Don’t get me wrong: Bank of America credit cards are perfectly serviceable. They have low or no fees, decent rewards programs and the occasional small signup bonus. They’re fine. Just fine.

The phrase you’re looking for, I believe, is “damned with faint praise.” That’s because while the BofA credit cards are all right, you don’t have to settle for them. Better rewards, lower fees, better signup bonuses…there are quite a few cards out there that are just plain better.

Bank Americard Cash Rewards

The Bank Americard Cash Rewards gives 3% on gas and 2% on groceries, up to $1,500 spent each quarter, and an unlimited 1% elsewhere. It boosts your rewards rate by 10% if you deposit into a BofA savings or checking account, and it boasts a 12-month 0% purchase APR period. Finally, it comes with a $50 cash back signup bonus if you spend at least $100 in the first 60 days. Okay, so that’s the Bank Americard.

Now, here are the cards that use the Bank Americard as a wingman because they know that they look more attractive by comparison.

Chase Freedom: Not a fan of annual fees? The Freedom offers no annual fee as well as killer rewards deals: 5% cash back on rotating bonus categories, up to $1,500 a quarter, and an unlimited 1% elsewhere. Think of it this way: the Bank Americard can give you at most $180 in bonus rewards a year, if you spend your $1,500 in quarterly rewards spending exclusively on gas. With the Freedom, on the other hand, you can get $300 with spending on categories as diverse as clothing, airfare, movies and groceries. Oh, and did we mention that the Freedom comes with a $100 cash back bonus, which is, oh, four times the Americard’s?

American Express Blue Cash Preferred: Want rewards on groceries and gas? The AmEx Blue Cash Preferred offers 6% rewards on groceries, 3% on gas and department store spending, and 1% elsewhere, with no quarterly caps. It also comes with a $100 signup bonus. It does have a $75 annual fee, but if you spend $210 on groceries a month, you’ll have made up for the annual fee based on the extra 3% grocery rewards alone. I’m a 5’1” twenty-something who’s never home, and even I spend $210 on groceries a month. And that’s not even counting the Blue Cash’s higher gas and clothing rewards rate, or lack of spending caps.

Bank of America Accelerated Rewards

The BofA Accelerated Rewards has a pretty good rewards rate: 1.25% on all purchases, and it pays out in Bank of America Worldpoints. The Accelerated Rewards card gives up to $75 in statement credits ($50 if you spend $50 in 60 days, and $25 if you make at least one purchase at Target, Staples or Costco) and has no annual fee. Sound good? Just you wait.

Capital One VentureOne: Let’s start with the similarities. Both give 1.25% on all purchases, and neither has an annual fee. And that’s it for the similarities. Why is the VentureOne better than the Accelerated Rewards? First, the signup bonus: the VentureOne gives 10,000 No Hassle Miles, worth $100. Second, Bank of America WorldPoints suck. You need to accrue 25,000 WorldPoints (aka spend $20k) before you get the points’ full value, and your points expire in 5 years. No Hassle Miles can be redeemed for a statement credit in any increment (rather than trading in 25,000, you can swap 7,325 or whatever arbitrary number you choose) and they expire in…never.

Capital One Cash: Capital One offering #2 has an even better rewards rate: 1.5% cash back on all purchases. It also gives a $100 signup bonus, while the Accelerated Rewards gives $75. You do the math. It, too, has no annual fee. And going back to the WorldPoints are terrible theme, the CapOne Cash pays out in, well, cash, so your rewards are a) easy to use and b) longer-lasting than a Hostess Twinkie.

Bank of America Cash Rewards for Business

We’ll ignore the BofA Cash Rewards’ counterpart, the WorldPoints Rewards for Business, because at this point it’s just a waste of space to say why we don’t like the rewards program. The Cash Rewards card gives 3% cash back on office supplies, gas and computer network services, and 1% back elsewhere. It has no annual fee, and offers no interest on purchases or transfers for 9 months. The competition?

 
Chase Ink Cash: The Chase Ink Cash also gives, you guessed it, cash back. It has a signup bonus of $250, which is about $250 more than the Cash Rewards’ bonus, and has a much better rewards program:

• 5% back on office supplies, cable and telecom services, up to $25k/yr
• 2% back on gas and dining, also up to $25k/yr
• Unlimited 1% back elsewhere

While it has a shorter intro period, it gives 0% interest on purchases and transfers for 6 months. You run a business. Do the math.

