BMO · Mastercard
Best headline rates, if you spend lightly
5% on groceries is the highest rate here, but every cap is monthly rather than annual, which limits the card to roughly $672 of bonus cash back a year no matter how much you spend.
Rates and features verified 2026-08-18Full terms and conditions
What we like, and what we don’t
Worth having
- 5% on groceries, 4% on transit, 3% on gas and EV charging
- First-year annual fee waived
- $5,000,000 travel medical
- Mastercard acceptance
Watch out for
- Every bonus cap is PER STATEMENT PERIOD, not annual: $500 of groceries a month, $300 transit, $300 gas, $500 bills. This is the single biggest trap on the card
- Maximum bonus cash back works out to about $672 a year however much you spend
- The welcome offer requires $2,000 EVERY month for twelve months, so $24,000 of spending rather than the $2,000 the headline implies
- Travel medical covers only 8 days and there is a hard cutoff at 65, with no reduced tier and no coverage at all
- No trip cancellation, trip interruption, flight delay, baggage delay or mobile device insurance
- Lounge "access" is a free membership with zero free visits, and every visit costs US$32
- $80,000 personal or $150,000 household income required
- BMO advertises "up to $650" while its own components add up to $694
What this card earns
- Groceries
- 5%
- Gas
- 3%
- Recurring bills and subscriptions
- 2%
- Transit
- 4%
- Everything else
- 1%
- Bonus rates apply up to
- $19,200 of annual spending after that, the base rate
The earning fine print
EVERY BONUS CAP IS PER STATEMENT PERIOD (MONTHLY), NOT ANNUAL. This is the single biggest trap on this card. Groceries 5% up to $500 spent per statement period; transit 4% up to $300; gas and EV charging 3% up to $300; recurring bills 2% up to $500. Spend above each monthly cap earns the 1% base rate, which is uncapped. The $19,200 recorded here is this site's annualisation (($500+$300+$300+$500) x 12) and is NOT a BMO-published figure. Maximum bonus cash back is therefore about $672 a year. Dining, travel, drugstore and entertainment are not bonus categories.
The welcome offer
- Welcome bonus
- $480 after you spend $24,000, within 12 months
- Also included
- The first-year annual fee is waived
- Offer ends
- 2026-10-31
What the offer actually requires
HEADLINE VS FOOTNOTE. The page says "$40 in cash back each month when you spend a minimum of $2,000 in your first year". The footnote says $2,000 of net purchases PER BILLING CYCLE, in each of the first 12 cycles, so a $24,000 total spend requirement rather than $2,000. The footnote figure is recorded. The advertised "up to $650" also does not reconcile to its own components ($480 bonus + $139 fee rebate + $75 roadside = $694). Applications must be received between 15 Dec 2025 and 31 Oct 2026.
Fees and interest rates
- Annual fee
- $139 waived the first year
- Additional card
- $50
- Foreign transaction fee
- 2.5%
- Cash advance fee
- $5
- Dishonoured payment fee
- $48
- Purchase APR
- 21.99%
- Cash advance APR
- 23.99%
- Balance transfer APR
- 23.99%
- Balance transfer fee
- 5%
Who can get this card
- Minimum personal income
- $80,000
- Minimum household income
- $150,000
Insurance and benefits
- Travel medical
- $5,000,000 first 8 days of a trip, age 65 and under
- Rental car damage waiver
- Included
- Purchase protection
- Included
- Extended warranty
- Included
- Airport lounge
- Membership only, visits are paid
What the benefits really mean
Travel medical is only 8 days and there is a HARD CUTOFF AT 65, with no reduced tier and no coverage at all. No trip cancellation, trip interruption, flight delay, baggage delay or mobile device insurance. Lounge access is a complimentary Mastercard Travel Pass (DragonPass) MEMBERSHIP with zero complimentary visits, and every visit costs US$32 per person. Quebec residents pay 21.99% on cash advances and balance transfers rather than 23.99%.
Our verdict
The highest advertised rates on this page and one of the lowest scores, which tells you how much the fine print matters. Caps that reset monthly instead of annually mean a household spending $1,200 a month on groceries earns 5% on $500 of it and 1% on the rest. The effective grocery rate is closer to 2.7%.
Then there is the welcome offer, which requires $2,000 of spending in each of twelve billing cycles rather than $2,000 once, and an insurance package that is thin for a World Elite and stops entirely at 65. Requiring $80,000 of income for this is difficult to justify when the Scotiabank Momentum asks $60,000 and delivers more.
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Where this came from. bmo.com product page, cost of borrowing insert (June 2026), offer terms, CashBack World Elite benefit guide. We take every figure from the issuer’s own pages, never from another comparison site, and we leave a field blank rather than guess at it.