Question
I've been using an Amtrak Guest Rewards MBNA (now Bank of America) card for several years. Used the points to top off Continental, UA (back a few years ago when UA was a partner), several times for Hilton points, and once for an Amtrak sleeper reward.
As of May, BofA is no longer affiliated with Amtrak. I know that they'll keep the card open but I'm wondering what opinions people have on their other no-fee cards.
I already have their LL Bean card and a AAA Card that gives gasoline rebates (no longer offered but rebates still work). So I might just close the AGR card and reallocate the credit lines. Or close it and drop the credit line if I go with somebody else's reward card to avoid too much overall outstanding credit.
The only one that seems worth it to me is the Choice Hotels card, since I occassionally stay at cheapo Comforts and Quality Inns on short overnights by airports or on road trips.
Any other ideas for a BofA replacement for this, other than the ones I already have. Again, not interested in annual fee cards and definitely not in US Airways.
Thanks.
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Amtrak will be offering a new bank partner in April. Perhaps there will a new deal there.
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Right you are. If I still lived on the east coast and took Amtrak regularly I'd probably go for whatever the new Amtrak offer from the different bank is.
But that's actually not at all what I was asking. I was not asking "is there another way to get Amtrak points on a CC?", I was asking "is there another BofA/MBNA card with no fee but some kind of decent travel-oriented reward?" Sorry if I wasn't clear enough.
I'm not at all interested in more Amtrak points, since all I do with them nowadays is transfer them to HHonors. I can always open a Hilton Amex if I want HHonors points, though lately I'm doing more Starwood. But I am interested in perhaps keeping the BofA/MBNA credit line open on a travel-related card from that specific bank.
A very long time ago, my credit line with them was actually from a Westin Premier card, back when Westin was a separate program and MBNA offered their card. I converted it to an Amtrak card when they dropped the Westin program to keep some kind of travel-oriented card.
Looks to me like Choice is the only no-fee travel-related card that specific bank offers. If anybody knows of any other travel-oriented no-fee card from BofA/MBNA, please let me know. BTW, not interested in any card-specific "travel points" program that only earns points in the card's own program rather than an actual airline/hotel program. Plus I already have an otherwise worthless CapitalOne card for that kind of earnings (keep it only for the no-fee foreign exchange).
Thanks.
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I've been looking at the BOA site trying to figure out what to do also. The only other option I noticed was the Triprewards (Days Inn, Howard Johnson, Ramada) MC. I'm not that familar with the program, if there is any chance of using their hotels it might be a choice. They also have transfer options to many airlines at 8000 points to 3200 miles or 6000 points for a weekend day car rental. At 2 points per $1 charged it isn't awful for a no fee card. Might not be the best option, but may work for you.
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luptin, not many members would wait 14 months from registering to their first post. Impressive!
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Well your good at shooting peoples suggestions down, so instead of telling us what you are not interested in, why not try and be specific about what you are interested in. :confused:
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LOL I not used my BOA/MBNA card from the time TWA got bought by AA as my account with MBNA used to be a TWA credit card except for a couple of BT.
MBNA switched my TWA card to Quantum MC which I think is junk. None of BOA cards look exciting to me except maybe US Airways card except BOA Private Bank is super cheap and wont waive the annual for me. So Just use Citibank AA card as Citibank does waive the annual fee for me.
World Points is by far the worst reward program out there. None of there cards give you atleast 2 points per dollar spend in EDS nor do they ever have bonus offers like Chase and Citibank.
Prefered Reward programs in order. Starwood, DC, Amex Membership Rewards, AA then Chase Rewards Plus Program(I only use my Chase card in 5X point places).
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Merrill+ VISA does not appear on the Bank of America website, but it is administered by FIA (now owned by BoA) for Merrill Lynch. There is no annual fee, the benefits are tiered on calendar year spend (base, $20,000, $50,000). The rewards points can be converted 5000:5000 to British Airways miles or redeemed for an assortment of giftcards (5,000 = $50), air travel (25,000 points = ticket up to $500), hotels, car rental, etc. There are also bonus rewards at the $50,000 level which do not require point redemption.
https://cards.ml.com/MLRewardsCenter/View-Cards/MERRILL.htm
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MIA can you convert BOA card to Merrill+? And can you get a Merrill+ card without having a Merrill account?
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MIA can you convert BOA card to Merrill+? And can you get a Merrill+ card without having a Merrill account?
1. Don't know. I have two "FIA" accounts, the other is a SunTrust card that also carries no annual fee which we keep because it looks nice on the credit report. I was able to reallocate credit from the SunTrust account to the Merrill+. I also have a BoA Choice Hotels card and it is accessed through an entirely separate website.
2. Yes, and Merrill hasn't even sent much in the way of cross merchandising offers.
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I was in the same boat and asked them to convert my Amtrak GR to BoA Visa signature (no annual fee one) because all other cards were rediculous. And the worst part is points expire pretty quick on lots of travel reward cards. I have no idea how BoA is managing to run their CC business! I just need a VISA with a decent credit line which i *might* endup using overseas. I never use BoA cards for any thing!
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If you like to cruise, the NCL MBNA (now BofA of course) Mastercard gives $3 toward an NCL cruise for every $100 spent. It's redeemable in $500 blocks with very few (if any) restrictions.
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You might want to know that using a BofA Amex card in Southeast Asia is almost impossible. BofA, who took over for MBNA, apparently has a fraud protection system that seems to consist of rejecting every charge that comes through their Malaysian processing center. Malaysia is their regional processing center apparently. Meanwhile, while travelling to Europe we had no problem.
So if you are travelling to Asia, even if you call in advance to warn them, expect to have lots of interesting experiences if you and the vendor both have limited skills in speaking the other's language.
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You might want to know that using a BofA Amex card in Southeast Asia is almost impossible. BofA, who took over for MBNA, apparently has a fraud protection system that seems to consist of rejecting every charge that comes through their Malaysian processing center. Malaysia is their regional processing center apparently. Meanwhile, while travelling to Europe we had no problem.
So if you are travelling to Asia, even if you call in advance to warn them, expect to have lots of interesting experiences if you and the vendor both have limited skills in speaking the other's language.
THanks for the info, I was thinking of using the card in Dubai/India this June!
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With the end in sight, I'm going to revive this thread for a second go-round. I'll probably go for the new AGR card from Chase, but is there any BofA card worth converting to come May?
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Come may I doubt it. If you don't apply for a AAA card before the end of this month, the foreign fee will go to 3%. Come on banks, realize that we want less fees not more :td:
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Well, it looks like they're turning all of the cards into Worldpoints. I thought about switching to the cash back program, but it seems like a lot of effort for a card that I'll use little, if any.