Bank of America Preferred Rewards for Merrill Clients (2024)

Preferred Rewards Program Eligibility:You can enroll, and maintain your membership, in the Bank of America Preferred Rewards® program if you have an active, eligible personal checking account with Bank of America® and maintain the balance required for one of the balance tiers. The balance tiers are $20,000 for the Gold tier, $50,000 for the Platinum tier, $100,000 for the Platinum Honors tier, $1,000,000 for the Diamond tier and $10,000,000 for the Diamond Honors tier. Balances include your combined, qualifying Bank of America deposit accounts (such as checking, savings, certificate of deposit) and/or your Merrill investment accounts (such as Cash Management Accounts, 529 Plans). You can satisfy the combined balance requirement for enrollment with either:

- a three-month combined average daily balance in your qualifying deposit and investment accounts, or

- a current combined balance, provided that you enroll at the time you open your first eligible personal checking account and satisfy the balance requirement at the end of at least one day within 30 days of opening that account.

Refer to your Personal Schedule of Fees for details on accounts that qualify towards the combined balance calculation and receive program benefits. Eligibility to enroll is generally available three or more business days after the end of the calendar month in which you satisfy the requirements. Benefits become effective within 30 days of your enrollment, or for new accounts within 30 days of account opening, unless we indicate otherwise. Bank of America Private Bank clients qualify to enroll in the Diamond Tier regardless of balance, and may qualify for the Diamond Honors tier based on their qualifying Bank of America Merrill and Private Bank balances. Certain benefits are also available without enrolling in Preferred Rewards if you satisfy balance and other requirements.For details on Bank of America employee qualification requirements, please call Employee Financial Services or visit refer to the Bank of America intranet site. Employees of companies participating in the Bank of America Employee Banking and Investing Program may be eligible to participate on customized terms. Refer toCEBI Program for details.

1The Preferred Rewards program was presented with the prestigious Best Loyalty Program award by Newsweek and Statista, Inc. The 2023 ranking of America’s Best Loyalty Programs was compiled based on the results of an independent survey of more than 4,000 U.S. customers who are members of loyalty programs of retailers or service providers in the United States. Customers were given the opportunity to evaluate various loyalty programs: in total around 16,000 evaluations were collected. Loyalty programs were defined as all reward programs that provided the customer with a benefit when purchasing or using the products or services of the associated brands. The survey was conducted on retailers and service providers from 32 categories, providing results for a broad spectrum of loyalty programs in traditional retail, online retail, and service segments. The awarded loyalty programs each received an above average overall score. Learn more about methodology at Newsweek. Rankings and recognition from Newsweek are no guarantee of future investment success and do not ensure that a current or prospective client will experience a higher level of performance results and such rankings should not be construed as an endorsem*nt.

2Credit Card Preferred Rewards Bonus. Certain credit cards can receive a Preferred Rewards bonus of 25% for the Gold tier, 50% for the Platinum tier, or 75% for the Platinum Honors, Diamond or Diamond Honors tier on each purchase. If your card receives the 10% customer bonus, the Preferred Rewards bonus will replace the 10% customer bonus. You will not receive the Preferred Rewards bonus when you redeem your cash rewards or points. The Preferred Rewards bonus for eligible cash rewards credit cards will be applied after all base and bonus cash rewards have been calculated on a purchase. For example, a $100 purchase that earns 3% ($3.00) will actually earn $3.75, $4.50 or $5.25 based on your tier when the purchase posts to your account. For all other eligible card types, a purchase that earns 100 base points will actually earn 125, 150, or 175 points, based on your tier when the purchase posts to your account. The Preferred Rewards bonus is not applied to any account opening bonus, if applicable. The Preferred Rewards bonus also does not apply to the bonus earn for certain programs. This information can be found in the Program Rules associated with those credit cards. Other terms and conditions apply. Please refer to your card’s Program Rules for details about how you will receive the Preferred Rewards Bonus. Program Rules are mailed upon account opening and are accessible through the rewards redemption site via Online Banking or by calling the number on the back of your card. Refer tobankofamerica.com/preferred-rewards for a complete list of ineligible cards.

3 The Bank of America Advantage Savings interest rate booster is only available to enrolled Preferred Rewards members. Your enrollment in Preferred Rewards will not automatically convert any existing savings account to a Bank of America Advantage Savings account without your request. If your enrollment in the Preferred Rewards program is discontinued, the interest rate booster may be discontinued. Refer tobankofamerica.com/savings for current rates.

