Bank of America® Unlimited Cash Rewards

For twelve months this card pays 2% on everything with no caps — matching Citi Double Cash, Wells Fargo Active Cash, PNC Cash Unlimited and TD Double Up. Then it drops to 1.5% indefinitely, and those four keep paying 2%.

On $20,000 of annual spending the difference is $100 a year, every year, forever. There's no version of the arithmetic where an identical card that steps down beats four identical cards that don't, so the honest recommendation is to treat the first year as the offer and plan on what happens after it.

The case for holding it anyway is the Bank of America relationship. If your checking and savings are already at Bank of America, the Preferred Rewards tiers can lift earning rates across the card lineup — a benefit not verified in our data but real enough that it should be checked with the bank before writing the card off.

Outside that relationship, the 17.49% APR floor is among the lower ones in this catalog and there are no caps or categories to manage. It's a perfectly good card. It's just competing directly against four cards that do the same thing without the step-down.

2% on everything for the first year, then 1.5% indefinitely. The number worth planning around is the second one, because it is the one you will live with for as long as you hold the card. Bank of America is explicit about the structure, which is more than some promotional rates offer, but it does mean the advertised figure describes twelve months out of however many you keep it.

At 1.5% permanent this sits alongside Capital One Quicksilver and Bank of America's own Travel Rewards, and half a point below the four cards here that pay 2% without an expiry date.

The promotional year is a real benefit, just a bounded one: at $1,500 a month of spending the extra half point is about $90 over the twelve months. That is worth having and it is not worth choosing a card for, if the alternative pays 2% for as long as you hold it.

The 17.49% floor is at the lower end of this catalog for a rewards card, which is the quieter argument in its favour. If you are inside the Bank of America Preferred Rewards programme, the relationship bonuses are the other half of the case, and they are not a figure this site verifies.

2% on everything for the first year, then 1.5% indefinitely. The number worth planning around is the second one, because it is the one you will live with for as long as you hold the card. Bank of America is explicit about the structure, which is more than some promotional rates offer, but it does mean the advertised figure describes twelve months out of however many you keep it.

At 1.5% permanent this sits alongside Capital One Quicksilver and Bank of America's own Travel Rewards, and half a point below the four cards here that pay 2% without an expiry date.

The promotional year is a real benefit, just a bounded one: at $1,500 a month of spending the extra half point is about $90 over the twelve months. That is worth having and it is not worth choosing a card for, if the alternative pays 2% for as long as you hold it.

The 17.49% floor is at the lower end of this catalog for a rewards card, which is the quieter argument in its favour. If you are inside the Bank of America Preferred Rewards programme, the relationship bonuses are the other half of the case, and they are not a figure this site verifies.