Adam McCann, Financial Writer
@adam_mcan
The Bank of America rewards categories include gas, online shopping, grocery stores, and travel, depending on the card. When cardholders make purchases that fall into one of Bank of America card’s bonus categories, they earn extra rewards compared to the card’s base earning rate.
Here are the Bank of America Rewards Categories
- Gas
- Online shopping
- Dining
- Travel
- Drug stores
- Home improvement/furnishings
- Wholesale clubs
- Grocery stores
Whether a purchase falls into a card’s bonus categories depends on the merchant category codes (MCC). These codes are assigned by the major credit card networks to merchants based on what kind of business they conduct. So, if a merchant has the MCC for “grocery stores”, purchases made at that merchant will earn bonus rewards on cards that include “grocery stores” as a bonus category.
Some Bank of America credit cards have certain fixed rewards categories, plus additional categories that you can choose from. For example, the Bank of America® Customized Cash Rewards credit card offers two fixed categories: grocery stores and wholesale clubs. But cardholders can pick an additional bonus category from the following list: gas, online shopping, dining, travel, drug stores, and home improvement/furnishings.
Other Bank of America Rewards Categories
There’s one other major type of Bank of America rewards category, offered by the issuer’s co-branded cards. More specifically, cards that are affiliated with a certain merchant typically offer bonus rewards on purchases made with that specific partner.
If you’re looking to get a Bank of America rewards credit card, it’s a good idea to pick a card that offers the opportunity to earn bonus rewards in your most frequent purchase categories. Alternatively, you might want to get a card that offers a flat rewards rate on all purchases, like the Bank of America® Travel Rewards credit card.

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