If you’re in the market for a travel rewards credit card, but don’t want to deal with complicated rewards structures or spending limits, you should look at the Bank of America^® Travel Rewards credit card. Cardholders earn unlimited 1.5 points per $1 spent on all purchases, with no annual fee and no foreign transaction fees and your points don't expire.

In addition to using your rewards to book trips, you can redeem points for statement credits to pay for flights, hotels, vacation packages, cruises, rental cars or baggage fees.

We break down the pros and cons of the Bank of America^® Travel Rewards credit card, and show how it compares to another travel rewards credit card — the Chase Sapphire Preferred^® Card.

• Sign-up bonus

  New cardholders can earn 25,000 online bonus points after you make at least $1,000 in purchases in the first 90 days of account opening.

• Rewards rate

  The Bank of America^® Travel Rewards credit card lets cardholders unlimited 1.5 points per $1 spent on all purchases, with no annual fee and no foreign transaction fees and your points don't expire.

  If you are a Bank of America® Preferred Rewards member, you can earn 25% to 75% more points on every purchase – meaning, you can earn up to 2.62 points per dollar on all purchases. But keep in mind, to earn the highest rewards rate, you need to have Preferred Rewards Platinum Honors status, which requires a three-month average combined balance of $100,000 or more in qualifying Bank of America banking accounts and/or Merrill Investment accounts.

• Intro APR on purchases

  If you want to finance a large purchase, such as a vacation, and pay it off over time, you can do so interest-free with the Bank of America^® Travel Rewards credit card. The card offers a 0% Intro APR for 18 billing cycles for purchases. After that, a 17.74% - 27.74% Variable applies to any remaining balance.

• Annual fee

  The Bank of America^® Travel Rewards credit card comes with an annual fee of $0.

• Mediocre benefits

  While the Bank of America^® Travel Rewards credit card offers some helpful benefits, such as overdraft protection, car rental collision damage waiver, and lost luggage coverage, it lacks some popular travel benefits such as like baggage delay insurance.

• No bonus earning categories

  The Bank of America^® Travel Rewards credit card offers a decent flat rewards rate on general purchases; however, there are other travel rewards cards available that offer up to 5 points per dollar on flights and up to 12 points per dollar on hotel stays.

  Just know, these cards typically charge annual fees of $95 or more.

 

If you want a travel rewards card with valuable rewards and more robust benefits — and you don’t mind paying an annual fee — the Chase Sapphire Preferred^® Card is a great alternative.

Cardholders earn 5x on travel purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards®, 3x on dining and 2x on all other travel purchases. Plus, earn 80,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. That's $1,000 when you redeem through Chase Ultimate Rewards®

Along with travel, points can be redeemed for cash and gift cards, or used to pay for products. Points can also be transferred to several airline and hotel transfer partners, including British Airways Executive Club, JetBlue TrueBlue, Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards, United MileagePlus, Virgin Atlantic Flying Club, Marriott Bonvoy and more.

The Chase Sapphire Preferred^® Card does charge an annual fee of $95; however, the value you can get from the card’s sign-up bonus more than covers that amount during the first year. Additionally, the Chase Sapphire Preferred^® Card comes with a number of benefits, including $50 in statement credits each account anniversary year for hotel stays purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards, baggage delay insurance, trip delay reimbursement, trip cancellation and interruption insurance and more.

That said, if you’re planning to pay off a trip or other large purchase over time, the Bank of America^® Travel Rewards credit card may be a better choice, since it offers an interest-free period on purchases for more than a year. The Chase Sapphire Preferred^® Card, on the other hand, has a regular purchase APR of 20.99% - 27.99% variable.

If you’re in the market for a travel credit card with a simple rewards structure and $0 annual fee, the Bank of America^® Travel Rewards credit card is a solid option. In addition to offering a flat rewards rate on every purchase, the $0 annual fee card has a 0% Intro APR for 18 billing cycles for purchases, then 17.74% - 27.74% Variable — which is ideal if you plan to carry a balance on your card from month to month.

But if you want to opportunity to squeeze more value from a card’s sign-up bonus and the ability to earn an elevated rewards rate in a variety of popular spending categories, like travel, dining and groceries, the Chase Sapphire Preferred^® Card is a much better fit. Just know, the card also comes with a $95 annual fee and does not offer an intro APR on purchases.

For Capital One products listed on this page, some of the above benefits are provided by Visa® or Mastercard® and may vary by product. See the respective Guide to Benefits for details, as terms and exclusions apply.

The information related to Chase Sapphire Preferred^® Card has been collected by LendingTree and has not been reviewed or provided by the issuer of this card prior to publication. Terms apply.