HSBC World Elite Mastercard - Up to 60,000 bonus points + first year annual fee waived (90,000 points + annual fee for Quebec)

HSBC launched a new acquisition offer for their World Elite Mastercard this month. This offer stands out over the previous bonus we saw for the first quarter of this year but still falls short of the introductory offer we saw last fall. Still, seeing that this offer is first year free the card is good bet to grab if you have had your eye on it!

A little background on this card - this is not their 'Premier World Elite' which is meant for people who bank at HSBC but rather this card is for any Canadian and it is essentially the same as the Premier version. When HSBC launched this card last year it became obvious they didn't want to only market their credit cards to those who bank with them, rather they wanted to get into the entire lucrative Canadian credit card market.  To learn more about this card outside of this bonus offer I would recommend reading our review of the card. 

Now enough background info and on to the details of this great offer!

From now until June 30th you can apply for the HSBC World Elite Mastercard and get up to 60,000 bonus HSBC Rewards Points along with having the first year $149 annual fee waived.  The bonus is awarded as follows:

• 20,000 Welcome Bonus
• Earn 2X on all purchases for the first 3 months up to a maximum earn 40,000 Points

The 60,000 points once achieved are worth $300 in travel rewards but this card isn't just a travel points card, it is actually a Hybrid Card. This means points can also be converted to partners outside of HSBC Rewards. In this card's case, they can be transferred to British Airways Executive Club, Cathay Pacific Asia Miles or Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer. The points convert as follows:

• 2.5 points to 1 Avios
• 3 points to 1.35 KrisFlyer Miles 
• 3 points to 1.2 Asia Miles 

This means the sign up bonus is worth 24,000 Avios in British Airways' Executive Club which if you have followed us for sometime now know that is a good amount for a lot of various redemptions.
Here are some options to check out

• How to get select Canada to U.S. award flights faster by utilizing British Airways' Executive Club 
• How you can easily get a free flight between Toronto and Dublin, Ireland (pre taxes/fees) or 4 flights for $240+fees 

The sign up bonus isn't the only good feature about this card however. It is one of only eight cards in Canada that has No Foreign Transaction fees, it also comes with a $100 annual travel enhancement credit (to use on bag fees, seat selection etc) and like most World Elite Mastercards in Canada it has airport lounge access membership via LoungeKey.

Overall it is great to see a better sign up offer for this card right now!

Also note the first year free waiver option is not available for Quebec residents so instead they offer up to 90,000 bonus points for getting the card and simple holding on to it: