Platinum, Premier, Preferred, Prestige… and now Privileges (as if we didn’t need another “P” credit card in this world). The past few times I’ve logged into my Bank of America account they’ve been trying to peddle me their new BankAmericard Privileges credit card.

This card isn’t mentioned anywhere in the credit card section on the BofA website. Apparently it’s a more targeted offer geared towards those who keep $50k or more at BofA and/or Merrill Lynch (their subsidiary).

When I clicked on the credit card offer not much info wasn’t given, so for the purpose of writing this review I called customer service…

The “Privilege” of Philippines Customer Service?

If the Privileges Visa Signature is a semi-premium card, the least I would expect is U.S. based call centers. After all, if the no annual fee Sapphire and More can offer prompt customer support, then shouldn’t the Privileges card, too?

Apparently not.

Upon calling the phone number listed on the BankAmericard Privileges promotion page (and after pressing many buttons) I was greeted by a woman in the Philippines. She wasn’t very helpful so I asked to be transferred to a U.S. call center, which she did.

While the U.S. support rep was nice, unfortunately he didn’t have much additional info, other than what I could see on the page for this credit card deal.

The Pros & Cons

PRO – Earn “up to” a 1.5% rebate on regular purchases

When points are redeemed for cash back which is directly deposited to your BofA or Merrill Lynch account, you get 50% more cash. Yes, sounds kind of similar to the Capital One Cash Rewards commercials, right?

CON – It uses the WorldPoints program

My biggest complaint is that the Privileges credit card uses WorldPoints. With these, you normally need to save up an awful lot to get full value – 25,000 points for the 1.0 cent redemption. It’s unclear whether this card’s minimum amount to get full point value is the same or not.

PRO – Bonus point categories

You do have the opportunity to earn more than 1x points through the BankAmericard Privileges categories which rotate each quarter. The most frustrating part however is that there is no way to know what categories you will get! Unlike the BankAmericard Cash Rewards which gives all cardholders the same 3x points categories, with the Privileges it will differ.

My promotion for the first 3 months was for gas, grocery, drugstores, restaurant, and travel. But the customer service rep I spoke with (a) couldn’t tell me what categories would come after that, and (b) couldn’t tell me what the possibilities are, because the offers are “decided by the marketing department” and vary by customer.

CON: Annual Fee

You will have to cough up a $75 annual fee for this credit card if you don’t maintain a minimum balance of $50k in your BofA/Merrill deposit accounts.

PRO: Signup Promotion

My offer was for 10,000 bonus points which according to the “50% more” tagline, would equal up to $150 cash back.

CON: Benefits are okay/average

This is a Visa Signature card, so you do get a few bells and whistles like purchase security and an extended warranty benefit. These are good for a no annual fee card but if you end up paying $75/year I would come to expect more, wouldn’t you? It’s disappointing to see that they do not waive foreign transaction fees (which the competing Chase Sapphire Preferred and Citi ThankYou Premier both do).

Verdict?

I think the Bank of America Privileges card does have a lot of potential, but I am going to wait until it’s been out a while (probably the end of 2012) until I give my verdict. Because as it stands today, BofA is not being transparent enough with the 3x point categories.

I want to see what the future categories will be and whether or not there is a cap on the 3x points. Yes, I did ask customer service, but he started reading from a script about how there are no limits to the number of points you can earn. Does that just reference regular spending, or also the bonus categories? Without knowing these things for sure, I am holding off on my recommendation.

AnnualCreditReport.com is the only website for free credit reports that is mandated and authorized by the federal government. But it’s still a bit sketchy…

In 2003 President Bush signed into law the Fair and Accurate Credit Transaction Act. One of its provisions required each of the 3 major credit bureaus (Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion) to provide consumers free access to their credit reports every 12 months.

This gave birth to the AnnualCreditReport.com website, which contrary to popular belief, is not a government ran site. Rather, it is operated by Central Source LLC, which is a joint venture created by the three credit reporting agencies.

Perhaps Central Source LLC needs to take a good hard look at the complaints I am hearing from consumers, because many feel the Annual Credit Report website is a bit scammy, in some regards.

Complaint #1: Misleading Name

First and foremost, let’s talk about the name.

We all remember that imposter website, FreeCreditReport.com, which took a lot of criticism for its similar sounding name (sidenote: they now focus on their other site, FreeCreditScore.com instead). But in all fairness, it’s not like AnnualCreditReport.com has the best name either.

Why? Because with the word “annual” in there, many people assume that means once per year. They think it means they can check their credit report from each of the 3 bureaus once per calendar year (example: Check Equifax once in 2012, once in 2013, and so forth).

Unfortunately, that’s not how it actually works. Rather than going by calendar year, it goes by every 12 months.

