Apple Card vs Bank of America Rewards

[212rikanmofo]

I'm trying to decide between which one will offer me cash back. I've been using BoA Cash Back Rewards as my main CC. I have set it to 3% cash back for online shopping. You have the option to choose the category to get 3% in monthly I believe. Since I shop online a lot, that's what I chose.

I would prefer to use Apple Card as my main CC but I know it only offers 3% cashback at certain places only. Some of the reasons I like the Apple card better is I like how it's tied into the ecosystem and love how I can see everything in one place. It's organized and easy to keep track of. Plus I have a higher credit limit, no annual fees, no international fees for traveling and lower APR vs my BoA Cash rewards card. And I love how you get the cash funded right away into your Apple Cash.

Does anyone have a list to all the cash back percentages that you get back when using the Apple Card? It only works where Apple Pay is accepted, so does this mean you have to physically use NFC method on your phone/watch and or swipe with your physical Apple Card when checking out at a store (not online shopping)?

If I can recall I noticed I didn't get cash back when I swiped my actual Apple Card when I bought something at an airport in Taiwan.

 

[Rigby]

BofA Cash Rewards: 3% on your category, 2% on groceries, 1% on everything else. Category can be changed once per calendar month. The categories are limited to expenses up to $2,500 per quarter, after that they revert to 1%. If you qualify for "preferred rewards" status with BofA, the cashback rates can be boosted by up to 75%.

Apple Card: 3% on purchases from Apple, 2% on Apple Pay transactions (both in store and online), 1% on everything else.

Where the BofA cards really shine is if you can park enough savings at BofA or investments at Merrill Edge to qualify for "platinum honor" status. The Cash Rewards card then yields 5.25% for the category, 3.5% for groceries, and 1.75% for everything else. You can also combine it with other cards that yield ~2.6% on everything.

Personally I think that, while the Apple Card GUI is really nice, it is a big disadvantage that you can *only* manage the card from the phone. You can't access it using a web browser.

 

[gsmornot]

I use the BoA card for everything but in store Apple Pay. Online shopping is my pick as well. The one thing that Apple Card has that BoA does not is no foreign transaction fees. I had to pay like 1.50 the other day just to get a DBrand skin. Hate that foreign transaction fee crap.

 

[C DM]

You can also combine it with other cards that yield ~2.6% on everything.

Curious, which other cards? And combine in what way?
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The one thing that Apple Card has that BoA does not is no foreign transaction fees.

If I recall correctly, BoA has that on their travel rewards card, but unfortunately not on their cash rewards card.

 

[gsmornot]

Curious, which other cards? And combine in what way?
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If I recall correctly, BoA has that on their travel rewards card, but unfortunately not on their cash rewards card.

I had the travel rewards card at one time but did not use it so I turned it off. The bad thing is, its not always obvious a transaction will be from outside the US. In the case of DBrand its Canada. I have it happen with eBay as well and you don't know most of the time until you get the message after saying you just did it and here is your fee.

 

[Rigby]

Curious, which other cards? And combine in what way?

The Travel Rewards card. 1.5% cash back on everything, or ~2.6% if you have "platinum honors" status. Or, if you travel enough, the Premium Rewards card. It has an annual fee, but it's easy to recoup if you travel a bit and then you get more cashback for travel and dining. Personally I have two Cash Rewards and one Premium Rewards cards. My cashback reaches 4 figures per year.

 

[bniu]

I have the Platinum tier at BoA so my cash back rates are 4.5%/3%/1.5% on my cash rewards cards and 2.25% on my travel rewards card. I have three cash rewards cards, so I get multiple categories or I can double or triple up. The grocery category also includes warehouse clubs like Costco, so my cash rewards cards are heavily used at Costco. I keep the Apple Card for Apple purchases and default to the BoA cards for other stuff. I don’t spend enough in a year for the $2500 quarterly caps to be a factor.

 

[mlody]

I have been a big fan of BOA card for many years (I have my checking/savings accounts since LaSalle bank days), but as I got married and my family grew and so did the expenses, the quarterly $2500 limit really hurts and makes the card average at best for our usage. Since we put even the smallest transactions (we are 99% cashless) it is not uncommon for us to blow thru the limit in under a single month (or less), leaving us for two months with only 1% cash back. I used to rotate the cards to try to maximize benefits (together with 5% discover quarterly bonus), but that usually led to mad wife who was always confused on what card to use and my credit score suffered as all cards started reporting balances as i was always missing to pay them before statement closure (not due date).

