What Bank of America Accounts Qualify For The Atmos Card 10% Rewards Bonus?

With the launch and rebranding of the three new Atmos cards, one of the most interesting benefits is the 10% rewards bonus on all points earned from card purchases. This additional earn rate is nothing to scoff at, since it is a 10% increase on all points earned.

So, 3x on foreign purchases with an eligible Bank of America account is actually 3.3x, which puts the Atmos Summit Card as the best card for traveling internationally.

To get this 10% rewards bonus, there’s a little requirement listed: “if you have an eligible Bank of America® account.”

The crux of this article is answering that exact question: what is an eligible Bank of America account that qualifies you for the 10% Rewards Bonus?

What Are Eligible Bank of America Accounts For The 10% Bonus?

Deep in the terms & conditions of the card, there’s this specific guidance:

“An active Qualifying Account is an open consumer (non-business) checking or savings account with Bank of America N.A. or an investment account with Merrill that maintains an average daily balance greater than $0 or a Bank of America checking or savings account that has had a deposit or withdrawal within 90 days.”

So, that means not all Bank of America accounts are eligible:

Here are the following checking/savings accounts that qualify for the 10% bonus:

• Advantage SafeBalance Banking
• Advantage Plus Banking
• Advantage Relationship Banking
• Bank of America Advantage Savings

Merrill Lynch investing accounts also qualify.

Based on the specific guidance here, Certificates of Deposit (CD) and IRAs do not qualify for the 10% bonus:

• Featured CD: Earns a fixed rate for the term of the CD
• Fixed Term CD: Earns a fixed rate for the term of the CD, but the terms range much more widely (as low as 28 days)
• Flexible CD: Allows you to withdraw your balance prior to maturity
• Bank of America IRA
• Merrill Lynch IRA

Notably, even if you open a Qualifying Account, there are some other things to note:

• Upon opening a new Qualifying Account, it may take up to 60 days to begin earning the Relationship Bonus Points.
• For cardholders with a Qualifying Account all Net Purchases made with your card on or after the fifth business day of the current month through the fifth business day of the following month will earn the Relationship Bonus Points

This means that if you open a new account, it might take 2 months before you see any bonus points come in.

For qualifying cardholders, there’s nothing too important to take away from this.

I Don’t Have A Bank Of America Account—What’s The Best Way To Get Access To One Without Paying Fees?

If you’re under 25 years old, you should open the Advantage SafeBalance Banking account because there are no monthly fees if you’re under age 25. Once you maintain an average daily balance above $0, you are set to qualify for the bonus points.

For those of you 25 and older, there’s a few alternative options:

• Open a Advantage SafeBalance Banking account and maintain a minimum daily balance of $500+: while you lose out on interest (say about $20 per year), you breakeven if you spend more than $700 on foreign transactions per year
• Open a Merrill Lynch Edge Account & maintain an average daily balance >$0: this is probably the easiest way to achieve the bonus, since you can throw in literally $10 into a money market fund and call it a day

I have a Merrill Lynch Edge Account, so I’m going to be using that method to access the bonus.

Why Does The 10% Bonus Matter?

10% might not seem like a lot, but the big that is that it’s a 10% bonus to the points earned with each $1 spent. So, if you earn 3x points on foreign transactions, then that becomes 3.3x points per $1 spent on all foreign transactions.

If you’re like me and value Atmos points at 1.5 cents per point, you’re basically getting a (minimum) flat 4.95% back on all your spend when traveling abroad. For comparison:

• Robinhood Gold card gives 3% flat cashback on all purchases
• Bank of America Ultimate Cash Rewards gives 2.625% flat cashback if you have Platinum Honors Preferred Rewards Status
• Citi Doublecash gives up to 2% cashback

Getting 4.95% cashback is… ridiculous. Essentially, that 10% goes pretty far when considering that you earn 3x on foreign purchases in the first place.

How Does The 10% Rewards Bonus Differ From Preferred Rewards®?

Bank of America has a program called “Preferred Rewards” that gives 25-75% more cashback or points on every purchase for their branded cards. For example, the following cards qualify for the Preferred Rewards bonus (the following list is not exhaustive):

• Bank of America® Customized Cash Rewards
• Bank of America® Unlimited Cash Rewards
• Bank of America® Travel Rewards
• Bank of America® Premium Rewards®

There are four Preferred Rewards tiers, which are based on your 3 month combined average daily balance in your combined Bank of America deposit and Merrill Lunch investing balances:

• Gold Tier: $20k to $50k
• Platinum Tier: $50k to $100k
• Platinum Honors Tier: $100k to $1M
• Diamond Honors Tier: $1M+

With Platinum Honors tier, you will earn a 75% rewards bonus on said eligible Bank of America Cards. So, that means a Bank of America® Unlimited Cash Rewards will not only earn 1.5% cashback on all purchases, but will go all the way to 2.625% on all purchases (this is an incredible earn rate).

However, Preferred Rewards® benefits do not impact Atmos card earnings. It doesn’t matter what tier you have—there is no 25-75% bonus on your Atmos mileage rate.

Rather: if you have Preferred Rewards, you can pretty comfortably say you have an “eligible Bank of America” account to earn the 10% Atmos Rewards bonus.

Takeaways

If you’re planning on getting the Atmos Summit card, make sure you also open a qualifying Bank of America account. The easiest account is the Merrill Edge investing account, which qualifies as long as you maintain a balance greater than $0—you’ll minimize your opportunity cost this way.

With the relationship bonus, you get 3.3x points per $1 in foreign spend, which is an incredible benefit to have in your back pocket.