RBC provides clarification on Avion Rewards via bank accounts/ION Cards, Brim drops their World Mastercard & a new way to access the Priority Security Lane at Toronto Pearson Airport

Here's your Rewards Canada update! Your near daily dose of loyalty program, credit card and travel news, bonuses, deals and more.

We have received a reply from RBC on how their Avion Rewards redemptions are handled when you have bank account and an ION card (but not an Avion credit card) Here is the question we asked in our RBC Rewards has now officially become Avion Rewards post:

If you have an RBC bank account that qualifies for Avion Premium and gets the 100 points to $1 redemption rate and you add in an ION card, what redemption rate for travel do you get? The 100 to $1 or the 172 to $1? 

An Air France KLM Flying Blue credit card is coming to Canada via Brim Financial

Brim Financial has announced they have entered into a partnership with Air France KLM to issue a co-brand credit card for the two airline's frequent flyer program Flying Blue. Rewards Canada readers will be very familiar with the program as it gets regular coverage here and I am pretty sure some of you are probably jumping up with joy at this news! 

First year free offer returns on the Brim World Elite Mastercard, new Plaza Premium 5 and 10 visit passes & four more confirmed Cobalt 5x multipliers

Here's your Rewards Canada Daily update! Your near daily dose of loyalty program, credit card and travel news, bonuses, deals and more. Today's update is brought to you by the HSBC High Rate Savings Account with which you can enjoy a total annual interest rate of up to 2.65% on new deposits± Click here to learn more about this offer

 
Brim Financial has brought back the first year free offer on their top end Brim World Elite Mastercard. This sees the first year annual fee of $199 being waived plus you can earn up to $500 worth of welcome bonuses from Brim partners. The card features a 2% cash back return on your first $25,000 spending each year and no foreign transaction fees. You can read our review of the card here or click here to apply for the card.

April 8 Update: Review of Brim Financial Mastercards, step by step guide to the American Express Shop Small Program & Canada Jetlines will launch from Toronto this summer

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We added a new credit card review to the site this week. Rewards Canada contributor Jeff W. completed t the task of reviewing Brim Financial's Mastercard line up. At the time of providing this review he had the card for a few months and was able to test drive many of the card's features and provide this first hand review of the cards. Read the review of the Brim Mastercards here.

The Top 5 Mastercard Cards to use at Costco Canada

 We've updated our feature on the Top Mastercard cards to use at Costco due to the recent changes to the BMO CashBack World Elite Mastercard. The BMO card saw its earn rate at Costco drop from 1.5% to 1% which meant it dropped off this list of the best five cards to use at Costco Canada stores. That card has been replaced with the WestJet RBC World Elite Mastercard and we've also added an honorable mention Mastercard to the list as well. The Top 5 Cards are as follows:

April 29 Update: Air Transat will now provide refunds for flights cancelled by COVID-19, Amex Offer for Kinton Ramen & we added a Brim Financial page!

 Here's your Rewards Canada Daily update! Your daily dose (or near daily dose) of loyalty program, credit card and travel news, bonuses, deals and more.

 
Air Transat released news today that they will receive $700 Million in funding from the Federal Government and as such will now allow travellers who received travel credits as a result of COVID-19 to request refunds for those credits. It's been a long time coming for Canadian consumers to get refunds on all the flights and vacation packages that had to be cancelled since last March. WestJet took the initiative first out of the big carriers with Air Canada and now Air Transat only announcing refunds once they were granted loans from the government. Air Transat has set up a dedicated page on their website where you can request a refund for your travel credit. Visit that page here and please let us and our fellow readers know how the process works out for you!

Brim World Elite Mastercard - First year annual fee waived & $500+ in first time bonuses

Brim is amping up their game to compete with the other big wig banks for the premium card market with this offer for their Brim World Elite Mastercard. That offer sees the first year annual of $199 waived when you apply for and are approved for their top end card. The offer also states that you receive $500+ in first time bonuses with select merchants that partner with Brim. You have to be a new Brim customer and apply by April 30 to get the first year annual fee waiver.

If you are not familiar with Brim Financial they are the first non-bank issuer of Mastercards in Canada. They launched a couple of years ago with a trio of credit cards from a base level no annual fee card to their top level World Elite Mastercard. Despite having some issues when they first launched the company now has gotten their act together and are really progressing with their product and loyalty program. All the details on the program and their cards can be found here.

The World Elite card is the only card from their portfolio with this limited time annual fee waiver and it provides 2% back in points (essentially cash back) on the first $25,000 in spending on the card annually. After that it drops to 1%. The card has a very strong insurance package and also offers free Boingo Wi-Fi (this was a feature before all Canadian cards received on April 1, 2020 - read about that here)  This card along with all other Brim cards also provides No Foreign Transaction Fees on all purchases that are not in Canadian dollars.

It's nice to see them offer this card with an annual fee waiver so that people can try out them out as at $199 per year otherwise this card is overpriced.  When you compare it to other World Elite, Visa Infinite and some American Express cards you are (or will be) paying $49 to $79 more per year and your limited on the rewards side - a card that charges $199 per year should not cap its 2% earning at $25,000 in spending - many other cards will earn more on the rewards side. It also has competitors that offer no Foreign Transaction fees and now that all World Elite Mastercards have free Boingo Wi-Fi they have lost that competitive advantage for that benefit. I recall a good media friend of ours who said they like this Brim World Elite card as they got free Wi-Fi on WestJet flights but now that can be had on many cards and at a lower cost with the potential for higher rewards.

Overall this is a good offer from Brim Financial especially if you have been considering the card but were hemming and hawing over the annual fee. You can try the card out for a year at no cost and seeing that you can redeem as little as 100 points for a $1 credit you don't have to hoard your points and worry about losing them if and when you cancel the card. You can also hope, as we do, that Brim reevaluates this card and gives it some extra benefits or higher rewards to make the $199 annual fee worth it. Or maybe they would consider lowering that annual fee to place it in line with many of its competitors.

Learn more about this offer here.

Image via Brim Financial