With so many strong no fee & premium cash back credit options, there’s no reason not to get rewarded for every purchase you make.
Whether you spend a lot or a little, cash back credit cards offer superb value. They offer the simplicity and transparency lacking in many points programs and stellar earnings, making them outstanding primary and back-up credit cards.
Here’s the summary of the top ranked Canadian cash back credit cards:
Best Cash Back Credit Card Rankings for Canada 2017
Best No-Fee Cash Back Credit Card Winners:
The Tangerine Money-Back Credit Card (no fee, 2% cashback in 3 categories, 0.5% elsewhere)
BMO Cash Back MasterCard (no fee, 1% cashback on all spend, 4% promo!)
Best Flat-Rate Cash Back Credit Card Winners:
SimplyCash Card from American Express(no fee, 5% cashback first 6 months, 1.25% cashback on everything)
MBNA Rewards World Elite (2% cashback on everything, $100 welcome bonus)
Best Specialty Cash Back Credit Card Winners:
Rogers Platinum MasterCard (no fee, 1.75% cashback, 4% cashback on foreign transactions)
Best Annual Fee Cash Back Credit Card Winner:
The Scotia Momentum Visa Infinite Credit Card ($99 fee, up to 4% cashback, 5% promo!)
Best “Same-as-Cash” Cash Back Credit Card Winners:
Scotiabank Gold American Express Card (no fee 1st yr, up to 4% cashback, $200 credit)
A full review of each of the top ranked Canadian cash back credit cards as follows:
Best Bonus Category Cash Back Credit Card in Canada:
A Bonus Category cash back credit card offers extra cash back in one or more merchant categories such as gas, groceries, pharmacies, restaurants, etc… If you spend a lot in one of those categories, they can be excellent opportunities to maximize your cash back – especially if you combine cards with different bonus categories!
Tangerine Money-Back Credit Card
Tangerine Cash Back Credit Card
Click Here To Apply
Why It’s A Winner: The Tangerine Money Back credit card, has made a dramatic impact on Canada’s no fee cash back credit card scene. The card offers the most refreshingly innovative, transparent and lucrative cash back program.
There’s no annual fee, and you get your cash back credited to your account every month – no waiting to redeem at the end of each year. You earn 2% cash back in 2 bonus categories of your choice (3 categories if you deposit your cash back into a Tangerine account), and 0.5% on all other purchases. There are no tiers, caps or limits. No fine print.
The card has the highest no fee cash back earn rate in the Canadian market. There is no other credit card without an annual fee that offers 2% cash back in up to 3 merchant categories of your choice (grocery, gas, restaurant, pharmacy, entertainment, recurring bills, etc…).
By comparison, RBC’s no fee cash back MasterCard offers 2% cash back on grocery store purchases, with a cap of $6,000 in spend and 1% everywhere else. The CIBC no fee Dividend Visa card offers 2% on groceries and up to 1% everywhere else.
With no annual fee, the richest cash back rate and the most user friendly redemption process, this card is great as your primary no fee rewards card, or in combination with other category based cash back cards.
Click here to apply for the Tangerine Money-Back Credit Card
The BMO Cash Back MasterCard
cash back credit card bmo mastercard
Click Here To Apply
Why It’s A Winner: The no-fee BMO Cash Back MasterCard is refreshingly simply, transparent and reliable – and offers the RICHEST sign-up bonus of 4% cashback on all purchases in your first 4 months, up to $125 cashback
(the 4% welcome bonus promo is a limited time offer for new cardholders who sign-up by August 31, 2017)!
You earn 1% unlimited cash back on ALL purchases, with no caps or fine print. There’s no annual fee – ever. With no annual fee, the 4% cashback promo is absolutely risk free money – it’s like getting an extra $125 in your pocket
(actually it’s more like an extra $93.75, since you would have gotten 1% of the 4% cashback without the bonus). It’s yours for the taking. Even if you already have a cash back card, this could make a great back-up card for your wallet in case the other one is lost, stolen, declined or frozen. Or, you could just apply to get the 4% cash back until you reach $125 in earnings!
