Bank of America Customized Cash for Gas: 3% Choice and Preferred Rewards Boosts to 5.25%

The BofA Customized Cash Rewards lets you pick gas as your 3 percent category. The $2,500 combined quarterly cap shares that bonus with the 2 percent grocery and wholesale-club rate. And the Preferred Rewards multiplier can push the gas rate as high as 5.25 percent if you keep $100,000 or more across BofA and Merrill. Here is the math, both with and without Preferred Rewards.

Gas Rate (Base)

when you select gas

With Preferred Honors

5.25%

at $100k+ balances

Combined Cap

$2,500

3% + 2% per quarter

Annual Fee

no fee ever

Terms verified against the BofA Customized Cash Rewards product page and Preferred Rewards program page as of 2026-05-19.

Preferred Rewards: The Banking-Relationship Multiplier

BofA Preferred Rewards multiplies cash back by 25, 50, or 75 percent based on total combined balances across Bank of America deposits and Merrill brokerage and investment accounts.

Tier	Gas (3% boosted)	Grocery (2% boosted)	Base (1% boosted)
Base (no Preferred Rewards)	3.00%	2.00%	1.00%
Gold ($20k-$50k)	3.75%	2.50%	1.25%
Platinum ($50k-$100k)	4.50%	3.00%	1.50%
Platinum Honors ($100k+)	5.25%	3.50%	1.75%

Whether moving an IRA rollover or investment account to Merrill to qualify for Platinum Honors is worth the 75 percent rewards boost depends on whether you actually receive better service or comparable investment expenses elsewhere. Treat the rewards lift as one input, not the deciding one.

The Combined $2,500 Quarterly Cap in Practice

The cap covers gas (3 percent) plus grocery/wholesale (2 percent) combined per quarter. After $2,500 total in those two categories, both drop to 1 percent for the rest of the quarter. Base figures shown without Preferred Rewards boost.

Gas / mo	Grocery / mo	Combined / quarter	Under cap?	Gas reward	Annual total
$100	$200	$900	Yes	$36	$124
$150	$300	$1350	Yes	$54	$188
$200	$400	$1800	Yes	$72	$248
$300	$500	$2400	Yes	$108	$308
$400	$500	$2700	Over	$132	$322

A family spending $400 a month on gas and $500 a month on groceries hits the cap roughly 80 percent of the way through each quarter. Once over, the remaining 20 percent earns the base 1 percent rate on both categories.

The Switching Strategy

BofA allows category changes once per calendar month, which is a structural advantage no other card offers. A driver who travels heavily in summer can switch the 3 percent category to travel from June through August and back to gas for the rest of the year. A homeowner doing a kitchen remodel can switch to home improvement during the project months and revert to gas afterward.

The discipline that makes the switch worthwhile is honest forecasting. The new category begins immediately and takes the 3 percent boost from your first qualifying purchase, but if you forget to switch back you lose months of gas earning at the higher rate. Treat the monthly category as a calendar event, not a set-and-forget toggle.

Welcome Bonus and Other Card Perks

BofA publishes a $200 online cash rewards bonus after spending $1,000 in the first 90 days. The threshold is easy to hit with normal use. The card also offers free FICO Score updates inside the mobile app, contactless tap-to-pay on every card, and the standard Visa Signature suite of travel and shopping protections.

Cash back redeems as a statement credit, as a direct deposit to a BofA checking or savings account, or as a credit to a Merrill account. Redemption inside a BofA bank account is the cleanest option for existing BofA banking customers; non-bank-customers should plan to redeem as statement credit.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I choose gas as my 3 percent category on the Customized Cash Rewards?+

Log into the Bank of America mobile app or website and select your 3 percent category from the published list. Options include gas/EV charging, online shopping, dining, travel, drug stores/pharmacies, and home improvement/furnishings. You can change your category once per calendar month. The first category you select goes into effect immediately and applies to all qualifying purchases until you change it.

What is the $2,500 combined quarterly cap?+

The 3 percent and 2 percent categories share a $2,500 combined quarterly cap. After you spend a combined $2,500 across the chosen-3-percent category and the 2-percent (grocery/wholesale club) category in a single quarter, both rates drop to 1 percent for the remainder of the quarter. Gas alone at $400 a month plus groceries at $500 a month hits the cap in month three of the quarter and the remainder of that quarter earns 1 percent at both.

Does BofA Preferred Rewards actually multiply the cash-back rate?+

Yes, and significantly. Preferred Rewards is a tiered banking-relationship program that boosts cash back by 25, 50, or 75 percent depending on combined deposit and investment balances across BofA and Merrill. At Platinum Honors (the $100,000-plus tier) the 3 percent gas rate becomes 5.25 percent, and the rate applies inside the $2,500 combined cap. Whether the boost is worth shifting your savings or 401(k) rollover to Merrill is a separate question, but for households already banking with BofA the boost is a structural advantage that no other card matches without equivalent banking relationship.

What happens when I change my 3 percent category to something other than gas?+

The new category begins earning 3 percent on the first qualifying purchase after the change. Gas purchases made between the change and the end of the cycle earn the base 1 percent rate. The cap reset is independent: the $2,500 combined cap covers the quarter, not the category, so switching categories midway does not reset the cap but does redirect future bonus earning to the new category.

Does the Customized Cash Rewards include EV charging in the gas category?+

Yes, since 2022 Bank of America has labeled the 3 percent category gas/EV charging. Public EV charging stations that code as fuel-category merchants (MCC 5541 or 5542) earn the 3 percent rate the same as gasoline. Major networks including Tesla Supercharger, Electrify America, EVgo, ChargePoint, and Blink generally code correctly. Home charging on your utility bill does not earn the bonus.

Is the Customized Cash Rewards better than the Citi Custom Cash for gas?+

For drivers without Bank of America Preferred Rewards status, the Citi Custom Cash is structurally better on gas alone: 5 percent up to $500 per cycle vs 3 percent inside a shared $2,500 quarterly cap. At Preferred Rewards Platinum Honors status, the BofA card earns 5.25 percent and pulls ahead. The Preferred Rewards multiplier is the deciding factor.

Is there an annual fee on the Customized Cash Rewards?+

No. The Customized Cash Rewards has no annual fee. There is also no rotation of categories you have to track; the only rotation is your own monthly choice.

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