Card benefits change often, and this page may be out of date by the time you read it. Always check the bank’s page and your card’s guide to benefits for the current terms before you rely on a benefit.
The Premium Rewards Elite is Bank of America’s premium card: a $550 annual fee, the same 2x travel and dining and 1.5x everywhere else as the $95 Premium Rewards, plus a $300 airline incidental credit, a $150 lifestyle credit, up to four Priority Pass memberships, 20% off airfare paid with points, and Visa Infinite insurance and perks.
Like the regular Premium Rewards, it only gets interesting with a big Bank of America or Merrill relationship, and since May 2026 the top 75% BofA Rewards bonus needs $1 million. Below is the earning at each tier, what each credit takes, the lounge access (which is better than it looks), the insurance as best it can be documented, and my verdict.
BofA Premium Rewards Elite at a glance
- Annual fee: $550
- Current public offer: 75,000 points (a $750 value) after $5,000 in purchases in the first 90 days (as of October 14, 2026, per Doctor of Credit)
- Is it the best ever?: It’s the standard offer since June 2023 (it was 50,000 points from the 2021 launch until then), and I don’t have a record of a higher public offer.
- Foreign transaction fee: None
- Best for: People with $100,000 or more at Bank of America or Merrill who’ll use both credits and want Priority Pass lounge access for a group.
- Skip it if: You don’t have a large Bank of America relationship, or wouldn’t spend $300 a year on airline fees. The $95 Premium Rewards earns exactly the same.
- Bank’s page: Premium Rewards Elite on bankofamerica.com
Jump to: Highlights · Earning · Credits · Lounges and perks · Insurance · Application rules · My take · The catch · Keep it? · Offer history · Quick Answers
The highlights
- 2x travel and dining, 1.5x on everything else, multiplied by a 10% to 75% BofA Rewards bonus depending on your balances (75% now needs $1 million)
- Up to $300 airline incidental credit a year, for fees only (bags, seats, in-flight purchases, lounge fees; not airfare)
- Up to $150 lifestyle credit a year for streaming, food delivery, fitness subscriptions and rideshare
- 20% off airfare paid with points through BofA Travel or the concierge (points worth 1.25 cents each there)
- Up to $120 Global Entry or TSA PreCheck credit every 4 years
- Up to 4 Priority Pass Select memberships, each with unlimited guests (lounge capacity permitting)
- Visa Infinite concierge, Luxury Hotel Collection and Avis, Hertz and National status
- Trip delay (after 6 hours), trip cancellation and interruption, baggage delay, lost luggage, emergency evacuation, roadside, primary rental car coverage, purchase and return protection (limits not published by the bank); no foreign transaction fees
How it earns
| Category | Rate | Caps and fine print |
|---|---|---|
| Travel | 2x | No cap. 2.2x Member, 2.5x Preferred Plus, 3x Preferred Honors, 3.5x Premier. |
| Dining | 2x | No cap. Same BofA Rewards multipliers as travel. |
| Everything else | 1.5x | No cap. 1.65x Member, 1.875x Preferred Plus, 2.25x Preferred Honors, 2.625x Premier. |
Points are worth 1 cent each as cash or a statement credit, and 1.25 cents toward airfare booked with points through BofA Travel or the concierge (the 20% discount). The BofA Rewards bonus replaced Preferred Rewards on May 27, 2026, needs an eligible Bank of America checking account, and is based on your combined 3-month average balance at Bank of America and Merrill: 10% with no minimum, 25% at $30,000, 50% at $100,000 and 75% at $1,000,000. Former Platinum Honors members keep 75% only until their first enrollment anniversary after November 2026 (per NerdWallet). The bonus doesn’t apply to the welcome offer.
Credits and how to use them
| Credit | Amount | How often | Where / how | The catch |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Airline incidental credit | Up to $300 | Each year (calendar year, per Doctor of Credit’s note that it can be used twice in the first year) | Automatic statement credit for qualifying airline fees: seat upgrades, bag fees, in-flight services and airline lounge fees | Not airfare. $300 of bag and seat fees a year is a lot unless you fly often or check bags for a family. |
| Lifestyle credit | Up to $150 | Each year | Automatic statement credit on video streaming, food delivery, fitness subscriptions and rideshare | The easy one: a streaming subscription alone uses most of it. |
| Global Entry or TSA PreCheck | Up to $120 | Once every 4 years | Pay the application fee with the card | — |
| 20% airfare discount | 20% off | Every booking | Pay for flights with points through BofA Travel or the concierge, any airline and class | Only when paying with points, and only through Bank of America’s booking channels. |
Lounges and other perks
- Top tier: up to 4 Priority Pass Select memberships on one account, and each one allows unlimited guests (subject to each lounge’s capacity), per Upgraded Points and AwardWallet. The memberships don’t have to go to authorized users, so you can give them to family members. No other card I review gives this many memberships with free guests; the Sapphire Reserve allows two guests and the Venture X now charges for them.
- Visa Infinite Luxury Hotel Collection: Visa’s program of luxury hotels booked through its site, with breakfast for two, late checkout and an automatic upgrade when available.
