HSBC brings back the 100,000 point & first year free offer on the HSBC World Elite Mastercard

 
HSBC has just matched their previous biggest and best offer yet of 100,000 points on the HSBC World Elite® Mastercard® but have made it a little harder to achieve than last year's version. On top of the 100,000 point bonus on the HSBC World Elite Mastercard this current welcome bonus also provides no annual fee in the first year for the primary cardholder. Those 100,000 points are worth $500 towards any travel! Since Quebec doesn't allow the first year free waiver the offer there is a whopping 130,000 points worth $650 towards travel but you do have to pay the annual fee so you end up with $501 in travel value.

The bonus outside of Quebec is awarded as follows:

• 20,000 Point Welcome Bonus on your first purchase
• 50,000 points when you spend $6,000 in the first 180 days 
• 10,000 points when you add an authorized user
• 20,000 points as a card anniversary bonus
  

 As you can see it is a little tougher to get that 100K points this time around. Last year it was easy - you just had to complete step 1 which was make your first purchase and you'd get 20,000 points and then step 2 was spend $5,000 and you'd get 80,000 points for that 100,000 points in total. Now as you can see they have added a couple additional steps to get there I'm fine with steps 1, 2 and even 4 as this is a card that is easy to keep past year one thanks to the benefits it provides but I'm not a fan of the supplementary card bonus. I should say I'm not a fan of how to achieve it - by all means bonus up supplementary cards, I mean American Express does it but they don't do it as part of the welcome bonus and the reason why is there are lots of people who don't need (people who are single etc.) or want a supplementary card. I would have rather seen the 10K points for the authorized user be added to the $6,000 spend in 180 days but I don't make up these rules. Anyways, lets go on to what is still a pretty amazing bonus whether you pull 70,000, 90,000 or all 100,000 points from the card.

The 100,000 points once achieved are worth $500 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 and this new welcome bonus is very attractive for those people looking to boost their accounts in these frequent flyer programs. 

The points convert as follows:

• 2.5 points to 1 British Airways Executive Club Avios
• 3 points to 1.35 Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer Miles 
• 3 points to 1.2 Cathay Pacific Asia Miles 

This means the sign up bonus is worth up to 40,000 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 with British Airways:

• How to get select Canada to U.S. award flights faster by utilizing British Airways' Executive Club 
• How to score flights to Ireland for as little as $120 plus taxes and fees

If you play your cards right you can earn more than 40,000 Avios as HSBC Rewards offers limited time promotions where they will give you a bonus on transfers to British Airways. These usually happen once or twice per year and the last time they ran it was in July 2021 with a 40% bonus. That would mean you could actually get as much 56,000 Avios for the 100,000 HSBC Rewards points. Now the bonuses have varied but they tend to be 30%, 35% or 40%. All good but of course if you can 40% that's your best value! 

Rcommend reading: HSBC World Elite Mastercard Review 

The sign up bonus isn't the only good feature about this card however. It is one of only nine cards in Canada that have 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, free Boingo WiFi and more.

Recommend Reading: No Foreign Transaction Fee Credit Cards for Canadians  & The Ultimate No Foreign Transaction Fee Credit Card Portfolio

Now, with travel still off the cards for some people you may be more interested in cash back options to help with your financial situation and this card does have that option. The points can also be redeemed for many other non-travel items like merchandise, experiences, gift cards, HSBC financial products and even for any purchases made on the card. HSBC calls this last option their Cash Back Rebate and is 25,000 points for a $75 statement credit. That works out to a 0.9% to 1.8% return (based on 3 points for everyday spending and 6 points for travel) and also makes the welcome bonus of 100,000 points worth $300 for cash back rebates which isn't too bad.!  

Click here to learn more about and/or apply for the card.

Today also sees an increased welcome bonus for HSBC's low interest card the HSBC +Rewards Mastercard of 30,000 points with no annual fee in the first year on the primary card. This is one the best ever offers for this low interest card!