We review the American Express Gold Rewards Card and Neo drops their cashback guarantee to 0.5% for new applicants

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

We updated our review of the American Express® Gold Rewards Card today. This card which we first reviewed in 2010 is one of the best travel cards in Canada, in fact it was the best from 2011 to 2017 until the Cobalt Card came out. Over the years we had some piece meal updates to that review so we thought it's time to do a complete refresh for 2022 especially seeing that it was revamped in 2021. See what we think of the card now! Click here to read the entire review (link has been corrected)

Neo Financial boosts Savings interest rate to 2.25%, new Amex Offer for Pulp & Press and WestJet to launch Vancouver-Penticton flights

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

 

Neo Financial has once again boosted their everyday interest rate for their Neo Money Savings Account. The accounts now offer a full time 2.25% and this is not an short term interest rate like you see from the big banks. Click here to learn more!

$25 welcome bonus returns on Neo Mastercards, earn 2x stamps on Hotels dot com app bookings & earn 100 bonus AIR MILES at Sobeys

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 Scotiaank Gold American Express Card which you can earn up to 45,000 bonus Scene+ Rewards points in your first year with (that’s up to $450 towards travel)
Click here to learn more about this offer

 

The $25 welcome bonus for the Neo Financial Mastercard has returned. Now when you apply for and are approved for the card you will receive a $25 welcome bonus. The bonus tends to post really quick, in fact in our own personal experience it posted even before the physical card arrived in the mail. Click here to learn more and apply for a Neo Mastercard (Note at the moment the landing page does not state the $25 bonus yet but it is being awarded!)

Mandatory vaccination will no longer be required for domestic travel, 2x points + Free Night Award for private home stays & Neo boosts interest rate to 1.6%

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

One more step was taken by the Federal Government yesterday to returning travel to normal. The feds announced an end to the vaccine requirement for domestic air and rail travel. As of June 20th travellers flying or riding the rails within Canada will no longer have to show proof of vaccination. The rule also holds true for passengers departing from Canada on international flights or rail journeys however there may be separate rules in place for the foreign airlines and/or the country you are travelling to so be sure to know those beforehand. All other requirements still remain in place such as masking on planes and trains and the return to Canada requirements such as vaccination and testing. Click here to learn more about this news

Rewards Canada reviews the Neo Mastercard, redeem for Amex prepaid cards with a discount & 40% off AeroMexico award flights out of Montreal

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

 
We have a new credit card review on the main Rewards Canada site! This time we review the Neo Mastercard® which entered the Canadian market in mid 2020. The Neo Mastercard is a cash back rewards card that has been continually evolving since its launch in 2020. The focus is on earning higher cash back earn rates with specific Neo partners from coast to coast. You can earn upwards of 15% back on your first purchase with many partners and then earn an average of 5% cash back after that. Click here to read the entire review

February 15 Update: Neo Financial now offers a secured rewards card, new Amex Offer for Pizza Nova & ANA changes Vancouver flight to Tokyo Narita

Here's your Rewards Canada Daily update! Your near daily dose of loyalty program, credit card and travel news, bonuses, deals and more. This update is brought to you by the HSBC World Elite Mastercard which is currently offering a welcome bonus of up to 100,000 bonus points worth $500, has no foreign transaction fees and no annual fee in the first year! 

 
Neo Financial has released a secured version of their Neo Mastercard that will earn the same rewards and discounts as their standard card offer. The only difference is your credit limit is set by what you have set as your security limit in your Neo Savings account. And the great thing is Neo only requires a $50 minimum security balance and you can adjust that amount as you please by moving funds to your security balance. Check out the new Neo Secured card here.