When the end of the calendar year rolls around – like Oct, Nov, and Dec – I regularly hear from consumers who rush to check all 3 credit reports, thinking the clock will reset on January 1st. It’s not ‘til the following year when they discover they will have to wait 12 full months after checking before they can do it again. If they would have known that, they wouldn’t have checked all 3 at the same time.

Embarrassing fact? At one point I even believed this was how it worked and made that same mistake.

Complaint #2: Misleading Credit Score Ads

When using the Annual Credit Report website you will be bombarded with paid ads; some clearly identified as such, others not so much.

The TransUnion report is the one I hear the most complaints about, the one that most people allege feels like a scam. Here’s why…

The “I want my free credit score” is an advertisement and so is the Score tab which is next to the Report tab at the top.

Click and you will be taken to this page…

It’s not ‘til after you click the “FREE SCORE” button above where you are taken to a page which fully explains that you are actually enrolling in a 7-day trial. Yeah, technically it is free but if you don’t cancel, you will be automatically billed at the regular price (which was $14.95 per month last I checked).

Now in all honesty, I actually don’t have a problem with these types of “free” trial offers. I don’t think they are a scam as long the terms are clearly and prominently identified (in order words, if the consumer truly knows what they’re signing up for).

But when you look at the way TransUnion is peddling this, in my opinion it is done in a less transparent manner than some other websites. Even the highly criticized “free” trial websites of FreeCreditScore.com/FreeCreditReport.com seem to be more upfront.

So talk about irony… everyone promotes AnnualCreditReport.com like it’s the best thing since sliced bread, as if it can do no wrong. But in actuality, it *might* mislead a consumer just like the other sites do. Think about it… would your grandma be confused by that bright red “I want my FREE Credit Score!” link? I know mine would, especially if she erroneously believed she was on a government website.

Complaint #3: Website Not Working

I have heard people allege that there is some sort of AnnualCreditReport.com scam going on when they can’t access the website. Their theory is that it’s allegedly used as a trick, to deter them from the free report and instead, go to credit bureau’s website directly and buy a report.

Coincidentally, while writing this review I actually encountered Experian not being available (pictured left).

But does this make AnnualCreditReport.com a scam? Definitely not. That conspiracy theory is nonsense.

When a bureau is unavailable like this, it’s probably due to routine site maintenance or some other temporary issue. If that happens, just check back later and it should be working. For me, that message was gone 20 minutes later.

Conclusion? This is frustrating to encounter but don’t worry, this is NOT a scam. Just be patient and return a bit later.

Complaint #4: Can’t Confirm Your ID

A couple times when I’ve used the AnnualCreditReport.com website, I wasn’t able to pull all my reports. A message would be spit back saying they can’t confirm my identity and to get the report through this site, I would have to jump through hoops to validate my ID. If I recall correctly, it involved mailing in proof.

On the forum I have seen people say there is a scam going on when this happens. Well guess what? It’s not a scam or trick. The truth is that they really do have to validate you’re the real deal before handing over your personal report. So these complaints are 100% baseless in my opinion.

Complaint #5: Peddling Identity Theft Protection

Thanks to all those TV commercials for LifeLock and Identity Guard, the business of selling monthly ID protection subscriptions seems to be hotter than ever (but it’s debatable whether they’re justified).

So I guess it comes as no surprise that over the last few years, now we not only have to endure ads for credit scores, but also ID monitoring. But fortunately, thus far I haven’t seen any which are confusing like some of the credit score ads are.

But at the end of the day…

…this is still by far the best site to get your credit reports for free. Despite the complaints, AnnualCreditReport.com is NOT a scam.

Sure, the quality of AnnualCreditReport.com is going down as the numbers of ads go up, but it’s still the only legit place you can get a truly free report without having to enroll in some trial offer… as long as you don’t do so accidentally!

Q: Is FreeCreditScore.com safe and really free? Or is it just another scam to ripoff your money?

A: That question was part of an email I received from a reader. Read my FreeCreditScore.com review to find out the real deal behind this company…

Is FreeCreditScore.com the same as FreeCreditReport.com?

Different websites, same company. A couple years ago the Federal Trade Commission cracked down on the marketing of “free” credit reports and that basically messed up the whole marketing mojo behind FreeCreditReport.com.

So what did they do? Well these days they focus on FreeCreditScore.com instead, since the FTC hasn’t cracked the whip on free scores [yet]. That’s why the old band went bye-bye and the new website uses a totally different group.

Is it really free?

Obviously the biggest complaint about the first website was the people felt they were getting duped by the claim that the credit reports were free. Are these credit score offers operated the same way? Sort of.

When you signup, you get a 7 day trial in their credit score monitoring service. Now if you cancel before the trial is up, it really is free… you won’t pay anything. However if you forget, then after your 7 days are up you will be billed $14.95 per month for the service.

