ck08 said:I have had the Accolades card for 4 months and have never used it. Quite frankly, the rewards with my BOA MasterCard are better...

I have 25k limit. I wonder if I should use it at least once to keep them from closing? I got it for the PP but right before I hit the 200k balance for the accelerated benefits. Now, my portfolio is down over 50k. Not sure what to do..
Keeping the Accolades card and having its fee waived is based on your Premier Banking relationship with BoA. As long as you still have Premier Banking, the Accolades card is free. And if you had the extended benefits, they're probably good at least through the end of the calendar year.

It's true that BoA can take away your Premier status if your required balance falls below $100K. But many people have retained their Premier status despite this. I wouldn't be in a hurry to close your card unless you've lost your Premier status. If you decide to get the other card, BoA has been pretty good at allowing you to re-allocate CLs among their cards.

My BoA Accolades AM*X has remained largely inactive since 2007. BoA hasn't closed it yet on me. There's no harm in doing an occasional small transaction on the card if this possibility concerns you.

tigi said:1) a couple months after I got this card (I think it was june'08) I got something in the mail saying that the card is going to be free for me forever. I think it was something from consumer advocate or something and suggested that original offer was faulty somehow and that is why there will be no annual fee for me anymore. Will try to post more details when I find it. Anybody else got such a notice?

My wife also got this card a month later but she did not receive a notice about annual fee being waived forever.

We are both premier banking customers so it does not matter anyway, just curious if anybody else got such notice.

2)I also have a visa with BofA (used to be a L.L.Bean Visa). I got 12 months 0% BT offer on that visa although with uncapped BT fee of 3%. I called accolades CS and shifted almost all of my credit line from the accollades (left $1000 there) and asked for a cap on that BT fee. They capped it at $99 for $34k transfer. They could not do a BT into my savings account I have with BofA but they were happy to do BT to a checking account I have at another bank.

The accolades CS was very knowledgeable and they were happy to service BT for that VISA.
I haven't received any special notice pertaining to the BoA Accolades AMEX card. For Premier Banking clients, the annual fee is charged and then immediately credited back.

Could you please relate when you managed to have that uncapped BT fee capped? Reportedly, BoA has become very stingy about doing this recently. Thanks!

tigi said:glxpass said:
I haven't received any special notice pertaining to the BoA Accolades AMEX card. For Premier Banking clients, the annual fee is charged and then immediately credited back.

Could you please relate when you managed to have that uncapped BT fee capped? Reportedly, BoA has become very stingy about doing this recently. Thanks!

I send an email to my PB manager with a link to an expired BofA offer with $0 BT fee and asked him if he can do something like this for me (the link I found on FT). He called me back with accolades CSR on the line and she told me they can't do $0 BT but she can cap it at $75. We could not finalize the whole thing at that time as I had some balance on the accolades AMEX I wanted to pay first to have the whole credit line available to shift to visa with the 0% BT offer.

So i paid the card and called accolades in a couple of days to the credit line reallocation to visa and BT. At the beginning of the call I told the CSR what I wanted to do and that I expected the fee to be capped at $75. She told me for the amount of BT she could not do $75 but she can cap it at $99 and I agreed. I had money in my checking account at another bank in about 3-4 days.
tigi, thanks for the strategy; that's helpful. Could you also please tell mme when you did this, e.g. last week, last month, etc.? Thanks!

For those of us wondering when BOA will determine our '09 qualification for enhanced benefits (Priority Pass, primarily), according to BOA they've already started that process. When I spoke with the Accolades reps earlier today I was told that their system shows that I've already qualified for enhanced benefits in '09 even though my balances with them are currently under the requisite limits (they were over that limit a few weeks ago). Priority Pass tells me that they will be mailing out the '09 cards some time in December.

So, if the above holds true, it looks like holding aggregate balances of at least $200K in your BOA accounts at this point will get you qualified for enhanced benefits in '09.

