I have a BofA Customized Cash Rewards card and I'm trying to decide whether it makes sense to move $100K in assets to Merrill Edge to unlock the Preferred Rewards boost. A few months ago I moved almost everything out of my BofA checking and savings accounts (where it was earning 0.01% interest) into Fidelity and settled on $75K in VTI and $100K in SGOV. Now I'm wondering if it makes sense to move some of it back into the BofA/Merrill ecosystem for the Preferred Rewards boost.
I know BofA is restructuring Preferred Rewards in May and wanted to get some opinions from people who know this program well.
My credit card situation:
– ~$1,500-$2,000/month in total spending (not a huge spender)
– Customized Cash Rewards Credit Card(6% first year promo, then 3% in chosen category)
– BofA is dropping the boost from 75% to 50% for the 100K+ tier in May, so CCR dining would be 4.5% post-May
– I don't currently have the Unlimited Cash Rewards but would probably get it if I go the Merrill route, which would be 2.25% on everything post-May
My current setup at Fidelity:
– ~$100K in SGOV (emergency fund, want to keep liquid)
– ~$75K in VTI (taxable brokerage)
– ~$15K Roth IRA in FZROX/FZILX (Fidelity Zero funds, can't transfer in-kind)
The options as I see it:
-
Move ~$100K to Merrill (SGOV or VTI) to hit Platinum/Preferred Honors, capture the $400 new account bonus with the promo code, and get the boosted rewards. If I move the Roth I'd have to ditch the Fidelity Zero funds and switch to something like VTI/VXUS or VOO since those don't transfer in-kind.
-
Stay at Fidelity and get the Fidelity 2% Visa once my credit goes up more as my flat-rate catch-all alongside the CCR. I really value having everything in one place and Fidelity supports fractional ETF purchases which Merrill apparently does not. The one downside here is that since I moved most of my money out of BofA I no longer meet the $20K minimum for Advantage Relationship checking, so I'd need to downgrade to BofA Advantage Plus with a direct deposit or minimum balance of $1,500 to avoid a $25 fee.
For people who know the BofA Preferred Rewards program: is the ongoing value actually useful at my spending level after the May changes? And for anyone who has used both platforms, how is Merrill in practice compared to Fidelity?
I'm leaning toward staying at Fidelity for simplicity and not transferring assets to Merrill, but not sure if I'm undervaluing the Preferred Rewards benefits.
TLDR: I spend about $2K/month. Is it worth moving $100K to Merrill for boosted BofA credit card rewards, or keep everything at Fidelity for simplicity?
Should I move assets to Merrill Edge for BofA Preferred Rewards perks, or keep everything at Fidelity?
byu/bdeelin7 inCreditCards
Posted by bdeelin7
4 Comments
With your spending level the boosted rewards probably aren’t worth hassle of moving everything. At $2k monthly spend, even getting extra 1.5% on half your purchases is only like $15-20 more per month. Plus you lose the fractional ETF buying at Merrill which is actually pretty nice feature.
I’d stay put at Fidelity – having everything in one place is worth more than chasing small rewards boosts, especially since BofA keeps cutting benefits anyway. That $400 bonus sounds tempting but it’s one-time thing while you’ll be dealing with worse platform for years.
you can get multiple versions of ccr each with their sub. not sure what your spend is like but 4.5% for a broad online shopping category is huge. i know travel category doesnt get as much love due to the quarterly cap too but that one is also really broad since it covers “things you would do while traveling”
I have been at both Fidelity and Merrill for a while now. Before the upcoming changes, I viewed it as an ideal set-up. Great brokerage and cash management at Fidelity. Solid brick and mortar bank with BofA, good credit cards, and an acceptable brokerage with Merrill.
IMHO, I am not sure it is worth it at your spend level, unless you are looking for a brick and mortar bank to pair with Fidelity.
Some thoughts:
1. Stay at Fidelity and run a simple cash back set up with the Fidelity card, and something like the Autograph.
2. Run both, and the main approach is to have BofA as a back up, in case Fidelity got locked up for some reason, and then all new savings, etc. is at Fidelity. So VTI and some of SGOV at Merrill and keep the rest at Fidelity.
3. Look at PNC’s new program.
$1,500 to $2,000 monthly spend is low enough that you probably won’t benefit enough from post-nerf BofA to justify ‘downgrading’ from Fidelity to Merrill.
How much do you spend per month on a category by category basis? I suspect you could get 5% on most of your spending with just some Citi and US Bank cards.