Bank of America® Customized Cash Rewards credit card review: Unique rewards flexibility, but watch your spending
You know your spending habits the best, so this card puts you in the driver’s seat when it comes to your highest earnings.
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Snapshot
4.4
Bottom line
Cards where you can select your bonus categories are becoming more popular, and the Bank of America Customized Cash Rewards credit card is one of the most flexible and rewarding choice category cards, especially for Bank of America Preferred Rewards® members. But the quarterly spending limit could be a bit low for many cardholders.
Intro offer
$200
Rewards rate
1% - 3%
Annual fee
$0
Regular APR
See Terms
4.3
Cardholder rating
Extra perks
Online tools
Rewards value
Customer service
4.4
Bankrate score
Rewards value
APR
Rewards flexibility
Features
Why you'll like this: You can choose which bonus category earns a top rate each month, including gas, online shopping, travel and more.
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Bank of America® Customized Cash Rewards credit card overview
If you want a higher reward rate than what the standard 1.5 percent flat-rate cash back card offers, but need more consistency than a rotating bonus category card can give, you’re in luck.
The Bank of America Customized Cash Rewards credit card is one of the few cash back credit cards that allows you to pick your bonus cash back category. On top of that, you can also switch your choice once per calendar month, a feature that offers great flexibility and makes it easier to adjust to big purchases and unexpected expenses. Coupled with the card’s boosted cash back rate at grocery stores and wholesale clubs, choice categories can help you rake in plenty of earnings.
However, your boosted cash back categories share a $2,500 spending limit on combined purchases per quarter, after which your rewards rate drops to just to 1 percent cash back. This quarterly cap is more flexible than spending caps on other cash back cards, but it can be limiting for big spenders.
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Rewards
- 3 percent cash back on category purchases of choice, including gas (plus electric vehicle charging stations), online shopping (plus cable, streaming, internet and phone services), dining, travel, drugstore or home improvement
- 2 percent cash back at grocery stores and wholesale clubs
- Spending cap: up to $2,500 of combined 3 and 2 percent category purchases each quarter, then 1 percent
- 1 percent on all other purchases
Expert Appraisal: Exceptional
See our expert analysis -
Welcome offer
- $200 online cash rewards after spending $1,000 within the first 90 days of account opening
Expert Appraisal: Typical
See our expert analysis -
0% APR offer
- See Terms on purchases and for any balance transfers made in the first 60 days. After the Intro APR offer ends, a See Terms will apply. There is an intro balance transfer fee of 3% for 60 days from account opening, then 4%.
Expert Appraisal: Good
See our expert analysis -
Rates and fees
- No annual fee
- 3 percent foreign transaction fee
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See Terms
Expert Appraisal: Typical
See our expert analysis -
Other cardholder perks
- Bank of America Preferred Rewards®
- BankAmeriDeals
- Visa Signature benefits including Visa Signature® Concierge, roadside dispatch and travel and emergency assistance
- Museums on Us
Expert Appraisal: Typical
See our expert analysis
Bank of America Customized Cash pros and cons
Pros
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You can swap your highest-earning category once per calendar month, adding to the power you have to match your rewards to your spending.
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Bank of America Preferred Rewards® members can earn up to 75 percent more cash back on all purchases.
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The card offers a generous intro APR period on purchases and balance transfers, so it's a great fit if you need to finance a purchase or pay off debt.
Cons
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Your earnings might be limited by the quarterly spending cap.
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Rival cards have potentially higher welcome offers or lower spending requirements.
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This card has few noteworthy benefits other than the rewards program.
Why you might want the Bank of America Customized Cash
The Bank of America Customized Cash card stands out for the freedom it gives cardholders to choose where they earn the most. In addition, you’ll get some breathing room with interest thanks to competitive intro APR offers on both purchases and balance transfers.
Rewards: The power to choose
The Customized Cash is one of the few cards available that lets you choose where you earn the highest rewards rate. You have six options, and all of them are fairly popular spending categories. You can easily tailor your card to match your spending habits, ensuring you get the most out of your cash back card.
The 3 percent cash back categories you can choose from are:
- Gas (including electric vehicle charging)
- Online shopping (including Cable, Streaming, Internet and Phone services)
- Dining
- Travel
- Drug stores
- Home improvement/furnishings
Additionally, the Customized Cash earns 2 percent cash back at grocery stores and wholesale clubs, and 1 percent on all other purchases. It's rare to see wholesale clubs included in the grocery category, even for some of the best grocery store cards. But the Customized Cash does exclude superstores, although it doesn’t explicitly state which ones.
