The new CIBC Costco Mastercard is now available. Learn all about it here including the new Executive Member offer!

The anticipation is over as the new CIBC Costco®† Mastercard® is now available for new applications. After months of speculation as to which bank would takeover the warehouse giant's credit card portfolio from Capital One, This new partnership between CIBC and Costco Canada was first announced in September 2021. Then in November 2021 the details of the new card were released with existing Capital One cardholders transferring over to CIBC on March 4 and now the card is here for anyone else who is interested in it!

The new CIBC Costco Mastercard is here for those who had the Capital One Costco Card

The first step in Costco Canada transitioning to CIBC from Capital One was completed on March 4. All Capital One Mastercard for Costco members were officially transferred over to the new CIBC Costco Mastercard. The new partnership between CIBC and Costco Canada was first announced in September 2021 and for the time being the new card is not open to new applicants but it should become available later this month. Members will continue to use their Capital One issued cards until CIBC sends out new cards to them.

Details on the new CIBC Costco Mastercard are here - it will launch in March 2022

 
Details were revealed today on the new CIBC Costco Mastercard that will be launching in March of 2022. The new partnership between CIBC and Costco Canada was first announced in September 2021 ending months of speculation as to which bank would takeover the warehouse giant's credit card portfolio from Capital One. At that time very little detail was provided as to what the new card would offer but now as of today we know.

CIBC will become the new issuer of Costco Mastercards

American Express weren't the only ones wanting to release big credit card news today as only a few short hours later CIBC issued a press release with news a lot of people have been waiting for. The bank announced this morning that they will become the exclusive issuer of Costco Mastercards in Canada. The long term agreement is expected to start early in 2022.

The Top 5 Mastercard Cards to use at Costco Canada (updated again)

 
We had to update our feature on the Top Mastercard cards to use at Costco again due to the recent changes to the MBNA World Elite Mastercard. Overall that card got better for lots of spending on it except at Costco. The MBNA card saw its earn rate at Costco drop from 2 points per dollar to 1 point which meant it dropped off this list of the best five cards to use at Costco Canada stores. That card used to hold top spot but that now goes to the Brim World Elite Mastercard and the entire list shifts up meaning that the RBC Preferred Cash Back World Elite Mastercard now cracks the list in fifth position.

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:

November 2 Update: WestJet RBC World Elite Mastercard offer of 350 bonus dollars extended, Scotia lowers the welcome bonus on the Passport Visa Infinite Card & Top 5 Mastercard Cards to use at Costco updated

WestJet and RBC have extended the current increased welcome bonus of 350 WestJet dollars on the WestJet RBC World Elite Mastercard to November 11th. That's only a 12 day extension from the original October 31 end date. We don't have any details yet of what will come on November 12. As always it is a gamble - do you go for it now and secure a really good welcome bonus or wait with the hope of something better coming along. Learn more about the current offer here.

 

 In a surprising move when the credit card market is heating up here in Canada Scotia has lowered the welcome bonus for the Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite Card by 5,000 points. Right now when you apply for the card you'll get 20,000 bonus points when you spend $1,000 on the card within the first three months and an additional 10,000 points if you can spend $40,000 in the first year. Learn more here.

Capital One ending its relationship with Costco and Hudson's Bay

 

While perusing Twitter last night I came across this tweet from Andrew Clarke (who used to do PR at Capital One Canada) announcing the changes coming to the American bank's Canadian operations:

 

You can now use Instacart to circumvent Costco's non-acceptance of Amex and to earn 5x points with the Cobalt Card

Back in March we had our reader TitaniumTux let us know that Instacart was finally coding properly as an eats and drinks merchant with American Express.  At that time we wrote about how you could Use Instacart to circumvent Loblaw stores non-acceptance of Amex and to earn 5x points with the Cobalt Card. Now the same rule applies to Costco as last week they announced a new same day delivery option powered by Instacart. That means you can now earn your American Express Cobalt Card category multiplier for shopping at Costco and here's the really good news. When you do shop via Instacart YOU DON"T HAVE TO BE A COSTCO MEMBER.  Now the trade off is that the pricing via Instacart won't be the same as in store at Costco or even if you shop for the regular Costco.ca items for delivery in 2 days or longer. So in reality this option is best for the grocery items that you cannot order regularly through Costco and of course for those who are not members and don't want to pay for a membership. Even with the higher pricing via Instacart I'm sure there are savings to be had utilizing this method over shopping at other stores and then on top of that you'll earn your rewards from whicheve.r card you use to pay for the transaction.

