Bank of America Miles Edge Visa Card Review

This Card Was Around Pre MBNA Takeover - The Miles Edge card was one of Bank of America's rewards card (the other one being the Power Rewards Card) that was around prior to the takeover of MBNA in 2006. Hence, the Miles Edge reward program was not based on WorldPoints program (which was then MBNA's program). After the takeover of MBNA, various MBNA rewards card like the Elite Rewards was merged into this card.

Very Typical Rewards Card - The Bank of America MilesEdge® Card is really a typical card that has a general reward program card which lets cardholders earn 1 point for every dollar spent on net purchases. The Miles Edge® Reward Program offers extensive airline rewards (no blackout dates), rewards for theme park and attractions, merchant certificates (including hotels and car rentals), clothing and accessories, electronics and sports and outdoors. The points you earn are valid for five years and you can earn up to 75,000 points in one calendar year.

An Annual Fee? Makes This Card Neither Here Nor There? - One of the issues I had with this card was that they charged an annual fee of $19.00. Though it was not exactly a very high annual fee, there are many good rewards that charge no annual fee. And those that charge annual fees tend to have better reward programs.

For example, in the no annual fee space, the MilesEdge was competing against a card like the Blue from American Express. The Blue was back in those days, arguably the best no annual fee rewards card out there. The Membership Rewards program handily beats the Miles Edge program. The MR program had better merchandise and gift card rewards than any other program back then. Another very good no annual fee card during that era was the Citi Diamond Preferred Rewards Card (which has been converted to the Citi ThankYou Card now). Their reward program was the Citi ThankYou Redemption Network and it was a much better program than MilesEdge (both in terms of travel, gift cards and merchandise). Citi also had another rewards card called the Citi PremierPass Card, which was quite similar to the Diamond Preferred Rewards.

In the annual fee space, the Miles Edge had to contend with cards like the American Express Preferred Rewards Gold Card (as it was called back then). That card came with an annual fee of $125, but the Membership Rewards program allowed you to transfer points into airline miles and hotel frequent guest points. The Citi PremierPass Elite Card was also another annual fee card that allowed yo to earn points from your spending and also from the miles that you fly. With a $75 annual fee, it offered so much more value.

So it appears that the Miles Edge was stuck between two hard rocks. Their reward program did not demonstrate any superiority to other cards with no annual fee. What seemed like a small $19 annual fee now seems like high price! Yet, though there were other reward cards which charged a much higher annual fee, the reward program added so much more value that consumers were willing to pay up for that extra value.

They Should Have Scrapped The Annual Fee - At the end of the day, I felt that this card perhaps would have got a recommendation if they had scrapped the annual fee. But with many good no fee reward program and cards around, I would not understand why would anybody pay that fee for no extra value. It comes as no surprise to me that this card did not survive the consolidation process that the credit card portfolio went through (ie more focus and less redundant cards).

If you are considering a Bank of America rewards card today, then you have two choices. The first one is the Power Rewards Card (which is a Visa). And the other is the Accelerated Rewards Card (which is an Amex card).