AwardWallet receives compensation from advertising partners when you visit our site, click on a link, when you are approved for a credit card, or when an account is opened. Terms Apply to the offers listed on this page. Enrollment is required for select Amex benefits. The opinions expressed here are our own and have not been reviewed, provided, or approved by any bank advertiser. Here's our complete list of Advertisers. Offers for Bank of America cards mentioned in this post have been updated as of 07/18/2025
Offers for the Bank of America® Travel Rewards credit card and Bank of America® Unlimited Cash Rewards credit card are not available through this site. Some offers may have expired. Please see our card marketplace for available offers
Getting high cash-back returns can sometimes require paying a steep annual fee. However, you can earn up to 3.5% cash back on all purchases for a year with the Bank of America® Unlimited Cash Rewards credit card — and there's no annual fee.
Here's how to do it.
- Earn 2% cash back on purchases for the first year from account opening
- Earn unlimited 1.5% cash back on all purchases after year one
Open a Bank of America Unlimited Cash Card
To potentially unlock 3.5% cash back on every purchase, you first need to open a Bank of America Unlimited Cash Card. This no-annual-fee card earns 2% cash back for the first year, then unlimited 1.5% cash back on all purchases thereafter.
On its own, this is a very simple and easy-to-understand card. It also comes with a decent welcome offer that's not difficult to earn: a $200 online cash rewards bonus after you make at least $1,000 in purchases in the first 90 days of account opening, plus 2% cash back on purchases for the first year from account opening.
That's solid, but you could earn even more rewards by pairing the Bank of America Unlimited Cash Card with Bank of America Preferred Rewards.
Boost Your Card Earnings
Most likely, you have a checking or savings account. Perhaps you have investment or retirement accounts. You can take these funds and put them to work to increase your cash-back rewards by moving your assets to Bank of America.
This is where the Bank of America Preferred Rewards program comes into play. One simple visit or call with a Bank of America banker can unlock massive earning potential.
Note that this program is changing soon: Bank of America says BofA Rewards will replace Preferred Rewards on May 27, 2026.
Bank of America Preferred Rewards Program
The Bank of America Preferred Rewards program offers customers various bonuses and discounts based on the amount of funds they keep in qualifying Bank of America or Merrill accounts. You can deposit funds or transfer stocks and other brokerage assets to fund your accounts.
Even better, Bank of America will often offer bonuses for opening new accounts. Through these bonuses, Bank of America gives customers a tangible cash-back reward incentive to earn their banking business.
Bank of America Preferred Rewards Program Tiers
The Bank of America Preferred Rewards program has four tiers: Gold, Platinum, Platinum Honors, and Diamond Honors. Your tier is determined by your three-month combined average daily balance across all qualifying checking, savings, and investment accounts.
It's worth noting that it typically takes three months from the time you deposit funds into new accounts to qualify for a higher tier. However, your banker can often expedite this process. You'll also want to note that your tier can increase or decrease based on changes in your average balances.
As you move into higher tiers, you'll get boosted rates on savings accounts, discounted rates on home equity lines of credit, auto loan applications, foreign currency exchanges, and Merrill Guided Investing, as well as reduced origination fees on new purchase or refinance mortgages and waived banking fees.
Credit Card Bonus Multipliers
The most useful Preferred Rewards benefit is the bonus multiplier on all eligible Bank of America credit cards, including travel rewards cards like the Bank of America® Travel Rewards credit card, allowing you to earn additional travel rewards or higher cash-back rates.
Let's look at the amount of funds needed to qualify for each tier, as well as the bonus awarded on your purchases.
- Gold: Three-month combined average daily balance between $20,000 and $50,000, providing a 25% bonus on all eligible Bank of America credit card purchases (for a total earning rate of 2.5%).
- Platinum: Three-month combined average daily balance between $50,000 and $100,000, providing a 50% bonus on credit card earnings (for a total earning rate of 3%).
- Platinum Honors: Three-month combined average daily balance between $100,000 and $1 million, providing a 75% rewards bonus (for a total earning rate of 3.5%).
- Diamond Honors: Three-month combined average daily balance of $1 million or higher. Bonus earnings are the same as the Platinum Honors tier.
The Platinum Honors tier is the goal to maximize your credit card earnings.
How to Earn 3.5% Cash Back on the Bank of America Unlimited Cash Card for the First Year
By pairing the Bank of America Unlimited Cash Card earning rate and the Bank of America Preferred Rewards program, you can earn a whopping 3.5% cash back on every purchase with Platinum Honors or Diamond Honors status. The card's earning rate drops from 2% to 1.5% after the first year, meaning the additional 75% boost would yield a 2.625% return over the long term.
For no annual fee, that's about as good as it gets for everyday spending, outside of bonus categories offered by other credit cards. In fact, it's a better rate of return than you'll find on most cards with annual fees, even after the first year. There's no need to track bonus categories — simply use your card for any purchase.
Don't want to park your savings at Bank of America? Here are some of the top cashback options that don't require savings to boost your earning rate:
- Earn 2% on every purchase with unlimited 1% cash back when you buy, plus an additional 1% as you pay for those purchases. To earn cash back, pay at least the minimum due on time.
Plus, earn 5% total cash back on hotel, car rentals and attractions booked with Citi Travel.
$0 intro annual fee for the first year, then $95Rates & Fees
(Terms apply)
- 6% Cash Back on select U.S. streaming subscriptions
- 6% Cash Back at U.S. supermarkets on up to $6,000 per year in eligible purchases (then 1%)
- 3% Cash Back on eligible transit purchases including taxis/rideshare, parking, tolls, trains, buses and more
- 3% Cash Back on eligible purchases at U.S. gas stations
- 1% Cash Back on other eligible purchases
- Cash Back is received in the form of Reward Dollars that can be redeemed as a statement credit or at Amazon.com checkout.
$195Rates & Fees
- 5% cash back on travel purchases through the Chase Travel℠ portal
- 2.5% cash back on purchases of $5,000 or more
- 2% cash back on all other purchases
Bottom Line
If you prefer the simplicity of earning cash back and don’t want to track bonus categories, this setup is hard to beat.
By keeping your assets with Bank of America and Merrill, you can unlock earning rates as high as 3.5% on everyday purchases during the first year with the Bank of America Unlimited Cash Card.
That’s a strong return for a card with no annual fee.
For rates and fees of the cards mentioned in this post, please visit the following links: Citi Double Cash® Card (Rates & Fees), Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express (Rates & Fees), and Ink Business Premier® Credit Card (Rates & Fees)
![Best Credit Cards With Travel Credits and Airline Incidental Credits [2026]](https://awardwallet.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/passengers-airport-feature.jpg)
