On May 27, 2026, Bank of America will replace its Preferred Rewards program with BofA Rewards. The most significant change is that the old $20,000 minimum balance requirement is gone. Anyone with a personal Bank of America checking account can now enroll at no cost.
That’s a big shift. The Preferred Rewards program, which launched in 2014, currently has around 11 million members. Bank of America expects the new program to be accessible to more than 30 million additional customers. Existing members will be automatically enrolled, with communications about the changes going out starting February 23.
The new program keeps the core structure of rewarding customers based on their combined balances across Bank of America and Merrill accounts, but the tiers, thresholds, and benefit levels are all being reshuffled.
BofA Rewards Tiers and Benefits
The old five-tier system is being compressed into four tiers. Here’s what each one offers.
Member (Less Than $30,000 in Total Assets)
The Member tier is available to anyone with a checking account and less than $30,000 in qualifying assets. It’s not much, but it’s free — and for the millions of Bank of America customers who previously got nothing from the loyalty program, even these baseline perks are a tangible improvement.
- 10% bonus on credit card rewards earned with eligible cards
- $100 off mortgage closing costs
- 0.10% rate discount on auto loans
- Access to cash-back deals from popular national and local brands
- Fraud monitoring and identity protection tools
Preferred Plus ($30,000 to $100,000 in Total Assets)
The Preferred Plus tier requires a three-month average balance of $30,000 to $100,000 across qualifying Bank of America and Merrill accounts. This is where the benefits start to feel substantial, with meaningful discounts across lending, banking services, and investing.
- 25% bonus on credit card rewards earned with eligible cards
- $300 off mortgage closing costs
- 0.25% rate discount on auto loans
- Seven banking services at no fee, including debit card rush delivery, cashier’s checks, check image fees, domestic and international inbound wire transfers, standard check design or $10 discount, and stop payment fees
- 0.250% rate discount on home equity lines of credit
- 0.5% discount on foreign currency exchange rates
- 0.10% fee reduction on Merrill Guided Investing
- Unlimited fee-free checking and savings accounts
- One free non-Bank of America ATM withdrawal per month (U.S. only)
- Fraud monitoring and identity protection tools
- Access to cash-back deals from popular national and local brands
- Priority customer service
Preferred Honors ($100,000 to $1 Million in Total Assets)
Preferred Honors is where the program starts adding perks that go beyond banking discounts, including lifestyle benefits and subscription credits. The credit card bonus jumps to 50%, and you get unlimited free ATM access and a meaningful foreign currency exchange discount.
- 50% bonus on credit card rewards earned with eligible cards
- $600 off mortgage closing costs
- 0.35% rate discount on auto loans
- Seven banking services at no fee, including debit card rush delivery, cashier’s checks, check image fees, domestic and international inbound wire transfers, standard check design or $10 discount, and stop payment fees
- 0.375% rate discount on home equity lines of credit
- 1% discount on foreign currency exchange rates
- 0.15% fee reduction on Merrill Guided Investing
- Unlimited fee-free checking and savings accounts
- Unlimited free non-Bank of America ATM withdrawals (U.S. only)
- Fraud monitoring and identity protection tools
- Access to cash-back deals from popular national and local brands
- Priority customer service
- Lifestyle perks with 60-plus curated offers and experiences from partners like Audi, Lexus, and Virgin Hotels
- Up to $96 per year in credits toward streaming and news subscriptions (capped at $8 per month)
Premier (More Than $1 Million in Total Assets)
The Premier tier is the ceiling of the program, and it requires serious assets to reach. In return, you get the maximum 75% credit card rewards bonus, the broadest fee waivers, and the most expansive lifestyle and subscription benefits.
- 75% bonus on credit card rewards earned with eligible cards
- 0.375% discount on mortgage fees
- 0.50% rate discount on auto loans
- All banking service fees waived
- 0.625% rate discount on home equity lines of credit
- 2% discount on foreign currency exchange rates
- 0.15% fee reduction on Merrill Guided Investing
- Unlimited fee-free checking and savings accounts
- Unlimited free non-Bank of America ATM withdrawals (U.S. and international)
- Fraud monitoring and identity protection tools
- Access to cash-back deals from popular national and local brands
- Priority customer service
- Everything in the Preferred Honors lifestyle perks, plus exclusive luxury offers from partners like Blacklane, Mercedes-Benz, and Sollis Health
- Up to $180 per year in credits toward streaming and news subscriptions (capped at $15 per month)
Winners and Losers in the Transition
Let’s be direct about who benefits and who doesn’t.