- Visa Infinite car rental benefits: VIP amenities, status upgrades and discounts with Avis, Hertz and National.
- Visa Infinite concierge, 24/7, for travel, dinner reservations and event tickets.
- Redeem points for cash into a Bank of America or Merrill account (including 529 plans), a statement credit, gift cards or travel. Points don’t expire while the account is open.
Insurance and protections
Green highlights mark where this card is at the top of the cards I review.
| Benefit | What the bank says |
|---|---|
| Auto rental collision damage waiver | Top tier: primary, up to $75,000, per Upgraded Points and HelloSafe (the bank page lists rental benefits without saying primary or secondary); that matches the highest limit among the cards I review |
| Trip delay | Up to $500 per ticket after a delay of more than 6 hours, per Upgraded Points and HelloSafe (the bank page gives no numbers) One-way and award tickets: Likely yes, but unconfirmed: these numbers match Visa’s standard Visa Infinite trip delay terms, which cover fares paid in part or in full with the card or its rewards (so award taxes count) and don’t require a round trip. Bank of America doesn’t publish its own guide, so confirm before relying on it. |
| Trip cancellation / interruption | Up to $2,500 per person for non-refundable common carrier fares, per Upgraded Points and HelloSafe One-way and award tickets: Not published. HelloSafe says the full fare has to be charged to the card, which would leave award tickets out; nothing I found addresses one-ways. |
| Baggage delay | Up to $100 a day for up to 5 days after a 6-hour delay One-way and award tickets: Not published. HelloSafe says the full fare has to be on the card; I couldn’t confirm whether award taxes count. |
| Lost luggage | Up to $3,000 per trip One-way and award tickets: Not published; same full-fare requirement per HelloSafe. |
| Emergency evacuation and transportation | Included; HelloSafe reports up to $50,000 on trips 100+ miles from home, which I couldn’t confirm elsewhere |
| Roadside assistance | Listed by the bank without details |
| Purchase security | Theft or damage within 90 days, up to $10,000 per claim and $50,000 per cardholder (Upgraded Points) |
| Return protection | Within 90 days, up to $300 per item and $1,000 a year |
| Extended warranty | Up to one extra year on manufacturer’s warranties |
| Cell phone protection | None |
Bank of America lists these protections on the card page without any numbers (details come with the account materials), so the amounts above come from Upgraded Points (October 5, 2026) and HelloSafe (June 2026), which agree with each other. Call the benefits line on the back of the card before you count on any of them.
For how this compares with other cards, see my card travel benefits comparison.
Application rules for this card
- Bank of America’s terms say the card may not be available to you if you currently have it or have had it in the preceding 24 months, and Doctor of Credit reads that as an approval rule: you’d be declined rather than approved without a bonus.
- The 2/3/4 rule: Bank of America approves at most 2 new cards in 2 months, 3 in 12 months and 4 in 24 months (its own cards only).
- It also looks at new cards from all banks: data points suggest about 7/12 if you have a Bank of America deposit account and 3/12 if you don’t. Details are in my application rules guide.
The full rules for every bank are in my credit card application rules guide.
My take
A $550 fee, but the $150 lifestyle credit is close to cash if you pay for any streaming service, making it more like $400 in my eyes. Whether the $300 airline credit brings it to $100 depends entirely on whether you’d spend $300 a year on bags, seat assignments and similar fees anyway; for most people who fly a few times a year that’s a stretch.
Earning is identical to the $95 Premium Rewards, so you’re paying the extra $455 for the bigger credits, the Priority Pass memberships, the 20% airfare discount and better insurance (6-hour trip delay and primary rental coverage instead of 12 hours and secondary). The lounge access is the standout: four memberships with unlimited guests is the most generous Priority Pass setup on any card I review.
The math only works with a big Bank of America relationship. At $100,000 it’s 2.25% everywhere, or about 2.8% toward airfare with the 20% discount; at $1 million it’s 2.625% (3.3% toward airfare). Without that, it’s a 1.5% card with a $550 fee.
The catch
The 75% bonus that made this card famous now needs $1 million at Bank of America or Merrill; $100,000 gets 50%. The points don’t transfer to airlines or hotels, so the ceiling is 1.25 cents each toward airfare.
The $300 airline credit doesn’t cover airfare, and Bank of America doesn’t publish its insurance limits, which makes the coverage hard to rely on or compare.
The airline credit only helps if you already pay those fees. Bank of America, like other banks with this kind of credit, counts on some people forgetting to use it or not having enough fees to use it on.
Keep it after year one?
The fee to me is $550 minus the $150 lifestyle credit, which equals $400, and minus whatever you’d actually use of the $300 airline credit. With $100,000+ at Bank of America or Merrill, a household that uses the Priority Pass memberships and the airline credit can come out ahead. If not, I’d ask Bank of America to move you to the $95 Premium Rewards, which earns the same points and whose $100 airline credit covers its fee.
Offer history
The card launched in 2021 with a 50,000-point offer, which rose to 75,000 in June 2023.
Quick Answers
Last checked: October 14, 2026. Card terms change often, so confirm on the bank’s page before you apply. There are no affiliate or referral links on this site, ever; links go to the bank’s own page.