investor.com is committed to the highest ethical standards and reviews services independently. Learn How We Make Money

Bank of America Business Advantage Unlimited Cash Rewards Card Review

Written by Dayana Yochim
Edited by Carolyn Kimball
Fact-checked by Andrea Coombes

March 12, 2024

Why trust us? Investor.com has no financial relationship with any of the credit card providers whose products we analyze and review. Our opinions are based solely on data and our own extensive independent research — that means unbiased guidance for consumers. Rewards cards in our cashback credit card calculator are listed in descending order according to how much money they pay out annually based on the inputs.

A no-annual-fee cashback business card with no spending caps on rewards! Pity about that 1.5% cashback rate, though.

This is the close relative to the Bank of America Business Advantage Customized Cash Rewards card. This card does away with spending caps that hamper your rewards earning potential. (Huzzah!) Unfortunately, also missing are the 3% and 2% cashback bonus tiers. (Boo hiss.) With the Bank of America Business Advantage Unlimited Cash Rewards credit card you’ll have to settle for a 1.5% cashback rate. At least it’s unlimited, right?

Before we slip the celebratory bottle of champagne back into the fridge, please step forward if you have a BofA business deposit account or a Merrill Edge business investment account. For you, the rewards rate on this card could be as high as 2.62%. More details on that below.

The basics: Earn unlimited 1.5% cash back on all purchases everywhere, every time. 0% introductory APR on purchases for the first 9 billing cycles. Sign-up special: Get a $300 statement credit after you make at least $3,000 in purchases in the first 90 days of your account opening.

Credit Card Calculator

Monthly Spend

Spend Categories expand_more

Clear All

dining Dining

local_gas_station Gas

monetization_on Other

card_travel Travel

phone_iphone Cell Phones

print Office Supplies

Calculate Cash Back

Bank of America Business Advantage Unlimited Cash Rewards

Cashback Per Year

$...

Annual Fee

Welcome Bonus

$300

Apply Now

On Bank of Americas Site

Want to compare more cards? Use our full calculator.

Bank of America Business Advantage Unlimited Cash Rewards pros and cons

thumb_up_off_alt Pros

Simple flat-rate rewards structure
No caps on rewards spending
Potential 25%-75% rewards booster with a BofA biz deposit or Merrill Edge biz investing accounts
$300 sign-up bonus
0% intro APR on purchases for nine months
Compatible with QuickBooks
$0 annual fee

thumb_down_off_alt Cons

1.5% cashback rate across the board is the definition of "meh"
3% foreign transaction fee
No intro APR on balance transfers (and a 4% transfer fee to boot)
Business management tools are sparse or cost extra
Requires deeper banking/investing relationship for better rewards terms

Bank of America Business Advantage Unlimited Cash Rewards cashback rewards spending categories

The following table shows the cashback rewards rate per $1 spent in the six most common spending categories. The “Bonus Rate” refers to the amount you can earn in excess of the card’s standard rewards rate.

Some cashback cards limit the spending amount eligible for the bonus rate (aka the “Spend Cap”). Once you hit that cap (e.g., $1,500 spending in a particular category during a defined time period), the rewards rate on future purchases in that category reverts to the lower “Default Rate.”

Category	Default Rate	Bonus Rate	Bonus Spend Cap	Bonus Spend Period (Months)
Cell Phone	1.50%	-	-	-
Dining	1.50%	-	-	-
Gas	1.50%	-	-	-
Travel	1.50%	-	-	-
Office Supplies	1.50%	-	-	-
Other Purchases	1.50%	-	-	-

Heads up, BofA/Merrill Edge customers: Preferred Rewards members can boost the card's cashback rate by maintaining a minimum balance in a Bank of America business deposit and/or Merrill Edge business investment account. A $20,000 minimum combined balance gets you a 1.87% cashback rate (a 25% boost from the standard 1.5% base rewards rate); $50,000 bumps it up to 2.25% (a 50% increase), and a $100,000 minimum balance buys you access to a 2.62% rewards rate (a 75% boost). We’ve factored the higher rate into the calculator to show your potential earnings.

