Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

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sycamore
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by sycamore »

Nyc10036 wrote: Tue May 31, 2022 3:53 pm
stilllurking wrote: Tue May 31, 2022 12:41 pm I’m pretty sure ME would count the market value on the day of the arrival of shares to be the transferred in amount. I would transfer more than just the minimum of at all possible. Or if you’re just looking to get to the minimum, transfer the shares and make up the difference in cash that you can just ACH to your brand new BoA checking account and then either invest it or just leave it there if it’s your e-fund.
Thanks.
Makes sense.
My Roth IRA is slightly over the line between two bonus levels.
With transfers taking days, anything can happen. :(
You could avoid the chance of losing the bonus by:
1. Sell $X of the stock fund in Roth. Transfer the cash (which won't fluctuate)
2. At the same time, exchange $X of bonds to stocks in another account (like Trad IRA). This keeps your AA level.
3. When the transfer is complete, buy $X of stocks at ME, and exchange $X from stocks back to bonds in the other account.
placeholder
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by placeholder »

With a taxable account losses during transfer aren't as big of a deal as you can add a bit of cash to get up over but at least once I had a rep tell me that if a drop in transit caused a narrow miss they could work something out.
MisterBill
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by MisterBill »

danaht wrote: Wed May 25, 2022 9:43 pm You are lucky to get that. Both Walmart pay and Sam's club scan and go apps no longer show as online transactions for me. Seems like the only way for me to get to that 5.25% rewards rate is to buy Walmart eGift cards online and use those at the store(s)
That's odd. I did three transactions with Walmart Pay last week (posted on 5/27) and they all coded as online purchases and got the 5.25% rebate.
spammagnet
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by spammagnet »

Nyc10036 wrote: Tue May 31, 2022 9:43 amHowever, the Merrill Edge rep I talked to on the phone this morning tells me that VGLT is not available through them. ...
He or she is misinformed or is trying to mislead you. The mutual fund form may not be available through Merrill but the ETF is just shares of stock that can be bought on the open market. That's the whole point of an ETF.

The reason Vanguard can convert between the mutual fund and ETF is because they're the investment bank that created it and (if I'm using the correct terminology) is the trustee.
spammagnet
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by spammagnet »

MisterBill wrote: Tue May 31, 2022 10:52 pm
danaht wrote: Wed May 25, 2022 9:43 pm You are lucky to get that. Both Walmart pay and Sam's club scan and go apps no longer show as online transactions for me. Seems like the only way for me to get to that 5.25% rewards rate is to buy Walmart eGift cards online and use those at the store(s)
That's odd. I did three transactions with Walmart Pay last week (posted on 5/27) and they all coded as online purchases and got the 5.25% rebate.
I have seen WM and Sam's app purchases not code as online occasionally but we've been traveling and hitting both stores fairly frequently. (WM is ubiquitous and Sam's has cheap gas.) All recent transactions coded as expected.
tarheel91
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by tarheel91 »

MisterBill wrote: Tue May 24, 2022 2:16 am
Keep the Change is not a perk, it is a way to encourage people to save money a little bit at a time. It's a gimmick, and I also think it's ridiculous, but I'm guessing that some people find it useful (presumably not people who read Bogleheads). But you don't get anything free out of it, it's all your money.

It seems to me that you're making some very poor assumptions about what BofA could be doing for you in terms of perks. I don't think you've said whether you have or could have $20k in balances between them and Merrill Edge. If you could (or already do), up to four checking and savings accounts are free of monthly service charges. Plus, there's the credit card kicker that makes the program so worthwhile. And a priority customer service number you can call where you actually get pretty good service. I find it ironic that so many of us in this thread have bank accounts at BofA only because of the Premium Rewards program and don't use it for much (if anything), while you're actually banking there and aren't taking advantage of it. And despite your claim that they will change the program "the next day", they've had it for many years. There were rumors about changes last year, but they didn't actually downgrade ANY of the perks that we already had.

As for your son's account, that is unfortunate. Did you mention how he opened the account? If he opened it in a branch, then clearly the branch is at fault. But if he opened it himself online, then I think it's on him. Also, how is the account titled? I noticed this on their Student Banking page, "Fiduciary titled accounts, including UTMA / UGMA, do not qualify for the under the age of 18 or Student waiver." Have you gone to the branch to try to get the fees waived, or just spoken to the call center? A discussion with the branch manager might be helpful, but it's going to be tough to make a case that your son didn't know what was going on for an entire year.
Appreciate your thoughtful response.

My contention about 'save pennies' program is that people need to get serious about savings and retirement. You save pennies, you get pennies. These kind of programs do disservice to young people. Telling young kids that they're doing great by putting $15/month (at most) into their savings/investing accounts is just not right.

You're right about my BoA relationship. Like I said earlier, I maintained significant amount in my BoA checking over the years but never really took time to see what they can offer. It's on me. But I do have this unfounded distrust with big banks. Somehow the maintenance charge on my son's account (then student) riled me up. I rearranged my banking needs around what Fidelity CMA can offer.
MisterBill
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by MisterBill »

tarheel91 wrote: Sat Jun 04, 2022 11:05 pm Appreciate your thoughtful response.

My contention about 'save pennies' program is that people need to get serious about savings and retirement. You save pennies, you get pennies. These kind of programs do disservice to young people. Telling young kids that they're doing great by putting $15/month (at most) into their savings/investing accounts is just not right.

You're right about my BoA relationship. Like I said earlier, I maintained significant amount in my BoA checking over the years but never really took time to see what they can offer. It's on me. But I do have this unfounded distrust with big banks. Somehow the maintenance charge on my son's account (then student) riled me up. I rearranged my banking needs around what Fidelity CMA can offer.
Would you rather have young people save $15 a month or nothing? I don't think that they're claiming that you'll be able to retire on it.

I can understand being pissed about the service charge. Many years ago, I had opened a checking account with my college-aged son at Citizens Bank. They apparently opened an overdraft account that we did not need and had a $25 annual fee which they charged the account for, and which I did not notice for a few months. They refused to refund it, even after complaining (I think they were still pissed that I'd gotten them to give us some money for a "if we're not better than other banks, we'll give you some money" promotion). They must have had some sort of incentive for the branch/employee for opening these at the time. To this day, I will always sign up for a Citizens Bank promotion to get money from them to get even for what they did.

