RBC ION Plus Visa Card

RBCVisa

RBC · Visa

4.5out of 5, our rating

Best value for the fee

Three points a dollar across five everyday categories for $48 a year. At RBC's own one cent redemption rate that is 3% back, which almost nothing else at this price matches.

Annual fee$48
Purchase APR20.99%
Welcome offer$200
Minimum incomeNot published

Rates and features verified 2026-08-18Full terms and conditions

What we like, and what we don’t

Worth having

  • 3 points a dollar on groceries, dining and food delivery, gas and EV charging, rides, and streaming and subscriptions
  • No cap is published on the bonus categories
  • No annual fee for additional cards
  • RBC publishes no income requirement at all, so it is reachable for most people
  • Students and anyone 24 or under can have the fee rebated with a student chequing account

Watch out for

  • Avion points redeem at roughly one cent, and as little as 0.71 cents on the smallest gift card, so do not read 3x as 3% guaranteed
  • No travel insurance, no rental car coverage and no trip cancellation
  • General entertainment such as cinemas and live events is not a bonus category despite the streaming one
  • Travel, drugstore and ordinary bill payments all earn the 1 point base rate
  • Sold as "$4/month" while the disclosure says $48 a year, and RBC never says which way it is billed
  • The absence of an earning cap could not be confirmed: RBC hides its legal footnotes behind a collapsed panel

What this card earns

Groceries
3x
Gas
3x
Dining and restaurants
3x
Transit
3x
Entertainment
3x
Everything else
1x
What we value a point at

The earning fine print

Three points a dollar across five categories at a one cent point value works out to 3% back, for $48 a year. The categories are groceries, dining and food delivery, rides and gas and EV charging, and streaming, digital gaming and subscriptions. General entertainment such as cinemas is NOT included and earns the 1 point base rate, nor are travel, drugstore or ordinary recurring bills. No earning cap is published anywhere, but RBC's legal footnotes sit behind a collapsed panel that could not be read, so treat "uncapped" as probable rather than confirmed. Note the cheaper no-fee ION card earns only 1.5 points and does NOT include dining.

The welcome offer

Welcome bonus
7,000 points after you spend $0, within 1 month
Second tier
14,000 points after you spend $1,500, within 6 months
Offer ends
2026-11-04

What the offer actually requires

7,000 points on approval, 14,000 more after $1,500 of spending in six months, and 7,000 as an anniversary bonus, for 28,000 in total. RBC values that at $200 in gift cards. A separate and apparently competing RBC promotion on its Moi and Metro landing page offers "up to $150 in groceries" for the same card with the same closing date, and RBC does not say whether the two can be combined. Students and anyone 24 or under can have the annual fee rebated by opening an RBC Advantage Banking Account for Students; RBC does not publish how long that rebate lasts.

Fees and interest rates

Annual fee
$48
Additional card
Free
Foreign transaction fee
2.5%
Cash advance fee
$5
Purchase APR
20.99%
Cash advance APR
22.99%
Balance transfer APR
22.99%
Balance transfer fee
3%

Who can get this card

Minimum personal income
Not published by the issuer

Insurance and benefits

Mobile device
$1,000
Purchase protection
Included
Extended warranty
Included

What the benefits really mean

No travel insurance of any kind and no rental car coverage. The only benefits are mobile device insurance, purchase security and extended warranty. RBC publishes NO income requirement for this card and prints "N/A" in its own comparison table, in a column it fills in for other cards, so the absence is deliberate. The card is marketed as "$4/month" but the disclosure states a $48 annual fee, and RBC never says whether it is billed monthly or annually. Quebec residents pay 21.99% on cash advances rather than 22.99% and no over-limit fee, but the product page shows only the 22.99% with no Quebec note. The certificate of insurance is dated November 2023 while the disclosure is November 2025.

Our verdict

The best value-for-fee card we have looked at so far. Five bonus categories at 3% for $48 beats several cards here charging three times as much, and the lack of a published income requirement makes it reachable for people the Visa Infinite cards turn away.

Two things to be clear-eyed about. Avion points are not worth two cents no matter what RBC's "up to $1,500" marketing implies, and the card carries no travel insurance whatsoever. Hold it for everyday spending and carry something else when you fly.

Cards worth comparing this against

Compare this against every card we track

Where this came from. rbcroyalbank.com product page, ION+ disclosure statement, benefits guide, certificate of insurance, annual fee comparison table. 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.