It goes without saying that credit card rewards are a nice bonus—but right now, they’re especially useful. And with the right Mastercard, you can earn cash back or rewards points on most (or even all) of your regular spending. With inflation continuing to bite, especially at grocery stores and gas stations, choosing to shop with one of the best Mastercards in Canada could help you earn you hundreds back in cash or rewards value over the course of 2024.
And while simply comparing rewards values is a logical way to pick your card, there is more to consider. Is it accepted where you shop? Are the card’s other perks, like warranty coverage or travel insurance, worth the annual fee? With that in mind, we’ve rounded up the 10 best Mastercards available on the Canadian market for your consideration.
Feature Partner Offer
1
RBC Cash Back Mastercard
Welcome Bonus
None
Annual Fee
$0
Regular APR (Purchases) / Regular APR (Cash Advances)
20.99% / 22.99%
2
Tangerine Money-Back Credit Card
Welcome Bonus
$100
Annual Fee
$0
Regular APR
19.95%
3
MBNA True Line® Mastercard®
Welcome Bonus
None
Annual Fee
$0
Regular APR (Purchases) / Regular APR (Cash Advances)
12.99% / 24.99%
When determining a rating for individual credit cards, the Forbes Advisor Canada editorial team factors in an exhaustive list of data points. For best Mastercards, we ranked each Canadian Mastercard from one to five in a variety of categories. We then used the following scoring model to determine the best cards available in Canada:
50% earn rate
25% flexibility
15% perks
5% fee
5% welcome bonus
Keep in mind, what may be best for some people might not be right for you. Conduct informed research before deciding which cards will best help you achieve your financial goals.
This heavyweight cash-back card is ideal for big families, avid travellers, and pretty much anyone who spends a lot on groceries, gas or getting away.
Rewards: Earn 5% cash back on groceries for the first $500 spent in a billing cycle, at which point the rewards rate drops down to 1%. Cardholders also earn 4% on transit, 3% on gas for the first $300 spent (with a 1% earn rate afterwards), and 2% on recurring bill payments. All other purchases earn 1% cash back with no limits.
Welcome Offer: $260 worth of cash back rewards after spending up to $2,600 within the first 90 days of owning the card.
Annual Fee: $120 (waived in the first year)
Other Benefits and Drawbacks: The BMO CashBack World Elite Mastercard comes with a few frills, namely $2 million worth of emergency medical coverage for eight days for any cardholder under 65 years old, but its real strength lies in its rewards. It falls short on its hefty $120 annual fee, but the card’s welcome bonus and other perks offset this cost.
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Anyone with a Neo account who wants to save some serious cash can look no further than the Neo Standard Mastercard. That is, if they also happen to shop at a lot of Neo partner stores.
Rewards: Unlike the other cards on this list, Neo promises an average of 5% unlimited cash back at Neo partners, rather than offering rewards for broad categories like groceries or gas. It also guarantees cardholders at least 1% back for the first $5,000 worth of purchases, regardless of a retailer’s individual policy.
Welcome Offer: Up to 15% cash back on a cardholder’s first purchase at a Neo retailer.
Annual Fee: $0
Other Benefits and Drawbacks: While a 5% cash back offer is particularly attractive to fans of Neo-partnered brands and stores (the financial company claims over 10,000 partners across Canada), it doesn’t offer any rewards outside of its network. This card also doesn’t offer much in the way of consumer protections or travel coverage.
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If you fly WestJet a lot, this card is for you. It may not have particularly high earnings, but the WestJet RBC World Elite Mastercard’s 1.5% across-the-board earn rate means nearly every purchase you make can count towards your next flight.
Rewards: Grants 1.5% of all everyday purchases in WestJet dollars or 2% back on all WestJet flights or vacation packages. However, WestJet dollars can only be used for WestJet-related purchases.
Welcome Offer: Earn up to 450 WestJet dollars (a value of up to $450 off the base fare). Get 250 WestJet dollars after the first purchase and 200 WestJet dollars after spending $5,000 in the first 3 months. Conditions applyǂ.
Annual Fee: $119
Other Benefits and Drawbacks: Unsurprisingly for an airline card, the WestJet RBC World Elite Mastercard offers a suite of travel and consumer protection perks. However, there is an obvious downside—you can’t use the rewards on anything except WestJet. This card also has a steep annual income prerequisite of $80,000 for a single person or $150,000 for a household.