I also use Fidelity, but I'm currently using Evansville FCU as my primary checking account since it pays 3.3%. And I leave enough assets at Merrill Edge to have Platinum Honors status for the credit card bonus, free safe-deposit box, and access to a local brand with perks, when I need it.
EnjoyIt
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by EnjoyIt »

VictorStarr wrote: Sun May 22, 2022 11:13 pm
anon_investor wrote: Sun May 22, 2022 9:26 pm
28fe6 wrote: Sun May 22, 2022 9:15 pm
VictorStarr wrote: Sun May 22, 2022 8:15 pm
For me personally, the incremental value of BoA cards is relatively low. I have other cards with high rewards:
4.5% - travel and dining with Chase Sapphire Reserve
4.5% - ApplePay (95% in person shopping (groceries, Costco, etc), insurance, many online purchases, even my gardener ) with USBank Altitude Reserve
For 80% of my purchases I already have two cards with high cash back.
BOA is great for low-spenders. I can swing a $100/yr annual fee, but I can't bring myself to get a credit card with $300+/yr annual fee. It wouldn't make sense for the low amount of spending I do. The spending limit on the cash card becomes even less of a problem when you don't spend a lot. So the other ecosystems like Chase are hard to get value out of if you aren't a big/consistent spender (correct me if i'm wrong).
BoA is also great for people who don't travel a lot.
Yes, I agree. Chase CSR makes sense only if one has substantial spend on travel and dining.
It’s also worth it if you use other chase cards that give points. Just as an example I spend $3k every year on two freedom cards when groceries are 5x points. That’s 15k points and with the 1.5 cents per point options that’s an extra $75 right there.
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anon_investor
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by anon_investor »

EnjoyIt wrote: Sun Jun 12, 2022 12:50 pm
VictorStarr wrote: Sun May 22, 2022 11:13 pm
anon_investor wrote: Sun May 22, 2022 9:26 pm
28fe6 wrote: Sun May 22, 2022 9:15 pm
VictorStarr wrote: Sun May 22, 2022 8:15 pm
For me personally, the incremental value of BoA cards is relatively low. I have other cards with high rewards:
4.5% - travel and dining with Chase Sapphire Reserve
4.5% - ApplePay (95% in person shopping (groceries, Costco, etc), insurance, many online purchases, even my gardener ) with USBank Altitude Reserve
For 80% of my purchases I already have two cards with high cash back.
BOA is great for low-spenders. I can swing a $100/yr annual fee, but I can't bring myself to get a credit card with $300+/yr annual fee. It wouldn't make sense for the low amount of spending I do. The spending limit on the cash card becomes even less of a problem when you don't spend a lot. So the other ecosystems like Chase are hard to get value out of if you aren't a big/consistent spender (correct me if i'm wrong).
BoA is also great for people who don't travel a lot.
Yes, I agree. Chase CSR makes sense only if one has substantial spend on travel and dining.
It’s also worth it if you use other chase cards that give points. Just as an example I spend $3k every year on two freedom cards when groceries are 5x points. That’s 15k points and with the 1.5 cents per point options that’s an extra $75 right there.
But it is only 1.5 cents per point if you are paying for travel through the Chase portal. With BoA PH you get cash back to do whatever with.
EnjoyIt
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by EnjoyIt »

anon_investor wrote: Sun Jun 12, 2022 3:52 pm
EnjoyIt wrote: Sun Jun 12, 2022 12:50 pm
VictorStarr wrote: Sun May 22, 2022 11:13 pm
anon_investor wrote: Sun May 22, 2022 9:26 pm
28fe6 wrote: Sun May 22, 2022 9:15 pm

BOA is great for low-spenders. I can swing a $100/yr annual fee, but I can't bring myself to get a credit card with $300+/yr annual fee. It wouldn't make sense for the low amount of spending I do. The spending limit on the cash card becomes even less of a problem when you don't spend a lot. So the other ecosystems like Chase are hard to get value out of if you aren't a big/consistent spender (correct me if i'm wrong).
BoA is also great for people who don't travel a lot.
Yes, I agree. Chase CSR makes sense only if one has substantial spend on travel and dining.
It’s also worth it if you use other chase cards that give points. Just as an example I spend $3k every year on two freedom cards when groceries are 5x points. That’s 15k points and with the 1.5 cents per point options that’s an extra $75 right there.
But it is only 1.5 cents per point if you are paying for travel through the Chase portal. With BoA PH you get cash back to do whatever with.
I have redeemed thousands for cash back thanks to their pay yourself back program. Plus, we travel a lot. Those points are always being used. If you rarely travel, then yeah a credit card geared towards travel is not for you.

The card pays for itself for us. Your millage may vary.
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anon_investor
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by anon_investor »

EnjoyIt wrote: Mon Jun 13, 2022 6:48 pm
anon_investor wrote: Sun Jun 12, 2022 3:52 pm
EnjoyIt wrote: Sun Jun 12, 2022 12:50 pm
VictorStarr wrote: Sun May 22, 2022 11:13 pm
anon_investor wrote: Sun May 22, 2022 9:26 pm

BoA is also great for people who don't travel a lot.
Yes, I agree. Chase CSR makes sense only if one has substantial spend on travel and dining.
It’s also worth it if you use other chase cards that give points. Just as an example I spend $3k every year on two freedom cards when groceries are 5x points. That’s 15k points and with the 1.5 cents per point options that’s an extra $75 right there.
But it is only 1.5 cents per point if you are paying for travel through the Chase portal. With BoA PH you get cash back to do whatever with.
I have redeemed thousands for cash back thanks to their pay yourself back program. Plus, we travel a lot. Those points are always being used. If you rarely travel, then yeah a credit card geared towards travel is not for you.

The card pays for itself for us. Your millage may vary.
Definitely YMMV. I used Pay Your Self back to burn all of my points before switching to BoA. I have has 0 travel since early 2020, none planned this year, so cash back definitely works better for me.
MisterBill
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by MisterBill »

EnjoyIt wrote: Mon Jun 13, 2022 6:48 pm I have redeemed thousands for cash back thanks to their pay yourself back program. Plus, we travel a lot. Those points are always being used. If you rarely travel, then yeah a credit card geared towards travel is not for you.

