Bank of America Customized Cash Rewards Credit Card Review
[2026.9 Update] The additional cashback offered by Rakuten is now increased to $225, which is the best ever offer! We no longer track the additional cashback from Rakuten (unless there’s a best ever offer) because it changes too frequently.
[2026.7 Update] The additional cashback offered by Rakuten is now increased to $200, which is the best ever offer! We no longer track the additional cashback from Rakuten (unless there’s a best ever offer) because it changes too frequently.
[2026.5 Update] The additional cashback offered by Rakuten is now increased to $175, which is the best ever offer! We no longer track the additional cashback from Rakuten (unless there’s a best ever offer) because it changes too frequently.
Contents
Application Link
- BoA Customized Cash Rewards regular version via Rakuten. (Click here to sign up for Rakuten and earn $50)
- BoA Customized Cash Rewards for Students. Note: student version has the same benefits as the regular version except the sign-up bonus. We suggest students apply for student version, non-students apply for non-student version, as suggested by their names.
Benefits
- $200 offer: earn $200 after spending $1,000 in first 3 months. Note that you can only get this sign-up bonus if you apply online, you won’t get it if applying in branch. The highest offer on this card is $200.
- Earn 3% cash back in the category of your choice:
- online shopping + cable/streaming/internet/phone plan
- dining
- travel
- gas + EV charging
- drug stores
- home improvement/furnishings
I recommend you to choose the “online shopping” category because it covers a very broad range of purchases (see this official webpage about which merchants count). And earn 2% cash back at grocery stores and wholesale clubs (e.g. Sam’s Club). Earn 1% cash back on other purchases.
- BofA Rewards credit card rewards bonus: if you have a BoA checking account and your combined assets in BoA bank accounts + Merrill Edge investment accounts reach certain thresholds, you can receive a credit card rewards bonus. The most useful tiers include: Preferred Honors, which requires more than $100k in assets and provides a 50% rewards bonus; and Premier, which requires more than $1M in assets and provides a 75% rewards bonus.
- No annual fee.
Disadvantages
- You』ll only earn 3% and 2% cash back on the first $2,500 in combined bonus categories each quarter, then earn 1%.
- It has a foreign transaction fee, so it's not a good choice outside the US.
Recommended Application Time
- You can get it even without SSN and with no credit history at all! We recommend you go to the branch in this situation.
- 2/3/4 Rule: BoA will only approve you for at most: 2 cards per rolling 2 months; 3 cards per rolling 12 months; and 4 cards per rolling 24 months. Because their IT system hasn’t been fully updated yet, you may not get declined because of this rule. Instead, you may get approved at first, and then the account will be closed because of “approved in error”.
- 24 month churn rule: This card will not be available to you if you currently have or have had the card in the preceding 24 month period.
Summary
As a credit card that can be applied for without an SSN and with zero credit history, this card is well worth considering! If you have no credit history, you must apply at a branch. Note that branch applications do not come with a sign-up bonus, but for your very first credit card, the sign-up bonus should not be a major concern. Once you have built up enough credit history, you can apply for cards with much better rewards.
In this card』s rewards structure, the 3% online shopping category is quite attractive and covers a very broad range of purchases, although the spending cap is relatively low.
If you have substantial assets and can keep $100k/$1M in stocks or funds at Merrill Edge, the 50%/75% rewards bonus would increase the original 3% cash back category to 4.5%/5.25% cash back. Those are very strong earning rates. As a result, this card is not only useful as a starter card, but can remain highly competitive even later on once you have built up your credit profile.
Other Versions
There are several other versions of this card. The benefits are identical, but BoA treat them as separate products. Therefore if you are interested, you can apply for all of them as long as BoA 2/3/4 Rule is satisfied. Why you may want to get these cards? Apart from the sign up bonuses, you can also increase the 3% cashback limit by holding multiple of these cards.
- BoA MLB® Credit Cards
- BoA U.S. Pride® Cash Back Credit Card
- BoA Susan G. Komen® Cash Back Rewards Visa®
- World Wildlife Fund Bank of America® Cash Rewards Visa® credit card
Related Credit Cards
- BoA Customized Cash (this post)
- BoA Unlimited Cash
- BoA Travel Rewards
- BoA Premium Rewards
- BoA Premium Elite Rewards
After Applying
- Click here to check BoA application status.
- BoA reconsideration backdoor number: 800-732-9194. It seems that the number is changing. Please inform us at once if it fails. The representatives here can get in touch with decision-makers directly.
Historical Offers Chart
Note: Third-party platforms such as Rakuten sometimes offer additional bonuses. This chart does not include such bonuses, as they change too frequently.
Application Link
- BoA Customized Cash Rewards regular version via Rakuten. (Click here to sign up for Rakuten and earn $50)
- BoA Customized Cash Rewards for Students. Note: student version has the same benefits as the regular version except the sign-up bonus. We suggest students apply for student version, non-students apply for non-student version, as suggested by their names.