SimplyCash Business: The SimplyCash Business from AmEx has a pretty spectacular rewards rate. It’s also a no-fee cash back credit card. While, like the Cash Rewards, it has no signup bonus, it gives:

• 5% back on wireless and office supplies
• 3% back on gas
• 1% back elsewhere

What’s more, it gives 0% interest on purchases and transfers for 12 months, longer than the Cash Rewards’ intro period.

The recently revised Bank of America credit card is a shining example of why no kid should ever be proud of bringing home the “Most Improved” trophy. The newest iteration of the BankAmericard Cash Rewards card features a much better rewards rate than it did before. But for all that, the card is still nowhere near the top of any conceivable list of cash back credit cards. BankAmericard Cash Rewards 2.0 does give better rewards on everyday spending categories, but it’s still beat out by a number of other cards including (but by no means limited to) the Chase Freedom and AmEx Blue Cash Preferred.

First and foremost, the Cash Rewards card is targeted to consumers looking for rewards on gas and grocery purchases. The card offers 3% cash back on gas and 2% back on groceries for up to $1,500 in purchases per quarter. In all other spending areas, and on gas and grocery purchases above the $1,500 limit, you get 1% cash back.

Out with the old, in with the new

The previous BankAmericard Cash Rewards offered a flat 1% rewards rate on all purchases, but gave 3% back on gas, groceries and drugstore spending for the first 6 months. With such a brief period to cash in on the higher rewards rate, the card had little to recommend it compared with other cash back rewards cards.

With this new version, Bank of America is offering applicants a $50 cash back signup bonus when they spend $100 in the first 60 days, on top of the sustained bonus rewards on groceries and gas.  You also receive a 10% rewards bonus when you redeem your rewards into a Bank of America savings or checking account.

But it still doesn’t match the competition

If the BankAmericard Cash Rewards card looks like it would be a good fit for you, we strongly suggest that you reconsider. Two other cards that we believe far surpass the Cash Rewards are the Chase Freedom and American Express Blue Cash Preferred.

The Chase Freedom

The Chase Freedom offers 5% cash back on purchases in rotating bonus categories, among them grocery stores, theaters, department stores, and dining, as well as 1% back elsewhere. On top of this, you can earn up to 10% cash back on select online shopping. The card has a signup bonus of $100 cash back when you spend $500 in first 3 months.  The Freedom has a number of bonus categories, only a few of which we mentioned above. Its rewards structure is equivalent to 2% back on all its bonus categories throughout the entire year: 5% back for one quarter and 1% back for three. Instead of getting 3% back on gas and 2% on groceries, you could get 2% back on gas, groceries, movies, clothes, airfare…Plus, the Freedom’s rewards, like the Bank Americard’s, are capped at $1,500 in purchases a quarter. But this means that you can get at most 3% rewards on $1,500/quarter, if you use your rewards entirely for gas. With the Freedom, if you max out, you’re guaranteed 5% of $1,500 a quarter.

The Chase Freedom is a great option if you appreciate cash back on a variety of categories. If your purchases are heavily weighted towards gas, groceries and clothing, we’d suggest the American Express Blue Cash Preferred, whose rewards rates trump the Bank Americard’s and then some.

The American Express Blue Cash Preferred

The American Express Blue Cash offers a much better rewards rate on the Bank Americard’s everyday categories. You earn 6% back at supermarkets, 3% at gas stations and department stores, and 1% elsewhere. Best of all, there’s no quarterly limit! There’s a $100 cash bonus if you spend $500 in the first 60 days, and American Express offers an introductory APR of 0% for 6 to 12 months. The Blue Cash Preferred’s only downfall is its annual fee of $75, but with a rewards rate as high as 6%, we think most folks will come out well ahead with the American Express Blue Cash Preferred.

Here’s why we think it’s a much better everyday-purchases card than the Bank Americard. Let’s say you’re the average American, and you spend $150 on gas, $300 on groceries, $125 on clothing and $1,000 elsewhere each month.

(For those of you doing the math at home, we factored in the Blue Cash’s annual fee as well as the Bank Americard’s $1,500 quarterly cap. We assumed that you, being an extraordinarily savvy consumer, maxed out your gas rewards and used the rest of your $1,500 on lower-reward groceries).