Something important to note is what’s in the fine print:

“The credit monitoring benefit may only be available for 5 days during your trial period since enrollment can take up to 2 days.”

That means you can’t confuse the date the benefit starts with the enrollment period. When counting the 7 days, to play it safe it would be best to count from the same day/time you sign-up for the offer. If you enroll, make sure you cancel within that time.

Is it accurate?

Personally, I don’t really have a problem with how they structure the 7 day trial because automatic enrollment without cancellation is pretty typical for any type of service trial out there. However what I do have a problem with is the accuracy of their offer.

Is FreeCreditScore.com accurate? Well, I guess that depends on what your definition of “accurate” is. You see they don’t give you a FICO score but rather something different called the Experian Plus Score (sidenote: Experian owns the FreeCreditScore website).

Unlike FICO, this Plus Score is NOT used by lenders. It even says it right in the website’s fine print:

FICO runs on a scale of 300 to 850. Meanwhile the PLUS score runs from 330 to 830.  Some people call these imitators FAKOs because the difference from a FICO can be quite dramatic. Sure, they will still help you gauge where you stand with your creditworthiness, but you can’t use them for an apples-to-apples comparison.

For example, if you ask a mortgage broker “Will this Plus Score of mine qualify me for the mortgage?” or ask on this forum “Is my Plus Score good enough for that credit card?” you will probably receive responses of bewilderment.

Rather than comparing apples to oranges, wouldn’t you much rather do an apples-to-apples and learn your real FICO score?

Worth it or not?

FreeCreditScore.com is technically not a “scam” or “ripoff” because they give you exactly what they advertise. Of course, some people don’t read things though before they signup, so they have no idea they are getting a FAKO instead of a FICO, nor are they aware they have to cancel a FreeCreditScore.com membership to keep it truly free. But the truth is all of that is disclosed on their website if you read it.

But is it actually worth it? Well, that’s a whole other can of worms…

In my personal opinion I see very little reason to hassle with their free trial offer. Nor do I think it’s worth it to pay the $14.95 to use it as a long-term credit monitoring service. Sure, it will probably be adequate for notifying you when new things positively or negative affect your credit but at the end of the day, why pay $14.95/month for that when you aren’t even getting your FICO?!

Instead my recommendation would be to sign-up for a service which actually gives you the real FICO score instead. Unfortunately there are only two websites which sell true FICO scores directly to consumers: Equifax and MyFICO. Everyone else out there is selling FAKOs.

So if you want a score that’s not used by lenders, then by all means signup for the FreeCreditScore.com free trial. However if you want an authentic FICO then check out this sponsored offer from Equifax:

A few years ago Bank of America gave re-birth to the nostalgic BankAmericard name – the original name of their first credit card from 1958.

One of which is the BankAmericard Power Rewards Visa Signature card (or the Visa Platinum Plus for those with lower credit scores). I’ve been peddled the card before at my branch, how about you? Before you bite the bait read this review of how the “Power Rewards” really work.

The value of points vs. cash back?

You need to know how these points work! When it comes to credit cards, many people assume 1 point is the same as 1 cent. Unfortunately it’s not always so straightforward.

You see with the Bank of America WorldPoints rewards, you can get a 1 cent per point. But in order to get that, more often than not you will have to cash out a large quantity of points. Examples:

When converted to cash back it will take 25,000 points to get 1 cent each. If you only redeem 5,000 points, instead of getting the expected $50 you will only get $25.

When converted to partner gift cards, the same usually holds true: a $250 or higher gift card to get full point value.

When converted to merchandise, I have done a number of price comparisons (# of points vs. price if I bought the same item elsewhere) and from my experience, the point value is around 2/3 of a cent.

Conclusion? The Power Rewards credit card points are best for big spenders. Light to moderate spenders will have difficulty getting a good deal with this BankAmericard since it will take them so long to save up enough points. If that’s you, stick with one of these top cash rewards credit cards instead.

How many points do you earn?

The above system would be more acceptable if you were earning more than 1 point per dollar. However the Power Rewards Visa only gives 1 point per dollar.

Bank of America has been running a promotion for quite some time that gives 3x on grocery, drugstores, and gas but that’s only for the first 6 months. After that those categories revert back to 1x points like all other purchases.

So at the end of the day, this is a run of the mill 1 point per dollar credit card. Not very exciting, huh?

Is there anything else?

The Platinum Plus BankAmeriCard Power Rewards offers the following:

• Up to $100k in common carrier travel accident insurance
• Auto rental collision damage waiver (secondary coverage – read this is you aren’t familiar).
• Purchase replacement provides covers eligible items that are lost/stolen/damaged within the first 3 months. A max of $500 per claim.
• Purchase guard, which is an extended warranty of up to 1 additional year on qualifying items

The Visa Signature version (for excellent credit scores) offers the above benefits plus the following:

• Concierge service through Visa Signature
• No preset spending limit. However this isn’t always a good thing and here’s why. But just as long as all of your cards aren’t no preset limits, it shouldn’t be a problem.

