National Bank · Mastercard
A free card that pays about 0.5% and donates to the Quebec Breast Cancer Foundation. The donation comes from the bank, not from your rewards.
Rates and features verified 2026-08-18Full terms and conditionsHow we research cards
What we like, and what we don’t
Worth having
- No annual fee and no fee for additional cards
- National Bank publishes the redemption rate directly at $10 per 1,000 points
- National Bank contributes to the Quebec Breast Cancer Foundation based on card spending
- Available across Canada despite the Quebec focused cause
Watch out for
- A point per $2 spent works out to about 0.5%, one of the weakest returns in this comparison
- The bank's donation is capped at $750,000 a year across all cardholders, after which spending generates nothing further
- There is no current welcome offer. The last one expired in November 2024
- No travel insurance and no purchase protection
- The charitable framing does not change the fact that the card underpays you
What this card earns
- Everything else
- 0.5x
- Bonus categories at once
- 0 you choose which
- What we value a point at
- 1¢
The earning fine print
Flat earn of '1 point for every $2 spent' on all purchases (restated as 0.5 points per $1). No bonus categories and no published caps. National Bank publishes the redemption value directly: '$10 for every 1,000 points earned', i.e. 1 cent per point, giving an effective return of about 0.5% on all spend.
What the offer actually requires
No current welcome offer. The only promotion shown on the page ran October 1 to November 29, 2024 and has expired.
Fees and interest rates
- Annual fee
- None
- Additional card
- Free
- Foreign transaction fee
- 2.5%
- Purchase APR
- 20.99%
- Cash advance APR
- 22.49%
- Balance transfer APR
- 22.49%
Who can get this card
- Minimum personal income
- Not published by the issuer
Insurance and benefits
- Purchase protection
- Included
- Extended warranty
- Included
What the benefits really mean
Purchase protection for 90 days against theft or damage; extended warranty up to double the manufacturer's warranty period; Mastercard Zero Liability. No travel insurance and no mobile device insurance. Charitable feature: National Bank donates $0.10 for every $10 charged to the card annually to the Quebec Breast Cancer Foundation, capped at $750,000 annually across the whole programme. The effective return is only about 0.5%. The '1 point per $2' earn combined with a 1-cent point makes this one of the weakest earn rates in the market despite the charitable framing. The donation is made by National Bank, not from the cardholder's rewards, and is capped at $750,000 per year across all cardholders. Beyond the cap incremental spending generates no further donation. The welcome offer displayed on the page expired in November 2024 and has not been refreshed. The card's Quebec Breast Cancer Foundation tie-in may imply a Quebec-only product; National Bank publishes no provincial restriction, so excluded_provinces is empty and should be verified before publishing.
Our verdict
Half a percent is not competitive. Free cards in this comparison pay 1.25% and 2%, and a card paying 0.5% is asking you to donate the difference without saying so. If the charitable angle is what appeals, you would give more to the Quebec Breast Cancer Foundation by holding a 2% card and sending them the extra 1.5% yourself.
It is also worth understanding how the donation works. National Bank makes the contribution out of its own money, and caps it at $750,000 a year across every cardholder combined. Past that cap your spending generates no additional donation at all, while still earning you 0.5%. The cause is real. The card is not a good way to support it.
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Where this came from. National Bank Allure Mastercard product page (fee, 20.99%/22.49% rates, earn rate, redemption value, charitable donation terms, insurance) and National Bank's help-centre page for the 2.5% foreign currency transaction fee.. 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.