Chase Freedom® Visa - $100 Bonus Cash Back	Blue Cash Preferred℠ Card from American Express
Signing Promo
$100 Cash Bonus after spending $500 - in first 3 months	$150 Cash Bonus after spending $1,000 - in the first 3 months.
Intro APR Promo
Purchase: 0% for 15 mos Bal Trans: 0% for 15 mos	Purchase: 0% for 12 mos Bal Trans: None
Annual fee
$0	$75
Details
Earn $100 Bonus Cash Back after you make $500 in purchases in your first 3 months 0% Intro APR for 15 months on purchases and balance transfers 5% Cash Back on up to $1,500 spent at grocery stores and movie theaters from 4/1/12 - 6/30/12 You'll enjoy new 5% categories every 3 months like gas stations, restaurants and even airlines. It's free and easy to activate your bonus each quarter! Unlimited 1% Cash Back on all other purchases Up to an additional 10% Cash Back when you shop online at select merchants through Chase No annual fee and rewards never expire	Earn $150 cash back after spending $1,000 in eligible purchases in the first 3 months of Cardmembership 0% intro APR on purchases for 12 months, flexibility to pay over time Get 6% cash back at supermarkets, 3% cash back at gas stations and department stores, and 1% cash back on all other purchases NO spend minimum, NO enrollment, and NO rotating rewards categories Get a $75 Referral Bonus for each friend or family member who is approved for the Card The annual fee pays for itself. With 6% cash back at supermarkets, if you spend just $25 weekly at your supermarket, you can receive over $75 cash back from these purchases alone.

For those who have feared that the CARD Act will lead to fee increases, this is a perfect example. About 5% of BofA credit card customers will be charged a new $59 annual fee soon, on top of what they’re already paying.

The fee isn’t limited to a specific card, and isn’t technically a penalty, but instead is based on the customer’s risk profile. The lucky “winners” are users with lower FICO scores, people who regularly make late payments, or those who don’t have any other relationship with the bank, like a mortgage or checking account, according to a Bank of America spokesperson.

This high-risk pool has an average interest rate of 14%, and according to the bank would not receive a no annual fee credit card account with the same interest rate if they were to apply today. So essentially, the CARD Act prevents banks from raising interest rates on existing balances, or raising interest rates within the first year of opening an account, so they’re just replacing higher rates with higher fees.

The CARD Act also dictates that card companies can’t impose new fees without giving customers 45 days of advance notice, so cardholders have plenty of time to find a new card.

It’s a little strange to slap another fee on customers with a low credit score, who might already be close to default. But this could also be a tactic to get rid of lower credit, higher risk customers.  If a large portion of these cardholders decide not to pay, and instead to move their balances to other banks’ cards, Bank of America will be left with a much better loan portfolio.

All the major card issuers have been arguing for the past year or so that more regulation would lead to higher fees and tighter credit, and now they’re bringing their predictions to light. A recent study by the Center for Responsible Lending says this hasn’t happened yet, but it clearly has.

Keep an eye out for arbitrary fees like this one in the future, as well as new ways of cutting off credit to higher risk customers.

Tip: Asiana Airlines is a Star Alliance member, so you can book flights on Continental, United, and US Airways with miles you earn with the Asiana Airlines credit card.

What makes Bank of America’s updated Asiana American Express card the new king of the airline mile credit cards?

You get 2 Asiana Miles per $1 spent, besting offers of 1.5 miles per $1 spent from Virgin Atlantic and 1.25 miles per $1 spent from British Airways. In addition, you get 3 Asiana Miles per $1 spent at select grocery stores.

That’s great, what’s the catch?

There are two downsides to consider when assessing this card. First, the card comes with an above average annual fee of $99, but you could potentially recoup that because you get an annual $100 Asiana voucher upon renewing your credit card each year. The other downside is the meager 5,000 miles sign up bonus. Many airline credit cards give you 30,000 miles for signing up, including Star Alliance partners United and US Airways.

Verdict – 2 points per $1 spent outweighs the fees and meager sign up bonus.

Despite these shortcomings, the card still out-earns other airline cards (even ignoring the annual voucher) when you run the math on our calculators.

Asiana Airlines Credit Card from American Express
	Earn 2 miles per $1 spent on purchases 2x miles on all purchases 3x miles at select grocery stores, $100 annual rebate voucher for Asiana purchases, offsetting your annual fee
Annual Fee Signing Promo APR, variable* Intro APR Promotions $99 5,000 Asiana Airlines Miles Bonus APR: 14.24% Cash Adv: 24.24% Purchase: None Bal Trans: None

We give Bank of America WorldPoints program two thumbs down compared to other banks’ reward programs.

Why? In most cases, you need to horde 25,000 points before you can redeem points for a 1 cent value, the industry standard. This is about as bad as it gets in terms of bank reward programs.

Even Citi Thank You Points, which we aren’t particularly fond of, give you 1 cent per 1 points starting at 10,000 points. The best reward program, American Express Membership Rewards, lets you transfer points to just about any airline or hotel point program you can think of, or to redeem for cash and gift cards at 1 cent per point starting at 2,500 points.

