Just a warning to others and some info if others end up in this situation and find this via google.
I decided to sign up for a Bank of America's Premium Rewards credit card (and checking account, merrill lynch account) to take advantage of their preferred rewards program. Sadly, even though I "checked the box" to do early Preferred Rewards enrollment when I made the checking account, they did not enroll me and they claim that I never checked the box (I did).
I called customer service many times, speaking to different supervisors (often getting transferred across departments erroneously) and they were not able to fix it. They told me I needed to go in-person, which I did twice, spending 2 hours in the branch last time while BoA bankers called support departments themselves trying and failing to fix it. They also had me talk to a Merrill Lynch banker, who talked to their support department internally, only to tell me they could not help.
I filed a CFPB complaint after reading a story from another redditor who had a similar issue and had said this was the only way to get it fixed (and that BoA back-dated their preferred enrollment to the 30-day mark and retroactively gave them credit card rewards points). A BoA rep called me about my CFPB complaints and told me they would look into it and get back to me in 30 days (still waiting).
The reason this is a pain and feels unfair is because the Sign Up Bonus requires that you spend a lot in 90 days, but they won't enroll me in Preferred Rewards for >90 days.
Unrelated, but I also had two major bugs that impacted my accounts that took forever to get fixed. I couldn't get account alerts, and could not transfer money out of my accounts. I had to call many, many times, and go in person more than once to finally find someone over the phone who could fix them. BoA reps initially kept telling me [x] would fix it and to wait 48 hours for the account to refresh but their [x] solutions did not actually fix it.
In general, I've realized BoA's IT infrastructure is held together by scotch tape, and if something goes wrong, their customer service departments are super fragmented and poorly trained, so that resolving anything is a feat. I have never seen such incompetence from a company in my life, and I'm not exaggerating, this was the worst company experience I have ever had.
I've seen other threads where people wonder how to deal with preferred rewards enrollment issues so just sharing my story. Cheers!
BoA preferred rewards sign up – Nightmare experience, sharing to bewarned
byu/AltruisticHomework39 inCreditCards
Posted by AltruisticHomework39
5 Comments
P2 put in the wrong phone number when signing up for BofA checking so had to manually fix and wait a couple months for PH. We waited until PH hit before applying for CCs. You made a mistake applying for cards before your PH hit.
You may not be losing as much as you think with the delay in qualifying for preferred rewards. The required spend for the sign up bonus is $4,000. If all spend is at 2x, that’s 8,000 points. If you qualify for the Platinum level ($100k to 1 million in assets) of preferred rewards, you get a 75% bonus. 75% of 8,000 is an extra 6,000 points, which is $60. The sign up bonus is 60,000 points, which is $600. I wouldn’t spend too much energy on this, even though it’s frustrating.
If you already have a card open, I’d hit the SUB, which is not impacted by your Preferred Reward status.
Sure, you’ll earn a bit less on your spending, but the PR spend is $4k. Even if you only spend in the elevated 3.5% categories (travel + dining), the difference between Platinum Honors and a regular member is $60 at that level of spend.
BofA’s interface and some systems are outdated, but it’s the best cash back stack around.
I could have written this exact post. I got a call from the BOA regulatory compliance office a few weeks ago, I received one update from CFPB on email that BOA says they are still working on it. I called the BOA office more than once, always straight to voicemail for the rep I was assigned and left messages to get an update or provide more info, but never once a call back (maybe they’re out due to the holiday?). I suspect “still working on it” means “ignore it” because it would have taken about 60 seconds to read my complaint and figure out I was totally justified.. or maybe their office is having as much luck getting it fixed as the local financial center did.
It will soon be a moot point as my 3 month anniversary is coming up. I’ve lost about $140 in credit card rewards and was charged a $25 fee for my checking account (since I don’t have PH status yet). The local branch did refund that $25 when I asked. They are baffled as well, they keep escalating it but the back office always says I didn’t check the box… the banker reminded me to check it, and verified that I did before submitting (because checking the box is apparently critical and can’t be fixed later… well, even if you DO check it can’t be fixed later, apparently)
I do like the $500 new checking bonus and $200 (CCR) and $200 (UC) bonuses, and have two $1000 bonuses coming for IRA and CMA transfers. But I’m pulling most of the money back when I get the bonuses, my faith in BOA to fix things when stuff goes sideways is crushed. And their trading interface sucks, and their debit card isn’t as good either. I’m still happy to take their reward money.
Hindsight says transfer the $100K+, wait three months, only then get the credit cards. Or do everything in branch and video the whole transaction so you’ll have something for the back office to totally ignore and wait three months anyways.
I had literally all those issues too. Same ones, including the alerts and I still can’t transfer money. They’re a complete mess when it comes to IT. They wrote me a letter saying that they found a system error that meant I didn’t get enrolled, but didn’t offer anything to fix it / something offered for my hours of time.