BofA to tie credit card rewards to relationships

Bank of America is readying a premium credit card that boosts the rewards customers may earn based on funds kept in savings and investment accounts at the bank.

Customers who sign up for BofA’s new Premium Rewards card may expand the points earned on each purchase by 25% to 75% if they also enroll in its general Preferred Rewards loyalty program, according to the bank. The Wall Street Journal first reported the product's existence.

The card, set to launch in September, seems designed to tackle a growing retention problem issuers have in the premium card niche, as issuers like Citi, Chase and American Express keep topping one another with increasingly rich sign-up deals worth thousands of dollars to those who switch.

At $95 a year, BofA’s card will have a relatively lower annual fee than some of the newest premium cards, whose annual fees hover around $495. Other issuers such as Amex, Chase, Citi and Capital One, are also reworking their high-end rewards cards with new features such as making them out of metal.

Bank of America
Bank of America branch sign is seen on Monday, Feb. 23, 2009 in New York, U.S. Photographer: Jin Lee/Bloomberg News
JIN LEE/BLOOMBERG NEWS

For reprint and licensing requests for this article, click here.
Credit cards Loyalty and rewards Bank of America
MORE FROM AMERICAN BANKER