Full Review of Bank of America Travel Rewards for Students

Pros Explained

• Decent Travel-Rewards Earnings and No Tiers to Manage: At 1.5 points earned for every dollar spent, this card is competitive in rewards with other no-fee travel cards. When redeemed for travel, each point is worth a cent, which is also fairly standard. Some student credit cards and regular travel rewards cards tier their rewards programs, meaning you earn more points or miles in one category versus another. The Bank of America Travel Rewards credit card for students makes earning travel rewards easy, with one flat rewards rate that applies to every dollar you spend.
• Pay No Interest During the First 15 Billing Cycles: This card could be a good choice for students who plan large purchases and need time to pay them off without incurring interest charges. New members can take advantage of a 0% introductory APR on purchases and balance transfers for the first 15 billing cycles. After that, the rate reverts to a regular variable APR of 18.24% to 28.24%, based on creditworthiness.
• Friendly to Foreign Travel: This card also has potential for students who are planning a spring break trip overseas or want to spend a semester or two abroad. There is no foreign transaction fee, which is a money-saver considering that many cards charge between 1% and 3% to convert purchases made abroad to U.S. dollars.

Cons Explained

• Reward Points Aren't Transferable: A travel rewards credit card that allows you to transfer its points or miles to your accounts with partner hotels and airlines gives you more potential to maximize the value of your rewards. This card allows no such point transfers; rewards for travel can be redeemed only through Bank of America.
• Spending Requirement to Earn the Bonus Is on the High Side: There's an introductory bonus offer available for new cardmembers of 25,000 bonus points—worth $250. To earn it, you must spend $1,000 in the first three months of having the card. This is not a super excessive or outrageous threshold. However, it's still higher than for some other cards and merits some caution from students on modest budgets who want to avoid racking up debt.

Who This Card Is Best For

This card is a worthy pick for students who want to earn travel rewards on every purchase they make, everywhere they go, without paying an annual fee or foreign transaction fees. Students will earn the same rewards rate whether they're booking a trip or picking up dorm snacks at the grocery store.

It might also appeal to students who already do their banking with Bank of America and want to start building credit while managing a checking and savings account. Such dual-service customers can also link their card account to their Bank of America account and use the card to cover overdrafts, which the bank then considers to be cash advances (and charges accordingly). While a fee applies for each overdraft protection transaction charged to your card, it could still save you money depending on the overdraft penalties of the bank account.

Bank of America Travel Rewards Credit Card for Students One-Time Offer

The one-time offer available with this card is worth 25,000 points. To earn it, students must charge at least $1,000 in purchases to their card within the first 90 days after opening their account. As far as what the bonus is worth for redemptions, it's the equivalent of a $250 statement credit when used toward travel purchases.

Rewards Earning Details

Earning rewards with this card is straightforward, in that every purchase earns an unlimited 1.5 points per dollar. There are no blackout dates or restrictions on earning points and points never expire. That's good for students who want to accumulate a large pile of points they could apply to travel purchases. Students can increase their travel rewards rate by booking travel through the Bank of America Travel Center. When you book travel purchases, excluding insurance, those purchases earn 1.5 base points and 1.5 bonus points, for a combined total of 3 points per dollar. Again, there's no limit on the number of points you can earn when booking through the Travel Center.

Rewards Redemption Details

Just as earning rewards with this card is simple, so is redeeming them. Points can be redeemed for statement credits against previous travel purchases, including hotels, airfare, rental cars, cruises, and vacation packages. You'll need a minimum of 2,500 points to redeem for travel statement credits and redemptions are only good for purchases made at qualifying travel and dining merchants. Each point is worth 1 cent when you redeem for travel, so every 10,000 points earned is worth $100 in statement credits. Besides travel statement credits, you can redeem your points for cash back and gift cards. Cash back is received as a check or a deposit into a Bank of America checking or savings account. Cash rewards start at 2,500 points for $15, making them worth 0.6 cents each. The redemption value for gift cards varies based on which merchant you're getting the gift cards from.

How to Maximize Your Rewards

Since this card has a flat rewards rate, the best ways to maximize rewards are qualifying for the initial bonus, then charging all purchases to the card going forward. To qualify for the 25,000 introductory bonus points, students would need to charge an average of $333 and change for the first three months for a total of $1,000 in spending. This could be easy to do for a student who routinely pays for things like groceries, dining out, gas, or entertainment. Assuming a student spends that same amount—$333 per month—in an ongoing way they could annually accumulate 5,994 points in travel rewards. That would be the equivalent of $59.94 in travel and dining statement credits. Assume that same student instead charges $500 per month to their card on everyday purchases and travel. In that scenario, they'd earn 9,000 points per year or $90 in travel statement credits. This is based on the 1.5 points-per-dollar earnings rate. If a student were to additionally charge $200 in travel purchases each month through the Bank of America Travel Center, they'd earn 7,200 additional points per year, which would be worth $72 in travel statement credits. When it comes to redeeming points, do so to cover travel expenses. That way, you reap nearly twice the return of taking rewards in the form of cash, for which points are worth only 0.6 cents rather than the full cent you get for points you use for travel.

Standard Benefits

• Free FICO credit score access
• EMV chip protection
• Use your card as overdraft protection
• Mobile wallet technology
• Online and mobile banking

Cardholder Experience

Bank of America ranked 3rd out of 11 card issuers in J.D. Power's 2022 U.S. Credit Card Satisfaction Study. The bank scored 818, a few points above the average of 814.

Students have the usual avenues to manage their accounts, including online and mobile banking. You can set up customized alerts to notify you of new account activity and if you need customer service, help is available via live chat or by phone at (800) 732-9194.

Security Features

This card comes with standard security features, including EMV chip technology, the capability to be loaded into a secure digital wallet app, and fraud monitoring. Your account is also protected by a $0 liability guarantee if your card is lost or stolen and used to make fraudulent purchases.

Our Verdict

The Bank of America Travel Rewards for Students is a strong choice for students who want to earn unlimited points toward travel on every purchase. The introductory bonus is fairly solid, with a higher spending requirement than what other student travel cards require but also a richer reward. For fairly high rollers, the opportunity to increase regular rewards through the Preferred Rewards program is also a nice incentive to sign up for this card if you already have Bank of America or Merrill accounts with a combined balance of $20,000 or more.

We'd hesitate, though, to recommend this card for a student who doesn’t want to redeem the points they earn for travel expenses, since you’ll earn less for non-travel redemptions. If using your rewards for travel isn’t a priority, you might be better off with a cash-back card, something like the Deserve Edu Mastercard or Discover it Student Cash Back card.