Why we moved our main card from the Sapphire Preferred to Bank of America

Disclosure: I earn nothing from this post. No referral links, no partner deals.

This is what my wife and I did with our cards. The disclaimer covers the rest.

We were thinking about upgrading our Chase Sapphire Preferred to the Reserve.

But when I was looking into the benefits that we get, the credits to offset the high annual fee seemed like a coupon book, and I'm not the type of person to track stuff like that. I wanted something simple.

Travel benefits were still an important factor, since we love to travel. But we were never the type to watch out for bonus points or travel partners, and we have a kid now, so eventually our vacations will be tied to the peak dates when everyone is off.

After doing some research, we ended up moving our main card to the Bank of America Premium Rewards Elite, and $100,000 from Vanguard to Merrill Edge to make it pay.

What is BofA Rewards, and what changed in May

Bank of America's loyalty program used to be called Preferred Rewards. On about May 26, 2026, it became BofA Rewards, with new tier names.

The balance is your 3-month average across Bank of America deposits and Merrill investments, combined. If it dips later, you keep the tier until your annual review, and then you get 3 more months to get back over.

Before the change, $100,000 got you the full 75% bonus on your card rewards. Now it gets you 50%. I couldn't find the old number on a Bank of America page, so I'm going by Upgraded Points and Doctor of Credit.

If you were already in Preferred Rewards before May 26, you keep your old credit card bonus for at least six months after the switch, and the same goes for the other benefits that are changing.

We weren't. I felt like I was late to the game, but I wanted to verify if it was still worth it to switch.

What the Premium Rewards Elite earns at the Bank of America Preferred Honors tier

So I looked at what the card earns at our tier. We're at Preferred Honors, which adds 50% to the points the Elite earns on purchases.

A point is worth 1 cent, and you can take it as cash. Points are worth 1.25 cents when they pay for a flight on Bank of America's travel site.

The Elite also comes with Priority Pass lounge access, and up to four people can be enrolled.

Then I looked at where our money actually goes. The Sapphire pays extra on dining, travel and gas, and about 53% of what we put on it this year was none of those. Most of it earned 1x.

On the Elite that same spending earns 2.25x. That was mostly what sold me.

The math on our own spending

Then I ran the numbers on our own spending. We put $43,610 on the Sapphire from January 1 to October 7, about $4,741 a month, and we expect $3,500 to $6,000 a month on the Elite.

A year on each card, with our mix of spending and every point counted at 1 cent.

The Elite earns more, but its fee is also $455 a year higher. Without the credits it only comes out ahead above about $57,600 a year on the card, which is about what we spend.

Using both of the Elite's credits and the Sapphire's hotel credit brings the fee gap down to $105. Then the Elite comes out ahead at anything over about $13,300 a year, and we spend about four times that.

So we have to use the credits.

The Elite only has two types of credits I need to track, which is super easy.

The first is a $300 airline credit. It pays for seat upgrades, checked bags, change fees and lounge fees. It doesn't pay for tickets or award flights, and the flight has to start in the US.

It works on United, American, Delta, Southwest, Frontier, JetBlue, Hawaiian and Alaska. Spirit, Allegiant and Sun Country are out. Bank of America only lists them by code, so check before you count on it.

We'll use ours on upgrades.

The second is a $150 lifestyle credit for rideshare, food delivery, video streaming and fitness, at merchants Bank of America picks. Bank of America doesn't publish the list.

That one should be easy for us if our usual apps count. This year we've spent $3,659 on Uber, Lyft, Uber Eats and DoorDash, about $398 a month, so the $150 would be used up in the first month.

Both credits reset on January 1. Whatever we don't use by December 31 is gone.

The Sapphire Reserve vs. the Premium Rewards Elite

The Reserve was the card we were thinking about upgrading to, so I ran it against the Elite too.

The Reserve also pays 8x on trips booked through Chase Travel. I counted none of ours at that rate.

At the pace we spent through October 7, our full year comes to about $56,800.

On our spending the Elite earns $412 more a year than the Reserve, and it costs less too. Its annual fee is $245 lower, and my wife would be an authorized user on the Reserve, which is another $195 a year at Chase. The Elite's terms don't list a fee for one, so the Reserve would cost us $440 a year more before any credits.

For credits, I counted the two on the Elite and the Reserve's $300 travel credit, because Chase applies that one automatically to travel purchases and we've put $6,223 on travel through October 7. With those counted, the Elite is ahead by $1,002 a year, and that's what the Reserve's other credits have to beat.

I counted every Chase point at 1 cent, which is what it's worth through Chase Travel. On the Reserve, Points Boost can take that up to 2 cents on some hotels and on premium-cabin tickets on select airlines, and the points can go to airlines and hotels. If you book that way, its points can be worth more than I counted.

The Reserve has more credits than the travel one. Here are seven of the yearly ones, and this is the part that seemed like a coupon book to me. There are others I left out, like two that only start once you've spent $75,000 on the card in a year.

On paper those seven add up to $2,084 a year. That's seven things to keep track of, and I only have two on the Elite.

So we didn't upgrade to the Reserve. On our spending it earns less than the Elite and costs $440 a year more. I'd have to get about half of what those credits are worth every year to make that up, and I wanted something simple.

How the $100,000 got there

Merrill investment balances count toward the tier, so we're moving shares over from Vanguard, more than $250,000 of $AMD and $NVDA.

Merrill also pays a bonus for new money if you're in BofA Rewards. It's $400 at $100,000 and $1,000 at $250,000, and the money has to stay 90 days.

You have to give Merrill the offer code when you open the account, in the online application or to a Merrill advisor. We did.

The transfer is still going. They transferred only $100,000 when I wanted to transfer more than $250,000 to get the highest bonus. I'm working with them to transfer the rest.

What we're doing with 257,000 Chase points

We still have 254,014 Chase points, plus 3,607 pending. As cash they're worth $2,576. On the hotels and flights in Chase's Points Boost they're worth up to 1.5 cents each, so the same points could cover up to $3,864 of travel.

We're going to spend it down in the coming months for a vacation or two.

Until then we're keeping the Sapphire. It can send points to airlines and hotels.

The $95 fee posts in July, so that's the deadline.

Once the points are gone, we'll maybe downgrade it to a free card. Switching cards can cost you your points, and I couldn't find where Chase says when.

Who shouldn't do this

If you're someone who likes to track bonus transfers and all that, you might not want to bother. Or if you don't want to transfer (or don't have!) $1M into Merrill Edge just to get the highest tier and bonus points.

The Elite has no transfer partners that I could find.

We did it with $100,000, which gets the 50% tier. Under that, the Elite earns 1.65 points on everything else at the Member tier and 1.875 at Preferred Plus, for the same $550 fee, so our numbers don't apply to you.

If you won't use the two credits, you're paying that whole fee.

It's worth it if you also love to travel and you're looking for some travel benefits like lounge access while still maintaining a simple setup.