Bank of America Business Advantage Travel Rewards Review

While this business credit card does let you earn rewards good for statement credits toward travel purchases, points redeemed for travel purchases are not worth as much as those that more premium cards offer—and they aren’t transferable to airline or hotel loyalty programs. That makes this card somewhat inferior as a travel rewards credit card for aggressive travel rewards practitioners, though it does have nice features for someone who doesn’t want to think a whole lot about their rewards card.

There’s no annual fee with this card and it includes a modest 0% introductory interest promotion on purchases. It’s just nine billing cycles long, but it might be helpful if you were planning to make key business purchases and wanted to give your cash flow several months of interest-free breathing room. Also note that members of Bank of America’s Preferred Rewards program can earn up to 75% more base points for every purchase made with the card. That makes the Bank of America Business Advantage Travel Rewards Card a compelling value for current customers of the bank.

• Attractive introductory interest offer, followed by a low variable interest rate: This card makes it easy to save on interest, both now and later on. First, you will pay 0% interest on purchases for nine billing cycles. Second, applicants with great credit may qualify for the low-end of the ongoing variable interest rate range—that rate is lower than most competing cards.
• Potential for more rewards as a Bank of America customer: If you have money on deposit with Bank of America already, you have the potential to earn 25% to 75% more rewards for each dollar you spend. 
• Good rewards earning rate for regular purchases and travel spending: Earning 1.5 points for each dollar you spend is pretty good for a business travel card with no annual fee. Even better? You earn 3 points per $1 on travel purchases made through the Bank of America Travel Center. There are other business credit cards that offer 3 points per $1 or more on travel purchases, but most charge annual fees. 
• Easy, versatile travel redemptions: Rewards earned with this card are good for any travel purchase that you can book anywhere. You simply ask for a statement credit after you’ve paid for the expense with this card.

• High threshold for top bonus rewards as a Bank of America customer: Before you get too excited about earning more rewards as a Bank of America Preferred Rewards customer, you should know that you need to keep a lot of money on deposit to qualify. The top rewards tier requires deposits of $100,000 or more to earn 75% more rewards, whereas the lowest tier of Gold still requires you to have $20,000 to $50,000 on deposit. 
• Limited redemption options for rewards: Rewards earned with this card are good for travel statement credits, but you can’t transfer rewards to airline or hotel loyalty programs. You also have the option for cash back or gift cards, but not merchandise or other options that come with competing cards. 

Once you sign up, you can earn 25,000 bonus points after you make $1,000 in net purchases on your card within 60 days of account opening. These points are worth 1 cent each when redeemed for travel, so the bonus alone is worth $250. 

This bonus is better than nothing, but it’s a lot lower than sign-up bonuses on many other business credit cards, including some with no annual fee. That said, spending $1,000 in 60 days should be a low hurdle for most businesses to clear.

The rewards scheme is straightforward with this card—that is, unless you have a well-stuffed deposit account with the bank. You’ll earn 1.5 points for every $1 spent. You’ll earn another 1.5 points on some travel purchases. The base earning rate is pretty good—better even than many competing cards. Earning 3 points per $1 spent on travel sounds good until you notice you only enjoy that rate when booking through Bank of America’s travel portal.

The picture brightens somewhat if you’re a member of Bank of America’s Preferred Rewards Program for Business. Depending on your account balances with the bank, you’ll earn additional points with every purchase:

• Deposits of $20,000 to $50,000 earn 25% more base points
• Deposits of $50,000 to $99,999 earn 50% more base points
• Deposits of $100,000 earn 75% more base points 

Points earned with this card can be redeemed for statement credits to cover travel at a respectable rate of 1 cent per point. This means you can cash in your rewards for airfare, hotels, rental cars, and any other travel purchases you charge to your credit card. You can also redeem rewards for gift cards or cash back, although redemptions for cash back are only worth 0.6 cents per point. 

You’ll get the most out of this card if you use it for all your business spending, including business travel you can book through the Bank of America Travel Center.

Also consider joining the Bank of America Preferred Rewards Program for Business and moving your savings over if you really want to maximize your points haul. If you were able to reach Platinum Honors status, you would earn 2.62 points per $1 spent on regular purchases and 4.12 points for each dollar spent on purchases in the Bank of America Travel Center. 

Even if you were only able to reach Gold status, you would still earn 25% more base points for a grand total of 1.87 points on all purchases and 3.37 points per $1 on Bank of America Travel Center purchases. 

The Bank of America Business Advantage Travel Rewards Card offers a few perks considered “excellent” by the editors of The Balance. These benefits include:

• Travel accident insurance: This coverage is good for up to $1 million if you face loss of life or accidental dismemberment on a common carrier. 
• Insurance coverage for lost or delayed luggage: Get reimbursement for carryon or checked luggage if it’s lost by a common carrier. 
• Trip cancellation coverage: Get reimbursed for prepaid travel expenses when your trip is cancelled for a covered reason.
• Trip delay coverage: Qualify for reimbursement of qualified travel expenses when your trip is delayed for reasons beyond your control. 

Bank of America earned the seventh spot (out of 11) in J.D. Power’s 2019 U.S. Credit Card Satisfaction Study, which considered the credit card experiences of more than 28,000 customers nationwide. The bank only scored 798 out of 1,000 possible points in the study, whereas the industry average was 806. 

Bank of America does offer a mobile app that makes it easier to pay bills and monitor your rewards with your mobile device. Also be aware that the Bank of America Business Advantage Travel Rewards Card comes with cash flow management tools for your business, including the option to sync your transactions with QuickBooks. 

Bank of America offers standard security features on their credit cards including location verification, fraud monitoring and zero liability for fraudulent transactions. 

The Bank of America Business Advantage Travel Rewards Card charges standard fees for this industry, although you won’t pay foreign transaction fees on purchases made abroad.