The card pays for itself for us. Your millage may vary.
I loved Pay Yourself Back at the beginning when I was able to use it on purchases that had already earned 5x points, like grocery stores. Using it on purchases that earn 3x points still only gives you a 4.5x multiplier, which is good, but not as good as 5.25% with BofA. And it's terrible if you're making purchases that only get 1x point, and you're redeeming it at 1.5x. Please correct me if my math is wrong.

I actually just got billed for the CSR annual fee, and I am trying to decide what to do. I need to call and try to get something back, since at the moment I rarely use the card and haven't used the lounge access in 2+ years. I have a flight in August that it would be useful for, but it's a 11pm flight and the lounge in that terminal closes at 8pm, so it will be useless.
EnjoyIt
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by EnjoyIt »

MisterBill wrote: Wed Jun 15, 2022 9:49 pm
EnjoyIt wrote: Mon Jun 13, 2022 6:48 pm I have redeemed thousands for cash back thanks to their pay yourself back program. Plus, we travel a lot. Those points are always being used. If you rarely travel, then yeah a credit card geared towards travel is not for you.

The card pays for itself for us. Your millage may vary.
I loved Pay Yourself Back at the beginning when I was able to use it on purchases that had already earned 5x points, like grocery stores. Using it on purchases that earn 3x points still only gives you a 4.5x multiplier, which is good, but not as good as 5.25% with BofA. And it's terrible if you're making purchases that only get 1x point, and you're redeeming it at 1.5x. Please correct me if my math is wrong.

I actually just got billed for the CSR annual fee, and I am trying to decide what to do. I need to call and try to get something back, since at the moment I rarely use the card and haven't used the lounge access in 2+ years. I have a flight in August that it would be useful for, but it's a 11pm flight and the lounge in that terminal closes at 8pm, so it will be useless.
Not sure how I could get more than 4.5% on flights and hotels. That is unless I have many multiples of BOA 5.25% cards and manage them to not go over $2500 per quarter. Anything over is 1% which I have done and as you said “it’s terrible.”

Another nice boost is sign up bonuses for new cards.
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MisterBill
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by MisterBill »

EnjoyIt wrote: Wed Jun 15, 2022 10:13 pm Not sure how I could get more than 4.5% on flights and hotels. That is unless I have many multiples of BOA 5.25% cards and manage them to not go over $2500 per quarter. Anything over is 1% which I have done and as you said “it’s terrible.”

Another nice boost is sign up bonuses for new cards.
Chase makes it hard to get bonuses, but yes it would be good for that. I generally do try to manage my BofA CR cards to maximum the $2500 for travel, but at the moment I have a large cruise payment due before the end of the month and only one CR card to use, so maybe I will charge some of it on my CSR card to use the points that I have. I seem to recall being able to redeem them against the annual fee.

I never make any 1x purchases on my Chase cards when I can get 2.625% automatically at BofA.
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by sailaway »

MisterBill wrote: Wed Jun 15, 2022 10:20 pm
EnjoyIt wrote: Wed Jun 15, 2022 10:13 pm Not sure how I could get more than 4.5% on flights and hotels. That is unless I have many multiples of BOA 5.25% cards and manage them to not go over $2500 per quarter. Anything over is 1% which I have done and as you said “it’s terrible.”

Another nice boost is sign up bonuses for new cards.
Chase makes it hard to get bonuses, but yes it would be good for that. I generally do try to manage my BofA CR cards to maximum the $2500 for travel, but at the moment I have a large cruise payment due before the end of the month and only one CR card to use, so maybe I will charge some of it on my CSR card to use the points that I have. I seem to recall being able to redeem them against the annual fee.

I never make any 1x purchases on my Chase cards when I can get 2.625% automatically at BofA.
I paid for my cruise with 2.625% with 0% APR on purchases so that I could buy my ibonds a few months earlier.
EnjoyIt
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by EnjoyIt »

MisterBill wrote: Wed Jun 15, 2022 10:20 pm
EnjoyIt wrote: Wed Jun 15, 2022 10:13 pm Not sure how I could get more than 4.5% on flights and hotels. That is unless I have many multiples of BOA 5.25% cards and manage them to not go over $2500 per quarter. Anything over is 1% which I have done and as you said “it’s terrible.”

Another nice boost is sign up bonuses for new cards.
Chase makes it hard to get bonuses, but yes it would be good for that. I generally do try to manage my BofA CR cards to maximum the $2500 for travel, but at the moment I have a large cruise payment due before the end of the month and only one CR card to use, so maybe I will charge some of it on my CSR card to use the points that I have. I seem to recall being able to redeem them against the annual fee.

I never make any 1x purchases on my Chase cards when I can get 2.625% automatically at BofA.
The one pays 1% with a BOA card is when they spend over $2500 in a quarter by accident. One must really be on top of that spending. It’s not inconceivable to have a situation where one has already spent $2000k and then buy some plane tickets for $800 and go over. This has happened to me on more than 1 occasion. All my travel goes on the CSR and that has not happened since.
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anon_investor
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by anon_investor »

sailaway wrote: Wed Jun 15, 2022 10:25 pm
MisterBill wrote: Wed Jun 15, 2022 10:20 pm
EnjoyIt wrote: Wed Jun 15, 2022 10:13 pm Not sure how I could get more than 4.5% on flights and hotels. That is unless I have many multiples of BOA 5.25% cards and manage them to not go over $2500 per quarter. Anything over is 1% which I have done and as you said “it’s terrible.”

Another nice boost is sign up bonuses for new cards.
Chase makes it hard to get bonuses, but yes it would be good for that. I generally do try to manage my BofA CR cards to maximum the $2500 for travel, but at the moment I have a large cruise payment due before the end of the month and only one CR card to use, so maybe I will charge some of it on my CSR card to use the points that I have. I seem to recall being able to redeem them against the annual fee.

I never make any 1x purchases on my Chase cards when I can get 2.625% automatically at BofA.
I paid for my cruise with 2.625% with 0% APR on purchases so that I could buy my ibonds a few months earlier.
I have the BoA Premium Rewards Visa, which (with Platinum Honors tier Preferred Rewards) gets 3.5% cash back on dinning/travel and 2.62% on all other purchases. Using the AA eGC hack, I only need to spend ~$1,310 on dinning/travel a year for the card to be better than the BoA Ultimate Cash Rewards Visa. I don't do a ton of travel, but unlimited 3.5% cash back on travel is nice to not worry about any caps, plus using that card comes with with some trip cancellation/delay reimbursments from BoA. I have 2x BoA Customized Cash Rewards Visas, but I use most of that combined $5k/qtr cap on Costco, Home Depot, grocery stories and online shopping.
atdharris
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by atdharris »

The Premium Rewards card is basically $15 after buying and selling an AA GC for $80. It seems like a no brainer to me to hold that card if you qualify for platinum honors.
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by MikeG62 »

I find it disappointing and concerning that in order to obtain the terms and conditions document on the premium rewards card (I am looking to better understand what are "covered conditions" as related to travel insurance provided by the card) one has to request that document over the phone and it is sent by snail mail. It is not available online (not anywhere I could find) and the service rep said she could not e-mail it to me. Don't even get me started on how long it took to get someone on the phone to help me.