What we like

Simple, straightforward rewards are what the Bank of America Unlimited Cash Rewards card is all about. The flat, unlimited 1.5% rewards rate requires no active management.

Grab some upfront cash to offset purchases. Spend $3,000 on the card within 90 days of sign-up to get a $300 statement credit.

Here’s where things get interesting — as long as you maintain a healthy ($20,000-$100,000) account minimum. With a business checking account with Bank of America or Merrill Edge investment account, you qualify for a higher cashback rate — anywhere from a 25% to 75% bump — which means you can earn 1.87% to 2.62% cash back on this card instead of just 1.5%. (Settle in to read all the account options, where you’ll notice that eligibility for the lowest Preferred Rewards for Business tier requires maintaining a not inconsequential $20,000 account minimum.)

Rewards don’t expire, and redemption options are straightforward: Get actual cash back (mailed as a check), a statement credit, or deposit earnings into a Bank of America checking or savings account.

The 0% introductory APR on purchases for the first nine billing cycles (as long as you make your minimum payments) can help with cash flow. Put the deadline on a neon post-it note at eye level to pay off the balance in full. Otherwise you’ll be staring at the card’s standard variable APR.

Travel accident insurance, auto rental insurance, emergency legal and medical referrals, and zero liability protection come standard on the card.

Requesting free employee cards is easy by signing into your account and adding individuals as “authorized users.”

What we don't like

You give up some rewards earning flexibility with this card. While the flat 1.5% rate will work for a lot of business owners, if your expenses are concentrated in certain business-related spending categories, BofA’s Customized Cash Rewards card may be more lucrative.

The card tools BofA offers to help small-business owners take care of business are lacking compared to, say, an American Express business card. If you want more than the basics — which are the ability to download transactions into QuickBooks, setting up automatic payments and transfers — you’ll have to pay for it.

More advanced account management features require upgrading to BofA’s “Account Management” service at $15 a month. If your business banking is done through the company, the added controls could be worth it.

The Preferred Rewards for Business tier that bumps your cashback rate above 1.5% requires keeping a good amount of capital — $20,000 at the minimum — in a BofA business checking account or Merrill Edge investment account.

Using this card with international vendors will cost you an extra 3% of the transaction amount.

Shop around if you need to transfer a balance or get a cash advance to avoid this card’s 4% (minimum of $10) fee.

The bottom line

Is the Bank of America Business Advantage Unlimited Cash Rewards the best rewards card for your wallet? The answer depends entirely on your spending patterns. Let the numbers speak for themselves: Use the investor.com Cashback Credit Card Calculator to see which credit card pays back the highest rewards based on how much you spend each month.

Bank of America Business Advantage Unlimited Cash Rewards fine print

Cancel your plans tonight to binge on this: The terms and conditions for the Bank of America Business Advantage Unlimited Cash Rewards credit card.

Does the Bank of America Business Advantage Unlimited Cash Rewards charge an annual fee?

No, there is no annual fee for the Bank of America Business Advantage Unlimited Cash Rewards.

tips_and_updates Trivia time!

Roughly 11% of the business cashback cards we track in our database charge an annual fee. The average annual fee is $200.

Does the Bank of America Business Advantage Unlimited Cash Rewards offer a welcome bonus?

Yes, the Bank of America Business Advantage Unlimited Cash Rewards has a welcome bonus of $300.

tips_and_updates Fun fact

Of the business credit cards in our database, 83% offer a welcome bonus. Currently, the average sign-up bonus on a new business cashback card is $421.79, with the median being $300.

How much cashback can I earn with the Bank of America Business Advantage Unlimited Cash Rewards?

The average business that spends $2580 per month will earn $464.40 in cash back per year using the Bank of America Business Advantage Unlimited Cash Rewards. For comparison, the average annual rewards payout from the business credit cards in the investor.com database is $483.97, and $464.40 is the median.