The only place where Bank of America gets even an average rating is the WorldPoints Mall, where you can get big kickbacks when you sign up for services or buy flowers through their website.

WorldPoints aren’t great. What should I get instead?

If you’re willing to part with your WorldPoints card, we list rewards credit cards that can give you better value both in terms of overall rewards rate and ease of redemption.

There are simply too many credit cards that pay in the 1.5% to 2% range for the BofA cards to be a compelling option. Many of these pay out in cash, such as the American Express Blue Cash, which gives a whopping 6% back on groceries as well as 3% on gas and department stores and 1% elsewhere. The Citi Forward pays out in ThankYou Points at the rate of 5 points per $1 spent on dining, movies, music, and books (up to 75k a year). The Discover Escape, Capital One Venture, and the Fidelity American Express all give a flat 2% rewards rate on all purchases.

I’m Sticking with WorldPoints. What’s the best way to redeem them?

You have to save up 25,000 points before WorldPoints are worth 1 cent, unless you are willing to take your chances with a travel program filled with “subject to availability” and “terms and conditions apply” language.

See the table below:

* 7 day advance notification required and offers are “subject to availability”. Since this is pretty much open to interpretation, and is only valid for purchases booked through Bank of America, we place little value on this redemption option.
** According to the fine print, “ticket will be lowest coach class fare available through the WorldPoints redemption center” and “Additional terms apply”. We place little value in this option, given that it is very open to interpretation and may involve multiple connections and inconvenient layovers and departure times. Most other miles program, like Discover Miles, Capital One No Hassle Miles, and American Express Blue Sky Points allow card holders to purchase travel from anywhere, and use their Miles to offset the purchase price on their credit card statement.

In terms of the $250 gift cards, Bank of America only offers them for a limited number of their retailers. The list is as follows:

WorldPoints Mall: Accrue bonus points by signing up for services or buying flowers

When Bank of America or FIA (Fidelity, Schwab, etc.) cardholders buy things through WorldPoints Mall, they can earn “extra” WorldPoints for every dollar spent. So instead of 1 point per $1 spent, you can earn 2x, 3x, or even 10x in some cases. Why do they offer this program? Many retailers pay kickbacks to Bank of America when they drive business their way. Every time you buy something through the WorldPoints Mall, Bank of America makes money, and they share part of their profits with you.

We have built a nifty little app that lets you search every point mall for credit card bonus point offers, and you’ll see if you try out a few different stores that Bank of America WorldPoints mall is probably the second most generous program after ShopDiscover, which has fewer stores, but gives you 5% to 20% on all of them.

You can really clean up with subscriptions to expensive services. For example:

• 2,100 points for a NY Times subscription
• 1,800 points for an AT&T phone activation
• 4,500 points for a T-Mobile Phone Subscription
• 6,600 points for a DirectTV activation
• 180 points per Delta Ticket
• 360 points per Travelocity order
• 10+ points per $1 spent on just about any online flower store you’ve heard of

Rewards cards that might serve you better:

Blue Cash Preferred℠ Card from American Express	Citi Forward® Card
Signing Promo
$150 Cash Bonus after spending $1,000 - in the first 3 months.	10,000 Citi ThankYou Points Bonus after spending $650 - 10,000 bonus ThankYou® Points received after $650 in purchases & paperless statement sign-up in the first 3 months.
Intro APR Promo
Purchase: 0% for 12 mos Bal Trans: None	Purchase: 0% if you qualify for 7 months* Bal Trans: 0% if you qualify for 12 months*
Annual fee
$75	$0*
Details
Earn $150 cash back after spending $1,000 in eligible purchases in the first 3 months of Cardmembership 0% intro APR on purchases for 12 months, flexibility to pay over time Get 6% cash back at supermarkets, 3% cash back at gas stations and department stores, and 1% cash back on all other purchases NO spend minimum, NO enrollment, and NO rotating rewards categories Get a $75 Referral Bonus for each friend or family member who is approved for the Card The annual fee pays for itself. With 6% cash back at supermarkets, if you spend just $25 weekly at your supermarket, you can receive over $75 cash back from these purchases alone.	$100 in gift cards - When you redeem the 10,000 bonus ThankYou(R) Points received after you make $650 in purchases and sign up for paperless statements within the first 3 months 0% intro APR for 12 months on balance transfers and for 7 months on purchases. After that, 12.99% - 22.99% variable 5 points for every $1 spent at restaurants and on books, movies and music. 1 point for every $1 you spend on all other purchases APR reduction on purchases when using credit wisely No annual fee.*