A closer look at the credit card that Canada voted as the number one Cash Back credit card

 
The results of Canada's Choice 2021 were revealed last month covering 10 categories of credit cards and loyalty with some surprising and not so surprising results. The fourth of which we look is the card that took the top spot in the Cash Back Credit Card category and that's the Neo Financial Mastercard

Neo Financial tweaks their credit card offerings again including a lowering of the monthly fees for their Plus and Ultra cards

 

One of Canada's newest financial providers, actually I should say FinTech companies Neo Financial has tweaked their credit card offerings once again. It seems every few months they are changing things up - which can be both a good and a bad thing. Good in that they are flexible and learning the market as they go and are adjusting as needed, bad in that having someone grab their product(s) based on something they have only offered for a short period of time and are already switching it up which may leave a few people wondering if being with a new entrant like this is a safe and rewarding alternative to the traditional offerings. Read on the find out what those tweaks are.

July 8 Update: Flair Airlines announces flights to six U.S. cities, update on new Marriott Hotels in Canada & Neo Financial now has a page on Rewards Canada

 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.

Flair Airlines announced that starting this October the airline will fly between 8 Canadian cities and 6 U.S destinations: Fort Lauderdale, Orlando-Sanford, Phoenix-Mesa, Hollywood-Burbank, Palm Springs and Las Vegas (Source Flair Airlines)

Halifax, Montreal, Kitchener-Waterloo, Toronto, Vancouver,Calgary, Ottawa and Abbotsford will receive service to a variety of the U.S cities tarting this October.The ultra-low fares will start between $79 to $109CAD one-way

Neo Financial expands credit card reward options and goes nationwide

 
Back in October we provided you with details about Neo Financial and their rewards credit card offering. At that time they were only a few months past their beta stage and now less than half a year later they changing things up. When Neo first launched they wanted to be a different type of credit card and reward program but the approach they were taking at the time limited their market to select cities namely Calgary, Edmonton and Winnipeg with more cities coming down the line. That's very limiting when you want to grow your company and clientele base, so what does Neo do? They go down the traditional line of offerings that we see from most other card issuers by expanding their credit card portfolio to have cards that have a traditional cash back rewards component. And now that they have that all encompassing cash back reward option they have opened up applications to all Canadians including Quebec.

February 9 Update: HBC chooses Neo Financial to issue their new Mastercard, Guide to Credit Card Cash Back Liquidity & Air Canada announces more lay offs and route cuts

 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. This update is brought to you by the HSBC +Rewards Mastercard which is currently offering a welcome bonus of up to 30,000 bonus points, no annual fee in the first year and a low 11.9% interest rate! 

 
HBC (The Bay) has decided on who their credit card partner will be after news that their partnership with Capital One is ending. This one comes as a bit of a surprise and is a huge score for this newcomer. HBC will be partnering with Neo Financial to issue their new Mastercard! We detailed neo late last year (and have another update coming as they have released more card options) as they are a newcomer to the Canadian market, but they have a lot of backing thanks to being founded by some of the same people who launched and sold SkipTheDishers and they are looking to disrupt the current financial model in Canada (banking, credit cards, mortgages etc.). For them to score a co-brand deal this early on is huge for Neo and we pass along a big congratulations to them! Thanks to Rewards Canada contributor Jeff W. for passing along this news! (Source Business Wire)

An introduction to Neo Financial - one of Canada's newest credit card and savings reward programs

 About a year and a half ago one of the founders of SkipTheDishes reached out to me to discuss rewards programs and credit cards in Canada as he and other founders were getting ready for their next venture utilizing some of the funds they earned from selling the big food delivery service. That venture would be a new rewards program for Canadians. Fall of 2019 saw me meet with one of them again to further discuss the market and their planned intentions. In our discussions they wanted to create something new and exciting by taking what was good from most other programs, add their own twist to it and in the end they created Neo Financial. 

Neo Financial is based in Calgary and in their short lifespan so far are already employing over 100 people at their office located just on the outskirts of downtown YYC. Their initial product plan was a rewards credit card but that has quickly expanded to include other financial products like savings accounts. Neo  partnered with ATB (Alberta Treasury Branch) to be the issuer of their Mastercard and have Concentra Bank being the supplier of Neo's savings account.