You have two options for the delivery service in terms of ordering, you can do so via Instacart or via Costco's website:

Customers can begin shopping from Costco via Instacart today by going to https://www.instacart.ca/store/costco, opening the Instacart app on their mobile device, or visiting Costco's member-only ecommerce site at http://sameday.costco.ca. From there, customers select their city and Costco warehouse, and can begin adding items to their Instacart grocery cart. An Instacart shopper will pick and deliver the order within the customer's designated timeframe.

I went through the process of setting up the same day shopping on Costco's website and rather than completing a new profile I simply imported data from Instacart:

The only credit card I have saved on Instacart is the American Express Cobalt™ Card  as it earns 5x points with Instacart which translates to a 5% cash back return on those purchases until the end of September.  The 5x points for eats & drinks is limited to $30,000 annually. Once you are at 1,000 points you can start redeeming and those 1,000 points will net you a $10 statement credit until September 30 (it drops to 1,000 points = $7 after that or a 3.5% return)  Of course for travel it is always a minimum 5% but can get as high as 10% with Amex's Fixed Points for Travel option.

Do note that when you shop at Costco via Instacart you will not earn your Costco Executive Membership 2% return. Also of note is that some sale prices that may be available in store may not be available via Instacart. This really is the trade off - if you are willing to go shop in store you'll enjoy more savings however if you are not a member or don't want to set foot in a physical store just yet this is a great new option

Learn more about this new partnership here: https://www.instacart.ca/store/costco or  http://sameday.costco.ca.

June 8 Update: A new card has been crowned as the best Mastercard to use at Costco & Cogeco users may not have got our newsletter last week

Last week saw the devaluation of the Rogers World Elite Mastercard take place (read more about changes here) which means we needed to update our feature Top 5 Mastercard Cards to use at Costco as the Rogers card is no longer the best card to use at Costco in terms of rewards earned.

If you subscribe to our weekly newsletter and have your email address with Cogeco it looks like you didn't get our newsletter from this past Friday. For some unknown reason Cogeco bounced 70+ of your emails back to us. You can read that last issue online here. Hopefully that issue will be fixed for this week's newsletter. If this issue happens again this week we'll reach out to Cogeco to see why we may be on their blacklist....

Airline Schedule Updates
This will now be a standard feature for the foreseeable future in our daily update posts as we summarize Canadian operations based on data from RoutesOnline and other sources. Remember that many of these route plans are subject to change and right now they are changing frequently!

No route news for today.

Remember to visit and bookmark our COVID-19 resource page where we are keeping you up to date with all the latest airline, hotel, lounges and loyalty program news, policies, closures and more.

Posts since our last update:

• World of Hyatt summer stay promotion: Triple Points on all stays starting with 2nd stay (Elites get 2,500 points on 1st stay)
  Hyatt Hotels is the first major hotel chain to release a new systemwide stay promotion during the pandemic. While…
• WestJet will provide refunds for U.S. and U.K. tickets cancelled between March 1 and June 30
  Late last week the Canadian media picked up the news that WestJet will begin to offer refunds for those…
• Simplii Financial Cash Back Visa offering 10% bonus cash back at restaurants and bars for first four months
  Another 10% cash back offer to pass along your way although this one isn't on all spending like the…
• June 5 Update: 20x PC Optimum points for Shoppers Drug Mart online purchases and NEXUS enrollment centres closure extended to July 6
  This weekend you can earn 20X PC Optimum points when you spend $75 or more online with Shoppers Drug…

Deals:

Fairmont Hotels Explore Canada offer - Get every 2nd night free for stays at 18 Fairmont Hotels until June 30, 2021

Save 20% on all Air Canada flights within Canada when you book by June 16 - good for travel until May 15, 2021!

Instacart: Get $10 when you place your first order with Instacart! Register here.

Save 20% for summer stays at Toronto's Le Germain Hotel Maple Leaf Square

SkipTheDishes - Sign up with this link to get $5 off your first order over $15. Find out more here

WealthSimple Trade:  Receive $5 when you deposit and trade at least $100 worth of stock with WealthSimple Trade. Find out more here (We will also receive $5 when you receive $5)
Rewards Canada receives a small commission when you use any of the above offers. You don't have to chose to use our links but we thank you in advance if you do.