Wonder why they make this so difficult?

I am a big fan of this card. But this experience I find disappointing and annoying.
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anon_investor
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by anon_investor »

atdharris wrote: Thu Jun 16, 2022 8:57 am The Premium Rewards card is basically $15 after buying and selling an AA GC for $80. It seems like a no brainer to me to hold that card if you qualify for platinum honors.
You actually get $3.50 cash back on the $100 AA eGC order, so the cost for the Premium Rewards card is only $11.50.
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by Nyc10036 »

MikeG62 wrote: Thu Jun 16, 2022 9:23 am Don't even get me started on how long it took to get someone on the phone to help me.
I have been waiting to speak to a human at Merrill Edge.
I was able to speak to someone on my first call. I don't remember how long the wait was.
Then I tried to follow up.
Two calls. Both with 15+ wait times and still not connected to a human.

I am wondering whether I want to move my Roth IRA to them even for the $750 bonus.

Schwab was super easy.
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by hoofaman »

MikeG62 wrote: Thu Jun 16, 2022 9:23 am I find it disappointing and concerning that in order to obtain the terms and conditions document on the premium rewards card (I am looking to better understand what are "covered conditions" as related to travel insurance provided by the card) one has to request that document over the phone and it is sent by snail mail. It is not available online (not anywhere I could find) and the service rep said she could not e-mail it to me. Don't even get me started on how long it took to get someone on the phone to help me.

Wonder why they make this so difficult?

I am a big fan of this card. But this experience I find disappointing and annoying.
I had the same experience for what it's worth, actually I had to do that with all of my cards. And of course what you get is something printed in the most tiny font possible, I spent the time to scan it as I wouldn't have otherwise been able to read it

This goes for all Credit Card companies, BoA is no different. I've never seen any credit card official T&C document provided in a digital format, only summery documentation. My assumption is they want as few people as possible to read them, while at the same time they send emails out about how they have "updated the terms and conditions"
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by Lastrun »

Nyc10036 wrote: Thu Jun 16, 2022 11:06 am
MikeG62 wrote: Thu Jun 16, 2022 9:23 am Don't even get me started on how long it took to get someone on the phone to help me.
I have been waiting to speak to a human at Merrill Edge.
I was able to speak to someone on my first call. I don't remember how long the wait was.
Then I tried to follow up.
Two calls. Both with 15+ wait times and still not connected to a human.

I am wondering whether I want to move my Roth IRA to them even for the $750 bonus.

Schwab was super easy.
I just called as I had a question. 12:23 EST. 6 minutes to live human. 2 minutes was banking v. brokerage questions and me fumbling to find my account number. YMMV.
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by dodecahedron »

Nyc10036 wrote: Thu Jun 16, 2022 11:06 am
MikeG62 wrote: Thu Jun 16, 2022 9:23 am Don't even get me started on how long it took to get someone on the phone to help me.
I have been waiting to speak to a human at Merrill Edge.
I was able to speak to someone on my first call. I don't remember how long the wait was.
Then I tried to follow up.
Two calls. Both with 15+ wait times and still not connected to a human.

I am wondering whether I want to move my Roth IRA to them even for the $750 bonus.

Schwab was super easy.
I agree that Merrill Edge does not necessarily provide the greatest service but I am wondering why you needed to contact Merrill Edge on the phone?

Over seven years ago, I transferred a sufficient amount of my Roth IRA to Merrill Edge as in-kind transfer of Vanguard ETFs to collect what was then a $1,000 bonus without needing any phone assistance. I left the funds there sufficiently long to collect the bonus and keep it from being clawed back and eventually transferred the entire Roth IRA in-kind to Schwab.

All online, no phone or personal assistance required. (I did get charged a $75 exit fee for closing out the Merrill Roth IRA, but Schwab was happy to reimburse that.)

Keeping it simple with Vanguard ETFs transferred in-kind enabled me to minimize hassles with Merrill Edge.
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by MikeG62 »

hoofaman wrote: Thu Jun 16, 2022 11:26 am
MikeG62 wrote: Thu Jun 16, 2022 9:23 am I find it disappointing and concerning that in order to obtain the terms and conditions document on the premium rewards card (I am looking to better understand what are "covered conditions" as related to travel insurance provided by the card) one has to request that document over the phone and it is sent by snail mail. It is not available online (not anywhere I could find) and the service rep said she could not e-mail it to me. Don't even get me started on how long it took to get someone on the phone to help me.

Wonder why they make this so difficult?

I am a big fan of this card. But this experience I find disappointing and annoying.
I had the same experience for what it's worth, actually I had to do that with all of my cards. And of course what you get is something printed in the most tiny font possible, I spent the time to scan it as I wouldn't have otherwise been able to read it

This goes for all Credit Card companies, BoA is no different. I've never seen any credit card official T&C document provided in a digital format, only summery documentation. My assumption is they want as few people as possible to read them, while at the same time they send emails out about how they have "updated the terms and conditions"
This is not the case with the T&C's for my Chase Sapphire Reserve card. I was able to obtain the pdf version of the T&C's detailing the travel insurance (and other) policies online without a ton of effort.

BofA not being able or willing to send it by email is frustrating.
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by pshonore »

dodecahedron wrote: Thu Jun 16, 2022 11:32 am
Nyc10036 wrote: Thu Jun 16, 2022 11:06 am
MikeG62 wrote: Thu Jun 16, 2022 9:23 am Don't even get me started on how long it took to get someone on the phone to help me.
I have been waiting to speak to a human at Merrill Edge.
I was able to speak to someone on my first call. I don't remember how long the wait was.
Then I tried to follow up.
Two calls. Both with 15+ wait times and still not connected to a human.