These calculations are based on average consumer spending data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and the reward payout rates from the providers we track. Of course, you’re so much more than an average data point (aka “consumer unit,” in BLS parlance). The amount you can earn in cashback rewards using the Bank of America Business Advantage Unlimited Cash Rewards depends entirely on your unique spending habits.

Find out exactly how much you’ll rake in with the Bank of America Business Advantage Unlimited Cash Rewards by tailoring the spending inputs in the calculator above.

Popular Business Credit Card Guides

More Business Credit Card Reviews

Compare Bank of America Business Advantage Unlimited Cash Rewards

Show all

Methodology

The results of the investor.com Credit Card Rewards Calculator are based on the monthly spending amounts you enter and the annual dollar value of the rewards each credit card program pays per $1 spent. Credit card companies often express this payout amount as a percentage (e.g., 1.5% of every dollar spent) or on a points basis (e.g. ,1.5 points for every dollar spent). We converted all of them to a dollar amount (“Cash Back Per Year”) to make comparing offers easier.

To calculate the amount of cash back you could earn per year, we factored in:

Spend category inputs: The default dollar values for each “Spend Category” in the Best Cashback Credit Cards tool — gas, groceries, travel, restaurant, entertainment, pharmacy, other — are based on average American spending data from the Consumer Expenditure Surveys from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. We also include additional spend categories (such as streaming services, online shopping, utilities, transit, Amazon and more) to help you see which rewards cards are most closely aligned with your actual spending patterns. We encourage you to customize the monthly spend inputs for the most accurate results.
Tiered rewards rates: If a rewards credit card pays higher cashback rates on certain spending categories (also called “Bonus Rewards”), that difference is reflected in the total “Cash Back Per Year” tally.
Rewards spending caps: Some cards impose category- or time-based limits (monthly, quarterly, annually) that affect the amount of rewards you can earn. For example, a card may pay 3% cash back on groceries on up to $1,000 of spending each quarter, then revert to the base/default rewards rate until the following quarter. We accounted for bonus spending caps and timeframe in the calculations.
Default rewards rates: Purchases that exceed a spending cap are usually subject to a lower default rewards rate (e.g., 1% or 1.5%). We mathed that out too.
Annual fees: If a rewards card charges an annual fee, we deducted that amount from the “Cash Back Per Year” total to provide a true accounting of a card’s annual rewards payout.

What’s not included in the “Cash Back Per Year” total is the cash value of any sign-up/introductory bonus. We highlight any Welcome Bonus separately. While sign-up bonuses can be the most lucrative part of getting a new cashback rewards credit card, not everyone will want or be able to do what it takes to earn the extra cash. (It usually requires spending a certain amount in a specified time period after the card is activated.)

About the Editorial Team

Dayana Yochim has been writing (articles, books, podcasts, stirring speeches) about personal finance and investing for more than two decades, focusing on bringing clarity and the occasional comedic aside to what is often a murky, humorless topic. She’s written for NerdWallet, The Motley Fool, HerMoney.com, Woman’s Day, Forbes, Newsweek and others, and been a guest expert on "Today," "Good Morning America," CNN, NPR and wherever they’ll hand her a mic.

Carolyn Kimball is a former managing editor for Reink Media Group and investor.com. Carolyn has more than 20 years of writing and editing experience at major media outlets including NerdWallet, the Los Angeles Times and the San Jose Mercury News. She specializes in coverage of personal financial products and services, wielding her editing skills to clarify complex (some might say befuddling) topics to help consumers make informed decisions about their money.

Andrea Coombes has 20+ years of experience helping people reach their financial goals. Her personal finance articles have appeared in the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, MarketWatch, Forbes, and other publications, and she's shared her expertise on CBS, NPR, "Marketplace," and more. She's been a financial coach and certified consumer credit counselor, and is working on becoming a Certified Financial Planner. She knows that owning pets isn't necessarily the best financial decision; her dog and two cats would argue this point.