When it comes to AMEX Offer, everyone is probably very familiar with it. Around the holidays, all kinds of great offers show up nonstop: 20% off gas gift cards, 20% off Amazon, and even 20% off Visa gift cards. It almost makes you want to open 100 AMEX cards just to load these offers. But AMEX isn’t the only issuer with these promos. BofA has its own little program too—BofA Cashback Deals. If you use it well, you can get discounts on quite a few things and even make a little money on the side.
【1/30 Update】Two days apart, I paid a friend’s AT&T bill twice for $15 each, and the $75 cashback is already pending. AT&T accounts can be overpaid, so you can just help a friend make a payment.
【1/20 Update】A new round of the AT&T Deal is here. If you use a BofA card to make two $15 payments at AT&T, you can get $50/$75/$100 in cashback. If you have this Offer, definitely don’t forget to use it—pay $30 and get up to $100 back. It’s basically free money. AT&T accounts can be overpaid, so you can just add money directly. I used this deal before, made two payments, and already received the $75. If you don’t have your own AT&T account, you can still trigger this offer by using your card to pay someone else’s AT&T bill, or you can buy small accessories costing $15+ on AT&T’s website or in store.
Besides that, there are also some other targeted offers, so take a look and see whether there’s anything good.
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Introduction to BankAmeriDeals
BofA Deals is somewhat similar to AMEX Offer. If you shop with certain merchants listed in BofA Deals, you can get extra cashback there as well. (You still earn the normal rewards from the credit card itself too, so they stack.) Similarly, when using BofA Deals, you only need to add the Deal in your account and then use the corresponding credit card to make the purchase. You do not need to click through to the merchant from the BofA Deals link. If you’re shopping online, after adding the deal, you can click through from whichever shopping portal you like, then pay with the corresponding BofA credit card at checkout, and that will trigger the Deal and earn the extra cashback.
Cards that can receive BofA Deals include:
- Various credit cards issued by BofA
- BofA debit cards
If you can’t find BofA Cashback Deals on your debit card, it is very likely because when you opened your Checking Account, the permanent address you used was a China address. In that case, you need to go to a local BofA branch and change your address to a U.S. address before you can use BofA Deals.
How to Find and Add BofA Deals
Many people may not even know their account includes BofA Deals, and BofA doesn’t seem to have spent much effort promoting it. If you want to find it, just look at the image below:
After clicking in, you can see your currently available BofA Deals under Available:
If you want a particular deal, be sure to click Add this deal before making your purchase, then just pay with your BofA credit card. You do not need to click through from the BofA website to the specific merchant. In addition, you can also view expired deals and see how much money you have earned from Deals.
Key Features of BofA Deals
Several Types of Deals
Like AMEX Offer, BofA Deals also come in several types, for example:
- Spend at merchant xxx and get xx% cashback until you reach $xx (there may be a distinction between online and in-store)
- Spend at merchant xxx and get xx% cashback, usable only once, up to a maximum of $xx (there may be a distinction between online and in-store)
- Sign up for certain services (such as home security systems or a new AT&T mobile line)
Pay special attention to the first two types. If there is only a maximum cap but no limit on the number of uses, those are easier to use. For one-time deals, be careful not to swipe once and then swipe again unnecessarily. As for deals tied to signing up for certain services, you just need to pay with a BofA credit card or make the monthly payment with it. Also, some deals will specifically say online only or in store only, so be sure to pay attention when using them.
In general, after you use Deals, if it is the first type above, you will see the deal move from available to processing after your cashback reaches $xx or after the deal expires. If it is the second type, you will usually see the deal move from available to processing immediately after the charge posts. For the third type, you need to complete the installation/payment requirement before you will see it.
Other Characteristics of Deals
- After Deals change to processing, they usually pay out in about a month, regardless of the billing cycle
- The cashback is posted directly to the credit card account as a statement credit
- To receive the cashback, you only need to use the corresponding BofA credit card at final checkout
- The offers different people get can vary greatly, and there does not seem to be any clear pattern yet
- If your cards are under different accounts, each account gets its own set of BofA Deals
- Multiple BofA credit cards under one account share one set of BofA Deals
- Authorized users do not get their own separate BofA Deal offers
How to Make Good Use of BofA Deals
No matter how much cashback is offered, it’s useless if you have no use for it. For example, some deals offer $100 back for installing a home security system, but probably very few people actually need that. Here are some of the more useful deals I’ve seen:
- Saks 10% cashback
- Toyota dealership maintenance 10% cashback
- Sears 10% cashback, up to $35
- Kmart 10% cashback, up to $25
- $75 for opening an AT&T account
The first two are quite good for people who actually need them, since that extra 10% cashback is on top of both the card’s own rewards and shopping portal cashback. The third and fourth will be very familiar to people who know how to work with gift cards, because both Sears and Kmart sell lots of third-party gift cards in store, such as Amazon, Visa gift cards, eBay, and so on. Buying gift cards at these merchants can also trigger the BofA deals, which is basically like buying gift cards at a 10% discount. Looking at the amount below, you can probably guess what I bought there ($500 of it was paid with a gift card).
For a similar method, see:
The last AT&T deal currently seems to have a bit of a bug: simply paying your bill or internet bill can earn the $75 without activating a new account. Hopefully this deal will stay alive for a while. If you don’t get the $75, don’t contact customer service; it probably just means the bug has been fixed.
If you see a BofA Deals offer you want to use for online shopping, remember not to click through from the BofA website to the merchant. Instead, use whichever shopping portal you like and then pay with your BofA card at checkout. (Apparently I’ve repeated this many times already...)
Summary
The main reason BofA Deals remains relatively under the radar is that there are not many deals, and the merchants tend to be less mainstream. But if you can catch a few useful merchant offers, it is still worth playing with. If you have a BofA credit card, it’s worth checking your account to see what deals are there—maybe one is exactly what you need.