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Anyone who eats out, buys plenty of Costco products online, or simply fuels up regularly at a Costco pump should consider this card thanks to its decent rewards points and consumer protection perks.
Rewards: Get 3% cash back at restaurants and Costco gas stations, or 2% back at non-Costco gas stations and online Costco purchases. This card also gives 1% back on all other purchases, including purchases at a brick-and-mortar Costco store.
Welcome Offer: None.
Annual Fee: $0
Other Benefits and Drawbacks: This card includes optional balance protection purchase protection and extended warranty protection—all great options for a store card. That said, cardholders will need a membership to take advantage of this card. And most in-store Costco purchases, except Costco gas, will earn just 1% cash back.
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Frequent online shoppers will love this card’s respectable cash-back rate for Amazon purchases, as well as its lack of an annual fee. This goes double for anyone who also happens to be a habitual Whole Foods shopper.
Rewards: If you have a Prime membership, you’ll get 2.5% in Amazon Rewards back on every online purchase at Amazon.ca, as well as purchases at Whole Foods and foreign currency transactions. Cardholders without Prime earn 1.5% on just Amazon.ca and Whole Foods purchases.
Welcome Offer: $150 worth of Amazon Rewards on the first $3,000 spent on the card at Amazon.ca, grocery stores or restaurants in the first six months of having it.
Annual Fee: $0
Other Benefits and Drawbacks: While the lack of true cash back is a downside to the MBNA Amazon.ca Rewards Mastercard, pretty much any product can be found on Amazon. The two-tiered rewards rate is also a little annoying if an Amazon Prime membership isn’t right for you.
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Most credit card rewards programs are prescriptive — you earn a steep rewards rate on one or two shopping categories, but a measly 1% on everything else. The Tangerine World Mastercard lets cardholders customize their rewards to their lifestyle, albeit at a lower rewards rate than many elite cash-back cards.
Rewards: Earn 2% cash back on two spending categories of your choice: groceries, furniture, restaurants, hotels, gas recurring bill payments, drug stores, home improvement, entertainment, public transportation, or parking. All other categories earn 0.5% cash back.
Welcome Offer: Earn 10% cash back ($100 value) on up to $1,000 in purchases made within the first two months of owning the card when you apply by April 30, 2024.
Annual Fee: $0
Other Benefits and Drawbacks: This card’s flexibility is underpinned by its lack of spending caps. If you overwhelmingly buy groceries or gas with your card, you’ll still earn rewards on all of it. Tangerine Bank clients will also love this card — if you deposit all of your rewards into a savings account, you get a third 2% category to choose from. That said, the card’s $60,000 minimum income requirement restricts who can apply. Households qualify if they earn $100,000 a year and individuals can get around the personal income requirement if they have over $250,000 in a Tangerine Bank savings or investment fund.
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Similar to the Tangerine World Mastercard, this one gives cardholders a customizable rewards program with a much lower barrier to entry.
Rewards: Earn 2% cash back on two spending categories of your choice, including groceries, furniture, restaurants, hotels, gas recurring bill payments, drug stores, home improvement, entertainment, public transportation or parking. All other categories earn 0.5% cash back.
Welcome Offer: Earn 10% cash back (up to $100 value) on up to $1,000 in purchases made within the first two months of owning the card when you apply by April 30, 2024.
Annual Fee: $0
Other Benefits and Drawbacks: The Tangerine Money-Back Credit Card’s income requirement is only $12,000 per year, making it far more accessible to most Canadians than its higher-ranked World counterpart. However, it doesn’t give Tangerine Bank clients the option of unlocking a third 2% spending category the way the World version does.
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A bare-bones cash back card mainly geared towards groceries. It has few perks, but one of them happens to be a lack of any annual fees.
Rewards: Get 2% cash back on groceries and 1% cash back on all other purchases.
Welcome Offer: None.
Annual Fee: $0
Other Benefits and Drawbacks: This card doesn’t have much besides its rewards program. It also caps out at $120 in cash back for groceries. That said, it does have rental car insurance and cell phone insurance coverage, which are valuable and rare.
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If you’re looking for a card without any rewards earning caps, you’ve come to the right place. This card doesn’t give much in the way of cash back, but you can spend as much as you want without hitting a limit.
Rewards: Get 1.5% cash back on all purchases.
Welcome Offer: None
Annual Fee: $99
Other Benefits and Drawbacks: The hefty annual fee isn’t ideal, but anyone using a card with an unlimited earnings cap might not need to worry about that. Aside from its rewards program, this card also has airport lounge access, rental car insurance and checked baggage insurance.