All in all, i know we are leaving some $ on the table for not rotating the cards to maximize the cash back benefits, but it is less hectic to only check one card vs 4 etc. I still have a soft spot for BOA and I will recommend it to many (given the use cases), but I moved on which is shame as this is the card that has the highest credit limit of all that I have.

To answer your questions, if your overall card usage is not all that high, the cashback difference probably wont account to anything significant. I think both BOA and Apple Card complement each others in a nice way, but also both suffer from things like lack of warranty extension etc. I would rotate them both if you like that type of the game.

 

[C DM]

I have been a big fan of BOA card for many years (I have my checking/savings accounts since LaSalle bank days), but as I got married and my family grew and so did the expenses, the quarterly $2500 limit really hurts and makes the card average at best for our usage. Since we put even the smallest transactions (we are 99% cashless) it is not uncommon for us to blow thru the limit in under a single month (or less), leaving us for two months with only 1% cash back. I used to rotate the cards to try to maximize benefits (together with 5% discover quarterly bonus), but that usually led to mad wife who was always confused on what card to use and my credit score suffered as all cards started reporting balances as i was always missing to pay them before statement closure (not due date).

All in all, i know we are leaving some $ on the table for not rotating the cards to maximize the cash back benefits, but it is less hectic to only check one card vs 4 etc. I still have a soft spot for BOA and I will recommend it to many (given the use cases), but I moved on which is shame as this is the card that has the highest credit limit of all that I have.

To answer your questions, if your overall card usage is not all that high, the cashback difference probably wont account to anything significant. I think both BOA and Apple Card complement each others in a nice way, but also both suffer from things like lack of warranty extension etc. I would rotate them both if you like that type of the game.

Moved on to the Apple Card?

 

[mlody]

Moved on to the Apple Card?

I apologize for nit clarifying. We switched to Citi Visa from Costco as the primary card since the majority of shopping we do is at Costco and Apple Card (mastercard) is not accepted at Costco. The biggest issue for us with Apple Card is inability to use money management tools such as Quicken or Mint.

 

[Rigby]

I have been a big fan of BOA card for many years (I have my checking/savings accounts since LaSalle bank days), but as I got married and my family grew and so did the expenses, the quarterly $2500 limit really hurts and makes the card average at best for our usage. Since we put even the smallest transactions (we are 99% cashless) it is not uncommon for us to blow thru the limit in under a single month (or less), leaving us for two months with only 1% cash back.

The solution is simple: get a second Cash Rewards card. And with "Platinum Honors" status you'd still get 1.75% after the categories are exhausted.

I used to rotate the cards to try to maximize benefits (together with 5% discover quarterly bonus), but that usually led to mad wife who was always confused on what card to use and my credit score suffered as all cards started reporting balances as i was always missing to pay them before statement closure (not due date).

There is absolutely no need to always pay off the balance before the statement closes, since the effect of reported balances is temporary. If you want to optimize your score before applying for credit, paying your cards off before statement close this one time is enough. Otherwise just leave everything on autopay so you'll never miss a payment (that can really hurt the credit score for a longer time).

 

[Erehy Dobon]

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[mlody]

The solution is simple: get a second Cash Rewards card. And with "Platinum Honors" status you'd still get 1.75% after the categories are exhausted.
There is absolutely no need to always pay off the balance before the statement closes, since the effect of reported balances is temporary. If you want to optimize your score before applying for credit, paying your cards off before statement close this one time is enough. Otherwise just leave everything on autopay so you'll never miss a payment (that can really hurt the credit score for a longer time).

My wife could barely manage different cards, now imagine identical card but with a different account number. Sounds great in theory. Perhaps I could pull such trick if I was by myself and was able to control 100% of spend.

Well while I agree with that the effect of reported balances is temporary, if you continue to do that month to month for all your cards, your credit score will suffer after few months and will continue the downward trend, regardless if you pay all balances before due date and never miss a payment - at least that is my experience after juggling 4 credit cards for the past 12+ months. For reference I attached a snippet from my most recent report thru BOA. While I am not saying that everyone is going to have the same experience, it definitely impacted my score, hence I am going to say screw the few extra cash back bucks and I will switch to use a single card.