Your 3 percent and 2 percent cash back categories share a $2,500 quarterly spending cap, then reward rates drop to 1 percent. That’s about $833 per month in combined category spending before you hit the limit. Depending on your spending habits, this could cut into your earnings. However, it’s worth noting that competing cards have spending caps of $1,500 per quarter or $500 per month. While the Customized Cash Rewards card limits your cash back earnings, the ceiling is relatively high.
You can change your 3 percent category once per calendar month through the online banking portal or mobile app, giving you even more flexibility. If you don’t change it, your 3 percent category stays the same from the previous month.
Intro APR: Competitive offers can help ward off interest
This card’s intro APR offer length of (see terms) billing cycles applies to both balance transfers (made in the first 60 days of opening your account) and purchases, which makes it ideal for saving on interest on past debt or new purchases.
While this isn’t the longest intro APR available, it’s quite competitive. You’ll also want to keep the card’s balance transfer fee in mind. This fee is standard among balance transfer cards but could still add to your total debt payoff amount.
The ongoing See Terms means you could get a rate that’s lower than the current average credit card interest rate, depending on your creditworthiness.
Since balance transfer and low-interest cards seldom have generous rewards programs, the Customized Cash becomes even more attractive for people looking for a decent break on interest while earning rewards.
Why you might want a different cash back card
The Customized Cash falls short when it comes to its perks, fees and welcome offer. It’ll be expensive to take this card abroad and the most valuable perks come at a potentially steep price.
Rates and fees: Not an ideal travel companion
While Bank of America won’t charge you annually to hold the Customized Cash, you can still run into common credit card fees. One of the most disappointing is the 3 percent foreign transaction fee, which tacks on an extra cost to any international purchase. Many no-annual-fee cash back cards with bonus categories don’t charge foreign transaction fees, so the Customized Cash falls behind the pack in this regard.
Cardholder perks: Best for Bank of America Preferred Rewards members
While no-annual-fee cards typically don't feature a lot of perks, this card is especially low on benefits. Travel insurances, annual credits and lounge access are not perks you’ll get to enjoy with the Bank of America Customized Cash. Niche benefits like BankAmeriDeals and Museums on Us may only be of value to a select group of people, and its Visa Signature benefits are fairly standard.
Perhaps the most notable cardholder perk is Bank of America’s Preferred Rewards program, which could get you some of the highest rewards rates available with a boost of up to 25 to 75 percent. You’ll need to keep a qualifying balance across your Bank of America and Merrill Edge accounts to get the Preferred Rewards boost, and some of the daily average balance thresholds across accounts could be difficult to reach. Here is a breakdown of the four Preferred Rewards tiers:
- Preferred Rewards Gold (at least a $20,000 balance): 25 percent boost for 3.75 percent on choice category purchases, 2.5 percent on grocery store and wholesale club purchases along with 1.25 percent on all other purchases (2.06 percent average rewards rate)
- Preferred Rewards Platinum (at least a $50,000 balance): 50 percent boost for 4.5 percent on choice category purchases, 3 percent on grocery store and wholesale club purchases along with 1.5 percent on all other purchases (2.47 percent average rewards rate)
- Preferred Rewards Platinum Honors (at least a $100,000 balance): 75 percent boost for 5.25 percent on choice category purchases, 3.5 percent on grocery store and wholesale club purchases along with 1.75 percent on all other purchases (2.88 percent average rewards rate)
- Preferred Rewards Diamond (at least a $1,000,000 balance): 75 percent boost for 5.25 percent on choice category purchases, 3.5 percent on grocery store and wholesale club purchases along with 1.75 percent on all other purchases (2.88 percent average rewards rate)
Welcome offer: A standard offer with a higher requirement
You’ll have to spend $1,000 in your first 90 days with the card to earn the $200 online cash rewards bonus, which is standard among no-annual-fee cash back cards, but the spending requirement could be lower. For example, the Chase Freedom Flex® has a welcome offer of $200 when you spend $500 in the first three months — which is a lower spending requirement for the same bonus in the same timeframe.
The upside is if you use this card exclusively for purchases in your choice spending category, groceries and another high-cost item, you should still be able to meet the welcome offer requirement. You can use the extra $200 as a statement credit or pocket it via a direct deposit.
We tried it: Here’s what our experts say
Bankrate editor Ashley Parks enjoys using the Customized Cash as part of her card portfolio. She tries to use her card according to shifts in her spending habits to maximize her earning potential.
“I use the Customized Cash exclusively as my gas credit card, since I have other cards to cover other top categories in my budget like travel and dining. During the holiday season, when I’m doing less driving and more online shopping, I switch my choice category to online shopping so I can still maximize my cash back earnings. It’s great having a card I can easily tailor to my needs as they change.”
