Bank of America Merrill+ Visa Bonus Issues
Shawn and DDG have covered well the BofA Merrill+ Visa card, with its great 50,000 point sign-up bonus (value up to $1000), upon spending $3000 within 90 days. That’s a great offer for a card with no annual fee. The 50K sign-up bonus first came around last November, then since March has seemingly gone from disappearing, to coming back via phone applications only, to briefly being available online again, and now seemingly (YMMV) being available only via phone again.
The 50K versus 25K issue
I applied via phone on March 18th, being very careful to make sure the representative notated and read the offer to me clearly indicating the 50K (not 25K) offer. I did not receive an immediate approval for the card, but was able to confirm my approval a few days later via the BofA online application status checker.
When the card arrived, there was no indication of the sign-up bonus, but I assumed I was properly set up with the 50K offer. Shortly after completing the $3000 minimum spending requirement ($3005 spending!), I went online and checked my Merrill+ Rewards balance and was disappointed to see that I only received a 25K bonus.
The Solution?
Since BofA apparently does not have a secure mail option for credit card customer service, I called the number on the back of the card. I was recognized by the BofA agent for my Platinum Honors status in their Preferred Rewards program, but she was unable to help me out with the Merrill+ card. She put me on hold and transferred me to a Merrill representative, who unfortunately confirmed that this has to be a two-step process. Unfortunately there is no direct number to Merrill.
The Merrill rep confirmed that there was a “known problem” in the March 1-20 range, with phone applications for the Merrill+ card only giving the 25K sign-up bonus. He stated that the problem would be fixed by “mid-July” and people would receive an extra 25K points in their account at that time. It is unclear if this will happen without a proactive phone call. So it’s probably a good idea to check your Rewards account and place a phone call if you only got a 25K bonus.
The Merrill representative did ask me if I’d like to have the process of getting the second 25K expedited, so of course I said “yes please.” After putting me on hold for a few minutes, he came back and said he had forwarded my case to the appropriate people and gave me a case number. He said I should either receive the points or be hearing from someone soon. We shall see.
Did you apply by phone for the Merrill+ Visa in the March 1-20, 2017 time frame, expecting to receive the 50K sign-up bonus? If so, please share your experience in the comments.
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[…] 2) PSA: Bank of America Shorting Customers 25K Points on Some Merrill+Visa Bonuses by MtM. I know several of my readers have applied for this card before online link died (again). If you end up getting 25K points instead of 50K, make sure to call Bank of America. There is a good chance you’ll get the full bonus. […]
It took me about 3 weeks after getting to $3000 to get my full 50k. I got 25k after spending $2,500 but I called and they said it was a known issue and should be fixed once you spend $3k
Thanks for the data point.
In my case, I spent all $3005 in one transaction. I just remembered to go back and check and it appears that the extra 25K posted sometime in the past week. So less than a week after my call.
not to be a dick here since you post up good shit all the time, but this is old news and its been a known issue man… just saying. its been discussed many times and pple just do what you did. support ticket and it posts. dont know why they said july. people get it asap. the bigger issue is account shut down. thats something to discuss and be careful of.
He was sharing his experience to help others. I’m glad he shared it with our readers since we hadn’t had a chance to cover it.
oh i see. appreciate the clarification man. again, didnt want to sound lame and unappreciative here, but the PSA made it sound like there was a new issue here and I almost peed a little when I saw it. thank you again dude!
I applied by phone on 3/20. Met spend, 50K points applied shortly thereafter. I did triple-check on the phone that I would receive the 50K. Must have gotten lucky!
I applied on 3/18, and was told the problem was during the March 1-20 window. So perhaps it was fixed by the time you applied on 3/20. But thanks for the data point.
Thanks for the data points. Glad (I guess?) I’m not alone in being shorted. And glad it has been getting fixed for folks. I’m still waiting, but only been a few days.
I applied, and was approved on 3/17.
Met min spend ($3013) and got my 25,000 on 4/06.
Called in and mentioned the discrepancy. Was told it was a known issue and she would have the points applied within 24hrs.
4/07: 25,000 additional points post. No muss, no fuss.
Exact same thing happened to me. In fact I applied on the same day and also did $3005 spending lol. My account only received 25k points so I called the Merrill+ rewards number and they said they’d submit a case which should take 5-7 days. After not hearing back for two weeks I called again and got someone who basically said the case is still pending and to keep waiting. After another week I was getting impatient as the flights I wanted to book were right around $500 and starting to increase. So I called a third time and got the “mid-July” nonsense to which I think the agent could sense my anxiousness as I said “mid-July???” in a high pitch voice lol. He says “okay let me see if I can get that expedited for you. He comes back and says an agent in the case resolution department just posted the extra 25k points and sure enough they were posted instantly.
So, you may have to be persistent.
[…] PSA: Bank of America Shorting Customers 25K Points on Some Merrill+ Visa Bonuses by Miles to Memories. Seems to be affecting people that applied March 1st until the 20th. […]
I applied online, and also was not approved immediately but was approved after a few days. However, there was a paper that came with the credit card stating the 50,000 bonus points after spending $3,000. I spent the 3,000 and have received the full 50,000 bonus points.