Crazytree said:what investment product does BofA offer that does not have an analog product offered elsewhere with significantly more attractive terms?BOA offers a brokerage account with $0 online equity trades for up to 30 trades per month, which allows you to own just about any third party investment product out there. As for the FDIC products, it has a money market account that currently pays over 5%APY (variable, of course) on balances over $50K for 60 days (quite a few of us have been recycling this account for quite some time). It also offers competitive CD products from time to time -- I've got a 7 month CD that I opened a few months ago at 4.11%APY, then last Friday opened another 179 day CD at 4.32%APY, etc... Their billpay choice alone has been easily making me $4K-$5K/year in interest with no effort whatsoever, all while showing $0 utilization, so there is no impact on my credit scores. Billpay choice also allowed me the most efficient use of the Citi 5% offer, through which I have now made over $28,000.

You have to also remember that up until the most recent temporary increase in FDIC limits, which has made things a lot easier, it has been very difficult if not impossible for many of us to take full advantage of the best deals out there while staying under the FDIC limits. Hence, a lot of us deal with a number of banks in order to maximize the total returns while also minimizing our exposure to potential bank meltdowns. On that note, personally I am never worried about exceeding FDIC limits with BOA the same way that I am concerned about exceeding FDIC limits with many other banks. All the other perks that come from BOA, such as generous credit limits on the Accolades (which has made me some money), excellent customer service for Premier/Private Banking customers, free Priority Pass for those qualifying for enhanced benefits, companion airfare program that comes with the Accolades (AMEX Platinum has discontinued its domestic program, by the way) and many others are just gravy.

geo123 said:For those of us wondering when BOA will determine our '09 qualification for enhanced benefits (Priority Pass, primarily), according to BOA they've already started that process. When I spoke with the Accolades reps earlier today I was told that their system shows that I've already qualified for enhanced benefits in '09 even though my balances with them are currently under the requisite limits (they were over that limit a few weeks ago). Priority Pass tells me that they will be mailing out the '09 cards some time in December.

So, if the above holds true, it looks like holding aggregate balances of at least $200K in your BOA accounts at this point will get you qualified for enhanced benefits in '09.
I received my Priority Pass card, "expiry date" 31 DEC 09, in today's mail. It's at the $399 Prestige level, as expected. I've had over $200K in BoA deposits for the last 4 weeks or so. Since the APY on the NEA MMA, even during its bonus period, is rapidly declining, I'm moving the bulk of my funds elsewhere for now.

glxpass said:geo123 said:For those of us wondering when BOA will determine our '09 qualification for enhanced benefits (Priority Pass, primarily), according to BOA they've already started that process. When I spoke with the Accolades reps earlier today I was told that their system shows that I've already qualified for enhanced benefits in '09 even though my balances with them are currently under the requisite limits (they were over that limit a few weeks ago). Priority Pass tells me that they will be mailing out the '09 cards some time in December.

So, if the above holds true, it looks like holding aggregate balances of at least $200K in your BOA accounts at this point will get you qualified for enhanced benefits in '09.
I received my Priority Pass card, "expiry date" 31 DEC 09, in today's mail. It's at the $399 Prestige level, as expected. I've had over $200K in BoA deposits for the last 4 weeks or so. Since the APY on the NEA MMA, even during its bonus period, is rapidly declining, I'm moving the bulk of my funds elsewhere for now.

What was the expiration date on the card you originally had ? The one I got earlier this year (I think it was in may) has same expiration date, ie "31 DEC 09". Because of that I am wondering if my benefits extend throughout next year as my account does not have balances high enough to pass qualification at this moment.

geo123 said: Wow, that was fast. Priority Pass tells me that all the BOA Priority Pass renewal cards went out on November 19, so you got yours in 1 day (my wife and I haven't received our new cards, so that's what I was told when I called to check). That's pretty cool.
Got mine yesterday also, Have no Idea why I need it since I will never fly

scott1961 said:Got mine yesterday also, Have no Idea why I need it since I will never flyI suppose you could always buy a refundable ticket somewhere, so you can use it to get past security (then cancel the ticket before the flight) and into the lounge so you can eat and drink for free. A lot of lounges are nothing special but a few I've been to actually have really nice movie theater setups with really nice seats and huge HD projectors, so you can enjoy movies or games there

For what it's worth, I received my PP card in Jan2008, and it shows (PP website) good until Dec 2009.