Bank of America Spirit Mastercard Review
The Bank of America Spirit Mastercard is a solid option for people who like to travel. Several benefits come with having this card. However, there are also drawbacks. You’ll need to know them all to be well informed and decide if this card is for you.
We’re going to go over the biggest pros and cons of using the Bank of America Spirit Mastercard. This way, you can decide if the benefits outweigh the risks or not. This airline credit card offer is a good fit for a lot of people. However, for some people, they can find a better travel card.
Bank of America Spirit Mastercard Benefits
Double Mile Rewards
When you use this credit card for everyday purchases, Spirit Airlines will reward you. For every $1 you spend, you’ll get 2 miles. This is on anything you buy, and there are no rotating categories. So, even if you don’t use your card that much, you still have the potential to earn decent miles.
Introductory Bonus
The Spirit Airlines credit card gives cardholders a welcome bonus as well. Just for making an initial purchase, you’ll get 15,000 bonus miles. This means you can potentially get three round-trip flights off of this alone. During off-peak times going one way, rates start at 2,500 miles. This is a huge perk for people who know how to utilize airline reward miles correctly.
Anniversary Bonus
Spend $10,000 per year with the Spirit credit card and get an anniversary bonus. Cardholders who do spend this amount get 5,000 additional miles on their anniversary date. This works out to around $830 per month to get this anniversary bonus. Combine this with the rewards rate and the introductory bonus, and you have a lot of miles. This makes the Spirit Mastercard a great performing reward credit card helping people to earn free travel fast.
Preferred Boarding
Use the Spirit Mastercard to travel and get preferred boarding. This can streamline your airport experience, and remove a lot of the headache. You’ll also get priority check-in on domestic flights as well. There are also no blackout dates, so you can use your miles when it’s convenient for you.
Earn Unlimited Rewards With the Bank of America Spirit Mastercard
Your Bank of America Spirit Mastercard rewards never expire. As long as you have your account in good standing, you can stack your rewards. Additionally, you have to make at least one purchase a month to qualify as ‘active.’ However, if you do this, you can stack your rewards indefinitely to maximize them. To make things easier you can attach automatic billing on a reoccurring bill such as with Netflix. This way you’ll never need to remember to keep your Spirit credit card account active.
Free Spirit Dining Rewards
Qualifying for the Spirit Mastercard will give you access to the FREE SPIRIT® Dining rewards program. If you dine out at select Spirit approved restaurants, you’ll get bonus rewards. For every dollar you spend at these restaurants, you’ll get 5 miles. Combine this with everything else, and you have huge reward potential.
Annual Fee Waived
This card does have an annual fee, but Spirit waives it during the first year. This allows you to enjoy all of the perks you get with this card without worrying about the fee. For the first year, you can use your card as little or as much as you want. You won’t have to balance the rewards with the annual fee.
Credit Score Monitoring
If you’re worried about your credit score, the Spirit Airlines credit card can help. You’ll get free access to your FICO credit score. This allows you to monitor your score and catch any potential issues quickly. In turn, you’ll be able to negate the damage identity theft can do to your score quickly and efficiently.
Bank of America Spirit Mastercard Drawbacks
Foreign Transaction Fee
Although the Spirit credit card does give you miles, it has a huge drawback for a travel card. It charges a foreign transaction fee. This fee is 3%, and it’ll charge each time you use a non-US bank or ATM. So, if you travel and use your card to purchase $5,000 worth of merchandise, you’ll get a $150 fee. This is just for using your credit card abroad, and you’ll pay 3% each time you use it.
Higher APR
Your APR will depend on your credit score at the time you submit your application. If you have excellent credit, your APR will fall around 14.24%. If you have lower credit, your APR will fall around 24.24%. So for anyone who carries a balance, this can add up very quickly.
Annual Fee
This card does come with an annual fee after the first year. You’ll pay $59 each year after the first year. This annual fee will appear on your first statement of the billing cycle each year. However, the Bank of America Spirit Mastercard does have a lower fee for an airline rewards card. Therefore depending on your circumstances, this annual fee may be worth paying for the benefits this airline credit card offers. If not consider the Discover it® Miles Travel Credit Card which has no annual fee.
No Introductory APR
The Bank of America Spirit Mastercard also doesn’t have an introductory APR. This means that you’ll pay interest on your purchases from the first month you have the card. If you don’t carry a balance, this won’t be a big problem. However, if you do carry a balance, this interest rate can get you in trouble. Especially if you have lower credit and a high APR.
Balance Transfer Fee
This also isn’t the card for you if you want to do balance transfers. There is no introductory offer for balance transfers or interest. So, you’ll pay interest straight away. Additionally, you’ll pay a 3% balance transfer fee on each balance transfer you do. When you combine this with the interest rate, you’ll end up paying much more than you originally would. So it would be a balance transfer mistake to use this card to transfer your high credit card balances.
Is the Spirit Airlines™ World Mastercard® a Good Airline Credit Card?
The Bank of America Spirit Mastercard is a great card for frequent travelers. You may want an additional card to make purchases while you travel due to the foreign transaction fee. However, the multiple miles earning opportunities and the unlimited rewards are huge draws. The Spirit Airlines™ World Mastercard® is a good card because it allows you to easily earn free flights. Spirit Airlines allows you to fly for less, and you can fly when you want to with no blackout dates.
CreditFast has reviewed the best travel credit cards on the market. Some of the credit card offers are from our advertising partners. CreditFast has objectively reviewed the features and benefits of each credit card. We have chosen travel and airline credit card offers based on our editor’s recommendations.
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