The newest Cash Back rewards credit card in the Canadian market at time of posting this is the BMO CashBack World Elite MasterCard.
Officially released on May 13th, the card looks to take on this ever
growing market with a strong earn rate coupled with a decent insurance
and benefits package for a cash back card.Overview
The BMO CashBack World Elite MasterCard is the top end premium cash back card from BMO that now consists of a portfolioe of three cards. The BMO CasBack MasterCard, the BMO CashBack World MasterCard and of course the BMO CashBack World Elite MasterCard. The last of which is the card we detail in this, only our second review of cash back card in the Canadian market.
Sign up Features
Like most cards in the cashback category there is no actual sign up bonus.
Costs
TheBMO CashBack World Elite MasterCard has a $120 annual fee for the primary card and no fee for any secondary cards. As mentioned above however the first year's annual fee is waived for new applicants. The interest rate on the card is 19.9% which is in line with most of the cards at this level.
Earning
The BMO CashBack World Elite MasterCard earns a nice simple 1.75% CashBack Reward on all eligible purchases made to the card.
Redeeming
The beauty of Cash Back credit cards is the simplicity in redemption. There are only two ways to redeem your cash back and both tend to be automatic. Either a cheque is issued to on a monthly, quarterly or yearly basis or it is issued as a statement credit on a similar time basis. For the BMO CashBack World Elite MasterCard it is the latter as the cash back reward is issued as a annual statement credit on your January statemenr. This is where Cash Back tends to be a little less rewarding than Travel Rewards as most Travel Rewards cards, especially those that don't have set redemption charts, give you access to your rewards that you have earned on a monthly basis rather than a yearly basis. But then again you are limited to travel whereas with this cash back you can use it on anything you want.
Features and Benefits
The BMO CashBack World Elite MasterCard comes with a small insurance and benefits package. It offers 8 day out of province travel medical insurance for those up to age of 65 and like almost all cards in Canada now, the card also has Extended warranty protection and purchase protection. However these last two benefits are the Plus version which means the protection is even better than most of the other cards. For example the purchase protection is 180 days versus the usual 90 days and the Extended Warranty adds up to 2 years of extra warranty protection versus the usual 1 year.
What is good about this card
The best thing about the BMO AIR MILES MasterCard is the simplicity of the cash back earn. No category bonuses, no spending tier requirements. Just a nice 1.75% cash back on all purchases. This is in fact the highest no-category or tier bonus earn rate of any cash back card in Canada. The 8 day travel medical insurance and Plus versions of extended warranty and purchase protection are also great features.
What is not so good about this card
The BMO CashBack World Elite MasterCard comes with some small drawbacks, not enough we believe to warrant knocking this card out of your selection process. The first not so good thing about the card is the annual fee. True there are quite a few higher end cash back cards with similar benefits that have the same annual fee but there are some that offer a good proportion of those benefits with no annual fee or a lower annual fee. The second gripe we have is the annual statement credit. We get it. BMO wants you to spend that money with their merchants as they'll make money off the merchant fees but perhaps they should at least look at increasing the amount of times it is awarded (not just once per year) when you have to compete with mbna who will issue you a cheque every month if your cash back rewards total $50 or more. Finally while we do like the insurance and benefits it comes with, other cash back cards that cost the same offer more benefits likes travel accident insurance, Auto rental CDW coverage and even things like baggage delay and flight delay insurance.
Conclusion
This is only our second full review of a Cash Back card here on Rewards Canada although with our comparison chart and blog coverage we do have quite a bit of insight to this category. The BMO CashBack World Elite MasterCard with its 1.75% return is nearing the returns of the best Travel Rewards credit cards but still falls short of many that are at 2% including this card's brother, the BMO World Elite MasterCard. That being said it is a great return when compared to other cash back cards. True those others may have higher returns in select categories but when you average out all your spending there is a good chance you'll get a better return with this card. The card itself can make an excellent primary or first card in your credit card portfolio if you aren't into travel rewards but for those who are travel savvy and can't get away from the almighty mile or point then this card could make a good secondary or tertiary card in your wallet.
Care to comment? Do you agree or disagree with us? Tell us what think about the BMO CashBack World Elite MasterCard below!
