BankAmericard® Credit Card Review

Full Review of BankAmericard® Credit Card

Pros Explained

• No Annual Fee: With no annual fee, this card is a much better deal than many cards that offer balance transfer options. However, once you've paid off your balances, you're left with a card that doesn’t have a rewards program, if that's important to you.
• 0% APR on Balance Transfers and Purchases for 15 Billing Cycles: You won't pay any interest on balance transfers or purchases for the first 15 billing cycles after you open your account. In the case of balance transfers, you just have to initiate them within the first 60 days of opening the account.
• Fee-Less Introductory Balance Transfer Offer: Most credit cards impose transfer fees of 3% to 5% on any balance transfers you make. However, the BankAmericard offers fee-less balance transfers for the first 60 days. After that introductory period, the card’s balance transfer fee is either $10 or 3% of the amount of money you're transferring, whichever is greater.

Cons Explained

• No Rewards Program: You won't earn any points or cash back with this card. If you are looking for a rewards card without an annual fee, there are other cards to choose from, such as Quicksilver by Capital One, with a $150 one-time offer and 1.5% cash back. Its current APR is lower than the BankAmericard's, and its 0% APR balance transfer offer also runs for 15 months. Bear in mind that these kinds of terms sometimes change, so you'll want to compare APRs and balance transfer offers shortly before you apply.
• No One-Time Offer: You won't get any bonus for signing up for the BankAmericard credit card. The true bonus is in not having to pay a balance transfer fee.
• Charges Foreign Transaction Fees: The BankAmericard credit card charges a 3% foreign transaction fee on purchases made outside of the U.S. If you have plans to travel abroad, there are quite a few cards available with no foreign transaction fees—from Bank of America, Capital One, Chase, and Discover, among other issuers.

Without a rewards program, the BankAmericard credit card is designed for people who want a plain vanilla credit card for purchases or who are looking to pay off the balances on their higher interest credit cards. 

But, if you have good or excellent credit, you don't have to settle for a card with no rewards to get a 0% APR balance transfer offer for 15 months or more. Consider the Citi Double Cash credit card.

The difference between the two in BankAmericard’s favor is that the BankAmericard doesn’t have an initial balance transfer fee. On the Citi side, you’ll get 1% cash back on purchases in addition to 1% cash back when you pay your bill. However, Citi charges a 3% initial balance transfer fee. Deciding between the two cards will generally come down to whether you are planning to make a large balance transfer.

Cardholder Experience

Bank of America, the company that issues this card, ranked seventh in customer service in J.D. Power's 2019 U.S. Credit Card Satisfaction Study. Bank of America earned 798 out of 1,000 points, slightly below the industry average of 806.

All Bank of America cardholders get free access to their FICO credit score on a monthly basis, along with tips for improving their score. While most credit card companies offer customers some way of gauging their credit standing as well as tips on improving it, not all provide FICO scores. FICO is the scoring system most often used by lenders and other creditors in making credit approval determinations and setting interest rates. To enroll and check your scores, you sign in from the BankAmericard app.

Security Features

Bank of America will send text, email, and mobile alerts if it suspects any fraudulent activity on your account. As a cardholder, you have $0 liability for fraudulent charges.

If you're using services such as Apple Pay or Google Pay with a digital wallet, you'll be issued a separate, virtual card number for your purchases as an added security precaution. 

You can also opt out of receiving paper statements. While that's a very common convenience and cost-saving measure, it has the added security benefit of making it difficult for someone to obtain your account number by stealing your mail.

Hidden Fees to Watch Out For

The BankAmericard has a 3% foreign transaction fee and a late fee that can be up to $40.

Our Verdict

The BankAmericard credit card is a solid, no-frills card for people who want to transfer existing balances from higher interest credit cards, because it offers a 0% APR on balance transfers for the first 15 months and also waives balance transfer fees for the first 60 days. But it is not the card for people who want cash back or other rewards.