Click here to apply for the BMO Cash Back MasterCard
Best Flat Rate Cash Back Credit Card in Canada:
Flat rate cash back credit cards offer the same cash back rate on all your credit card spend with no caps, tiers or categories. You’ll get the same value everywhere, all the time.
The SimplyCash card from American Express
SimplyCash Card From American Express Cash Back
Why It’s A Winner: If you’re looking for superb value and simplicity, The SimplyCash card from American Express can’t be beat. It has no annual fee & offers 1.25% cash back on all spend, no limits.
But here’s where the card gets really interesting. The SimplyCash card from American Express gets you 5% cash back on all eligible purchases at gas stations, grocery stores and restaurants in Canada (up to $250 cash back or $5,000 in spend) for the first 6 months.
With no annual fee, it’s worth it just to take advantage of the 6 month 5% cash back promo. At the end of the promo period you can decide to keep using the card or not. There’s no cost to you either way.
Click here to apply for the SimplyCash card from American Express
MBNA Rewards World Elite® MasterCard® credit card
Why It’s A Winner: The MBNA Rewards World Elite MasterCard is a hidden gem. It’s Canada’s richest and most convenient flat rate cash back credit card. No contest.
It offers a flat 2% cash back rate on ALL spend – no limits, no categories. To help you give it a try, it has a really low $89 annual fee in the first year, which is more than offset by a $100 welcome
bonus – which you get by simply activating your card with a purchase, no minimum spend is required. That essentially makes the richest flat rate cash back credit card free to try for the first year.
Besides the phenomenal 2% cash back rate, MBNA makes it really easy to redeem your cash back when and how you want. At any time, you can redeem your cash back by having MBNA send you a check, deposit your earnings into your bank account or apply your cash back against your statement.
Click here to apply for the MBNA Rewards World Elite® MasterCard® credit card
Best Specialty Cash Back Credit Card in Canada:
Not every card fits neatly into a defined category. The cash back cards below offer superb value, in some cases, better than those above. Check them out to see what they can do for you.
The Rogers Platinum MasterCard
Rogers MasterCard
Why It’s A Winner: The Rogers Platinum MasterCard may just be the richest no-fee flat rate cash back card in Canada – whether you’re a Rogers customer or not.
You get 1.75% cash back on ALL spend – not just at Rogers. Rogers customers can redeem for Rogers services and products at any time. Or, if you’re not a Rogers customer you can have Rogers apply your cash back earnings as a statement credit against ANY spend on your credit card.
The Rogers MasterCard also sets itself apart with 4% cash back on ALL purchases made in a foreign currency! That means, with a 2.5% foreign transaction fee, you’re netting 1.5% cash back on foreign purchases with
Rogers. You will be losing 1.5% to .5% (rewards rate of 1% to 2%, minus the 2.5% foreign transaction fee) with most other Canadian credit cards on foreign purchases. That’s a huge savings on foreign purchases for most Canadians.
There is a welcome bonus of $25. The annual fee is waived in the first year. Thereafter, you can have your annual fee waived if your Rogers bill is set up as a pre-authorized payment. For all others, the annual fee is only $29. With no annual fee in the first year, and a $25 welcome bonus, you’re getting the card free for 2 years, if you’re not a Rogers customer.
This is also the best no fee cash back card to shop at Costco with – even better than the CapitalOne Costco MasterCard itself, where you will earn less than 1%! With the Rogers MasterCard, you will earn 1.75% cash back on ALL Costco purchases.
Click here to apply for the Rogers Platinum MasterCard
Best Annual Fee Cash Back Credit Card Winner:
Scotia Momentum VISA Infinite Card
Why It’s A Winner: The Scotia Momentum Visa Infinite card offers more cash back in everyday spending categories than any other credit card in Canada. You earn 4% cash back on gas & groceries, 2% cash back on recurring spend & pharmacies and 1% everywhere else.
Now for a limited time until April 30, 2017 get 5% cash back on all purchases in the first 3 months, up to $3,000 in spend. Once you’ve hit $3,000 in spend, you will earn cashback at the respective
rate for each merchant category. That’s a great opportunity to earn 5% cashback – especially in the non-bonus categories, where you otherwise would have only earned 1%! The card also comes with travel medical insurance, trip interruption, flight delay and car rental insurance – making it a good replacement for your travel credit card.
