Bank of Montreal (BMO) is a bank and issuer of credit cards very dear to our hearts at Frugal Flyer, primarily for its Air Miles line of credit cards, which offer stellar welcome bonuses. Of course, the Air Miles program has become a bit lacking as of late… but I digress, instead today we’re going to review something else entirely from BMO: the BMO CashBack World Elite Mastercard.
Read on to find out the ins and outs of this card and why you might want to consider it for your wallet.
Overview
Welcome Bonus
The BMO CashBack World Elite Mastercard is a cashback credit card, and as is common with these types of cards, the welcome bonus is delivered as a promotion increase in the cashback rate:
- As a new cardholder, you can get up to 10% cashback in the first three months.
- Plus: You can earn an additional $75 FlyerFunds Rebate on the BMO CashBack World Elite Mastercard when you apply through Frugal Flyer Rebates!
The BMO CashBack World Elite Mastercard earns cash back and offers cardholders the opportunity to earn up to 5% cash back on all grocery purchases. As a result, for 2024 we selected this card for the award for Best Cashback Credit Card for Grocery Purchases.
Check out our BMO Cashback World Elite Mastercard review for more details.
$250 cash back
$2,500
$250+
$120 (FYF)
Yes
Nov 30, 2024
The promotional cashback maximum earned in the first three months is divided between purchase categories, as follows:
- 10% on up to $500 spend on grocery purchases ($50)
- 10% on up to $300 spend on transit and ride sharing ($30)
- 10% on up to $300 spend on gas and electric vehicle charging ($30)
- 10% on up to $500 spend on recurring bill payments ($50)
- 10% on up to $1,000 spend on all other purchases ($100)
This results in a maximum spend of $2,600 or $260 in cashback you can earn in the first three months.
The annual fee of $120 is also waived for the first year of card membership.
Earning Rates
As with most credit cards, the fastest way to earn points or cashback is through the credit card welcome bonus, in this case, the elevated promotional cashback rate on the BMO CashBack World Elite Mastercard.
The BMO CashBack World Elite Mastercard also provides some very strong elevated earning rates for specific spend categories, as follows:
- 5% cash back on grocery (first $500 spent per billing cycle)
- 4% cash back on transit and ride sharing (first $300 spent per billing cycle)
- 3% cash back on gas and electric vehicle charging (first $300 spent per billing cycle)
- 2% cash back on recurring bill payments (first $500 spent per billing cycle)
- 1% cash back on all other purchases (no limit)
You can also only earn cashback on a maximum spend of $7,000 per month.
These spending categories provide an opportunity to generate a good return on your daily spending, especially if you maximize each category. The 5% cashback rate on groceries makes this one of the best credit cards for grocery purchases in Canada, and arguably the best if you are looking for cashback and not points.
Related: Best Credit Cards for Grocery Purchases in Canada
Annual Fee
The BMO CashBack World Elite Mastercard has an annual fee of $120 which is comparable to many other World Elite credit cards in Canada.
Customers who have a BMO Premium Chequing account can receive up to a $150 annual fee rebate per calendar year or those who have a BMO Performance Chequing account can receive up to a $40 annual fee rebate per calendar year. Double-check the benefits of your BMO bank account to understand how this benefit works.
Benefits
The BMO Cashback World Elite Mastercard comes with three benefits of note: roadside assistance, insurance coverage, and free Boingo WiFi.
Roadside Assistance
With the BMO CashBack World Elite Mastercard, you receive complimentary membership in the Dominion Automobile Association (DAA) and benefit from their BMO Roadside Assistance Program (Basic Coverage).
Membership terms and the features of the plan are described in the Certificate you will receive. The plan includes battery boosts, flat tire change, lockout service, and towing – a $69/year value.
The only other credit card that offers free roadside assistance is the Triangle World Elite Mastercard, and I know from experience that that roadside service is very good. If you’ve had experience with DAA, please let us know in the comments below!
Insurance Coverage
The BMO CashBack World Elite Mastercard comes with a strong package of insurance coverage, including emergency travel and medical protection, flight and baggage delay benefits, extended warranty plus, purchase protection plus, car rental and collision damage waiver benefits, and more.
