Bank of America Customized Cash Rewards

The Customized Cash Rewards card lets you pick the category that earns 3%, and that choice is its whole personality. You select from Bank of America's list, while grocery stores and wholesale clubs earn 2% automatically. In the first year the chosen category earns 6% (3% plus a 3% first-year bonus), then 3%. Both bonus tiers share a combined cap of $2,500 in purchases per quarter, after which everything drops to 1%. There is no annual fee, approval generally starts at good credit, roughly 670 or higher, and it is a Visa Signature. That combined cap is the number to plan around. $2,500 a quarter is $10,000 a year of bonus eligible spending, worth at most $300 back a year if all of it lands in the 3% choice category ($600 in the first year at 6%), and less once groceries take their share at 2%. For a household with moderate spending concentrated in one clear category, whether that is gas, dining or online shopping, this is a genuinely useful return from a free card. For a heavy spender the cap arrives before the quarter is over and the card spends the rest of the quarter earning 1%. The welcome offer is a $200 online cash rewards bonus after at least $1,000 in purchases in the first 90 days, a modest spending target. The card's upside also depends on something outside the card. Bank of America's BofA Rewards program (previously called Preferred Rewards) adds a 10% to 75% bonus to the rewards you earn, depending on the qualifying balances you hold at the bank: no minimum balance for the Member tier, $30,000 for Preferred Plus, $100,000 for Preferred Honors and $1,000,000 for Premier. At the Premier tier the 3% category works out to about 5.25%. Bank of America says the bonus is not applied to non-standard rewards that are part of a special offer. If you do not bank with Bank of America and have no plans to move assets there, judge it on the base 3% and 2% alone. The regular APR is 17.74% to 27.74% variable, with a 0% intro APR for 15 billing cycles that covers purchases and balance transfers made within 60 days of opening (the intro balance transfer fee is 3% for the first 60 days, then 5%), so a transfer arranged later does not get the promotional rate. It is a poor fit for high spenders who will hit the quarterly cap early, for people who want one rate on everything with no category management, and for anyone with no Bank of America relationship who is comparing cards purely on published rates. The card also charges a 3% foreign transaction fee, so it is a costly choice abroad. As always, carrying a balance past the intro window undoes the rewards completely at these APRs.