B of A 1/24

Understanding the B of A 1/24 rule:

This rule is applicable to each card individually. As an example, if you close an Alaska Airline personal card within 24 months, you won't be approved for another Alaska Airline personal card. Same goes for the business version of that card. Close the Alaska Airline business card, and you can't get another Alaska Airline business card for 24 months (though you can hold both an Alaskan Airline personal and business card at the same time).

This also holds true for the personal and business versions of the BOA Premium Rewards cards. These cards are pretty far down our list of recommendations, so this won't have much impact on most people. Since you'll want your 24-month timer to start as soon as possible, however, you'll want to cancel the card once you have a safe home for your points. In other words, once you have the sign-up bonus, you may not want to hold these cards long-term. Cancel and apply again in 24 months for a new bonus. Or, if you want Alaska card benefits, for example ,you could alternate between the business and personal card, canceling when upcoming flights don’t necessitate keeping the current one open. Keeping in mind that you want to start the clock as soon as possible.

** Note: The actual BOA rule states you must wait 24 months after OPENING or CLOSING an account to apply again. But since other BOA rules already prohibit opening a second of the same card, the opening part of the rule is moot as it pertains to the 1/24 rule we've listed here. That's why we only focused our advice on CLOSED accounts within 24 months.

Important to know:

Many credit cards rules that we discuss, including the most popular one, Chase’s 5/24 Rule, aren’t actually stated in writing anywhere. Bank of America’s 1/24 rule is part of the terms and conditions for almost all Bank of America credit cards, though. The language is slightly varied depending on the card. The one card this language doesn't appear on is the Bank of America Premium Rewards Elite card.

This language appears for the following cards:

"This card may not be available to you if you currently have or have had the card in the preceding 24 month period. "

• Bank of America Travel Rewards
• Bank of America Premium Rewards
• Bank of America Customized Cash Rewards
• Bank of America Unlimited Cash Rewards
• Alaska Airlines Card

This means that you will have to wait 24 months after CLOSING the card to be eligible to get that card again. The phrase “may not be available” suggests that the rule isn’t black and white and does give Bank of America some wiggle room. Assuming the rule is enforced, be aware that it is card specific. That means you would be eligible to get multiple Bank of America cards in a 24 month period, just not multiples of the same card.

We referenced this above, but it’s worth pointing out again that the Alaska Airlines card is one of the cards that has this language, but it also has the caveat that says “this does not apply to the business credit card product.” So you are allowed to get the personal and business card offered by Alaska Airlines within 24 months of each other without being ineligible for one or the other.

The following business cards have this language:

"I also understand that I may be declined for additional credit card accounts if my business entity currently has, or has had, another business card with Bank of America in the preceding 24 month period."

• Bank of America Business Advantage Travel Rewards
• Bank of America Platinum Plus Mastercard Busines
• Alaska Airlines Business Credit Card

Important to know:

This seems to suggest that you may not be able to get another business card of any kind if you’ve had a business card with Bank of America in the preceding 24 months. But some data points seem to suggest this is not the case. Use of the word “may” is important here. We’re not sure why these are in the terms if they don’t actually enforce this, but they are there, so we wanted you to be aware of the language at the very least.

About Approval Rules

Collecting credit card points is largely driven by understanding and abiding by bank rules regarding approval (or disapproval) of cards.  So here’s what you need to know:

• Approval rules are rarely fully publicized by the banks
• We use our own research and data points from other users in creating the rules listing
• Our goal in sharing/using the rule listings is to provide you guidance to avoid getting declined
• There can sometimes be exceptions to the rules, but we try to take a more cautious approach in advising you.