinum Honors, you’ll get a 1.75x multiplier on many Bank of America-branded credit cards, including the Premium Rewards card. That will boost the card’s earnings to 3.5x for travel and dining and 2.62x everywhere. Much more compelling.

Of course, there are plenty of cards that offer 3x points or 3% cash back with no annual fee—only slightly less than the 3.5% you can get out of the Premium Rewards card. And while you can probably get $100 a year out of the card’s annual airline incidentals credit, chasing after credits to get value out of cards is a pain.

Personally, I’d probably stick with the no-annual-fee Unlimited Rewards card.

Bank of America® Premium Rewards® credit card rewards

The Bank of America® Premium Rewards® credit card earns points that can be redeemed for a variety of cash back, travel, and gift card redemption options. Here’s what the card earns:

2x
(Up to 3.5x*)
Travel purchases
2x
(Up to 3.5x*)
Dining
1.5x
(Up to 2.26x*)
All other purchases
Rewards of the Bank of America® Premium Rewards® credit card

* Get up to a 75% bonus on the rewards you earn if you have Bank of America Preferred Rewards. Gold status gets you a 25% rewards bonus; Platinum gets you a 50% bonus; Platinum Honors gets you a 75% bonus.

Redeeming Bank of America® Premium Rewards® credit card points

The points you earn with your Bank of America® Premium Rewards® credit card can be redeemed for a variety of travel, cash, and gift card options. We haven’t found any compelling redemption options for the points that offer more value than cash back redemptions, so you should probably just redeem your points for cash back.

Cash back redemptions start at 2,500 points/$25 and can be done online through the Bank of America website.

Benefits of the Bank of America® Premium Rewards® credit card

Consumer insurance benefits
Purchase security
Extended warranty
Return protection
Travel insurance benefits
Auto rental collision damage waiver
Baggage delay insurance
Lost luggage reimbursement
Roadside dispatch service
Trip cancellation and interruption insurance
Trip delay reimbursement
Emergency evacuation and repatriation of remains coverage
Travel benefits
TSA PreCheck® or Global Entry® statement credit.
Statement credits
$100 annual airline incidental credit
Benefits of the Bank of America® Premium Rewards® credit card

Consumer insurance benefits

Many cards offer consumer insurance benefits that can protect the things you buy. Here are the consumer insurance benefits offered by the Bank of America® Premium Rewards® credit card. Terms and restrictions apply to all benefits.

Purchase security protects the things you buy with your card from damage or theft for a certain amount of time after you buy them. Bank of America purchase security covers your new purchases for 90 days against damage or theft up to $10,000 per claim and $50,000 per cardholder.

Extended warranty provides additional warranty coverage on items you purchase with your card. The extended warranty protection included with the Bank of America® Premium Rewards® credit card doubles the duration of a U.S. manufacturer’s warranty, up to an additional year, on eligible warranties of three years or less.

Return protection can give you a refund on an item if the store you bought it from won’t take it back. Bank of America® Premium Rewards® credit card return protection provides coverage for 90 days from the date of purchase, up to $250 per item and $1,000 per account.

Travel insurance benefits

Cards targeted toward travelers often offer travel insurance benefits that can protect you when you are traveling away from home. Terms and restrictions apply to all benefits.

Auto rental collision damage waiver protects you against damage to or theft of your rental vehicle. For coverage to apply, you need to reserve and pay for your vehicle using your card and decline your car rental company’s collision damage waiver. The coverage provided by your Bank of America is secondary to your personal auto insurance. 

Baggage delay insurance – Reimburses you for essential purchases like toiletries and clothing for baggage delays over six hours by passenger carrier up to $100 per day for 5 days.

Lost luggage reimbursement offers reimbursement if your bags are lost, damaged or stolen while traveling on a common carrier. Coverage is generally included up to $3,000 per covered trip, but see your card’s guide to benefits for state-specific limitations.

Roadside dispatch service provides a single number that you can use to get connected to local providers for roadside services like towing, lockout service, tire changes, fuel delivery, and more. Services are provided for a pre-negotiated, per-service fee. 

Trip cancellation and interruption insurance can reimburse you for prepaid travel expenses when your trip is canceled or interrupted for a covered reason. Bank of America trip cancellation and interruption insurance covers up to $2,500 for prepaid common carrier airfares.

Trip delay reimbursement can cover your incidental expenses or a hotel room when your travel is delayed for a covered reason. Bank of America® Premium Rewards® credit card trip delay insurance covers delays of more than 12 hours and up to $500 per traveler.

Emergency evacuation and repatriation of remains coverage may cover you if you need to be evacuated or have your remains repatriated in certain covered situations when you purchase your common carrier travel with your card. See the card’s guide to benefits for specific coverages.

Travel benefits

TSA PreCheck® or Global Entry® statement credit. Get your TSA PreCheck or Global Entry enrollment fee reimbursed up to $100 when you charge your enrollment fee to your card. You can receive one statement credit for TSA PreCheck or Global Entry once every four years.

Statement credits

$100 annual airline incidental credit. Charge baggage fees, in-flight services, and seat upgrades to your card and get reimbursed automatically. Airline incidental credit applies only to U.S. domestic carriers and domestic itineraries. Airline incidental credit excludes purchases with Allegiant Air, Spirit Airlines, and Sun Country Airlines.

About the author

  • Aaron Hurd

    Aaron Hurd is a credit card, travel rewards, and loyalty program expert. Over the past 15 years, he has authored over a thousand expert contributions published by leading outlets including WSJ, TIME, Newsweek, Forbes, NerdWallet, The Points Guy, Bankrate, CNET, and many others. He has also served in consulting roles for many of these same outlets, designing content strategy, hiring teams of teams of editors and contributors, developing thought-leadership pieces, and ghost-editing for senior editors. Aaron is well-known in the miles and points community and regularly presents about travel rewards at conferences like the Chicago Seminars and Minnebar. Aaron has enjoyed the game of optimizing credit card rewards since getting his first credit card shortly after he turned 18. He started learning about credit cards and travel rewards from the (now defunct) FatWallet Finance forums and FlyerTalk. He holds more than 40 open credit cards and has first-hand experience with almost every major credit card product.