In case you maintain the Financial institution of America® Premium Rewards® bank card, you’ve just a few selections when it comes time to redeem your factors: You need to use them to guide journey, get money again or purchase present playing cards. However how precisely do you go about redeeming them? Right here’s a step-by-step information for utilizing your Financial institution of America Premium Rewards bank card factors.

Getting began

First, you’ll must sign up to your Financial institution of America account, choose your Premium Rewards bank card from the record of accounts and click on on the “Rewards” tab. That tab will present your complete out there factors and supply an choice to redeem them.

Clicking on “Redeem Factors” brings you to a display screen with three redemption choices — you need to use your factors for journey, money or present playing cards. There’s a 2,500-point minimal on all redemptions.

Financial institution of America doesn’t have any airline or lodge switch companions, however the first redemption choice — “Journey” — will let you use your factors to immediately guide a flight, lodge or automotive rental. The redemption fee is one cent per level, simply as it’s with the opposite two selections.

Purchasing portals and present card redemptions

Nonetheless, you’ll in all probability be higher off reserving your journey one other method. As an example, in the event you use an internet journey company (OTA) equivalent to Orbitz or Expedia, you’ll be able to earn further rewards from the OTA itself. Additionally, many OTAs seem on cash-back procuring portals, so you’ll be able to double-dip on a reserving and get much more money again. Then in the event you nonetheless wish to use your Premium Rewards factors for the journey reserving, simply redeem them for an announcement credit score for a similar quantity and also you’ll get the similar one-cent redemption fee.

The identical recommendation applies to present card redemptions — you’ll get one cent per level. You’re not shedding any worth by going this route, however there are typically higher methods to purchase present playing cards with a reduction or money again, or you’ll be able to simply pay for purchases with a bank card and earn further rewards that method.

Money redemptions

That brings us to probably the most precious choice — money. We love factors and miles, however nothing is extra versatile than money and the Premium Rewards card is likely one of the strongest cash-earning playing cards on the market, particularly while you mix it with the Financial institution of America Most popular Rewards banking program. With this program, you’ll be able to earn as much as a 75% bonus in your bank card rewards, however to succeed in this tier you’ll must have $100,000 in belongings with Financial institution of America or its Merrill Lynch sibling.

So while you click on on the “Money” choice, you’ll come to a display screen that permits you to use factors for a direct deposit right into a Financial institution of America or Merrill account, a 529 Faculty Financial savings Plan or an announcement credit score to your Premium Rewards card. Click on the “Redemption Choices” pull-down menu and also you’ll discover your varied Financial institution of America accounts listed, together with the Premium Rewards card itself.

When you’ve chosen an account, you’ll be able to enter the variety of factors you wish to redeem. Financial institution of America will present the money quantity you’ll obtain for these factors and ask you to substantiate your entry.

The ultimate display screen will present a affirmation that your redemption request has been submitted, together with all the small print and a transaction ID quantity (which it’s best to notice in case there are any points). It may take as much as 5 enterprise days for the redemption to look, so don’t panic in the event you don’t see it instantly.

Computerized redemptions

You might need seen that, together with the above course of of constructing a single redemption (which Financial institution of America refers to as a “One-Time Redemption”), there’s a tab to the precise that provides the chance to arrange an Auto Redemption.

Turning on Auto Redemption will trigger all of the factors you earn to be robotically redeemed as an announcement credit score or deposited into the account you’ve set on the finish of every month, so long as you’ve a minimum of 2,500 factors to redeem. In case you’d prefer to set your redemptions on autopilot, you’ll by no means have to consider it. Simply watch the money construct up every month.

As you’ll be able to see, redemptions with this card are fairly easy and the Premium Rewards card has an inexpensive annual price.

Various playing cards

The Premium Rewards card is a wonderful cash-back bank card, however in the event you’re primarily in journey rewards, the Chase Sapphire Most popular® Card has the identical $95 annual price and an even bigger bonus — you’ll earn 60,000 Chase Final Rewards factors after spending $4,000 within the first three months of getting the cardboard. The Premium Rewards card has a bonus of fifty,000 factors after spending $3,000 within the first 90 days of account opening.

The Chase factors you earn with the Sapphire Most popular are value one cent every as money again or 1.25 cents every towards journey booked by the Final Rewards journey portal. It earns a better 3 factors per greenback on eating and 5 factors on journey booked by the Chase journey portal (or the identical 2 factors per greenback on journey booked elsewhere).

For spending that falls exterior of those bonus classes, the Premium Rewards card’s 1.5 factors per greenback beats out the Sapphire Most popular’s 1 level per greenback. However with the Sapphire Most popular you’ve the power to switch Chase factors to the issuer’s airline and lodge companions.

This feature makes one of the best journey bank cards a significantly better choice for reserving business- and first-class flights than even one of the best cash-back playing cards. For some examples of what you are able to do with transferrable Chase factors, take a look at our article on one of the best methods to make use of Chase Final Rewards factors.

Or, in the event you favor the simplicity of incomes money again and don’t qualify for Financial institution of America’s Most popular Rewards program, the Citi® Double Money Card is a wonderful alternative. It has no annual price and earns 2% money again on purchases: 1% while you make the acquisition and a further 1% as you pay your steadiness off.

Backside line

Redeeming factors with the Financial institution of America Premium Rewards card is fast and simple. This card is likely one of the prime cash-back playing cards to make use of in your on a regular basis spending, particularly in the event you qualify for the very best standing with the Financial institution of America Most popular Rewards program.

In case you do, you’ll get a 75% bonus in your bank card rewards, making each buy with the Premium Rewards card value a minimum of 2.62% money again — an excellent fee of return.

Apply right here: Financial institution of America Premium Rewards card.

Extra reporting by Ryan Wilcox and Jason Stauffer.