See the table below for more details on each insurance offering.
| Insurance | Details |
|---|---|
| Travel Emergency Medical Insurance | Coverage for 8 consecutive days of up to $2 million for each of you, your spouse, and your dependent children under the age of 65. |
| Trip Cancellation/Trip Interruption Insurance | None. |
| Flight Delay Insurance | Coverage of $500 for flight delay of 6 hours or more. Must charge full or partial ticket cost to the primary cardholder’s card. |
| Baggage and Personal Effects Benefits | Coverage of $750 per insured person up to a maximum of $2,000 per account for lost, damaged, or stolen luggage or personal effects. Coverage of $200 for the purchase of essentials in the case of delayed baggage (delay of 12 hours or more). Must charge the full or partial cost of the trip to the primary cardholder’s card. |
| Travel Accident Insurance | Covered against accidental loss of life or dismemberment. Must charge 100% of ticket cost to the card. |
| Rental Car Collision Loss & Damage Insurance | Coverage of damaged or stolen vehicles up to the full cost of the vehicle. Must charge the full or partial cost to the card, the rental period cannot exceed 48 days and the vehicle cannot cost over $65,000. Personal effects are also covered for up to $1,000 per person ($2,000 per rental period). |
| Hotel & Motel Burglary Insurance | None. |
| Purchase Security & Extended Warranty Protection | Insured against theft, loss, or damage for 180 days from the purchase date. The manufacturer’s warranty is extended by two years. |
Several things stand out that make this a very strong insurance package, particularly due to the fact that for much of the travel insurance coverage you only need to partially charge the trip/flight to the card. Furthermore, the purchase protection of 180 days and warranty extension of two years are rare benefits, as even most premium cards have 90-day protection and one-year warranty extension.
On the other hand, 8 days of emergency medical coverage is quite short but you can get this benefit from other credit cards since no charge to the card is required for eligibility.
Related: Credit Card Travel Insurance For Award Flights
Refer to the BMO CashBack World Elite Mastercard certificate of insurance for complete details and conditions.
Free Boingo WiFi
With the BMO CashBack World Elite Mastercard, you also get access to WiFi hotspots provided via Boingo, worldwide. Boingo works with some prominent airlines such as WestJet, Lufthansa, Swiss, Austrian, Singapore Airlines, and Etihad (and is even a great way to get free WiFi on WestJet flights).
Redeeming Cash Back
Redeeming your cashback balance with the BMO CashBack World Elite Mastercard is straightforward. You can redeem ad hoc if the balance is over $1, or you can set up automatic recurring redemptions which will trigger at the end of the billing cycle if the balance is over $25. Cashback deposits take 2-5 business days following the request or billing cycle.
The cash back balance can be redeemed in one of three ways:
- Used as a statement credit on your monthly bill
- Deposited into a BMO chequing or savings account
- Deposited into your InvestorLine account
BMO has some generous bank account bonuses right now if you’re interested in setting up a new bank account. Combine these with our BMO bank account rebates to maximize your return.
Comparable Credit Cards
A strong benefit of the BMO CashBack World Elite Mastercard is its 5% earn rate on grocery purchases. We’ve compiled a list of the top 5 credit cards for grocery purchases, which includes rival cards like the Scotiabank Gold American Express card and American Express Cobalt credit card which both earn 5X points on groceries in their respective programs.
There are also a couple of other credit cards that we think could be good alternatives to the BMO CashBack World Elite Mastercard: the Scotiabank Momentum Visa Infinite credit card and the National Bank World Elite Mastercard.
Scotiabank Momentum Visa Infinite Card
If you’re looking exclusively for cashback, the Scotiabank Momentum Visa Infinite card earns 4% on grocery, recurring bills, and subscriptions, and has a yearly rather than monthly spending cap of $25,000.
The Scotiabank Momentum Visa Infinite card earns cash back and gives cardholders the opportunity to earn 4% cash back on grocery purchases, eligible recurring bill payments, and subscription purchases.
Check out our Scotiabank Momentum Visa Infinite card review for more details.
$200 cash back
$2,000
$200+
$120 (FYF)
Yes
Oct 31, 2024
National Bank World Elite Mastercard
If insurance is important to you, the National Bank World Elite Mastercard beats out the card across several categories, particularly with stronger medical, trip delay, and damaged/lost/stolen baggage insurance.
The National Bank World Elite Mastercard earns À la Carte Rewards points and offers cardholders benefits such as $150 in annual travel credits and access to the National Bank VIP lounge in the YUL International terminal. Due to its stellar travel insurance and purchase protection benefits, we deemed this card the Best Overall Insurance Credit Card of 2024.
Check out our National Bank World Elite Mastercard review for more details.
0 À la carte Rewards
$0
$-150+
$150
Yes
–
Nonetheless, the BMO CashBack World Elite also edges out the National Bank World Elite in some subtle ways, including
- BMO covers personal effects for rental cars whereas NB does not.
- BMO baggage delay is covered in the case of a partial charge, whereas NB requires the full cost to be charged to the card.
- BMO has a lower annual fee of $120 vs $150 for the NB card.
Conclusion
The BMO Cashback World Elite Mastercard is a formidable cash back earning credit card. Its strengths include category bonuses with grocery, transit, gas, and recurring payments, as well as a complimentary roadside assistance program and strong insurance benefits with purchase protection and extended warranty.
Reed Sutton
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