THIS OFFER HAS NOW EXPIRED
Last week we provided details on HSBC's flagship card, the World Elite Mastercard having a new welcome offer of up to 40,000 bonus HSBC Rewards points and the first year with no annual fee. That offer is a far cry from the 100,000 points with first year free they offer prior to the end of 2020 so I feel like a lot of people may be waiting it out for that card to come out with an even stronger offer. There was however another card from HSBC that saw its welcome bonus increased last week and that card and offer have kind of flown under the radar. The card is HSBC's low interest rewards card option the HSBC +Rewards Mastercard.
Right now the card is enjoying its best ever offer since it was launched in the summer of 2019. This new offer provides up to 30,000 HSBC Rewards Points, no annual fee in the first year and still offers a lower 11.9% on purchases, funds advances and balance transfers which is the primary reason people get this card. The rewards are just icing on the cake and that icing is now piled on thick thanks to welcome bonus with no annual fee in the first year. Those 30,000 HSBC Rewards Points are worth $150 when redeemed for travel or $90 when redeemed as a credit towards any purchase made on the card. The annual fee is normally $25 so saving that in the first year is also nice. To receive the bonus you have to spend $2,000 within the first 180 days (~6 months) of having the card, or just a little over $300 per month. You can also convert the points earned on this card to British Airways Executive Club, Cathay Pacific Asia Miles or Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer.
Low interest cards that earn rewards in Canada are quite rare and not talked about too often as the rewards side tends to suffer thanks to the lower interest rate. That's the case for this card with its base earn rate being quite low. The card earns 1 HSBC Rewards point for every $1 spent on the card except for dining and entertainment where it earns 2 points per $1 spent. HSBC Rewards points are worth 0.5 cents each when redeeming towards travel which means this card gives a 0.5% return on all spending outside of the 1% for dining and entertainment. As you can see the earn rate isn't strong but it is better than not earning any rewards at all like most of this card's low interest competitors. To put it in comparison the Scotiabank Value Visa has no rewards and a standard interest rate of 12.99% (after a 6 month intro of 0.99%), the CIBC Select Visa which again has no rewards and an interest rate of 13.99% and the MBNA True Line Mastercard at 12.99% and no rewards. There is one card however that does beat this card's standard interest rate and that is the MBNA True Line Gold Mastercard which has really good standard interest rate of 8.99% but does carry a $39 annual fee right off the bat.
Recommended page to check out on Rewards Canada: Low Interest Credit Card Offers
All of this being said there are several reasons why you should consider this card. First it can be your entry point to building a history with HSBC if you don't meet the requirements to get the flagship World Elite Mastercard, second you are in a need of a low interest card as you are going to balance transfer or carry a balance on the card but still want to be in the reward game and third is that welcome bonus - 30,000 points worth $150 is quite a good welcome offer for a lower end card and to it in perspective it's better than the HSBC World Elite's typical base offer of 20,000 points!
Learn more about and apply for the HSBC +Rewards Mastercard here.
This is the latest offer on the card and may not be reflective of the post above:
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