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Athletes, renovation geeks, and Canadian Tire connoisseurs will appreciate a card that gives Canadian Tire Money as rewards and the Triangle World Elite Mastercard delivers.
Rewards: Get 4% back in Canadian Tire money on qualifying pre-tax purchases at Canadian Tire, Sport Chek, Mark’s/L’Équipeur, Atmosphere, Party City, Sports Rousseau, Hockey Experts, L’Entrepôt du Hockey and participating Sports Experts stores. You’ll also get 3% back in Canadian Tire money on groceries up to $12,000 per year (unless it’s at Walmart or Costco) or 0.5% in Canadian Tire Money at gas stations. After that, you earn 0.5% in groceries. The same goes for all other purchases.
Welcome Offer: None
Annual Fee: $0
Other Benefits and Drawbacks: This card is great for cardholders who love Canadian Tire, Sport Chek, Mark’s and the other qualifying stores listed above – but that’s largely where the benefits end. It is a card aimed at specific brands. It also has a fairly high annual personal income minimum of $80,000, meaning about 6 million Canadians can qualify.
Credit card data research and analysis provided by Debra Toews, Tia Duncombe and Jack Choros.
Mastercard is one the three leading credit card networks in the world. It was created in response to Bank of America’s BankAmericard, which would eventually go on to become Visa — still Mastercard’s biggest competitor to this day. It began as an alliance of several banks and regional bankcard associations and started life as the Interbank Card Association (ICA), which by 1967 had over 150 members. The ICA produced its own credit card for use across its partners, but due to a lack of brand awareness, went from The Interbank Card to Master Charge: The Interbank Card before being renamed MasterCard in 1979. It’s now the second-largest payment processing corporation operating worldwide. It has pretty wide penetration among businesses and retailers across the globe, but (like anything) it has its benefits and drawbacks.
When it comes to choosing a credit card, whether it’s a Visa, Mastercard or Amex makes a considerable difference. All of these card types offer different features, providing different levels of universal acceptance, security and special features.
Mastercard’s work the exact same way as any other credit card wherever they are accepted. You can use Mastercard’s Tap & Go technology to tap your card against a point of sale terminal and pay for your purchases instantaneously. In a split second, your credit card details are verified by the merchant’s acquisition service, the acquirer then requests that Mastercard request payment from the credit card’s issuing bank, the issuing bank verifies the details with Mastercard and sends payment to the merchant’s acquirer. The acquirer then deposits the money into the merchant’s account.
As for you, the customer, you’re now responsible for paying back the purchase in full to your issuing bank before the payment deadline. If you do not, and only manage to make the minimum required payment by the payment due date, interest will be charged daily and your balance will be larger on your next statement and the next, and the next, even if you don’t make any additional purchases, until you pay back your balance in full during the 30-day grace period when no interest is charged before the payment deadline.
When it comes to Mastercard, not all cards are created equal. There are three tiers of Mastercards: Standard, World and World Elite. Essentially, these go from basic to premium. Here’s what you can expect from each tier of Mastercard.
Standard Mastercards will typically be entry-level cards with lower earn rates and very few extra perks. Typically, these cards will have no annual fees or a very low one. Cards in this tier will also have low requirements for credit scores and income.
World Mastercards are the next level up from Standard. These cards will usually earn some rewards and include a few useful perks. These cards usually come with an annual fee and moderate requirements for credit scores and income.
World Elite Mastercards are the highest tier available. These cards will usually offer very competitive rewards earn rates and wide range of useful perks, like travel insurance, lounge access and more. These cards will also have high annual fees and steep requirements for credit scores and income.
There are plenty of benefits to using a Mastercard. Here are some notable ones:
Mastercard is the most widely accepted credit card, and is accepted in over 210 countries and territories. Plus, it’s also the only credit card that’s accepted in Canadian Costco stores.
You can book travel through this service. When you do, you get access to a wide range of perks, including:
This feature ensures the protection of your personal information and alerts you to suspicious activity that could be fraud. This feature is built-in, but cardholders must enroll in the program to use it. Once it’s set up, support is available around the clock should issues arise.
This protection means you won’t be responsible for any unauthorized transactions that occur on your card if it’s compromised. To use this, you must show that you take reasonable care to ensure your card doesn’t get lost or stolen.
This is a 24-hour support program that especially benefits travellers. You can call and speak with a representative at any time about issues with your card, like to locate ATMs or report it lost or stolen.