Canadian Bonus Offers

N/A

Other Bonus Offers

Best Western Rewards
- 2,000 Bonus Rewards Points on your next stay at a Best Western® branded hotel. More... (Registration is required) Targeted Offer - May not work for everyone Until Jun 30, 20

Marriott Bonvoy
- Earn up to 3,000 bonus Bonvoy Points for stays at over 80 Marriott Hotels in China, Hong Kong & Macau. More... Jun 11 - Jul 7, 20

Miles & More
- Double Miles & More Miles for stays at all participating World Hotels Worldwide. More... Until Mar 31, 21
- Triple Miles & More Miles for stays at all participating World Hotels Worldwide. More... Until Mar 31, 21

World of Hyatt
- Triple World of Hyatt Points starting with your second stay at Hyatt hotels and resorts worldwide and participating M life Rewards destinations, Small Luxury Hotels of the World hotels and Lindblad Expeditions. More... Register by Aug 31 for stays Jun 15 – Sep 15, 20
- 2,500 Bonus World of Hyatt Points + Triple Points for stays at Hyatt hotels and resorts worldwide and participating M life Rewards destinations, Small Luxury Hotels of the World hotels and Lindblad Expeditions. More... For Elite members only. Register by Aug 31 for stays Jun 15 – Sep 15, 20


Follow Rewards Canada:

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Earn 5x Aeroplan Miles for Costco.ca purchases for two days only!

 

Not to be outdone by Amazon, Costco.ca is looking to have you Aeroplan miles collectors shop with them over the next two days as well! Today and tomorrow you can earn 5x Aeroplan Miles for all online purchases made via Costco.ca. You do not need to go through an online shopping portal to earn these miles, you can go straight to Costco.ca to make your purchases however you must have your Aeroplan number registered to your Costco membership number (you can do that here) and then when you go to complete your Costco.ca purchase you must enter the promo code AERO5 in the promo code field:

Click here to find out more about this deal and to shop on Costco.ca!

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Earn up to 3,000 Bonus Aeroplan Miles with a new Costco membership

Offer details
Earn up to 3,000 Bonus Aeroplan Miles when you sign up for a new Costco membership. Full details
Executive Membership earns 3,000 bonus miles, Gold Star or Business earn 2,000 bonus miles.  Until May 13, 18

Find many more Aeroplan bonus offers here!

Earn triple Aeroplan miles for every dollar spent on Costco.ca until March 25

Another decent bonus to let you know about if you are planning any online shopping with Costco! Right now until March 25th, Aeroplan Members can earn 3 Aeroplan Miles for every $1 spent when they enter promo Code: AERO3 at checkout at Costco.ca. Complete details and registering to earn miles (if you haven't done so already) can be done at:  https://www.costco.ca/aeroplan.html

You can find many more Aeroplan bonus offers here. 

Top 5 Mastercard Cards to use at Costco - 2018 Update

This is an excerpt of a feature that appears on the main Rewards Canada site which has been updated to incorporate new cards and cards that have changed since the original feature was posted in 2015:

Now that we are in 2015, American Express is gone from Costco Canada stores and Mastercard is in. While Capital One® took the co-branded card away from American Express with essentially the same offering on their Capital One® Platinum Mastercard® it does not mean you have to have that card to shop at Costco. In fact any Mastercard card is accepted at Costco locations across Canada and with so many Mastercard cards to choose from here in the Great White North we thought it would be best to pass along our picks for the five best cards to use at Costco.

1. mbna Rewards World Elite Mastercard - 2% return on Costco purchases

A very popular card right now on Rewards Canada thanks to some other Mastercards becoming weaker, the mbna Rewards World Elite Mastercard is the best card to use at Costco thanks to its 2% return. Doesn't matter if you redeem it for travel or for cash back, which the card offers without dilution like most other programs. And you can choose to get that cash back in any month - not just once per year like the majority of cash back cards in Canada. Sure the card may not have as big of sign up bonus or as good of insurance package as most of the cards below but it also comes with a lower annual fee and if you do spend lots that extra 0.5% can easily make up the difference on the benefits side, that is if you even need them.

2. WestJet RBC World Elite Mastercard - 1.5% return on Costco Purchases

The earn ratio goes down as we get through this list, the WestJet RBC World Elite Mastercard earns 1.5% WestJet Dollars for every dollar spent which means it is a 1.5% cash back card and that is the return you'll get on your Costco purchases. Add in the $99 to $399 annual companion fares, the $250 sign up bonus, first bag free on WestJet flights and you have yourself not only a good return at Costco but lots of other benefits!

3. BMO CashBack World Elite Mastercard - 1.5% return on Costco purchases

This card isn't travel rewards related but it offers up a good cash back return of 1.5% on all purchases at Costco and everywhere else. Add the limited time offer of 4% back on all purchases in the first four months (up to a total of $250 cash back) and you can see why this card would be good to use at Costco. The card also offers one of the better insurance packages out there for a cash back card.

4. BMO Rewards World Elite Mastercard - ~1.43% return on Costco purchases

This card used to be our number one card to use at Costco but that all changed on January 15, 2018. The rewards structure changed, so while the card still earns 2 points per dollar spent at Costco it now takes 140 points to get $1 worth of travel versus the 100 points prior to the middle of January. That drops the earn rate at Costco down to 1.43%. That's a significant drop hence the drop from first to third. The card does however come with a great insurance package, limited time first year free offers (no annual fee) and access to airport business class lounges.

