Card benefits change often, and this page may be out of date by the time you read it.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 is Bank of America’s mid-tier travel card: a $95 annual fee, 2 points per dollar on travel and dining and 1.5 on everything else, a $100 airline incidental credit every calendar year, a Global Entry or TSA PreCheck credit, and no foreign transaction fees. The points are worth a flat 1 cent each and don’t transfer anywhere.
What makes or breaks it is the BofA Rewards bonus, which replaced Preferred Rewards in May 2026 and now needs $1 million with the bank for the top 75% boost. Below is what you earn at each tier, what the credits take, the insurance as best anyone can document it, and my verdict on who should get it.
BofA Premium Rewards at a glance
- Annual fee: $95
- Current public offer: 60,000 points (a $600 value) after $4,000 in purchases in the first 90 days (as of October 14, 2026, per Doctor of Credit)
- Is it the best ever?: Close to it. The card offered 50,000 points from its 2017 launch until 2025, and 60,000 is the highest public offer I have on record for it.
- Foreign transaction fee: None
- Best for: People who already keep $100,000 or more with Bank of America or Merrill (or are willing to), and who want simple, flat-value points with a small travel credit that covers the fee.
- Skip it if: You don’t bank with Bank of America. Without the bonus it’s a 1.5% card with a $95 fee, and plenty of no-fee cards pay 2% on everything.
- Bank’s page: Premium Rewards on bankofamerica.com
Jump to: Highlights · Earning · Credits · 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 how much you keep with Bank of America and Merrill (75% now needs $1 million)
- Up to $100 airline incidental credit per calendar year, applied automatically (seat upgrades, bag fees, in-flight purchases, lounge day passes; not airfare)
- Up to $100 Global Entry or TSA PreCheck credit every 4 years
- Points are worth a flat 1 cent each (cash, statement credit, Merrill deposit or BofA Travel); no transfer partners
- Visa Signature Luxury Hotel Collection, Visa Signature concierge and Roadside Dispatch
- Trip delay (after 12 hours), trip cancellation and interruption, baggage delay, lost luggage, emergency evacuation, secondary rental car coverage, purchase security, return protection and extended warranty (Bank of America doesn’t publish the limits); no foreign transaction fees; no lounge access
How it earns
| Category | Rate | Caps and fine print |
|---|---|---|
| Travel | 2x | No cap. 2.2x with the 10% Member bonus, 2.5x at Preferred Plus, 3x at Preferred Honors, 3.5x at 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 whichever way you redeem them, so 1.5x is 1.5% back. The BofA Rewards bonus (which 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 in Bank of America deposit accounts and Merrill investment accounts: Member (no minimum) 10%, Preferred Plus ($30,000+) 25%, Preferred Honors ($100,000+) 50% and Premier ($1,000,000+) 75%. The old Platinum Honors tier, which gave 75% at $100,000, is gone: those members moved to Preferred Honors and keep 75% only until their first enrollment anniversary after November 2026, after which the bonus drops to 50% (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 $100 | Calendar year | Automatic statement credit for qualifying airline fees: seat upgrades, bag fees, in-flight services and airline lounge fees | Not airfare, and only on qualifying U.S. airlines and U.S.-originating flights. Because it’s per calendar year, you can use it twice before your second annual fee posts. |
| Global Entry or TSA PreCheck | Up to $100 | Once every 4 years | Pay the application fee with the card | $100 covers TSA PreCheck or Global Entry’s old fee, but Global Entry now costs $120, so you’d pay the difference. |
Perks
- No lounge access of any kind.
- Visa Signature Luxury Hotel Collection: book one of 900+ participating hotels through Visa’s site with the card and you get breakfast for two, a $25 food or beverage credit, Wi-Fi, and a room upgrade and late checkout when available.
- Visa Signature concierge for travel planning, restaurant recommendations and event reservations.
- Roadside Dispatch: a 24/7 number that sends a tow truck or locksmith; you pay a set fee per service call, so it’s a convenience rather than free roadside assistance.
- Redeem points for cash into a Bank of America checking or savings account, a Merrill account (including 529 plans), a statement credit, gift cards or BofA Travel, all at 1 cent each.
- Points don’t expire while the account is open.