If you’re looking for a Mastercard in particular, you need to consider the same things you would when choosing any credit card. These factors are mainly, but aren’t limited to, the following.
You might as well get rewarded for your Mastercard spending, but you’ll have some decisions to make. You’ll have to decide whether you want cash back or points and choose high earn rates in the purchase categories you buy from most frequently to try to earn the most rewards as quickly as you can. You also have to take into account how easy (or not) it is to redeem rewards. For example, some Mastercards require a minimum number or value of points before you can redeem them, while other Mastercards have a spending cap that will give you the high earn rate until you reach a certain amount of spending in that category, which slows down your ability to earn points or more cash back fast. To that end, you are going to want to choose rewards cards with high spending caps in the purchase categories you buy most often that have high earn rates.
Beyond the rewards and other benefits–like travel insurance, airport lounge access, purchase protection, extended warranty and various subscription service credits–that may be offered by your Mastercard issuer, some credit cards designated World and World Elite have exclusive benefits provided by the Mastercard network. Not all the cards with World and World Elite have all the benefits that can come at these tiers, but some of the benefits you might experience include rental car insurance, Mastercard Priceless Experiences, which are exclusive digital or in-person experiences at over 45 locations across the globe, Mastercard Golf, which is Mastercard’s exclusive golf concierge which can give you access to tee times at courses featured on the PGA Tour, a Mastercard concierge, which can help you track down a special gift for that special someone or help you get difficult reservations at world-renowned restaurants, and you can save on delivery fees from a number of app services like DoorDash and Lyft. As great as these benefits may sound, they do come with a literal cost. Mastercard World and World Elite credit cards have high income requirements of at least $80,000 personal and $150,000 household annual income.
Obviously, annual fees vary across Mastercards — some are high and some are low, but all cost you money. Of course, you’ll want a Mastercard with a low annual fee, but remember that the reward offerings that come with low-annual-fee credit cards are often thin. If rewards are offered at all, they often don’t go past the base rates of 1% cash back or 1 point per dollar on all purchases. When you do find a low or no-annual-fee credit card with decent rewards earn rates, hold on to it. This is what you should be looking for and low-annual-fees with higher-than-average rewards rates and perks are absolutely the ideal for all Canadian cardholders.
The advice around annual fees on Mastercards, also applies to interest rates and other fees. Both vary widely among Mastercard’s extensive worldwide credit card portfolio, but what any cardholder should want is the most benefits and rewards they can get for low interest rates and the lowest fees. Low interest is a particular deciding factor in the Mastercard you choose if you find yourself often carrying a balance. In fact, The MBNA True Line® Mastercard®, which has no annual fee, a low 12.99% interest rate on purchases and 0% annual interest rate (“AIR”)† on balance transfers✪ for 12 months is a Mastercard and it checks all the boxes when it comes to saving money on a credit card. The only thing to be aware of though is if you’re getting low interest and low or no fees, you often can’t get rewards. For the record, the MBNA True Line has no rewards or welcome bonus, so you often need to make a choice between saving money and rewards when choosing a Mastercard, or any credit card for that matter.
†, ✪, Terms and Conditions apply. This offer is not available to residents of Quebec.
If you’re looking for an unsecured Mastercard, don’t go much lower than 600 as the minimum requirement for such a credit card. If you’re looking for a credit card with lots of benefits and perks, you not only will have to have a credit score that’s north of 700, but you may have to meet certain annual income requirements as well. Whether that’s $60,000 a year in personal income and $100,000 in household income or the higher but common, $80,000 in personal income and $150,000 in household income. This isn’t to say that you won’t be able to get a Mastercard if you have bad credit (you might) it just might be prepaid or secured until you can get approved for an unsecured Mastercard.
Mastercard is accepted worldwide (though not as many places as Visa) as the second-largest payment processing corporation in the world. Therefore, with a Mastercard, you don’t really need to worry about not being able to make a purchase. If you get a prepaid Mastercard when you travel, like the EQ Bank Card, it’s all the better because the EQ Bank Card carries legitimately no fees, including foreign transaction fees and is accepted anywhere Mastercard is, including over 210 countries worldwide.
The quality of customer service always depends on who you’re dealing with, but many Mastercards include protections against identity theft, emergency credit card replacement and cash advances and 24/7 concierge service to assist you in accomplishing your purchasing goals. On the more premium cards like World and World Elite, interaction and customer service expands even more. They have access to a golf concierge and one-of-a-kind experiences, so the higher the tier of your credit card, the more customer service benefits you are entitled to, over and above the basics.
