A card with no annual fee that hands back up to $715 on $1,000 of spending is rare, and this one is easy to miss because the biggest piece comes from Rakuten, not from the bank. Rakuten raised its cash back for getting approved for the Bank of America Travel Rewards credit card to $400 on September 7. The normal payout on this card is $125. It was $350 when we wrote it up on September 3 and $375 on September 5, so $400 is the highest we have seen on this card. The card's own bonus has not changed: 25,000 points after $1,000 of purchases in the first 90 days, no annual fee.
Put the two together and $1,000 of spending you were going to do anyway comes back as $665. Not on Rakuten yet? Join through a referral link before you click through and Rakuten adds $50 on top, so up to $715. The rest of this is where each dollar comes from and what can go wrong.
Where the money comes from, piece by piece
| Piece | What you get | Who pays |
|---|---|---|
| Rakuten approval bonus | $400 cash | Rakuten |
| Card welcome bonus, 25,000 points after $1,000 in 90 days | $250 toward travel and dining purchases | Bank of America |
| The $1,000 itself, at 1.5 points per dollar | 1,500 points, $15 toward travel | Bank of America |
| Total | $665 back on $1,000, $0 annual fee | |
| New to Rakuten? Join through a referral link first | $50 more after $50 of qualifying spend in 90 days; the card approval counts | Rakuten |
| Total for a new Rakuten member | $715 back on $1,000 |
Rakuten's half, as the page prints it. The desktop store page reads "$400 Cash Back was $125" as of September 7, and it is a fixed amount, not "up to." One thing to know before you count on the $400: two of our own reads of the same page on September 7, made without a Rakuten login, still showed $375. Rakuten changes rates without notice and can show different members different numbers, so the figure on the page in your own account at the moment you click through is the one that counts.
The terms, complete and word for word: "Cash Back provided by Rakuten, not Bank of America. Cash Back only available for new, approved Bank of America® Travel Rewards Credit Card customers who keep the account open for a minimum of 3 months after approval. Only one cash back bonus per Rakuten member account. Applying for a new credit card may impact your credit score. U.S. residents only." And on timing: "Cash Back will be automatically added to your Rakuten account within a few months."
Rakuten's desktop store page on September 7, 2026: $400 Cash Back, was $125, with the exclusions as printed.
Bank of America's half. From the card's own page: "25,000 online bonus points if you make at least $1,000 in purchases in the first 90 days of your account opening." The same page says those points can be redeemed for $250 toward travel and dining purchases. Unlimited 1.5 points per dollar on everything, no annual fee, no foreign transaction fee.
Two cautions the table cannot show. This is a credit card application, so it is a hard inquiry and a new account; if you are working toward a mortgage, that matters more than $400. And the $1,000 has to be real spending inside 90 days. Do not buy things to hit it.
How to do it so you actually get paid, in order
- Sign in to Rakuten first, on the website or in the app, and open the Bank of America Travel Rewards store page. Confirm the number it shows you.
- Click through from that page to the application. The click is what ties the approval to your Rakuten account.
- Get approved, then keep the card open for at least three months. Closing early forfeits the $400.
- Spend $1,000 on the card inside 90 days for the 25,000 points.
- Set your Rakuten payout method before anything confirms.
The flexibility piece: take the $400 as Amex or Bilt points
Rakuten lets you take cash back as something other than cash, and this is where the number can grow beyond $400.
Amex Membership Rewards. Rakuten's FAQ says "10% Cash Back = 10X points," one point per cent of cash back, so $400 would be 40,000 Membership Rewards points. You need an eligible Amex Membership Rewards card linked, a minimum of 501 points confirmed before a transfer date, and the transfer runs "every three months." Neither Rakuten nor Amex says in words that a card-approval bonus converts the same way ordinary shopping cash back does, so read your own payout screen before you count on it.
Bilt Points. Rakuten's Bilt FAQ sends confirmed cash back to Bilt "every three months," and Bilt's help page sets the rate: "Blue members: 50 points per $1 in Rakuten cash-back" and "Silver, Gold, and Platinum members: 100 points per $1 in cash-back." At Silver, Gold or Platinum, $400 would be 40,000 Bilt Points; at Blue, 20,000.
What 40,000 Bilt Points can become depends on a transfer bonus being live when the points land. Bilt's September 1 Rent Day ran a Virgin Atlantic bonus of 25% to 100% by tier; on the 75% tier, 40,000 Bilt Points would have been 70,000 Virgin Points, which is one Upper Class Saver seat one way from New York (Virgin's ceilings: 47,500 standard season, 57,500 peak) with points to spare, and not two. That bonus has ended. We walked through the seat math, the surcharges and the timing in the September 3 write-up; the only thing that has changed since is the $400.
The extra $50 most people miss
Rakuten's referral pays new members $50 after $50 of qualifying spend within 90 days, and a card approval is a qualifying event on its own. Our link, and Rakuten pays us the same $50 when you join through it: rewardsguru.club/go/rakuten. Set your payout method before anything confirms; switching later only affects what has not been paid yet.
Rakuten's $400 rate and terms read from the rakuten.com store page on September 7, 2026 (screenshot above); the $375 figure from two logged-out reads of the same page the same day. Bank of America terms from bankofamerica.com. Rakuten's Amex and Bilt FAQs and Bilt's help page as read September 3, 2026. We are not affiliated with Bank of America and earn nothing if you apply for the card.
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