If you use your card for gas & groceries, this card can’t be beat. It will only take $205 of gas & grocery spend a month, to break even on your $99 annual fee.
Click here to apply for the Scotia Momentum VISA Infinite Card
Best “Same-as-Cash” Cash Back Credit Card Winner:
Scotiabank Gold American Express Card
Why It’s a Winner: More and more credit cards are now offering rewards that can be redeemed for their dollar value against specific purchases on your credit card statement. This is an increasingly popular trend in the travel rewards space, since it offers increased flexibility and transparency.
The highest earn “Same-as-Cash” cash back credit card in this category is the Scotia Amex Gold card. You earn 4% on gas, grocery, restaurants and entertainment – some of the most popular merchant categories of all. Earn 1% everywhere else. Spend $1,000 on gas, get $40 which you can then apply against any travel expense on your credit card statement. Book anywhere, anyhow. Simply apply your $40 credit against your statement.
So while not a pure play cash back credit card, it offers the same transparency and currency as cash, except it limits your cash redemption to the travel category.
The advantage that is has over a regular cash back card is that it comes with significant travel insurance, as well as a healthier welcome bonus of no annual fee in the first year and a $200 credit! With no annual fee in the first year, the $200 is completely free!
Click here to apply for the Scotiabank Gold American Express Card
Summary of Best Cash Back Credit Card Rankings in Canada
| Credit Card | Base Cash Back | Bonus Cash Back Categories | Welcome Bonus | Annual Fee |
| Tangerine Money Back MasterCard | 0.50% | 2% in 3 categories | None | $0 |
| Amex SimplyCash | 1.25% | 1.25% flat | 5% for 6 months | $0 |
| Scotia Momentum Infinite Visa | 1.00% | 4% in gas, groceries | 5% on all purchases for 90 days | $99 / Waived 1st Year |
| MBNA Rewards World Elite | 2.00% | 2% flat | $100 credit | $89 |
| Rogers MasterCard | 1.75% | 4% on foreign purchases | $25 credit | $0 |
| Scotia Amex Gold | 1.00% | 4% on gas, groceries, restaurants, entertainment | $200 credit, no fee 1st year | $0 |
| BMO CashBack | 1.00% | 1% flat | 4% on all purchases for 4 months | $0 |
Cash Back Strategy
There are a multitude of strategies to help you maximize your cash back. One of our favourites is called stacking. Essentially, you combine a multitude of cash back cards and use the one that provides you the most cash back for any given purchase. By doing so you maximize your total cash back earnings.
For example, if you wanted to do it with a series of no fee cash back cards, you could use the President’s Choice MasterCard World Elite to earn 3% at Loblaw’s and Shoppers Drugmart & 3 cents at Esso, your Tangerine card to earn 2% at restaurants, public transit and recurring spend and your Rogers MasterCard to earn 1.75% everywhere else and get 4% on foreign transactions All with no annual fees.
This is what it might look like visually:
The cells highlighted in green are short term promotions that are higher than any standard category bonus. So you might want to take advantage of them during their promo period. By way of example, despite PC MasterCard World Elite’s 3% cashback rate, you’d get 5% using Amex’s SimplyCash card for the first 6 months.
Cash Still Reigns Supreme!
If you’re frustrated with your points or miles card, now’s a great opportunity to try a cash back card and see if you like it.
If you currently use a debit card, you’re short-changing yourself. There is simply no reason to use a debit card. You either end up paying for your debit transaction through your checking plan, or on every transaction. Why pay to use your own money, when you can get rewarded for it?
To help you find the best cash back credit card for you, you can also use our tool, which shows you how much each card will earn you based on your individualized spend.
There’s never been a better time to get a cash back card than now. Take advantage of the rich promotional offers, no fee cards and first year fee waivers – the banks are giving away tons of value to earn your business – don’t be afraid to take advantage!
compare cashback credit cards, credit cards cash back offers, credit cards with cashback rewards
Source: http://docphy.com/business-industry/personal-finance/credit-cards/best-cash-back-credit-card-rankings-canada-2017.html
No comments:
Post a Comment