Applying for a Mastercard is easy, it can be done online at the Mastercard in question’s website or in person at the issuing bank of that same Mastercard you want. You just have to provide some information and meet some eligibility requirements.
To be eligible for a Mastercard, or any credit card in Canada, you have to be a resident of Canada and the age of majority in the province where you live. For many Mastercards and other credit cards, you will not only need to be in the right credit score range to qualify for the card in question, but you may also need to meet specific annual personal or household income requirements. If you’re applying for a student credit card, you won’t have credit score requirements to meet, but you will likely need to show proof of income.
While applying for a Mastercard (and any credit card) requires certain personal information such as your name, address, social insurance number (SIN), place of employment, annual income, birthdate and more, as well as a “hard inquiry” that will allow the issuing bank to look at your credit report and score to assess your credit worthiness. As your application is being reviewed, any personal information you provide may need to be verified. You may need to provide a recent pay stub verifying your income, a letter from your employer verifying your place of employment, photo ID verifying your date of birth and a recent bill verifying your address.
The application process for a Mastercard (or any credit card) is relatively simple and can be done online at the credit card website or in person at the issuing bank. It consists of filling out forms with the various personal details mentioned above, reviewing the particulars of the credit card and subjecting yourself to a hard credit inquiry to assess credit worthiness. This inquiry may drop your credit score down a few points, but it should go back up with time and as you enter your regular pattern of using credit and paying it off.
Once you receive your Mastercard, the next step is to activate it. You can typically do this by contacting the card’s provider by phone, online or via your banking app. You’ll usually need to enter some of the card info and a code. Often, you need to set the pin and make a purchase on the card to fully activate it.
When it comes to deciding what to swipe with, there are two other credit card networks to choose from.
Visa credit cards are the second most widely accepted credit cards. Like Mastercard, they also have tiers that range from basic to luxury. They are available at several of the big six banks in Canada.
American Express is the least accepted type of credit card and is known mostly for its travel perks. Unlike Visa and Mastercard, Amex is both a card network and issuer. This means they offer their own credit cards directly and banks also offer Amex cards.
Right now, the best Mastercard in Canada is the BMO CashBack World Elite Mastercard, which not only offers you World Elite perks and benefits, but $260 as a welcome bonus and the highest rate on grocery purchases in the country at 5%. The only drawback is the $120 annual fee, but the rewards more than make up for it.
The highest tier Mastercard is the Mastercard World Elite tier, which comes with the most premium benefits like zero delivery fees on subscription services, a golf concierge for the choicest tee times and access to Mastercard Experiences, which are exclusive digital and in-person events taking place in over 45 countries that only Mastercard holders can attend. Be aware though, even though World Elite has the most perks, it also has the highest income requirements to qualify at $80,000 annual personal income and $150,000 annual household income.
Visa has more marketshare than Mastercard and is the largest payment processing company in the world as a result. However, Mastercard has different benefits within its network, as part of World and World Elite status, and is accepted in almost as many places.
Learn more: Visa Vs. Mastercard: The Main Differences
Mastercards are accepted worldwide in over 210 countries.
Based on Forbes Advisor’s research, the Neo Standard Mastercard takes the cake with an estimated $577.22 in annual net earnings. To be fair, the exact amount isn’t guaranteed and depends on your lifestyle, budget and the maximum cash-back rate each partner retailer and brand of Neo is offering at the time. The $577.22 number is based on getting 5% cash back – the maximum amount available from retailers.
On this list, the WestJet RBC World Elite Mastercard and the Triangle World Elite Mastercard both require a personal income of at least $80,000 per year or $150,000 in household income. The Tangerine World Mastercard comes in at third place, with $60,000 in personal income or $100,000 for your household. However, passing this prerequisite doesn’t guarantee you’ll be approved for the card.
It depends on the card. Generally, the rewards rate is dropped to 1% or less. For example, a card might offer 3% back on groceries up to $300, but then drop it to 1% for all grocery spending beyond that. Some credit cards simply don’t give you any rewards beyond the cap. Always be sure to check the fine print for details.
Plenty of Canadian banks offer Mastercard. Of the big six banks, the following offer Mastercards:
TD does not offer Mastercard. Plenty of other banks and financial institutions offer Mastercards, including:
The best Mastercard in Canada is offered by BMO. It’s the BMO CashBack World Elite Mastercard.
