Update 1/26/21: Bank of America has announced that the ‘Coins’ program will be discontinued on 2/25/2021. Hat tip to reader Chris L & Irene P.
Update 4/9/19: (Correction, not everybody has the same offers, so not available to all. Still worth looking and ticking off any easy coin offers) It should be possible to get four coins and a $5 reward by doing the following:
- Get one coin for turning on any BankAmerideals Alert
- Get one coin for choosing 6 deals
- Get one coin for reloading your Starbucks gift card in app with $5, get an extra coin for completing any BankAmerideals deal
This basically works out to be a free $5 for Starbucks. Hat tip to reader Paul L
[4/27/18: Updated and reposted as program is now live for everyone.]
In an unusual move, Bank of America is adding another rewards structure on top of BankAmeriDeals to provide an extra incentive to make use of the offers. For some background information on how BankAmeriDeals offers work, as well as similar programs at other banks, head over to this post. Log in and head to BankAmeriDeals under “Special Offers & Deals” to find your deals.
How It Works
Every time you redeem an offer, though, you now earn 1 coin. Once you’ve earned 4 coins, you can exchange it for a cash reward—$5 to start. Because “Coins” are an additional layer on top of BankAmeriDeals, they don’t change anything about how BankAmeriDeals offers work.
Exactly like an RPG, once you gain a level every time you exchange 4 coins for a cash reward. Each time you get to a new level, your cash reward for exchanging 4 coins increases by $1. ($6 at Level 2, $7 at Level 3, and $8 at Level 4.)
Your Coins and Level reset every 2 months. In order for a transaction to qualify, you must spend at least $3. If you use a certain deal more than once (e.g. you spend $5 at Starbucks earning $.50 back and the next day spend another $5 at Starbucks to earn $.50 back) it will only count as one Coin toward your reward.
Concluding Thoughts
Quibbles with the transparent psychological ploy aside, this is a good program. If you only use offers you were going to use anyway, you can come out ahead nicely. Since it resets April 25, 2018, there are 138 days between now and the end of the initial run of the “Coins” program, which should be plenty of time to use 4–8 BankAmeriDeals offers “naturally”. It’s hard to complain about a little extra cashback!
It looks to me like this is a trial run of sorts; noting the way the levels are phrased, it’s clear that the exact details may be changed at a later date—once Bank of America has a chance to evaluate the program and its costs.
Overall, I find it to be an interesting addition to BankAmeriDeals, and we’ll just have to wait and see where it goes in 2018.
Questions? Comments? Sound off below.