I am wondering whether I want to move my Roth IRA to them even for the $750 bonus.

Schwab was super easy.
I agree that Merrill Edge does not necessarily provide the greatest service but I am wondering why you needed to contact Merrill Edge on the phone?

Over seven years ago, I transferred a sufficient amount of my Roth IRA to Merrill Edge as in-kind transfer of Vanguard ETFs to collect what was then a $1,000 bonus without needing any phone assistance. I left the funds there sufficiently long to collect the bonus and keep it from being clawed back and eventually transferred the entire Roth IRA in-kind to Schwab.

All online, no phone or personal assistance required. (I did get charged a $75 exit fee for closing out the Merrill Roth IRA, but Schwab was happy to reimburse that.)

Keeping it simple with Vanguard ETFs transferred in-kind enabled me to minimize hassles with Merrill Edge.
I just recently learned that Merrill Edge has discontinued email so if you can't do it online, you have to call as I did in the case of a recent RMD. I will say they answer the phone quickly though. If it weren't for the great BOA rewards tied to a Merrill balance, I would move the funds tomorrow. If anyone knows how to contact Merrill by email, please let me know
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by Lastrun »

MikeG62 wrote: Thu Jun 16, 2022 11:39 am BofA not being able or willing to send it by email is frustrating.
I don't understand why BofA does this. I am paperless and when I get an update in the mail, I have to scan it. :annoyed
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by dodecahedron »

pshonore wrote: Thu Jun 16, 2022 11:50 am I just recently learned that Merrill Edge has discontinued email so if you can't do it online, you have to call as I did in the case of a recent RMD. I will say they answer the phone quickly though. If it weren't for the great BOA rewards tied to a Merrill balance, I would move the funds tomorrow. If anyone knows how to contact Merrill by email, please let me know
Sorry to hear that RMDs are cumbersome at Merrill Edge. I still have at least 3 more years until I reach the age where I need to worry about RMDs so I haven't yet encountered that set of hassles, but I will keep that in mind if and when I decide to move my 403b to an IRA somewhere and will plan to find another custodian that facilitates RMDs (and QCDs) with minimal hassles.

Meanwhile I just maintain a Merrill Edge CMA (Cash Management Account) taxable brokerage account with a sufficient balance of Vanguard ETFs to maintain Platinum Preferred Honors status. The Vanguard ETFs just sit there as a buy and hold position, they throw off quarterly dividends, which I route to my BoA checking and figure out whether to spend or redirect to reinvest elsewhere (e.g., my main brokerage account, which is currently at Schwab though I am considering moving it to Fidelity.)
'
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by anon_investor »

pshonore wrote: Thu Jun 16, 2022 11:50 am
dodecahedron wrote: Thu Jun 16, 2022 11:32 am
Nyc10036 wrote: Thu Jun 16, 2022 11:06 am
MikeG62 wrote: Thu Jun 16, 2022 9:23 am Don't even get me started on how long it took to get someone on the phone to help me.
I have been waiting to speak to a human at Merrill Edge.
I was able to speak to someone on my first call. I don't remember how long the wait was.
Then I tried to follow up.
Two calls. Both with 15+ wait times and still not connected to a human.

I am wondering whether I want to move my Roth IRA to them even for the $750 bonus.

Schwab was super easy.
I agree that Merrill Edge does not necessarily provide the greatest service but I am wondering why you needed to contact Merrill Edge on the phone?

Over seven years ago, I transferred a sufficient amount of my Roth IRA to Merrill Edge as in-kind transfer of Vanguard ETFs to collect what was then a $1,000 bonus without needing any phone assistance. I left the funds there sufficiently long to collect the bonus and keep it from being clawed back and eventually transferred the entire Roth IRA in-kind to Schwab.

All online, no phone or personal assistance required. (I did get charged a $75 exit fee for closing out the Merrill Roth IRA, but Schwab was happy to reimburse that.)

Keeping it simple with Vanguard ETFs transferred in-kind enabled me to minimize hassles with Merrill Edge.
I just recently learned that Merrill Edge has discontinued email so if you can't do it online, you have to call as I did in the case of a recent RMD. I will say they answer the phone quickly though. If it weren't for the great BOA rewards tied to a Merrill balance, I would move the funds tomorrow. If anyone knows how to contact Merrill by email, please let me know
Via the Merrill Edge mobile app, I am still able to send secure messages. I don't see this option via the website.
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by Nyc10036 »

dodecahedron wrote: Thu Jun 16, 2022 11:32 am
Nyc10036 wrote: Thu Jun 16, 2022 11:06 am
MikeG62 wrote: Thu Jun 16, 2022 9:23 am Don't even get me started on how long it took to get someone on the phone to help me.
I have been waiting to speak to a human at Merrill Edge.
I was able to speak to someone on my first call. I don't remember how long the wait was.
Then I tried to follow up.
Two calls. Both with 15+ wait times and still not connected to a human.

I am wondering whether I want to move my Roth IRA to them even for the $750 bonus.

Schwab was super easy.
I agree that Merrill Edge does not necessarily provide the greatest service but I am wondering why you needed to contact Merrill Edge on the phone?

Over seven years ago, I transferred a sufficient amount of my Roth IRA to Merrill Edge as in-kind transfer of Vanguard ETFs to collect what was then a $1,000 bonus without needing any phone assistance. I left the funds there sufficiently long to collect the bonus and keep it from being clawed back and eventually transferred the entire Roth IRA in-kind to Schwab.

All online, no phone or personal assistance required. (I did get charged a $75 exit fee for closing out the Merrill Roth IRA, but Schwab was happy to reimburse that.)

Keeping it simple with Vanguard ETFs transferred in-kind enabled me to minimize hassles with Merrill Edge.
I opened the self-directed brokeragea account.
I wasn't sure I did it correctly.
There was an unfunded Roth IRA created.
I wanted to undo the Roth IRA. No way to do that.

And secure messages are not available through the website.

Overall, I am not impressed.
I call 3 different toll free numbers for Merrill.
All had extremely long wait times.
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by dodecahedron »

Nyc10036 wrote: Thu Jun 16, 2022 10:07 pm I opened the self-directed brokeragea account.
I wasn't sure I did it correctly.
There was an unfunded Roth IRA created.
I wanted to undo the Roth IRA. No way to do that.

And secure messages are not available through the website.