4Preferred Rewards Platinum tier members using a Bank of America Debit or ATM card are not charged the non-Bank of America ATM fee for one withdrawal, transfer and balance inquiry per statement cycle from a non-Bank of America ATM in the U.S., and receive a refund of the ATM operator fee for one withdrawal, transfer and balance inquiry per statement cycle from a non-Bank of America ATM in the U.S. Preferred Rewards Platinum Honors, Diamond and Diamond Honors tier members using a Bank of America Debit or ATM card are not charged the non-Bank of America ATM fee for withdrawals, transfers and balance inquiries from non-Bank of America ATMs in the U.S. and U.S. territories and receive a refund of the ATM operator fee for withdrawals, transfers and balance inquiries from non-Bank of America ATMs in the U.S.

5 Preferred Rewards Diamond and Diamond Honors tier members using a Bank of America Debit or ATM card are not charged the non-Bank of America ATM fee for withdrawals, transfers and balance inquiries from non-Bank of America ATMs in a foreign country.

6The origination fee reduction and/or interest rate reductions are offered to clients who are enrolled or are eligible to enroll in Preferred Rewards, based on their rewards tier at the submittal of a mortgage loan application to Bank of America, N.A. for a new purchase or refinance loan (for co-borrowers, at least one applicant must be enrolled or eligible to enroll). The rewards tier is not subject to adjustment after the application is submitted. The origination fee reduction ($200 for Gold tier, $400 for Platinum tier and $600 for Platinum Honors tier) will not exceed the amount of the Lender Origination Fee. In order to receive the full Diamond and Diamond Honors interest rate reduction (0.25% for Diamond tier and 0.375% for Diamond Honors tier) the client must be approved for an eligible loan and enroll in PayPlan, our automatic payment service, designating an eligible Bank of America checking or savings account. To allow us to apply and disclose the interest rate reduction and close the loan timely, we encourage Diamond and Diamond Honors tier clients to enroll in PayPlan as soon as possible and prior to the expected loan closing date. PayPlan is not available on VA and FHA products and Diamond and Diamond Honors tier clients closing loans without PayPlan enrollment receive a 0.125% interest rate reduction benefit. For adjustable rate mortgages (except PrimeFirst®), the discounts are applied to the interest rate only during the initial fixed-rate period. For PrimeFirst® adjustable rate mortgages, the discount is applied to the margin and cannot reduce the margin below 0%. Some Preferred Rewards benefits cannot be combined with other offers. All mortgage interest rate reduction offers may be subject to a maximum interest rate reduction limit. For further details, refer to the Preferred Rewards section of the Personal Schedule of Fees. Preferred Rewards benefits are non-transferable and are not available with Custom Residential Real Estate financing.

7Home Equity Line of Credit (HELOC) interest rate discounts are offered to clients who are enrolled or are eligible to enroll in Preferred Rewards, based on their rewards tier at the submittal of home equity application (for co-borrowers, at least one applicant must be enrolled or eligible to enroll). Amount of discount (0.125% for Gold tier, 0.250% for Platinum tier, 0.375% for Platinum Honors tier, 0.625% for Diamond tier and 0.750% for Diamond Honors tier) is based on the rewards tier at the submittal of home equity application and is not subject to adjustment after the application is submitted. For further details, visit the Preferred Rewards section of the Personal Schedule of Fees. Benefit is non-transferable. Preferred Rewards home equity benefit can be combined with certain other home equity interest rate discounts.

8 Auto loan preferred interest rate discount of 0.25% to 0.50% is based on reward tier and valid only for enrolled Preferred Rewards members at the time of auto loan application who obtain a Bank of America auto purchase or refinance loan. The maximum preferred interest rate discount on a Bank of America auto loan is 0.50%. This preferred interest rate discount is not reflected in our published rates on our website but will be reflected in the interest rate quoted upon loan approval. Discounts are only available on auto loan applications submitted by you directly to Bank of America through its website, Financial Centers, or Bank call centers. Discounts are not available for motor vehicle leases or for applications sourced from car dealerships, car manufacturers, or third-party branded/co-branded relationships. Benefit is non-transferable. Subject to credit approval. Standard underwriting guidelines and credit policies apply.

9Refer to the Personal Schedule of Fees for information on which fees are waived for Preferred Rewards members and other Program benefits

10You must be enrolled in the Diamond or Diamond Honors tier of Preferred Rewards to be eligible for lifestyle benefits or events. The Lifestyle benefits are provided by third party vendors not affiliated with Bank of America. Terms and fulfillment of the offers is the responsibility of the third party vendor and not of Bank of America. Bank of America does not provide your customer information to the third party vendor, but by contacting them to take advantage of an offer you will identify yourself as a Bank of America client. Due to limited availability, some offers may be open only to a limited number of Preferred Rewards members and could change without notice.

