Bank of America Business Advantage Travel Rewards World Mastercard 2024 Review: Simple Travel Points
Earning travel rewards for your business can benefit the bottom line if you’re able to save money on future trips. One thing you may not be interested in, however, is paying an annual fee to earn miles or points.
The Bank of America Business Advantage Travel Rewards World Mastercard credit card offers points on purchases with no annual fee. This card could be a good fit if you want to earn back some of what you spend on business travel.
Points on purchases are unlimited and you can earn even more rewards as a Bank of America Preferred Rewards for Business member. There’s no foreign transaction fee and you get an introductory APR on purchases.
The Bank of America Business Advantage Travel Rewards World Mastercard credit card could be worth your time if you want a basic travel rewards option. Learn more about this card’s rewards and benefits.
Bank of America Business Advantage Travel Rewards World Mastercard Pros & Cons
Earn Unlimited Points Toward Free Travel
The Bank of America Business Advantage Travel Rewards World Mastercard credit card makes it easy to earn points toward free travel.
With this card, you earn unlimited 1.5 points on every purchase. And when you book travel through the Bank of America Travel Center, you earn unlimited 3 points per dollar.
That could make this card very rewarding if you routinely charge flights, hotels, rental cars or other purchases.
For example, booking $30,000 a year in travel through the Bank of America Travel Center would net you 90,000 points. At a redemption rate of 1 cent each, they’d be worth $900 in travel credit.
You can get even more points if you’re a Bank of America Preferred Rewards for Business program.
This program is available to Bank of America customers who have an eligible business bank account. Rewards bonuses are tiered, based on your account balances.
Here’s how much your points on purchases could increase at each tier:
- Gold: Earn 25% more points
- Platinum: Earn 50% more points
- Platinum Honors: Earn 75% more points
So going back to the previous example, instead of earning 90,000 points you could earn 123,600 points at the Platinum Honors level.
That’s an easy way to earn more points without having to increase spending. So that’s a mark in this card’s favor if you already do your business banking with Bank of America.
There’s also an introductory points bonus available with this card. If you earn the bonus by reaching the minimum spending requirement, you can add even more points to the pile for free travel.
Redeeming Points for Travel
Points earned with the Bank of America Business Advantage Travel Rewards World Mastercard credit card can be redeemed for:
- Statement credit for any travel-related purchases
- Travel purchases through the Bank of America Travel Center
- Cash back
- Gift cards
As with most business travel rewards cards, you’ll get the most value for your points when you use them for travel.
And the great thing about using your points as a statement credit against previous travel purchases is that you don’t have to worry about blackout dates or restrictions.
That can make booking business trips less stressful since you don’t have to be concerned about how or when you can use your points.
Now:
One thing to know about this card is that points transfer to travel partners isn’t an option.
That could be a downside if you’re looking for a business travel rewards card that lets you move your points or miles to your favorite travel loyalty programs.
Other Card Features and Benefits
The Bank of America Business Advantage Travel Rewards World Mastercard credit card comes with a few other notable features, including:
- Travel accident insurance
- Lost luggage reimbursement
- Trip cancellation coverage
- Trip delay reimbursement
- Cash flow management tools
- Fraud monitoring
This card doesn’t offer a lot of premium travel benefits but that’s typical of a travel rewards card with no annual fee.
Fees
The main fees to know about are the balance transfer fee and the late payment fee.
The late payment fee gets more expensive the higher your card balance climbs.
Also, note that you don’t get an introductory APR for balance transfers.
The regular variable APR applies to any transfers you make so it’s not the best option if you have a balance you want to move from another card.
Compared to Other Business Credit Cards
When choosing a business travel rewards card, it pays to do your research.
Here are three alternative you might consider for earning travel rewards.
Chase Ink Business Preferred
The features a unique rewards structure.
With this card, you earn three points per dollar on the first $150,000 in combined purchases per year in four spending categories:
- Travel
- Shipping
- Internet, cable and phone services
- Advertising purchases made with social media sites and search engines
All other purchases earn unlimited one point per dollar.
What’s great about this card is what happens when you redeem points for travel through Chase Ultimate Rewards. Doing so gets you a 25% points bonus, allowing you to stretch rewards further.
This card has no foreign transaction fee but there is a $95 annual fee.
Read the Chase Ink Business Preferred Card editor's review.
The Business Platinum Card® from American Express
The offers a generous five Membership Rewards points per dollar on flights and prepaid hotel purchases booked through amextravel.com.
You can earn 1.5 points per dollar on eligible purchases of $5,000 or more, up to one million additional points per calendar year. All other purchases earn one point per dollar.
Where this card shines is the premium travel benefits you enjoy. Those include:
- $200 airline fee credit
- Up to a $200 annual Dell statement credit
- American Express Global Lounge Collection access
- 35% airline bonus when you use points to pay for eligible flights
- Global Entry or TSA PreCheck credit
- Marriott Bonvoy Gold Elite status
- Hilton Honors Gold status
- Fine Hotels & Resorts access
There is a trade-off, however. This card has a $595 annual fee.
Read the American Express Business Platinum Card editor's review.
Capital One Spark Miles for Business
The offers miles instead of points. Every purchase earns unlimited two miles per dollar.
You can bump that up to five miles per dollar when you book hotels and rental cars through Capital One Travel. Miles can be redeemed at any time, with no blackout dates or restrictions. Plus, you can transfer them to popular, partnered travel loyalty programs.
There’s no foreign transaction fee and no annual fee the first year. After that, the annual fee is $95.
Read the Capital One Spark Miles for Business Card editor's review.
Business vs. Personal Cards
Business credit cards and personal cards aren’t identical.
For instance, business cards tend to offer rewards, bonuses and card perks that would appeal to a business owner. A personal card, on the other hand, might cater rewards or perks to how you spend every day.
Card protections are also different. Personal cards are covered by the 2009 CARD Act; business cards are not. Card issuers can and do, however, extend similar protections to business cards.
Business credit cards can be reported on your business credit report or personal credit reports. Personal cards only show up on your personal credit reports.
There can also be differences between the two when it comes to fees and interest rates. For example, you’re less likely to find introductory APR offers with business cards compared to personal cards.
Applying for a business credit card
When you’re ready to apply for a business credit card, you just need to complete the card issuer’s application. Typically, this means sharing your:
- Name
- Business and personal addresses
- Email and phone number
- Social security number
- Business name and structure
- Industry and number of employees
- Revenue and number of years in business
You might be wondering whether you can apply for a business credit card if you haven’t started a business yet or your business isn’t making money.
There’s no rule saying you can’t. But you should keep in mind that the credit card company will look at your personal credit score and income to decide whether to approve you.
The Verdict
The Bank of America Business Advantage Travel Rewards World Mastercard credit card could be an obvious choice if you want to earn travel points with no annual fee.
This card could also make sense if you do your business banking with Bank of America and want to take advantage of Preferred Rewards for Business benefits.
You may not find this card as appealing if you’d rather earn miles in place of points. And the lack of points transfer may be another drawback.
All in all:
This is a good basic travel rewards card for business spending.
For more premium travel perks and higher rewards rates on certain business categories, there are better business travel credit cards.