Note: One person emailed me saying they have a BankAmericard Power Rewards World MasterCard. That’s extremely uncommon, but the World MasterCard benefits are comparable to Visa Signature. However whether you are one of those or the Platinum Plus, note that the info above could change without notice, so don’t rely on it – check with BofA to confirm the benefits on your account.

As far as interest rates are concerned, they’re fairly middle of the road – not low, but not high either.

Verdict?

It’s not that the Power Rewards card is “bad” but rather just plain vanilla. With the low rewards and the requirement of needing a lot of points to get the best value… I see little reason to get the card. If you want one of the best cash back credit card deals on the market then go for the Blue from American Express.

If you are considering applying for a Lowes credit card, you will definitely want to read this review first.

I actually prefer Lowe’s over Home Depot.  From my experience, the customer service is a bit better. At Home Depot, every time I go I have to travel 10 aisles down just to find an associate to help, only to tell me that’s not their department and for me to go back and wait… it’s a huge pain in the behind to shop there.

But just because I like this home improvement store, it doesn’t mean I prefer the Lowes card. Here’s what you need to know about it before you fill out an application.

Back in 2011 they split the program into 2 cards:

Option #1: Lowes Consumer credit card

Now pay attention because many are confused as to how this works!

It gives 5% cash back on Lowes purchases but only if you don’t use the special financing. If you opt for a financing offer (available on single-receipt purchases of $299+) then you won’t get the 5% rebate. So it’s one or the other, not both.

The biggest drawback however is what you will see in the fine print if you look closely…

Yes that’s right, you can’t use it in conjunction with any coupon or those discounts. You can’t get it on purchases which are price matched either.

If you have a big purchase and skip the 5% to get the financing offer, then make sure you understand how it operates…

Read the rules and you will see that in order to pay no interest, you have to pay off the entire amount before the 6 months is up. If not, then the interest is tacked onto your Lowes credit card account from the date that purchase was made. And with the standard interest rate at 24.99% that can be one expensive lesson you don’t want to learn the hard way!

Before Lowes used to offer the occasional special 18 month no interest financing promotion on their old card, however on this card it appears they only give the 6 month deferred interest plan, unfortunately.

Conclusion? Only use the financing if you are 100% confident in your ability to pay it off before the promotion period is up.

Option #2: Lowes Project Card

The second credit card is geared towards those undertaking major home improvement projects. Your initial purchase has to be $1,000+ for it. My guess is that it will therefore probably have increased credit limits (compared to the other version) if you qualify.

Now this one is actually a better deal if you have good credit, but it won’t be the best way to save money on interest (more on that in a minute).

The Lowes credit card application isn’t available online for this version (must apply in store) but their website does provide some information about it and in a nutshell, here’s how it works:

1. When in an initial purchase of $1,000+ is made then a “project window” starts, which is a 6 month window where no interest will be accrued – both for the initial purchase as well as any additional purchases made within that 6 month window.
2. During this 6 month project window minimum payments still have to be made.
3. Once the 6 months is up, interest will begin. When writing this review, the APR tiers were as follows: 7.99%, 9.99%, 11.99%, 13.99% or 17.99% (the one given depends upon the applicant’s credit).
4. After the 6 month window is up, the fixed monthly payments will be based on a 4 to 10 year schedule for re-payment.

For those with excellent credit, this actually is a fair deal if the 7.99% or 9.99% APR is given. However even with that, you still will probably save more money with a regular credit card that gives you 0% on purchases. There are some that give 0% for up to 21 months and you can see those offers here.

Verdict?

Both of these cards are issued by GE Capital Retail Bank (formally known as GE Money Bank). They don’t exactly have the best reputation when it comes to customer service, but these new credit cards for Lowes appear to be better than what they offered in the past.

Typically store cards have lower credit score requirements, so if your credit is bad then the Lowes offers may be all that’s available to you. I wouldn’t say they are easy to get, but the qualifications / requirements for approval aren’t super hard, either.

But if you have good to excellent credit you can probably do better with a different card:

Best Rewards Alternative: 6% cash back at Lowes?

The American Express Blue Cash Preferred gives an unlimited 6% cash back at supermarkets. Many forum members who have this credit card use it to buy Lowes gift cards at supermarkets instead so they can save 6%.

This is an excellent strategy not only for saving money at Lowes, but also Home Depot and the countless other places you can buy gift cards for at your supermarket. Go here to learn more about the American Express Blue Cash Preferred.

Best Financing Alternative: Longer 0% on purchases?

So the Lowes project credit card only gives you 6 months at 0% and you can do a lot better than that! Check out the Citi Simplicity and its current 0% offer for purchases.

This review was written or updated Jan 2012