Bank of America Announces Changes to Loyalty Program

Bank of America® is making changes to its loyalty program, including a new name, new program tiers and a shift in credit card rewards bonuses for some cardholders, among others. In short, while it’ll be much easier to qualify for the program, it may be harder for some existing members to maintain their current status tiers.

The program, previously called Bank of America® Preferred Rewards, is dropping the “Preferred” from its name and will be called the BofA Rewards® program. The new program will launch on May 27, 2026, and customers who are Preferred Rewards members will be automatically changed to BofA Rewards® on or around that date.

Previously, to qualify for the bank’s loyalty program, customers needed to have a three-month average balance of $20,000 or more across qualifying Bank of America® and eligible Merrill investment accounts.

Now, all Bank of America® customers with a personal checking account with the bank will be able to join BofA Rewards® and get access to benefits like a credit card rewards boost.

While there will no longer be a balance requirement to join the program, customers will still need to keep a considerable amount of money with Bank of America® to qualify for the next-highest rewards tier.

Currently, the Preferred Rewards program has four tiers: Gold, Platinum, Platinum Honors and Diamond Honors. Your combined balances with Bank of America® determine which tier you’re in, and that tier determines how much of a boost you get in your credit card rewards.

The program’s new rewards tiers will be labeled as follows:

Like the previous program, your combined balances will determine the tier you’re in, and the tier determines how much of a boost you get in your credit card rewards, plus which perks and lifestyle benefits you’re eligible for (see below).

Notably, cardholders who had a balance of $100,000 to $999,999 and were members of the tier formerly called Platinum Honors could previously get a 75% rewards boost. That rate has been reduced to 50% for Preferred Honors cardholders under the new program.

According to Bank of America®, any customers that may have a change in benefits will be given at least six months to transition and increase their balances to get to a higher tier.

Note that if you’re enrolling in the bank’s loyalty program for the first time, Bank of America® will review your balance daily during the first 30 days of enrollment. You’ll automatically be upgraded to the appropriate higher tier when your qualifying balance increases.

The loyalty program relaunch will also feature an updated app where users can engage with program benefits.

Additionally, BofA Rewards® customers will get access to the following new benefits:

Plus, all BofA Rewards® customers will have continued access to benefits like auto loan and mortgage fee discounts. All Preferred Plus, Preferred Honors and Premier tier accounts will also get perks like no-fee ATM transactions and no fees on select banking transactions.