New MBNA Rewards Mastercard Confirmed Multiplier Locations list & our DragonPass contest is open to Quebec residents!

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

One of our readers, Bernard, asked us if we had a list of confirmed multipliers for the MBNA Rewards Mastercard in the same fashion as our extremely popular American Express Cobalt Card Confirmed Multiplier Locations. At the time he asked we did not have such a lit but after further conversation with him we determined it would be a good idea to create and have one on our site as well! 

Clash of the Credit Cards! BMO eclipse Visa Infinite Card vs. MBNA Rewards World Elite Mastercard

Welcome to another Rewards Canada Clash! This time in our Clash of the Credit Cards we have two more 5x points cards go against each other! Those cards are the BMO eclipse Visa Infinite* Card and the MBNA Rewards World Elite® Mastercard®

How to earn over 67,000 Aeroplan points and an Air Canada Bonus Buddy Pass for free*

Air Canada's Aeroplan program is one of the most rewarding and lucrative programs in Canada when it comes to travel. The great thing about the program are the numerous opportunities to earn a lot of points with their co-brand credit cards and credit cards that allow you to convert to Aeroplan. As some of these cards are available with no annual fee in the first year or others with no annual fee at all, you can score a lot of Aeroplan points for free. 

We review the MBNA Rewards World Elite Mastercard, Air Canada Premium Cabin sale & last chance to convert Esso Extra Points to PC Optimum!

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

 
The next card to have an updated review completed on Rewards Canada is the MBNA Rewards World Elite® Mastercard®. The card was first reviewed on Rewards Canada way back in 2016 and since then the card has undergone numerous changes. Most recently in 2021 it became the third true 5x points travel card in Canada. With that change and several others this review has basically been redone from top to bottom so be sure to check out it to see if this card is the right fit for your wallet and rewards goals! Read the review here!

Canada's Top 10 Credit Cards for Dining - the best of the best for those who like to eat out, get take out or have their food delivered

 
Do you love eating out, getting take out or both? Are you planning on checking out one of Canada's Best New Restaurants? Maybe you don't like to  cook at all and rely wholly on what you can go out and get? If that's the case then this list is for you. A look at the top 10 credit cards in Canada for dining and eating out. These cards will earn you the biggest returns on purchases at your favourite restaurants, fast food joints, coffee shops and in most cases, dining delivery services like SkipTheDishes and DoorDash as well.

The Ultimate No Fee Aeroplan Credit Card Portfolio!

 

Hot on the heels of our Clash of the Credit Cards where two no annual fee cards that offer Aeroplan points went head to head we figured it would be perfect timing to also put together the Ultimate No Annual Fee Aeroplan Credit Card portfolio. In this feature of Rewards Canada' Ultimate Credit Card Portfolios we look at the ultimate one for earning Aeroplan points all with cards that don't charge any annual fees. Since we launched Rewards Canada back in 2001 we have always recommended that you should carry a Visa, a Mastercard and an American Express card in your wallet and that's what these Ultimate portfolios encompass. The reason why is that there are benefits, promotions and earning potential unique to each brand of credit card. We won't go into detail here as you can read all about it in our feature on how to Maximize your Miles and Points but in this feature we outline one card from each brand that will help you build up those Aeroplan points without having to worry about paying any annual fees. Typically in these portfolios there are various options that could be utilized however when it comes to no annual fee cards that you can earn Aeroplan points with, there are only three in total and each single one just happens to be from each of the individual issuers. You can also find this feature on the main Rewards Canada website

New welcome bonus for MBNA Alaska Mastercards: $200 statement credit + up to 30,000 bonus Mileage Plan Miles

 

MBNA and Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan have come out with new welcome offers for their Canadian Mastercards. Right now when you apply for and approved for either of the cards not only will you earn the standard welcome bonus miles but you'll also be able to earn a $200 statement credit. These are the best ever offers seen to date on these cards surpassing last fall's $100 statement credit offer. 