Overall, I am not impressed.
I call 3 different toll free numbers for Merrill.
All had extremely long wait times.
I am sorry to hear about the long wait times but I am not sure what harm there is by just leaving an unfunded zero balance Roth IRA on the books at Merrill. I have zero balance tIRAs just sitting around at some of my other custodians. (They were conduit accounts that are no longer needed.)

Yes it is a little cluttered looking but why do you want to spend your time (and Merrill's) undoing it?
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by dodecahedron »

Lastrun wrote: Thu Jun 16, 2022 11:51 am
MikeG62 wrote: Thu Jun 16, 2022 11:39 am BofA not being able or willing to send it by email is frustrating.
I don't understand why BofA does this. I am paperless and when I get an update in the mail, I have to scan it. :annoyed
Why do they do this? Maybe for the same reason that airlines make flying so unpleasant for their cheapest no frills tickets? They hope to encourage customers to spring for their more expensive product.

(Premium Economy:Merill Lynch::No frills Coach:Merrill Edge.)
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by calwatch »

Except Merrill Edge never actively or passively upsells to full Merrill. There never even is a call to action to upgrade on their web site when you log in, whereas JP Morgan Self Directed will "invite" you to a one on one call to an investment advisor.
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by MikeG62 »

I'd direct one more frustration - this one piling on a bit to the Merrill Edge complaints immediately above.

I can find no money market fund at ME for excess cash providing any yield (at least not any other than one or two that require an initial investment above $100,000 - and who wants $100,000 in a MM fund earning 40bps these days anyway). Add on to that, ME's default for a cash is a deposit account (not a MM account) with a zero yield.

The bottom line is that if not for the BofA premium rewards card, I would not have an account at ME. Fidelity crushes them every which way imaginable.
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by anon_investor »

MikeG62 wrote: Fri Jun 17, 2022 6:15 am I'd direct one more frustration - this one piling on a bit to the Merrill Edge complaints immediately above.

I can find no money market fund at ME for excess cash providing any yield (at least not any other than one or two that require an initial investment above $100,000 - and who wants $100,000 in a MM fund earning 40bps these days anyway). Add on to that, ME's default for a cash is a deposit account (not a MM account) with a zero yield.

The bottom line is that if not for the BofA premium rewards card, I would not have an account at ME. Fidelity crushes them every which way imaginable.
If the 75% boost to CC cash back was eliminated, most of us would likely leave ME/BoA.
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by bling »

MikeG62 wrote: Fri Jun 17, 2022 6:15 am I'd direct one more frustration - this one piling on a bit to the Merrill Edge complaints immediately above.

I can find no money market fund at ME for excess cash providing any yield (at least not any other than one or two that require an initial investment above $100,000 - and who wants $100,000 in a MM fund earning 40bps these days anyway). Add on to that, ME's default for a cash is a deposit account (not a MM account) with a zero yield.

The bottom line is that if not for the BofA premium rewards card, I would not have an account at ME. Fidelity crushes them every which way imaginable.
well, there's one thing they're missing which is zelle. i zelle to myself all the time for instant transfers, and with fidelity you have to do old school ACH transfers which take at least a day. i guess it evens out since fidelity is one of the few banks that have free wire transfers if you need that.

but yea, i got pulled into the BoA/ME ecosystem specifically because of preferred rewards. i didn't even have an existing BoA relationship, so they got 2 new accounts out of me. what is offers is pretty bare bones and gets the job done.

i had to call them one time and it was not a pleasant experience. there was a glitch in their system. i sold a holding, but there was no order status. so i tried again. both orders went through....which means i ended up shorting it and my account went negative. problem is, this was not a margin account, so i shouldn't have been able to execute the 2nd trade. obviously this stressed me out so i called them. "when it rains, it pours". i was waiting for at least an hour before i talked to someone. they looked at it, did some magic and basically erased this from ever happening in my account activity. 2-3 days later i got an automated email that they discovered a bug that impacted me and would fix it, so perhaps i didn't need to call after all. still, very stressful.
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by MikeG62 »

bling wrote: Fri Jun 17, 2022 6:55 am
well, there's one thing they're missing which is zelle. i zelle to myself all the time for instant transfers, and with fidelity you have to do old school ACH transfers which take at least a day. i guess it evens out since fidelity is one of the few banks that have free wire transfers if you need that.
How do you Zelle to yourself? Do you use your e-mail address at one financial institution for Zelle and your phone number at another? I have not found a way to do it.

When I need cash in a hurry I send a wire from my Marcus account. But almost always entering the ACH in the morning (whether from Marcus or Fidelity) gets the funds there that afternoon, which is sufficient for me.
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by bling »

MikeG62 wrote: Fri Jun 17, 2022 7:02 am
bling wrote: Fri Jun 17, 2022 6:55 am
well, there's one thing they're missing which is zelle. i zelle to myself all the time for instant transfers, and with fidelity you have to do old school ACH transfers which take at least a day. i guess it evens out since fidelity is one of the few banks that have free wire transfers if you need that.
How do you Zelle to yourself? Do you use your e-mail address at one financial institution for Zelle and your phone number at another? I have not found a way to do it.

When I need cash in a hurry I send a wire from my Marcus account. But almost always entering the ACH in the morning (whether from Marcus or Fidelity) gets the funds there that afternoon, which is sufficient for me.
yep, different emails/numbers.
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by MikeG62 »

bling wrote: Fri Jun 17, 2022 7:04 am
MikeG62 wrote: Fri Jun 17, 2022 7:02 am
bling wrote: Fri Jun 17, 2022 6:55 am
well, there's one thing they're missing which is zelle. i zelle to myself all the time for instant transfers, and with fidelity you have to do old school ACH transfers which take at least a day. i guess it evens out since fidelity is one of the few banks that have free wire transfers if you need that.
How do you Zelle to yourself? Do you use your e-mail address at one financial institution for Zelle and your phone number at another? I have not found a way to do it.

When I need cash in a hurry I send a wire from my Marcus account. But almost always entering the ACH in the morning (whether from Marcus or Fidelity) gets the funds there that afternoon, which is sufficient for me.
yep, different emails/numbers.
Ok makes sense. But, you can't do this with Fidelity on one side of the transaction (presumably because they aren't a bank). So are you using banks and/or CU's on both sides?

