HUGE Changes: The Cash Back Endgame Just Shifted (BofA 2026)

impacted like a mother. ugh so citi is the move then sebby? where should i move my investments??

🐟

I’m effected, this was my core setup for 9 years.

Now not sure where to put my investments besides Robinhood.

Not sure where to go, I do have the Citi setup but never tried to transfer to the partners with the points. The terms of the points expiring from the other cards into your Strata scares me

75% to 50% isn’t horrible but yeah it’s sad.

Robinhood gives you 3% cash back on EVERYTHING. How is that not “the best cash back setup?”

I used to be big in the BoA system but Merrill Edge sucked so much for me as an active trader I was losing money on it so moved out a few years ago. The limitations on trade complexity and options were maddening.

🐟 I’m on Citigold, worried they will devalue soon now that they’ve seen BoA do it.

Interesting insight. You are probably right about the reason for this. The nerfing isn't as bad as Redstone and Smartly, but still. Oh well. It will change my tactic for sure once this finished. 🐟

Robinhood already has devalued their progam because it's now no longer a 1:1 cashback redemption rewards, it's 1 to .75 for straight cashback. It's still 1:1 for gift cards though.

Also... I do not have an investment account with robinhood and still got the card somehow.

I’m thinking about switching to jpmorgan for relationship instead. This is a pretty big nerf. Also, one thing I hate about Merrill edge is combined retirement accounts for spouses don’t get added together for your tier.

Lol this turned into a citi commercial real quick. Their customer service (or lack thereof) is enough to keep me away from them.

Is the USBAR CC still around❓ Missed that one, 5% CB Mobile purchases 🤌

I wonder how many people are going to get bounced out of the highest tier and never be able to get the max benefit again

I got the robinhood card having less than $1k in my account 😂

i had 6k in assets with rh when i got gold lol

They want their advisors hands on that sweet sweet retirement plan money.

I just wired money from Fidelity to Merrill to get the 75% increase. Not a great start to the relationship. Also the statement credits are only for debit cards. Still coming out ahead of the 2% Fidelity card getting 4.5-% online and 2.25% but not by much. The Merrill trading is also notably worse. Also just converted Sapphire Preferred to freedom because I was excited about the b of a travel portal and multiplier and don’t have the time with a kid to play the points transfer game

🐡I did the math. I am at Platinum honors level. I have four customized cash rewards cards and one Premier card. Last year, I earned about $2,583 in cashback. Under the new multipliers, I’d earn around $2,296 (if I'm able to use the $8 month credit all 12 months). Even with credit, I’m still losing out on about $287 a year if my spending stays the same.

Robinhood’s Gold card has 3% reward on ALL categories. It is becoming my go to card now as so many programs are diluting our points and redemptions. Even Hyatt is starting to get disappointing.

🐟🎣 My thoughts is the ecosystem BoA was a very compelling product and when benefits shift and don't benefit you anymore don't feel rooted.
Switching setups would primarily be simplicity on RH gold if I just wanted to minimize cards which I believe is what the average bank of america cash back customer would want.
Eventually, RH will devalue their card as it is a loss leader that once their goals with it are achieved they will have to devalue. So make sure it's a card you're willing to cancel when you have that.

i wished i watched this before ordering my new BOA elite card yesterday morning. your a day late sebby!

🐟 Disappointing. Practically every update these days is a nerf. $100k was easily doable on the BOFA program, but $1m? This game keeps getting harder to play for the average person. Amex raising spend requirement to $12k is not a welcome change either.

🐟 The devaluation hurts, it would've been an easier pill to swallow if they'd just moved the tier levels up to, say, 250k for the 75% bonus; going to $1 Million is wild. We still don't know all the details about how the new BofA Rewards program will change the other former Preferred Rewards benefits. I wouldn't be surprised if we lose other freebies or discounts in the transition. The real frustration is that their previous strategy worked: I moved my main banking business over to B of A after becoming a Preferred Rewards Platinum Honors member, and now I'll need to re-evaluate my entire banking relationship, especially if I they take away more than just the bonus.

Does this bonus affect Atmos/Alaska rewards?

in my Opinion, Citi is one of the most underrated card issuers. I love my custom cash as I eat out a lot. earrings me a lot of points.

I just recently got the Strata Premier to transfer my points to American Airlines. plus I hit the bounce from that card.

also just got the regular Strata and transferring those points too.

I love that american is with Citi as it's great because there's an Admirals club at my home domestic airport.

Good video. I didn’t know about these changes. I am Platinum due to my Merrill Brokerage account. I have the Customized Cash card. No fee. And I am currently getting 5.25% for dining and 3.5% for Costco. That looks to be going down. I’m using less of this card. I will be using it even less now.

Do you bank with BoA? No reason to stay with BoA anymore - might move to Chase Private Client? Would love to see a checking account video

a lot of us have a few months to figure out how to get $900K deposited into our Merrill Brokerage account

BOA said no broke people allowed

🐟 I'm so glad I'm grandfathered into the "good" us bank smartly terms and conditions. I just keep > 250k in their brokerage (all invested in voo) and bypass all their fees and get a continued 4% back on everything

This throws a monkey wrench in my long-term strategy. I had been Platinum for awhile, got my Chase cards, and then decided to go all in by rolling over an old 401k to get me Platinum Honors and recently got three BOA cards (2 personal, 1 business) to start building an end game cash back setup. This stings, I've been eying this setup for six years. Still a good setup but I wanted to use this setup primarily in between hunting signup bonuses.

i got the rh gold a few weeks ago with $0 invested with them

Bumping my brokerage from $20K to $30K for basic rewards, I'm in it for the 10% Atmos Summit boost. 🐟

Sebby, does this affect the 10% bonus on all Atmos points if I just have an eligible Merrill Lynch or BoFA account? I just got the Atmos Ascent and I haven't opened a brokerage with ML yet. From what can I can tell from this video this won't be affected, but I'm not sure

I understand $100K back in 2014 is not same as $100K in 2026 so I can see some increase in requirement, more like $250K. But increase from $100K to $1M is unbelievable.

🐟🎣

I wasn't even going to try when the minimum for enhanced rewards was 20k, but I might look into throwing a small amount into a BoA account for the 10% boost now. 🐡

🐟

🐠 This won’t affect my Atmos card, but it does affect P2’s Customized Cash. I was hoping to get the Unlimited Rewards card, but now I’m starting to think about getting the Bilt Palladium as a 3x catchall card. I’m going to exfiltrate my Merrill investments and consolidate them at Vanguard. Perhaps open a BofA Business account and get the 0.75 x bonus on that side for some business cards.