Top 5 Cash Back Credit Card Sign Up offers for October - These cards provide the best value out of their welcome bonuses

 
Here are Rewards Canada's Top 5 Cash Back Credit Card Sign Up offers for the month of October 2021. This is not a 'best' credit card list like our Top Cash Back Credit Card rankings but instead a look at cards that have very good acquisition (welcome/sign up) offers. As always when choosing a card you should always take other factors into account other than the just sign up bonus, but when some of these cards are first year free, they can and do pay off even when you grab them strictly for the sign up rewards.

July 27 Update: 0% balance transfer promo with the MBNA True Line Mastercard & receive $15 when you join Ampli and spend $15 at Rexall

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.

If you are in need a low interest card to carry a balance or are looking to save on a balance you might be carrying on a card right now check out the MBNA True Line® Mastercard® credit card as you could get a 0% promotional annual interest rate (“AIR”)† for 12 months on balance transfers completed within 90 days of account opening. Learn more here.

15 credit cards that provide $300 or more in true value from their welcome bonus offers

 
Thanks to some huge new bonus offers from American Express and Scotiabank plus some ongoing big time offers from TD, CIBC, and RBC for their airline co-brand cards we are now seeing a plethora of cards that bring big value from their welcome bonuses. If I can recall correctly in our 20 years of writing about credit cards and loyalty programs in Canada we have never seen this welcome bonus offers that are valued at $300 or more. Typically we may have 6 to 8 cards in that range but right now we have 15 cards whose true value of their welcome offers are $300 or higher.

Big Changes to the MBNA Rewards World Elite Mastercard - now earns 5 points per dollar in select categories + 10% annual bonus points

 
File this one into the category of "nobody saw this one coming"- well until we were notified about two weeks ago and then when the details were leaked onto Red Flag Deals a few days ago. The next bank to be making some major changes this week is TD's subsidiary MBNA. Today they are officially announcing changes to their premium proprietary rewards card product the MBNA Rewards World Elite® Mastercard®. There are also some slight changes happening to this card's entry level partner the MBNA Rewards Platinum Plus® Mastercard® which I'll touch upon towards the end of the article.

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:

The best credit cards for everyday non-category bonus spending

A lot of the focus on Rewards Canada is about credit cards as they are the easiest and number one way to earn loyalty points and miles in Canada. When it comes to spending your hard earned money on credit cards most of what we discuss revolves around the category bonuses awarded on those cards. Five times points this, three times points that but what about non-category bonus spending? Which cards stand out when it comes to your spending outside of things like groceries, gas, travel and other typical categories that are bonused? That's the focus of this feature and hopefully it can help you out especially if you are someone who does have a lot of spend on your card(s) that don't fall into category bonuses. 

MBNA Best Western Mastercard® Review

 

There is only one no annual fee hotel credit card in Canada and that is the MBNA Best Western Mastercard®. This card has been around for quite sometime now and has survived the turmoil seen in our market for hotel loyalty program co-brand credit cards. Just a few years ago we had no less than half a dozen hotel card to choose from but that has now dwindled down to two - well actually three if you include the business version of the Marriott Bonvoy American Express card. Both the Best Western and Marriott cards have definitely fit a niche in the Canadian market which have helped them outlast all the other hotel cards we seen come and go and the Best Western fills that no annual fee, road warrior, not looking for luxury travel niche perfectly. In fact this card has ranked in the top three in our annual rankings in the no annual fee travel rewards card segment so there is something to attest to here.

How to earn over 97,000 British Airways Executive Club Avios for free*

 
Hot on the heels of our popular post from earlier this week showing our readers how they can earn over 118,000 Aeroplan points for nothing other than credit card spend is that you can do the same for several other programs in Canada. One of the most popular non-Canadian frequent flyer programs for Canadians is British Airways Executive Club and thanks to many of the same card offers seen in the Aeroplan post   plus one additional card you can earn a boat load of BA Executive Club Avios at no cost other than credit card spending. That's where the asterisk * in the title comes into play. * We mean free as in paying no annual fees on this list of credit cards in the first year - you simply need to make the minimum spending requirement on some or all of the cards to garner those points. Some of you may have one or two of these cards so you can jump on some of the offers to earn a portion of the points for free or are sitting at a position in the points and miles game where you can re-apply for them now and get yourself those points while some of you may not have any of the cards and can potentially score the full 98,000 Avios. 

