There's been a lot of focus around the return of the 100K points offer on the HSBC World Elite Mastercard and that's kind of overshadowed a pretty decent offer on their lower end rewards card. That card is the HSBC +Rewards™ Mastercard® which is their entry level and low interest rewards card which right now comes with a 30,000 point welcome bonus and the first year $25 annual fee rebated*. This is one of the best offers seen on this card to date.
There are two primary reasons people like to get this particular HSBC card. The first is to build a relationship with the bank when the applicant may not be in the position to apply for the higher end HSBC World Elite Mastercard just yet and second is for the lower full time interest rate. This is the key factor on this card - it is an actual rewards card that comes with set lower interest rates so if you are someone who carries a balance and wants to earn rewards this card is an option. The set interest rate is 11.9% across the board which is roughly 7 to 9% lower than most cards in the market save for those that compete in this low interest space. The only difference in the low interest space is that most of the competitors don't offer rewards on their cards.
Being a low interest card and an entry level card the rewards are not as big as what is offered by it's bigger sibling but they aren't bad considering what some other entry level cards offer. And to have a welcome bonus that is worth $150 towards any travel with no annual fee on the primary card for the first year is actually kind of unheard of for an entry level lower interest card. Then the card earns 2 points per dollar on dining and entertainment purchases which translates to a 1% return when redeeming towards any travel. The rest of the spending on the card comes in at 1 point per dollar or a 0.5% return towards those travel redemptions. Yes that latter earn rate is low but you have to remember the primary reason most people get this card is for that lower interest rate. So there is some give and take here.
Once you've earned those points they can be redeemed for any travel that is booked with any provider. Simply put, you book the travel where you want and charge it to your card, you can then call up HSBC Rewards or go online to redeem your points against that travel charge. This is the same feature found on quite a few cards in Canada that have their own proprietary rewards program. One thing that does make HSBC's program different than most of the other programs is the fact that this is the only way to redeem for travel with HSBC. HSBC Rewards discontinued their own travel booking service. What this means is that you can go to any travel provider, be it an airline, hotel, all inclusive, travel agency, car rental company, you name it, you book your travel with them. The beauty of this is that you have complete control and flexibility to book the travel you want, on the days you want. Once the charge shows up on your account you can choose to pay for a portion of it or all of it with points.
What's also cool about cards
like this one is you don't need any points at time of booking as you
have up to 60 days after the charge posts to redeem points against it.
Which means you can actually be travelling and make additional bookings
while away from home and redeem points for it at a later date.
Related: Not all Travel Points and Hybrid Credit Cards are created equal and Why proprietary credit card reward programs are the best option for most Canadians
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 that option is 25,000 points for a $75 statement credit.
One more key feature of this card is that it has Price Protection Service. That is if you find a lower price within 60 days of your purchase, the difference will be refunded, up to $500 per eligible item.
Click here to learn more about and/or to apply for the HSBC +Rewards Mastercard
* This offer is only available to residents of Canada other than the
province of Quebec (Quebec residents eligible for separate offer). The offer is available for new applications made by January 31, 2022
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