Related Links:
BMO CashBack World Elite MasterCard on bmo.com
Rewards Canada's Cash Back Credit Card Comparison including the BMO CashBack World Elite MasterCard
Other cards to consider from the Cash Back card category:
Capital One® Aspire Cash™ Platinum MasterCard®
CIBC Dividend Visa Infinite
MBNA SmartCash Platinum Plus MasterCard
Scotia Momentum VISA Infinite card
SimplyCash™ Preferred Card from American Express®
The beauty of Cash Back credit cards is the simplicity in redemption. There are only two ways to redeem your cash back and both tend to be automatic. Either a cheque is issued to on a monthly, quarterly or yearly basis or it is issued as a statement credit on a similar time basis. For the BMO CashBack World Elite MasterCard it is the latter as the cash back reward is issued as a annual statement credit on your January statemenr. This is where Cash Back tends to be a little less rewarding than Travel Rewards as most Travel Rewards cards, especially those that don't have set redemption charts, give you access to your rewards that you have earned on a monthly basis rather than a yearly basis. But then again you are limited to travel whereas with this cash back you can use it on anything you want.
Features and Benefits
The BMO CashBack World Elite MasterCard comes with a small insurance and benefits package. It offers 8 day out of province travel medical insurance for those up to age of 65 and like almost all cards in Canada now, the card also has Extended warranty protection and purchase protection. However these last two benefits are the Plus version which means the protection is even better than most of the other cards. For example the purchase protection is 180 days versus the usual 90 days and the Extended Warranty adds up to 2 years of extra warranty protection versus the usual 1 year.
What is good about this card
The best thing about the BMO AIR MILES MasterCard is the simplicity of the cash back earn. No category bonuses, no spending tier requirements. Just a nice 1.75% cash back on all purchases. This is in fact the highest no-category or tier bonus earn rate of any cash back card in Canada. The 8 day travel medical insurance and Plus versions of extended warranty and purchase protection are also great features.
What is not so good about this card
The BMO CashBack World Elite MasterCard comes with some small drawbacks, not enough we believe to warrant knocking this card out of your selection process. The first not so good thing about the card is the annual fee. True there are quite a few higher end cash back cards with similar benefits that have the same annual fee but there are some that offer a good proportion of those benefits with no annual fee or a lower annual fee. The second gripe we have is the annual statement credit. We get it. BMO wants you to spend that money with their merchants as they'll make money off the merchant fees but perhaps they should at least look at increasing the amount of times it is awarded (not just once per year) when you have to compete with mbna who will issue you a cheque every month if your cash back rewards total $50 or more. Finally while we do like the insurance and benefits it comes with, other cash back cards that cost the same offer more benefits likes travel accident insurance, Auto rental CDW coverage and even things like baggage delay and flight delay insurance.
Conclusion
This is only our second full review of a Cash Back card here on Rewards Canada although with our comparison chart and blog coverage we do have quite a bit of insight to this category. The BMO CashBack World Elite MasterCard with its 1.75% return is nearing the returns of the best Travel Rewards credit cards but still falls short of many that are at 2% including this card's brother, the BMO World Elite MasterCard. That being said it is a great return when compared to other cash back cards. True those others may have higher returns in select categories but when you average out all your spending there is a good chance you'll get a better return with this card. The card itself can make an excellent primary or first card in your credit card portfolio if you aren't into travel rewards but for those who are travel savvy and can't get away from the almighty mile or point then this card could make a good secondary or tertiary card in your wallet.
Care to comment? Do you agree or disagree with us? Tell us what think about the BMO CashBack World Elite MasterCard below!
Related Links:
BMO CashBack World Elite MasterCard on bmo.com
Rewards Canada's Cash Back Credit Card Comparison including the BMO CashBack World Elite MasterCard
Other cards to consider from the Cash Back card category:
Capital One® Aspire Cash™ Platinum MasterCard®
CIBC Dividend Visa Infinite
MBNA SmartCash Platinum Plus MasterCard
Scotia Momentum VISA Infinite card
SimplyCash™ Preferred Card from American Express®
I like the simplicity and don't mind the statement credit, though I agree more frequent would be better. But no car rental CDW? Really? That's a deal breaker for me.
ReplyDeleteI know! CDW is such an easy and simple one to add and I believe would cost very little to BMO based on the number of cards they have with CDW on them already
ReplyDelete