How to earn over 147,000 Aeroplan points for free*

GREAT NEWS: According to an interview with Air Canada Aeroplan execs that Anshul at Points, Miles & Bling had over this past weekend the buddy pass conversion option is based on the date you apply not the date the buddy pass posts to your account - this means you can apply for this card by April 30 and be able to convert the buddy pass to Aeroplan points once it posts to your account. Please note there are mentions on other sites the conversion option is being extended. There is no confirmation of this just yet - we have reached out to Air Canada and should know by April 23 if this will be happening 

MAJOR UPDATE: We have been notified The Buddy Pass can only be converted by April 30th which means it is very unlikely any new applicants for the TD card will be able to get the pass in time to convert. This is likely to keep the card from having an influx of new applicants just  to convert the Buddy Pass over to points. This is an unfortunate turn of events and affects this post. That being said there is still the potential to get 118,000 Aeroplan Points + a buddy pass (with the hope that Air Canada lets people convert them beyond the April 30 date)

 Over the past week we have seen some developments in the Canadian credit card mark that hugely benefit the Canadian consumer, travelers and points & miles aficionados alike. Here at Rewards Canada we've already covered all the developments in several posts but the crazy thing is you can bring them all together to rack up a ton of Aeroplan points at no cost other than credit card spending. That's where the asterisk * in the title comes into play. * We mean free as in paying no annual fees on this list of credit cards in the first year - you simply need to make the minimum spending requirement on some or all of the cards to garner those points. Some of you may have one or two of these cards so you can jump on some of the offers to earn a portion of the points for free or are sitting at a position in the points and miles game where you can re-apply for them now and get yourself those points while some of you may not have any of the cards and can potentially score the full 147,000 points. 

Top 5 Credit Card Sign Up offers for February - These cards provide the best value out of their welcome bonuses

  Here are the Rewards Canada Top 5 Travel Credit Card Sign Up offers for the month of February 2021! This is not a 'best' credit card list like our Top Travel Rewards Credit Card rankings but instead a look at cards that have very good acquisition (welcome/sign up) offers. As always when choosing a card you should always take other factors into account other than the just sign up bonus, but when some of these cards are first year free, they can and do pay off even when you grab them strictly for the sign up rewards. This month we see three first year free cards on the list

Top 5 Credit Card Sign Up offers for January - These cards provide some of the best value out of their welcome bonuses

 

Here are the Rewards Canada Top 5 Travel Credit Card Sign Up offers for the month of January 2021! This is not a 'best' credit card list like our Top Travel Rewards Credit Card rankings but instead a look at cards that have very good acquisition (welcome/sign up) offers. As always when choosing a card you should always take other factors into account other than the just sign up bonus, but when some of these cards are first year free, they can and do pay off even when you grab them strictly for the sign up rewards. This month we see three first year free cards on the list 

Which credit card earns the most Aeroplan Points? Version 2.0

Way back in 2012 we published a feature and infographic that compared how various credit and charge cards in Canada earned Aeroplan miles. The last time it was updated was 2014 and a lot has changed since then! We've seen cards that were on that list disappear, cards go through earn rate changes and most recently seeing the entire Aeroplan program revamped and relaunched in November 2020. It is only fitting that we provide a new and revised version of that feature as well since there have been so many changes in those 7 years. 

Clash of the Credit Cards! Marriott Bonvoy American Express Card vs. MBNA Best Western Rewards Mastercard

 

Welcome to another Rewards Canada Clash!

If you listened to our podcast from June entitled Clash of the Credit Cards - you'll know that we've changed our Showdown features to Clashes. The reason why is that lots of sites and blogs are using Showdown now, some are using battle so we wanted to continue to be unique so our comparisons are now Clashes! 

 This time we have a Clash of the Credit Cards between the only two remaining hotel loyalty program credit cards in Canada. Those cards are the Marriott Bonvoy™ American Express® Card  and the MBNA Best Western Rewards Mastercard

Continue on to the main Rewards Canada site to read the Clash in its entirety!