Insurance and protections
| Benefit | What the bank says |
|---|---|
| Auto rental collision damage waiver | Included, but the bank page doesn’t say primary or secondary; Frequent Miler and Upgraded Points both describe it as secondary to your own auto insurance |
| Trip delay | Up to $500 per ticket after a delay of 12 hours or more, per Frequent Miler and Million Mile Secrets (the bank page gives no amount or wait time) One-way and award tickets: Not published: Bank of America doesn’t post the guide to benefits online, and none of the summaries I found say whether one-way or award tickets count, so I’d charge the whole fare (or at least the award taxes) to the card and confirm with the benefits administrator before relying on it. |
| Trip cancellation / interruption | Up to $5,000 per person per trip for prepaid, non-refundable costs, per Million Mile Secrets and HelloSafe (no amount on the bank page) One-way and award tickets: Not published. HelloSafe says all or part of the trip has to be charged to the card; nothing I found addresses award tickets or one-ways. |
| Baggage delay | Up to $100 a day for up to 5 days after a 6-hour delay, per Frequent Miler and Million Mile Secrets One-way and award tickets: Not published. Million Mile Secrets says the full common carrier fare has to be on the card, which would leave award tickets out. |
| Lost luggage | Up to $3,000 per trip, per HelloSafe (the other sources list it without an amount) One-way and award tickets: Not published; same full-fare-on-the-card requirement as baggage delay, per Million Mile Secrets. |
| Emergency evacuation and transportation | Included; HelloSafe reports up to $15,000 per trip, but I couldn’t confirm that elsewhere |
| Purchase security | Theft or damage within 90 days, up to $10,000 per claim, per Million Mile Secrets (2020) |
| Return protection | Within 90 days, up to $250 per item and $1,000 a year, per Million Mile Secrets |
| Extended warranty | Doubles the manufacturer’s warranty, up to one extra year (Warranty Manager Service) |
| Cell phone protection | None |
Bank of America lists these protections on the card page without any numbers and says the details come with your new account materials, so the amounts above come from third-party summaries of the guide to benefits (Frequent Miler, Million Mile Secrets, HelloSafe) and could be out of date. Call the number 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 bonus language says the card may not be available to you if you currently have it or have had it in the preceding 24 months, so you can earn the bonus again 24 months after closing it.
- 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, so opening a checking account first helps (and you need one for the BofA Rewards bonus anyway). Details are in my application rules guide.
The full rules for every bank are in my credit card application rules guide.
My take
A $95 fee, but the $100 airline incidental credit covers it in my eyes if you ever pay for a checked bag or a seat assignment, since it’s applied automatically. That makes this a no-fee card in practice for anyone who flies at least once a year, and the question becomes how much you earn.
Without Bank of America money it earns 1.5% (or 1.65% with the 10% Member bonus) on everything and 2% to 2.2% on travel and dining, which is worse than plenty of no-fee 2% cards. At $100,000 in balances it’s 2.25% everywhere and 3% on travel and dining, which is good; the famous 2.625% everywhere now needs $1 million, and anyone still getting it as a former Platinum Honors member loses it at their first enrollment anniversary after November 2026.
The points don’t transfer to airlines or hotels, so this is a cash-back card with a travel badge. That’s fine if you want simplicity, but it means the ceiling is the BofA Rewards math above and nothing more.
The catch
The card only makes sense with a Bank of America or Merrill relationship, and the May 2026 change made that relationship more expensive: the 75% bonus that used to need $100,000 now needs $1,000,000, and $100,000 gets you 50%. If you moved money to BofA for the old Platinum Honors math, it’s worth redoing it.
The airline credit is incidentals only, on qualifying U.S. airlines, and doesn’t cover airfare. The Global Entry credit is $100, which no longer covers the full $120 Global Entry fee. The insurance is real but Bank of America doesn’t publish the limits anywhere I could find, which makes it hard to rely on or compare.
Keep it after year one?
The fee to me is $95 minus the automatic $100 airline incidental credit, which is about zero if you fly at all. With $100,000 or more at Bank of America or Merrill it’s worth keeping, since 2.25% everywhere is hard to beat without a fee. Without that relationship I’d ask Bank of America to change it to one of its no-fee cards (Doctor of Credit was offered the Customized Cash Rewards in a 2023 product change) rather than pay $95 for 1.5%.
Offer history
I don’t have a dated record of past offers for this card beyond the 50,000-point offer it had from its 2017 launch until 2025.
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.