The clear winners are the 30 million-plus Bank of America customers who previously didn’t qualify for any loyalty benefits. If you have a checking account and less than $20,000 in assets, you now get access to a rewards program for the first time. That’s a meaningful expansion.
The clear losers are current Platinum Honors members. Under the old program, a $100,000 balance earned a 75% credit card rewards bonus. Under BofA Rewards, that same balance only qualifies for 50% at the Preferred Honors tier. To get the 75% bonus back, you’d need $1 million in qualifying accounts. That’s a steep climb.
Current Gold members in the $20,000 to $29,999 range are in an interesting spot. According to Bank of America’s transition plan, existing Gold and Platinum members will be mapped to the Preferred Plus tier initially. That’s actually an upgrade in tier name, but they’ll need to build their balance to $30,000 to stay there long-term. Anyone who can’t maintain that threshold will eventually drop to the Member tier after a grace period, which means going from a 25% credit card bonus to just 10%.
For what it’s worth, Bank of America estimates the program delivers between $150 and $4,000 in annual value depending on your tier and how actively you engage with the benefits.
How BofA Rewards Works With Bank of America Credit Cards
The rewards boost is one of the program’s strongest features, but there’s an important caveat: it only applies to Bank of America’s proprietary credit cards. Co-branded cards from partners like Alaska Airlines or Spirit Airlines are excluded.
With the Premium Rewards card, which earns 2 points per dollar on travel and dining and 1.5 points per dollar on everything else, the tier bonuses push those rates up noticeably. At the Member level, you’d earn 2.2 and 1.65 points per dollar, respectively. At Preferred Plus, that becomes 2.5 and 1.875. Preferred Honors members earn 3 and 2.25 points per dollar, and Premier members reach 3.5 and 2.625 points per dollar.
The Travel Rewards card follows a similar pattern. Its base rate of 3 points per dollar on travel booked through the Bank of America Travel Center scales to 5.25 points per dollar at the Premier tier.
Keep in mind that Bank of America points redeem at a fixed value of 1 cent per point for travel, gift cards, or cash back. So that 2.625 points per dollar at the Premier tier on everyday spending is effectively 2.625% back. That’s a genuinely strong return on a non-category card, though you need a million dollars parked at Bank of America to get there.
Subscription Credits and Lifestyle Benefits
These are entirely new additions that didn’t exist in the Preferred Rewards program, and they’re reserved for the top two tiers.
Preferred Honors members can receive up to $96 per year in credits toward a portfolio of predetermined streaming and news subscription services, capped at $8 per month. They also get access to more than 60 lifestyle offers across categories including automotive brands like BMW, Lexus, and Audi, travel partners like Virgin Hotels and Regent Seven Seas Cruises, and car rental savings through Sixt.
Premier members get up to $180 per year in subscription credits at up to $15 per month, along with more than 100 lifestyle offers. The Premier-exclusive perks lean luxury, with partners including Mercedes, Sollis Health, Blacklane, Backroads, and the Eden Residence Club.
I’d call the subscription credits a nice perk but not a game-changer. The lifestyle benefits are harder to evaluate without knowing exactly what the offers entail, but they add a layer of differentiation that the old program lacked entirely.
How to Enroll and What Happens to Your Current Status
If you’re already in the Preferred Rewards program, you don’t need to do anything. You’ll be automatically enrolled in BofA Rewards on May 27. If your benefits will decrease under the new tier structure, your current benefits stay in place for at least six months, giving you time to adjust.
If you’re new to the program, you can enroll through the BofA Rewards section on your account page once it launches. Your balances will be reviewed daily during the first 30 days, and benefits activate within that window. No minimum balance is required to join at the Member level.
Once enrolled, you’ll be automatically upgraded to a higher tier if your qualifying balance increases. You maintain your tier status for a full year, and if your balance drops below the threshold after that, you get a three-month grace period before being moved down.
One more note: the business version of Preferred Rewards is not changing at this time, though there’s no guarantee it won’t be restructured in the future.
The Verdict
BofA Rewards is a net positive for Bank of America’s broader customer base, opening up a loyalty program that was previously gated behind a $20,000 minimum. The addition of subscription credits and lifestyle benefits at higher tiers adds genuine new value, and even the entry-level Member tier is worth enrolling for since it’s free.
The downside is real for current members with $100,000 or more in qualifying accounts, who lose a 75% credit card bonus in exchange for 50% — and getting that top-tier bonus back now means holding $1 million with Bank of America. If you have a Bank of America checking account, enrolling is a no-brainer, but the bigger question is whether the new tier structure gives you enough reason to consolidate more of your assets here or whether that money works harder for you somewhere else.