Just checked and noticed Marcus does not have Zelle, but Ally does.
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bling
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by bling »

MikeG62 wrote: Fri Jun 17, 2022 7:07 am
bling wrote: Fri Jun 17, 2022 7:04 am
MikeG62 wrote: Fri Jun 17, 2022 7:02 am
bling wrote: Fri Jun 17, 2022 6:55 am
well, there's one thing they're missing which is zelle. i zelle to myself all the time for instant transfers, and with fidelity you have to do old school ACH transfers which take at least a day. i guess it evens out since fidelity is one of the few banks that have free wire transfers if you need that.
How do you Zelle to yourself? Do you use your e-mail address at one financial institution for Zelle and your phone number at another? I have not found a way to do it.

When I need cash in a hurry I send a wire from my Marcus account. But almost always entering the ACH in the morning (whether from Marcus or Fidelity) gets the funds there that afternoon, which is sufficient for me.
yep, different emails/numbers.
Ok makes sense. But, you can't do this with Fidelity on one side of the transaction (presumably because they aren't a bank). So are you using banks and/or CU's on both sides?
yep, banks/CUs.

BoA's checking account is pretty crappy. my account typically has less than $200 on any given day except for pay day. i zelle out to my CU where i keep enough cash for day-to-day activities and invest the rest. CU has a not-crappy interest rate on the cash and reimbursed ATM fees everywhere.
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by MikeG62 »

bling wrote: Fri Jun 17, 2022 7:15 am
MikeG62 wrote: Fri Jun 17, 2022 7:07 am
bling wrote: Fri Jun 17, 2022 7:04 am
MikeG62 wrote: Fri Jun 17, 2022 7:02 am
bling wrote: Fri Jun 17, 2022 6:55 am
well, there's one thing they're missing which is zelle. i zelle to myself all the time for instant transfers, and with fidelity you have to do old school ACH transfers which take at least a day. i guess it evens out since fidelity is one of the few banks that have free wire transfers if you need that.
How do you Zelle to yourself? Do you use your e-mail address at one financial institution for Zelle and your phone number at another? I have not found a way to do it.

When I need cash in a hurry I send a wire from my Marcus account. But almost always entering the ACH in the morning (whether from Marcus or Fidelity) gets the funds there that afternoon, which is sufficient for me.
yep, different emails/numbers.
Ok makes sense. But, you can't do this with Fidelity on one side of the transaction (presumably because they aren't a bank). So are you using banks and/or CU's on both sides?
yep, banks/CUs.

BoA's checking account is pretty crappy. my account typically has less than $200 on any given day except for pay day. i zelle out to my CU where i keep enough cash for day-to-day activities and invest the rest. CU has a not-crappy interest rate on the cash and reimbursed ATM fees everywhere.
Makes sense. I do have Zelle linked to my BofA checking account, but like you that account usually has only hundreds of dollars in it (unless a bill payment is about to be made).

I've been reluctant to link Zelle to one of my online banks (where I have considerable excess cash) due to the risk (albeit a risk that may be incredibly low) that somehow there were a fraudulent Zelle transfer at a larger amount of money than I keep in my checking account that I had to deal with. The ability to do same day ACH or wires gets me to the same point with less risk (I think).
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by bling »

MikeG62 wrote: Fri Jun 17, 2022 7:25 am I've been reluctant to link Zelle to one of my online banks (where I have considerable excess cash) due to the risk (albeit a risk that may be incredibly low) that somehow there were a fraudulent Zelle transfer at a larger amount of money than I keep in my checking account that I had to deal with. The ability to do same day ACH or wires gets me to the same point with less risk (I think).
hmmmm, all the scary things i've heard about zelle scams were basically people trying to trick you into sending them money. and because these things are instant, you have no recourse. thief is long gone.

so, triple check that your email/phone number is correct before you send anything. test sending yourself $1.

also, banks have wised up to scam attacks. even if you've zelled to the same account before, if the amount is greater than usual, they'll ask for 2nd factor like email/text message to confirm.
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by atdharris »

anon_investor wrote: Fri Jun 17, 2022 6:22 am
MikeG62 wrote: Fri Jun 17, 2022 6:15 am I'd direct one more frustration - this one piling on a bit to the Merrill Edge complaints immediately above.

I can find no money market fund at ME for excess cash providing any yield (at least not any other than one or two that require an initial investment above $100,000 - and who wants $100,000 in a MM fund earning 40bps these days anyway). Add on to that, ME's default for a cash is a deposit account (not a MM account) with a zero yield.

The bottom line is that if not for the BofA premium rewards card, I would not have an account at ME. Fidelity crushes them every which way imaginable.
If the 75% boost to CC cash back was eliminated, most of us would likely leave ME/BoA.
That's probably true for a lot of people. I'd move to Schwab or somewhere like that if BoA eliminated the credit card boosters. I thought about moving my checking there anyway but I like being able to move money instantly from BoA to Merrill if I need to.
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by deltaneutral83 »

atdharris wrote: Fri Jun 17, 2022 8:27 am
anon_investor wrote: Fri Jun 17, 2022 6:22 am
MikeG62 wrote: Fri Jun 17, 2022 6:15 am I'd direct one more frustration - this one piling on a bit to the Merrill Edge complaints immediately above.

I can find no money market fund at ME for excess cash providing any yield (at least not any other than one or two that require an initial investment above $100,000 - and who wants $100,000 in a MM fund earning 40bps these days anyway). Add on to that, ME's default for a cash is a deposit account (not a MM account) with a zero yield.

The bottom line is that if not for the BofA premium rewards card, I would not have an account at ME. Fidelity crushes them every which way imaginable.
If the 75% boost to CC cash back was eliminated, most of us would likely leave ME/BoA.
That's probably true for a lot of people. I'd move to Schwab or somewhere like that if BoA eliminated the credit card boosters. I thought about moving my checking there anyway but I like being able to move money instantly from BoA to Merrill if I need to.
Assuming you keep the required amount in a self directed Merrill investment account, why would one keep more than $1 in the required checking account? Who cares what the yield is?
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by atdharris »

deltaneutral83 wrote: Fri Jun 17, 2022 8:33 am
atdharris wrote: Fri Jun 17, 2022 8:27 am
anon_investor wrote: Fri Jun 17, 2022 6:22 am
MikeG62 wrote: Fri Jun 17, 2022 6:15 am I'd direct one more frustration - this one piling on a bit to the Merrill Edge complaints immediately above.