 

[Rigby]

Well while I agree with that the effect of reported balances is temporary, if you continue to do that month to month for all your cards, your credit score will suffer after few months and will continue the downward trend, regardless if you pay all balances before due date and never miss a payment - at least that is my experience after juggling 4 credit cards for the past 12+ months. For reference I attached a snippet from my most recent report thru BOA.

The thing is that the banks report the new balances every month, so there is no point in optimizing for that aspect if you are not planning to apply for credit, since the month after that it'll change again anyway. It's not like other factors (such as missed payments) that have a lasting effect.

I am going to say screw the few extra cash back bucks and I will switch to use a single card.

What I'm doing is that I have one card dedicated to online shopping which is set as the default payment option at all online retailers, and I use the other one for groceries and one other category (usually dining). I only carry the latter card. It's really not hard to manage.

 

[mlody]

The thing is that the banks report the new balances every month, so there is no point in optimizing for that aspect if you are not planning to apply for credit, since the month after that it'll change again anyway. It's not like other factors (such as missed payments) that have a lasting effect.
What I'm doing is that I have one card dedicated to online shopping which is set as the default payment option at all online retailers, and I use the other one for groceries and one other category (usually dining). I only carry the latter card. It's really not hard to manage.

Right, but if you have 4 or more cards and each one has some kind of a balance that is reported each months, that is not good for your score. Hence, people either use only 1 card and keep others at 0 balance, or play a game of paying of balances before the end statements are reported to CB. There is even a fancy acronym for that - AZEO (all zero's except one) - see the link below that goes into depth on how to optimize the credit card usage from the credit score perspective

https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Ge...ategy-Purely-From-a-Credit-Score/td-p/5825110

For me it is a convenience vs usability factor. While I was perfectly capable of managing 3-4 card and always knew which card to use to maximize the cash back, the same couldn't be said about my wife. Wife wins, end of story!

 

[Rigby]

Right, but if you have 4 or more cards and each one has some kind of a balance that is reported each months, that is not good for your score. Hence, people either use only 1 card and keep others at 0 balance, or play a game of paying of balances before the end statements are reported to CB. There is even a fancy acronym for that - AZEO (all zero's except one) - see the link below that goes into depth on how to optimize the credit card usage from the credit score perspective

https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Ge...ategy-Purely-From-a-Credit-Score/td-p/5825110

From my experience that is a myth. You get exactly the same result if you pay them down before statement close only when you actually need a good score. No need to do this on an ongoing basis. Many of the guys on the Myfico forums etc. constantly apply for new credit, so for them it may make sense. Maybe it would be better for them to cut back a little on the credit cards.

 

[compwiz1202]

The solution is simple: get a second Cash Rewards card. And with "Platinum Honors" status you'd still get 1.75% after the categories are exhausted.
There is absolutely no need to always pay off the balance before the statement closes, since the effect of reported balances is temporary. If you want to optimize your score before applying for credit, paying your cards off before statement close this one time is enough. Otherwise just leave everything on autopay so you'll never miss a payment (that can really hurt the credit score for a longer time).

Yes Utilization% is the most volatile one of the factors.

 

[rachelcenter]

BofA Cash Rewards: 3% on your category, 2% on groceries, 1% on everything else. Category can be changed once per calendar month. The categories are limited to expenses up to $2,500 per quarter, after that they revert to 1%. If you qualify for "preferred rewards" status with BofA, the cashback rates can be boosted by up to 75%.

Apple Card: 3% on purchases from Apple, 2% on Apple Pay transactions (both in store and online), 1% on everything else.

Where the BofA cards really shine is if you can park enough savings at BofA or investments at Merrill Edge to qualify for "platinum honor" status. The Cash Rewards card then yields 5.25% for the category, 3.5% for groceries, and 1.75% for everything else. You can also combine it with other cards that yield ~2.6% on everything.

Personally I think that, while the Apple Card GUI is really nice, it is a big disadvantage that you can *only* manage the card from the phone. You can't access it using a web browser.

how do you select your category on their website? im trying to look for it and cant find it. where is it?

 

[Eric Idle]

Apple Card's rewards are really pitiful considering how rich a company Apple is. Their card is middle of the road and nothing more.