— Ashley Parks, Editor at Bankrate
How the Unlimited Cash Rewards card compares to other cash back cards
The Bank of America Customized Cash Rewards card stands out among some of the best no annual fee credit cards for its versatile rewards program. Even so, new approaches to flexible categories and more comprehensive flat-rate cards are gaining traction and providing people with competing alternatives to the Customized Cash card.
Annual fee
Intro offer
$200 online cash rewards bonus after you make at least $1,000 in purchases in the first 90 days of account opening.
Rewards rate
Earn 3% cash back in the category of your choice (up to $2,500 in combined choice category/grocery store/wholesale club quarterly purchases). Earn automatic 2% at grocery stores and wholesale clubs (up to $2,500 in combined choice category/grocery store/wholesale club quarterly purchases). Earn unlimited 1% on all other purchases.
Recommended Credit Score
A FICO score/credit score is used to represent the creditworthiness of a person and may be one indicator to the credit type you are eligible for. However, credit score alone does not guarantee or imply approval for any financial product.
Annual fee
Intro offer
Earn $200 in cash back after you spend $1500 on purchases in the first 6 months of account opening. This bonus offer will be fulfilled as 20,000 ThankYou® Points, which can be redeemed for $200 cash back.
Rewards rate
Earn 5% cash back on purchases in your top eligible spend category each billing cycle, up to the first $500 spent, 1% cash back thereafter. Special Travel Offer: Earn an additional 4% cash back on hotels, car rentals, and attractions booked on Citi Travel℠ portal through 6/30/2026. Earn unlimited 1% cash back on all other purchases.
Recommended Credit Score
A FICO score/credit score is used to represent the creditworthiness of a person and may be one indicator to the credit type you are eligible for. However, credit score alone does not guarantee or imply approval for any financial product.
Annual fee
Intro offer
Earn an extra 1.5% on everything you buy (on up to $20,000 spent in the first year) — worth up to $300 cash back. That’s 6.5% on travel purchased through Chase Travel℠, 4.5% on dining and drugstores, and 3% on all other purchases.
Rewards rate
Enjoy 5% cash back on travel purchased through Chase Travel℠, our premier rewards program that lets you redeem rewards for cash back, travel, gift cards and more. 3% cash back on drugstore purchases and dining at restaurants, including takeout and eligible delivery service. 1.5% cash back on all other purchases.
Recommended Credit Score
A FICO score/credit score is used to represent the creditworthiness of a person and may be one indicator to the credit type you are eligible for. However, credit score alone does not guarantee or imply approval for any financial product.
Best cards to pair with the Bank of America Customized Cash
The best cards to pair with the Customized Cash will be rewards cards that cover categories that the Customized Cash doesn’t. A flat-rate rewards card with unlimited earnings and no spending caps may be your top choice, but a bonus category card with boosted rewards rates in categories you can’t find on the Customized Cash could work just as well.
Who is the Bank of America Customized Cash right for?
This card is ideal for anyone with a firm grasp of their budget and who knows where they can squeeze the most out of a card. Also, people with Bank of America as their primary bank will benefit if they qualify for Preferred Rewards.
Bankrate’s Take — Is the Bank of America Customized Cash Rewards card worth it?
The Bank of America Customized Cash Rewards credit card is an excellent no-annual-fee card if you think you'll earn more by maximizing the card's bonus categories rather than with a 1.5 percent flat-rate cash back card.
However, the card might be high maintenance for some and its spending cap can dampen its potential value. If you can benefit from this card’s intro APR offers and customizable bonus categories, the Customized Cash is definitely worth a look, especially if you qualify for the Bank of America Preferred Rewards program.
Dig deeper: Is the Bank of America Customized Cash Rewards card worth it?
Frequently asked questions
What cardholders think
Bank of America® Customized Cash Rewards credit card
In May 2024, Bankrate collaborated with third-party SliceMR to survey 6160 cardholders nationwide. Bankrate and Slice MR collected, averaged and presented website analytics and cardholder responses to six questions on a 5-point scale. Responses are based on individual cardholder’s product details, and therefore cannot be verified for accuracy. Users received an incentive for their feedback. User ratings are unedited and have not been reviewed or approved by credit card issuers, nor do these ratings reflect Bankrate’s own reviews of these cards.
Community Reviews
* See the online application for details about terms and conditions for these offers. Every reasonable effort has been made to maintain accurate information. However all credit card information is presented without warranty. After you click on the offer you desire you will be directed to the credit card issuer's web site where you can review the terms and conditions for your selected offer.
Editorial Disclosure: Opinions expressed here are the author's alone, and have not been reviewed or approved by any advertiser. The information, including card rates and fees, is accurate as of the publish date. All products or services are presented without warranty. Check the bank’s website for the most current information.
