MyCardBlog

I introduced the Add It Up program from Bank of America early this year. It seems that not many of my readers are interested in this program including myself. I usually us ebates.com or mrrebates.com to earn cash back. Now I found that actually Add It Up will offer huge cash back for certain merchants when they run promotions. So I think it is necessary to point it out and let all of you guys know this.

Enroll in Add It Up is very simple. Login your online account at Bank of America and then at the Customer Service section you can find the link to Add It Up program. All you have to do is to provide email address to let BOA to contact you regarding cash back and choose the accounts (some or all) to enroll in this program (banking accounts or credit cards accounts are qualified). Finally, you want to choose the account that the cash back will be deposited to either credit card or checking account will be OK). Now you are ready to earn cash back by shopping online through Add It Up!

The Key is how much they will reward you for shopping through Add It Up. Now I have some popular merchants for your reference.

• Sears.com 6%
• BestBuy.com 3%
• Staples.com 4%
• Target.com 8%
• WalMart.com 4%
• Apple Store 4%

They can be found at the Limited Time Offer section in the program page.

After you click the merchant to shop, Add It Up will once again to confirm that you are going to enter the merchant’s page. SO the cash back will not be lost because you are always asked to get the permission to go to the merchant’s website.

The limited time offers change all the time. So before you place the order via other cash back websites, it is a good habit to check current rate at Add It Up to earn more cash back.

Some of you may ask “How long does it take to get my cash back rewards?”

Answer: It can take up to 90-120 days for cash back awards to be credited to your account. Why? Participating retailers must first confirm your purchase and typically they have up to 90 days from the purchase date to reverse a transaction for return purposes. During this time, your award will have a Pending status on the My Awards page.

But please note that Washington and Idaho BOA customers are not eligible for this program .

Bank of America is offering free McAfee Internet Security free for one year (12 months). You have to have an online account at www.bankofamerica.com to have the opportunity to get the free 12 month McAfee protection. This means that you have to have either a Bank of America Credit Card or a Banking Account at Bank of America.

Following is what you will get after signing in at Bank of America account via the link here.

Your Exclusive Bank of America Customer Offer: 12 Months Free of McAfee Internet Security

As a Bank of America Online Banking customer, you are eligible for an exclusive 12 month free subscription of McAfee Internet Security. In order to take advantage of this offer (a $69.99 value) you’ll need to complete the following steps:

1. Create a McAfee user account and create a password – which will allow you to access our download center
2. Enter your registration information (name, address, city, state and phone)
3. Provide your billing information for future automatic renewals. Please note your credit or debit card will not be charged at this time and you are under no obligation to renew your subscription. You may cancel the automatic renewal at any time prior to the expiration of the 12-month free subscription.

When your free 12-month subscription expires, as a Bank of America customer, you will receive a 50% discount on your renewal subscription, which is currently $34.98 ($69.99 MSRP). You will be notified ahead of time before your subscription is automatically renewed. To cancel this automatic renewal, contact McAfee Customer Support at 866-622-3911 prior to the expiration of the 12-month free subscription.

So please remember to cancel your McAfee subscription after one year.

I came across  an article that titled “BofA to charge annual fees on rewards cards” at msnbc.com. It seems that the credit card holders of Bank of America should be warned before the policy to be effective soon. Rumors said that all of the Bank of America rewards credit card will be charged a $29~$99 annual fees starting next year.

According to the article, Bank of America will fist test this strategy to see what the feedback is. But there is no actual plan yet. Betty Riess, a spokeswoman for Bank of America, said the fee is being “tested” on 1 percent of its credit card accounts globally, but declined to give specific numbers.

So the question is how they could choose the 1% credit card accounts?

Here is the answer:

The Bank of America accounts that will be charged fees were selected based on “risk and profitability,” Riess said. That means customers in good standing who never carried a balance — and never incurred interest charges or late fees — could be among those getting notices.

Customers are told that they can reject the fee, but will subsequently have their account closed. The deadline to reject the change of terms is Dec. 16.

SO please take a look at the mails from Bank of America in the next following months.

Bank of America is offering $35 bonus for making 3 bill pays from your accounts at Bank of America. The promotion link is here. Depending on how many times you use your Bank of America’s account, you can get either $25 or $35 bonus.

• $35 for making 3 bill payments within 30 days of enrollement
• $25 for making 2 bill payments within 30 days of enrollement

You need to use your name, address and last 4 digits account number to make register your account to enroll in this promotion.

Terms and Conditions:

This is a special limited time offer available to existing consumer and small business customers who have not made a bill payment with Bank of America Online Banking within the last 6 months. Offer cannot be combined with any other offer and is limited to one incentive per customer. Customers will get $35 if they use our Online bill payment service to pay three bills from their checking account within 30 days . If instead two bills are paid within 30 days, the incentive is $25.To get the $35, Small Business customers may instead enroll in Online Business Suite Direct Payments service and make three payments within 30 days. If instead two bills are paid within 30 days , the incentive is $25. Direct Payment Service requires Internet access, and Internet service provider fees may apply. This service is not available in Washington or Idaho. If we determine that you meet all the terms of the offer, we generally pay the incentive within 90 days. We may deposit the incentive directly into the Bank of America checking account you used to register for the promotion or we may mail a check to the address listed in our records for the checking account. We may report to the IRS the value of the incentive we pay to you and you are responsible for any applicable taxes.