5. National Bank of Canada World Elite Mastercard - 1.36% to 1.68% return on Costco purchases

This card comes in with an overall slightly lower earn ratio than the cards before it. Sure the card can get you a 2% return but that is for your spending between $40,001 and $80,000 on the card and when redeeming at higher levels. Prior to that the rate is lower and above that the rate lowers again so your average return will be below 2%. And you only get the best return if you redeem 50,000 or more points at a time. Kind of a convoluted program if you ask me but the card has other benefits like reimbursements for travel expenses like airport parking and airline baggage fees that try to make up for the lower earn rate compared to other cards.

Continue reading the full article here

Jun 17 Update: AIR MILES introduces Stage Pass, Costco Canada Car Rentals, KLM WOW is Zagreb from $799

Here is your middle of the week update!

News, Tips & Tricks
AIR MILES has launched a new member benefit called Stage Pass which seems somewhat similar to American Express' Front of the Line benefit. According to the landing page, Stage Pass will offer the following:

• Reserved ticket access Get tickets to some of your favorite artists. Sometimes we'll even have tickets to select sold-out shows.
• Music is better when you bring a friend Get discounts on tickets and other special offers
• Special perks at select shows at the Molson Canadian Amphitheatre.
• Social media surprises Make sure you follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter
• VIP contests and experiences that only your AIR MILES® Collector Card can unlock!

Unlike Front of the Line where you can use cash or points, the AIR MILES Stage Pass benefit only appears to be miles only in terms of payment. For example the One Direction Concert in Winnipeg has a pair of tickets for 2,250 miles. At the time of posting you could also get tickets for One Direction or Kelly Clarkson in various Canadian cities or Ariana Grande in Ottawa or Toronto. Find out more here.

Not sure if this is really new but it is new to me so I'll pass it along. Costco Canada now has a rental car booking site like the U.S. Costco! I haven't tried out the booking engine yet but if the discounts are anything like the U.S. Costco travel services then I would recommend adding this site to your list as the Costco discounts can be significant. I have used the U.S. version on several occasions to save money on rentals. See the site here.

Posts since our last update:

• Earn up to 1,500 Bonus Aeroplan Miles for Thu-Sun stays at Marriott Hotels in Canada
  Offer Details: 500 Bonus Aeroplan Miles PER NIGHT when you stay Thursday - Sunday nights at any one of…
• 100% Bonus on buying IHG Rewards Club Points until June 30th!
  The great 100% bonus on buying IHG Rewards Club points has returned! This offer brings the price of a…
  
  

Travel Deals
It's Wednesday so you know what that means! KLM Wild On Wednesday! This week it is Zagreb, only $799 from Eastern Canada or $949 from Western Canada. Book by June 18th for travel Oct 16 - Dec 10. Full details and online booking.

Bonus Offers
Air Canada / Aeroplan
- Earn up to 7,500 Bonus Aeroplan Miles for round-trip flights to select destinations in Europe and to Osaka. More... Register and book by Jul 31 for travel until Sep 30, 15

Alitalia MilleMiglia
- Double MilleMiglia Miles for stays at any Accor Hotel Worldwide. More... Book by Jun 26 for stays Jul 10 - Aug 31, 15

Hilton HHonors
- Fast Track to Gold Status forTravelocity Business customers when you complete four qualifying stays at Hilton Hotels Worldwide within 90-days of enrolling in this offer. More... Until ?

Marriott Rewards
- 1,500 Bonus Rewards Points per stay at the Fairfield Inn & Suites Delray Beach. More... Until Jul 3, 15
- 1,000 Bonus Rewards Points for stays any night Sunday through Thursday at the SpringHill Suites Philadelphia Plymouth Meeting. More... Until Jul 3, 15
- 3,000 Bonus Rewards Points for stays of 2 or more nights at over 30 hotels in Florida. More... Until Jul 6, 15

SAS EuroBonus
- Earn EuroBonus points and Gold Points when you stay at Radisson Blu and Park Inn by Radisson hotels in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. More... Until Aug 31, 15

Starwood Preferred Guest
- 3,000 Bonus Starpoints for stays of 3 or more nights at participating Starwood Hotels in Greece. More... Until Aug 31, 15

Thai Airways Royal Orchid Plus
- Triple ROP Miles for stays at any Accor Hotel Worldwide. More... Jun 29  - Aug 31, 15

WestJet Rewards
- Double WestJet dollars when you fly between Halifax and Deer Lake or Sydney; Ottawa and Moncton or Toronto and Gander. More... Register and book by Aug 16 for travel until Aug 31, 15