Bank of America Preferred Rewards & Atmos Summit
⭐ What Is Preferred Rewards?
Bank of America (BOA) Preferred Rewards is a loyalty program that gives extra benefits if you keep money with BOA or Merrill. With enough balance, you can boost your credit card rewards, get better loan rates, waive fees, and more.
🏦 How Do You Qualify?
You need an active BOA checking account.
You need a 3-month average balance of $20,000+ across BOA deposits or Merrill accounts to join at the entry Gold tier.
Higher balances = higher tiers = better perks.
📊 The Tiers
Example: If you have a BOA Unlimited Cash Rewards card that normally earns 1.5% cash back, with Platinum Honors you’d earn 2.625% instead. 💵
🎉 Other Benefits
📈 Interest rate boosts on savings (5%–20%)
🏡 Discounts on mortgages, auto loans, and HELOCs
🏧 ATM fee waivers (limited or unlimited depending on tier)
📉 Lower fees on Merrill investing
✈️ What About the New Atmos Rewards Summit Card?
Here’s where it’s different:
Preferred Rewards bonuses (25%–75%) do not apply to the Atmos Rewards Summit Visa Infinite® card.
Instead, the Summit card offers a separate relationship bonus: If you have any active BOA consumer account (checking, savings, or CD) with activity in the past 90 days, you earn a 10% bonus on points earned from spending (welcome bonus excluded).
🔑 How That Works
Normal: 3× points on dining, foreign purchases, Alaska/Hawaiian Airlines purchases. 🍽️🌍✈️
With the 10% relationship bonus: those categories become 3.3× points. 🎉
So while the Atmos card isn’t tied into the full Preferred Rewards program, you still get a nice boost just by holding a simple BOA checking account. ✅
📌 Bottom Line
Preferred Rewards = amazing if you keep large balances at BOA/Merrill.
Atmos Summit = doesn’t get the tiered 25%–75% boosts, but gives a 10% relationship bonus if you’re a BOA banking customer.
✅ To qualify for that 10% boost, you can either:
Keep $500+ in a BOA consumer banking account (like checking or savings), or
Open a Merrill account and keep any positive balance (> $0).
🚀 Even without Preferred Rewards, the Summit’s earn rates + 10% bump make it a strong travel rewards card.
Personally, I originally thought the bonus would stack (3.3 × 1.75) for some crazy multiplier — but I was wrong. Still, that extra 10% isn’t too bad, and it’s a solid perk for just keeping a BOA or Merrill account active.