Bank of America Travel Rewards Credit Card for Students Review 2023

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The Bank of America® Travel Rewards Credit Card for Students is a jack of many trades, but a master of none. It offers a welcome bonus and ongoing rewards that are competitive with some cards in its class, but not the best credit card available in either case. The rewards function like cash back if you make regular travel and dining purchases. If you spend a lot in those categories, you’ll have no trouble redeeming points for maximum value. Otherwise, you’ll be better off with a card that earns pure cash-back rewards.

Bank of America Travel Rewards Credit Card for Students: Is It the Best Card for You?

The Bank of America® Travel Rewards Credit Card for Students’ introductory 0% APR period is excellent for a card that also earns rewards. Some cards offer a 0% introductory rate for even longer, but unless you need all the time you can get before paying down your balance, the welcome bonus and ongoing rewards you get from this card are worth the tradeoff.

One unusual aspect of the Bank of America® Travel Rewards Credit Card for Students is its relatively stringent credit requirements for approval compared to other student credit cards. You’ll need a FICO score in the good to excellent range, which disqualifies many students who are just beginning to build a credit history. If your credit falls short, look for a different card that can meet you where you’re at.

We’re focused here on the rewards and perks that come with each card. These cards won’t be worth it if you’re paying interest or late fees. When using a credit card, it’s important to pay your balance in full each month, make payments on time, and only spend what you can afford to pay.

Bank of America Travel Credit Card for Students Rewards

You won’t always earn a welcome bonus or rewards for ongoing spending on student and no-annual-fee credit cards, but the Bank of America® Travel Rewards Credit Card for Students offers both.

Welcome bonus offer

You’ll earn 25,000 online bonus points after spending $1,000 in purchases in the first 90 days from account opening (redeemed as a $250 statement credit toward travel and dining purchases). Those points are worth $250 when you redeem them as a statement credit toward travel and dining purchases, so you’re effectively getting 25% back on your first $1,000 of spending. Many credit cards come with more lucrative bonus offers, but most of those also come with higher spending requirements and annual fees. The bonus from the Bank of America® Travel Rewards Credit Card for Students offers a competitive return with a spending requirement that makes sense for the typical student lifestyle.

How to earn rewards

The Bank of America® Travel Rewards Credit Card for Students has a simple, consistent rewards structure. You’ll earn 1.5 points (roughly equal to 1.5% cash back) for every dollar you spend on purchases, with no bonus categories or calendar to keep track of, and no limit to how many points you can earn. Plenty of cards offer a superior return, including 2% cash back cards and others that earn 5% back or more in select categories. 

You can boost your return on spending further through the Bank of America Preferred Rewards program, which offers a bonus on spending for cardholders who also have banking and investment accounts with Bank of America or Merrill. However, the deposit requirements are likely too high for most students to qualify.

How to use rewards

You can redeem points as statement credits to offset eligible travel and dining purchases, such as flights, hotels, rental cars, and restaurant charges (including takeout). This system is convenient because you’re not compelled to book through a travel portal or limited to select restaurants — you can use your card for travel and dining purchases like normal and redeem points later.

The tradeoff is that you won’t always know for certain which purchases are eligible for a statement credit ahead of time. Bank of America provides a list of eligible merchant categories, but some purchases that ostensibly qualify as travel or dining may unexpectedly be categorized otherwise, such as inflight services and duty-free goods.

Points are worth 1 cent apiece when you use them to cover travel and dining purchases; for example, you could redeem 10,000 points for a $100 statement credit toward a qualifying purchase. There’s no minimum threshold for dining credits, so you can redeem them for a statement credit toward any eligible purchase. Travel credits have a minimum redemption threshold of 2,500 points, so you won’t be able to redeem for eligible purchases under $25. However, these points don’t expire, so you can save up until you reach the threshold with no risk of losing what you’ve already earned.

If you have no eligible travel or dining purchases, you can still redeem points as general statement credits to your account, but you’ll get a lower redemption value of 0.6 cents per point. You can also redeem points for gift cards with a minimum threshold of 3,125 points, but the redemption value is again less than 1 cent per point (the exact rate depends on which gift card you select). As a result, this card is best suited to those who routinely spend money on travel and dining.

Bank of America Travel Rewards Credit Card for Students Benefits and Features

The Bank of America® Travel Rewards Credit Card for Students doesn’t offer high-end benefits, but it does come with basic features like a $0 liability guarantee against fraudulent transactions, contactless payment capability, paperless statements, FICO score updates, compatibility with mobile wallets, overdraft protection, and account alerts. While handy, none of these features should sway your decision to get the card.

The card’s standout benefit is a 0% intro APR for your first 18 billing cycles for purchases, and for any balance transfers made within the first 60 days of opening your account. That’s followed by a 17.99% – 27.99% Variable APR.

Some cards offer a 0% APR for as long as 21 months, but 18 months is above average. The lengthy introductory period gives you more time to pay what you owe without getting charged interest, which translates to money saved if you carry a balance. That’s useful if you have expenses you need to pay upfront (like moving costs or tuition you can pay by card) and don’t have enough cash on hand to cover them. It may also help if you’re already carrying a balance on a credit card with a high interest rate, since the savings you get from avoiding interest charges can more than offset the 3% balance transfer fee.

That said, you shouldn’t view a 0% APR as an invitation to overspend. When the introductory rate expires, any remaining balance begins accruing interest. The introductory 0% APR period provides breathing room to get your finances in order and formulate a plan for repayment; it shouldn’t be viewed as free rein to spend more than you can afford.

Bank of America Travel Rewards Credit Card for Students Annual Fee and Other Costs

With no annual fee and no foreign transaction fees, the Bank of America® Travel Rewards Credit Card for Students is suitable for budget travelers. However the card does impose other fees, including:

• Balance transfer fees
• Cash advance fees
• Late payment fees

In short, you can avoid fees so long as you pay your bill on time and don’t use your card for transactions that qualify as a cash advance.

How the Bank of America Travel Rewards Credit Card for Students Compares

Bank of America Travel Rewards for Students vs Other BoA Student Credit Cards

*On the Customized Cash Rewards Credit Card for Students, earn 3% and 2% cash back on up to the first $2,500 spent in these categories combined each quarter, then 1% cash back

***Eligible Customized Cash Rewards Credit Card for Students 3% categories are gas, online shopping, dining, travel, drug stores, or home improvement/furnishings

Bank of America Travel Rewards for Students vs Student Credit Cards From Other Banks

Bank of America Travel Rewards Credit Card for Students Frequently Asked Questions

Methodology: How We Reviewed the Bank of America Travel Rewards Credit Card for Students

We compared the Bank of America® Travel Rewards Credit Card for Students to similar student and 0% APR credit cards from Bank of America and other card issuers, and evaluated several factors, including:

• Rewards earning potential — Does the card earn rewards at competitive rates? Is there a welcome bonus for new applicants?
• Benefits — Are the card’s benefits useful? Are there any features that stand out?
• Fees and other costs — If there’s an annual fee, do the card’s rewards and benefits justify paying it? Does the card offer competitive rates on interest and other fees?

You can read more about how we rate credit cards at Insider for a closer look at our methodology.