Bank of America Premium Rewards Credit Card: Rewards, Fees, and Is It Worth It in 2026

How the Bank of America Premium Rewards Card Earns Rewards

The core earning structure is simple: 2 points per $1 spent on travel and dining purchases, and 1.5 points per $1 on everything else, with no rotating categories to track and no cap mentioned on how many points you can earn. That simplicity is a selling point for people who don't want to sign up for quarterly bonus categories or manage multiple cards to maximize spend.

New cardholders can earn 60,000 online bonus points after making at least $4,000 in purchases within the first 90 days of opening the account — a bonus that's roughly $600 in value at a baseline redemption rate of about 1 cent per point. That spending threshold is meaningfully higher than many mid-tier cash-back cards, so the bonus is realistically aimed at people who already have $4,000 of planned spending (bills, travel booking, everyday purchases) in that window rather than those trying to hit an artificial target.

If you're a Bank of America Preferred Rewards client — a tier based on your combined balances across Bank of America and Merrill accounts — you can earn up to 75% more points on every purchase, which meaningfully changes the math for existing Bank of America and Merrill customers versus someone opening this as a standalone card.

Annual Fee, APR, and the Fine Print

The card carries a $95 annual fee, and unlike some starter cards, it isn't waived for the first year — you'll see it on your very first statement. In exchange, Bank of America builds in a couple of credits designed to offset that cost (covered in the next section).

There's no foreign transaction fee, meaning purchases made outside the U.S. — in person or online through an internationally based merchant — aren't hit with the typical 2-3% surcharge many cards apply. That makes it a reasonable card to carry as a backup or primary card while traveling internationally.

On the borrowing side, the Premium Rewards card isn't marketed as a low-interest or 0% intro APR card the way some balance-transfer-focused cards are; it's positioned as a rewards-first product, so the ongoing variable APR sits in the higher range typical of rewards cards, and any balance transfer generally carries an upfront balance transfer fee. Because the intro-APR and exact APR figures can shift with the broader rate environment, confirm the current range on Bank of America's official rates and fees disclosure before applying if financing a purchase is part of your plan.

The $95 Fee vs. the Built-In Credits

Bank of America pairs the annual fee with two credits that, if you actually use them, can offset a meaningful chunk of the $95 cost. The first is up to $100 per year in airline incidental statement credits, which can apply to things like checked-bag fees, seat upgrades, or in-flight food and drink purchases charged directly to the card.

The second is a statement credit of up to $120 every four years to reimburse the application fee for Global Entry, TSA PreCheck, or NEXUS. For a traveler who renews one of those programs on that rough cycle, the credit alone can cover more than one full year's annual fee by itself.

The catch is that both credits require you to actually spend in the right way — the airline credit needs airline-coded incidental charges, and the TSA/Global Entry credit is only useful once every several years. Someone who doesn't fly often, or who books all their airline miscellaneous fees in a way the card doesn't recognize as "incidental," won't see the same value from the fee.

Who This Card Is Best For

This card fits best for someone who travels or dines out regularly, wants a straightforward flat-rate multiplier instead of tracking bonus categories, and would actually use the airline incidental credit and/or the Global Entry/TSA PreCheck reimbursement. It's also a strong fit for existing Bank of America or Merrill customers who qualify for Preferred Rewards, since the up-to-75% point boost can push the effective earn rate well above the base 2X/1.5X structure.

It's a weaker fit for someone whose spending is concentrated in categories outside travel and dining — groceries, gas, or streaming, for example — where the card only earns the base 1.5X rate, no better than many simpler flat-rate cash-back cards. It's also not the right choice for someone who plans to carry a balance, given the card is built around rewards rather than a promotional low-rate period.

How It Compares to Other Travel Rewards Cards

Against other mid-tier travel rewards cards, Premium Rewards' 2X on travel and dining plus 1.5X on everything else is competitive but not category-leading — some competing travel cards offer higher multipliers on dining or a wider set of bonus categories (like streaming or online groceries) for a similar or lower annual fee. Where Bank of America's card tends to stand out is the combination of the airline credit, the Global Entry/TSA PreCheck credit, no foreign transaction fee, and the Preferred Rewards multiplier stack for people already banking with Bank of America or Merrill.

If you're comparing it against a premium travel card with a much higher annual fee, Premium Rewards is positioned as the "entry-level premium" tier — fewer lounge-style perks, but a fraction of the annual cost. If you're comparing it against no-annual-fee travel cards, Premium Rewards only wins out if you'll actually use the two statement credits and value the elevated travel/dining earn rate over a flat, simpler rewards structure.

Downsides and Watch-Outs

The biggest watch-out is that the annual fee isn't waived the first year, so you're paying $95 out of the gate regardless of whether you use the credits. If you don't fly enough to use the $100 airline credit or don't need Global Entry/TSA PreCheck reimbursement within a given four-year cycle, the fee is a straight cost rather than something the card pays for itself.

The $4,000 spending requirement for the welcome bonus, while common for a bonus of this size, is high enough that it isn't a fit for light spenders trying to chase a sign-up bonus without real spending behind it. And because the card doesn't feature a widely advertised introductory 0% APR period, it offers little help if your goal is financing a large purchase or transferring an existing balance.

Finally, redemption value can vary depending on how you cash in points — travel redemption booked through Bank of America's travel center, cash back, gift cards, and statement credits don't always return the same per-point value, so it's worth checking the current redemption chart before assuming every point is worth exactly 1 cent.