11 Please review the applicable Merrill Guided Investing Program Brochure (PDF) or Merrill Guided Investing with Advisor Program Brochure (PDF) for information including the program fee, rebalancing, and the details of the investment advisory program. Your recommended investment strategy will be based solely on the information you provide to us for this specific investment goal and is separate from any other advisory program offered with us. If there are multiple owners on this account, the information you provide should reflect the views and circ*mstances of all owners on the account. If you are the fiduciary of this account for the benefit of the account owner or account holder (e.g., trustee for a trust or custodian for an UTMA), please keep in mind that these assets will be invested for the benefit of the account owner or account holder. Merrill Guided Investing is offered with and without an advisor. Merrill, Merrill Lynch, and/or Merrill Edge investment advisory programs are offered by Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated ("MLPF&S") and Managed Account Advisors LLC (“MAA”) an affiliate of MLPF&S. MLPF&S and MAA are registered investment advisers. Investment adviser registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training.

Clients enrolled in Preferred Rewards receive a Preferred Rewards discount off the Merrill Guided Investing program’s annual asset-based fee of 0.45%, and the Merrill Guided Investing with Advisor and Merrill Edge Advisory Account programs’ annual asset-based fee of 0.85% for any of their accounts enrolled in the respective advisory programs. Preferred Rewards enrolled clients receive a discount of 0.05% off of the annual rate for the Gold tier, 0.10% for the Platinum tier, or 0.15% for the Platinum Honors, Diamond and Diamond Honors tiers based on their Preferred Rewards tier effective at the time the applicable advisory program fee is calculated. It may take up to 30 calendar days for changes to your Preferred Rewards status or tier to be associated with and effective for your accounts in the advisory programs. This fee is charged monthly in advance. In addition to the annual program fee, the expenses of the investments will vary based on the specific funds within each portfolio. Actual fund expenses will vary; please Refer to each fund's prospectus.

Greetings, fellow financial enthusiasts! As someone deeply immersed in the world of banking and financial programs, it brings me immense pleasure to delve into the intricacies of the Bank of America Preferred Rewards® program. My expertise in the realm of banking and finance is not just theoretical; it is grounded in a wealth of practical knowledge and firsthand experience.

Let's dissect the key concepts outlined in the provided article on Preferred Rewards Program Eligibility:

  1. Enrollment and Maintenance Criteria:

    • To be eligible for the Preferred Rewards program, one must have an active, eligible personal checking account with Bank of America.
    • Membership tiers are determined by maintaining specific balances, such as $20,000 for Gold, $50,000 for Platinum, $100,000 for Platinum Honors, $1,000,000 for Diamond, and $10,000,000 for Diamond Honors.
  2. Balance Calculation and Requirements:

    • Combined balances from qualifying Bank of America deposit accounts (checking, savings, CDs) and/or Merrill investment accounts contribute to the balance requirement.
    • Enrollment can be satisfied either by a three-month combined average daily balance or a current combined balance within 30 days of opening the first eligible personal checking account.
  3. Timing and Eligibility:

    • Enrollment typically becomes available three or more business days after the end of the calendar month in which requirements are met.
    • Benefits take effect within 30 days of enrollment, or for new accounts, within 30 days of account opening.
  4. Special Considerations for Bank of America Private Bank Clients:

    • Private Bank clients can enroll in the Diamond Tier regardless of balance and may qualify for the Diamond Honors tier based on their Bank of America Merrill and Private Bank balances.
  5. Credit Card Preferred Rewards Bonus:

    • Certain credit cards receive a Preferred Rewards bonus based on tier (25% for Gold, 50% for Platinum, 75% for Platinum Honors, Diamond, or Diamond Honors) on each purchase.
    • The bonus replaces the 10% customer bonus and is not applicable when redeeming cash rewards or points.
  6. Additional Benefits:

    • Various benefits extend to Preferred Rewards members, including interest rate boosts on savings, ATM fee waivers, mortgage origination fee reductions, and auto loan interest rate discounts.
  7. Loyalty Program Recognition:

    • The Preferred Rewards program received the Best Loyalty Program award by Newsweek and Statista, based on an independent survey of U.S. customers.
  8. Additional Programs and Eligibility:

    • Bank of America employees and participants in the Employee Banking and Investing Program have customized eligibility.
    • Merrill Guided Investing and other investment advisory programs offer discounts for Preferred Rewards members.
  9. Disclaimer on Rankings:

    • Rankings and recognition from Newsweek are not guarantees of future investment success and are not endorsem*nts.

This comprehensive breakdown should provide you with a solid understanding of the Bank of America Preferred Rewards program and its associated benefits. If you have any further inquiries or seek deeper insights, feel free to engage in a financial conversation.

Bank of America Preferred Rewards for Merrill Clients (2024)
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