I can find no money market fund at ME for excess cash providing any yield (at least not any other than one or two that require an initial investment above $100,000 - and who wants $100,000 in a MM fund earning 40bps these days anyway). Add on to that, ME's default for a cash is a deposit account (not a MM account) with a zero yield.

The bottom line is that if not for the BofA premium rewards card, I would not have an account at ME. Fidelity crushes them every which way imaginable.
If the 75% boost to CC cash back was eliminated, most of us would likely leave ME/BoA.
That's probably true for a lot of people. I'd move to Schwab or somewhere like that if BoA eliminated the credit card boosters. I thought about moving my checking there anyway but I like being able to move money instantly from BoA to Merrill if I need to.
Assuming you keep the required amount in a self directed Merrill investment account, why would one keep more than $1 in the required checking account? Who cares what the yield is?
My paychecks are deposited into BoA checking. I suppose it doesn't matter, but if I wanted to buy equities or something at Merrill on a given day, it's much more convenient than waiting 1-2 days for money to transfer from Merrill to Schwab. I suppose I could also own VTI at Schwab and have two taxable accounts, but I like the simplicity of most of my accounts being in one place.
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by deltaneutral83 »

atdharris wrote: Fri Jun 17, 2022 8:39 am My paychecks are deposited into BoA checking. I suppose it doesn't matter, but if I wanted to buy equities or something at Merrill on a given day, it's much more convenient than waiting 1-2 days for money to transfer from Merrill to Schwab. I suppose I could also own VTI at Schwab and have two taxable accounts, but I like the simplicity of most of my accounts being in one place.
Interesting, for the rare occasions I buy in my taxable, I have always just bought and then transferred from 3rd party account, I think it's T+2 when the money is due, but never had an issue buying in real time the few occasions I've done it, perhaps the account is setup for margin
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by Nyc10036 »

dodecahedron wrote: Thu Jun 16, 2022 10:32 pm
Nyc10036 wrote: Thu Jun 16, 2022 10:07 pm I opened the self-directed brokeragea account.
I wasn't sure I did it correctly.
There was an unfunded Roth IRA created.
I wanted to undo the Roth IRA. No way to do that.

And secure messages are not available through the website.

Overall, I am not impressed.
I call 3 different toll free numbers for Merrill.
All had extremely long wait times.
I am sorry to hear about the long wait times but I am not sure what harm there is by just leaving an unfunded zero balance Roth IRA on the books at Merrill. I have zero balance tIRAs just sitting around at some of my other custodians. (They were conduit accounts that are no longer needed.)

Yes it is a little cluttered looking but why do you want to spend your time (and Merrill's) undoing it?
You can look at it as trivial.

But something this trivial also shows that getting help from Merrill Edge should something major happens is not trivial.
What if I mess up again with the website and need to correct the mistake?
I can't talk to a human unless I wait for an hour or so it appears.
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by sailaway »

Nyc10036 wrote: Fri Jun 17, 2022 11:18 am
dodecahedron wrote: Thu Jun 16, 2022 10:32 pm
Nyc10036 wrote: Thu Jun 16, 2022 10:07 pm I opened the self-directed brokeragea account.
I wasn't sure I did it correctly.
There was an unfunded Roth IRA created.
I wanted to undo the Roth IRA. No way to do that.

And secure messages are not available through the website.

Overall, I am not impressed.
I call 3 different toll free numbers for Merrill.
All had extremely long wait times.
I am sorry to hear about the long wait times but I am not sure what harm there is by just leaving an unfunded zero balance Roth IRA on the books at Merrill. I have zero balance tIRAs just sitting around at some of my other custodians. (They were conduit accounts that are no longer needed.)

Yes it is a little cluttered looking but why do you want to spend your time (and Merrill's) undoing it?
You can look at it as trivial.

But something this trivial also shows that getting help from Merrill Edge should something major happens is not trivial.
What if I mess up again with the website and need to correct the mistake?
I can't talk to a human unless I wait for an hour or so it appears.
Between us we have zero balance accounts at Vanguard, Fidelity and Etrade. Most, if not all, cannot actually be used, but there they sit in the account list. So I have no idea where you think you are going to run to.
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anon_investor
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Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by anon_investor »

atdharris wrote: Fri Jun 17, 2022 8:39 am
deltaneutral83 wrote: Fri Jun 17, 2022 8:33 am
atdharris wrote: Fri Jun 17, 2022 8:27 am
anon_investor wrote: Fri Jun 17, 2022 6:22 am
MikeG62 wrote: Fri Jun 17, 2022 6:15 am I'd direct one more frustration - this one piling on a bit to the Merrill Edge complaints immediately above.

I can find no money market fund at ME for excess cash providing any yield (at least not any other than one or two that require an initial investment above $100,000 - and who wants $100,000 in a MM fund earning 40bps these days anyway). Add on to that, ME's default for a cash is a deposit account (not a MM account) with a zero yield.

The bottom line is that if not for the BofA premium rewards card, I would not have an account at ME. Fidelity crushes them every which way imaginable.
If the 75% boost to CC cash back was eliminated, most of us would likely leave ME/BoA.
That's probably true for a lot of people. I'd move to Schwab or somewhere like that if BoA eliminated the credit card boosters. I thought about moving my checking there anyway but I like being able to move money instantly from BoA to Merrill if I need to.
Assuming you keep the required amount in a self directed Merrill investment account, why would one keep more than $1 in the required checking account? Who cares what the yield is?
My paychecks are deposited into BoA checking. I suppose it doesn't matter, but if I wanted to buy equities or something at Merrill on a given day, it's much more convenient than waiting 1-2 days for money to transfer from Merrill to Schwab. I suppose I could also own VTI at Schwab and have two taxable accounts, but I like the simplicity of most of my accounts being in one place.
At least at Fidelity and Vanguard, you can initiate an ACH transfer and they will immediately credit your account for trading.
danaht
Posts: 816
Joined: Sun Oct 18, 2015 11:28 am

Re: Bank of America/Merrill Edge - Preferred Rewards

Post by danaht »

Is there an easy way to determine if you are over the $2500 category bonus reward limit for the customized cash back credit cards? The only way for me to check right now seems to be at the "Rewards" tab - you start getting messages like "Combined purchases for bonus exceeds the quarterly max of $2,500". But you might not catch this until 10 days later. Is there a better approach that fellow boggleheads use to make sure they don't go above the $2500 quarterly limit on one card?
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