Posts about Overdraft Fees at MyCardBlog.com are very popular. It is really disappointing that you use the services from banks, put your money there and charged for some trial mistakes. Now, some major banks are considering changing overdraft fees policies. Bank of America and Chase are the first banks to revise overdraft fees policies. Let’s see what will be changed?

Bank of America

Bank of America announced changes to be implemented on October 19, 2009 including not charging overdraft fees (1) when a customer’s account is overdrawn by a total amount less than $10 for one day, (2) not charging overdraft fees on more than four items per day.

In June 2010, Bank of America plans additional changes including providing customers a choice to opt in or out of overdraft capability.

Chase

Chase is also planning changes in the first quarter of 2010 including not charging a fee when the overdraft is less than $5 and not sorting items in descending amounts prior to posting (banks maximize their income using this kind of tricks!). Chase also plans to allow its customers to opt out of overdraft protection.

If you are continued to be charged overdraft fees, you can refer to my posts about how to get back overdraft fees back.

Bank of America is offering $100 bonus to new customers for opening a new MyAccess Checking Account. This is the latest checking account bonus from Bank of America which is $25 more than I posted two months ago. The promotion page can be found at the bank of america website.

How to get the $100 bonus?

• This offer is available only to new customers who open a qualifying personal checking account with a minimum balance of $500
• The new checking account must be open for at least 30 days
• You must make a minimum of one transaction with the newly assigned check card

The MyAccess Checking Account features no monthly maintenance fee (when opened online). You must use the code: AOU260909 when you open the new account.

Fine print:

To take advantage of this offer, you must use the Offer Code provided to open your qualifying new Bank of America personal checking account by 11/30/09. Bank of America may terminate the offer before this date. This offer is available only to new customers who open a new qualifying personal checking account. The new customer will receive the incentive upon verification of qualification in the incentive programs. We will deposit the $100 incentive directly into your new checking account within 90 days of its opening; if unable to do so, a check will be issued. The new customer is not eligible for this offer if they were a signer on a Bank of America checking account that was closed within the last three months.

Today a MyCardBlog.com reader sent me an email about this interesting but sounds possible information from Bank of America. The key point is you can really make a huge profit from Bank of America if you are a student and have a credit card issued by Bank of America. Although I provide this information to you, I have to clarify that this has not been confirmed since the original source seems to be a phone marketing.

The prerequisite is 1). You have a Bank of America credit card which enables you enroll the credit protection plan

2). You must have to enroll in the Credit protection deluxe plan (not the general plus plan)

3). You must can meet the requirement set by Bank of America thus you can activate the benefit

SO how can you get the $1000 from Bank of America? Here is the details:

The principal of this promotion is you get $500 from Bank of America for enrolling the credit protection deluxe plan and activate the benefit like you do for other credit protection plans. But you can only activate benefit twice each year.

If you enrolled in the Bank of America credit protection deluxe plan with your Bank of America credit card, and meet one of the following requirements (lief benefits):

1. Academic Excellance – a 3.6 gpa or higher for the term, not cumulative GPA, term GPA.
2. Graduating – Getting a degree .
3. Entering school – Becoming a full time student.

You can call Bank of America to activate the benefit to get $500. They will send you an envelop and clearly list the materials needed to activate your benefit. Since you can do this twice each year, you potential return is $1000 from Bank of America. The net profit is about $760 because the cost for enrolling the Deluxe plan is $20 each month. (The cost of the general credit protection plus plan is 95¢ per $100 of Your Monthly Outstanding Balance up to $25,000.)

For more information you can contact the Plan Administrator toll free at 1.888.668.6938 Monday-Friday, 7:00 a.m. – 10:00 p.m. Central Time. The webpage for the credit protection plan is here.

It is very diffcult to get a banking deal recently. Most banks and credit card issuers are changing their marketing strategies in the past few months. More and more banks stopped offering sign up bonuses which is frequently advertised in the market. For any reason you want to open a new checking account and want some sweet bonuses, Bank of America is a good choice now.

Bank of America is offering $75 bonus for opening a new checking account. Although you have other account options, I would suggest the MyAccess Checking Account which does not charge mothly fees. Here is the promotion page. It seems this offer is for those who just moved to a new place. But, since the bank will not verify that, this offer is open to essentially anyone!

How to get the $75 bonus?

• This offer is available only to new customers who open a qualifying personal checking account with a minimum balance of $500
• The new checking account must be open for at least 30 days
• You must make a minimum of one transaction with the newly assigned check card

Fine print: To take advantage of this offer, you must use the Offer Code provided to open your qualifying new Bank of America personal checking account by 08/30/2009. Bank of America may terminate the offer before this date. This offer is available only to new customers who open a new qualifying personal checking account. The new customer will receive the incentive upon verification of qualification in the incentive programs. We will deposit the $75 incentive directly into your new checking account within 90 days of its opening; if unable to do so, a check will be issued.

You have to read the fine print to see whether you are qualified for this promotion. The promotion code is AOU260609 which automatically appears if you apply for a new account online through the link at the promotion page. If you want to open a new account at local branches, you have to provide the code to the bankers.

Good luck!