CWB · Mastercard
Business card
Free, with 15 employee cards included and 0.5% back in points. CWB's own two pages quote different base rates for the same card.
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 fifteen employee cards included
- Up to 30% back in points at partner retailers through the Brim merchant network
- Points redeem as a statement credit or cash back with no accumulation limit
- Rental car collision damage waiver included
- A 19.99% rate, in line with the segment
Watch out for
- CWB's landing page says 1.5% and the product page says 0.5%. We record the lower figure
- 0.5% is half what the best free business cards pay
- The lounge benefit is a Mastercard Travel Pass membership with no complimentary visits, at US$32 each
- CWB does not publish a foreign transaction fee for this card
- The partner rate depends on a merchant list that changes
What this card earns
- Everything else
- 0.5%
- Bonus categories at once
- 0 you choose which
The earning fine print
0.5% back in points on every purchase, plus up to 30% back in points at select brand-name retail partners (Brim's merchant network). Points redeem as statement credit or cash back with no accumulation limit. NOTE: CWB's business credit card landing page advertises '1.5% back in points on all your purchases' while the Echelon Rewards product page states 0.5%. The 1.5% figure appears to belong to the Echelon Rewards+ tier. Both figures are recorded as published; do not average them.
Fees and interest rates
- Annual fee
- None
- Employee cards included
- 15
- Foreign transaction fee
- Not published by the issuer
- Purchase APR
- 19.99%
- Cash advance APR
- 22.99%
Who can get this card
- Personal guarantee required
- No you are personally liable for the balance
Insurance and benefits
- Rental car damage waiver
- Included
- Purchase protection
- Included
- Extended warranty
- Included
- Airport lounge
- Membership only, visits are paid
What the benefits really mean
Powered by Brim Financial's platform under a CWB/Brim partnership (expanded December 2022). Insurance: purchase security 90 days, extended warranty up to 1 additional year, car rental collision/loss damage waiver, Mastercard Global Emergency Services, zero liability. Lounge access is via Mastercard Travel Pass but is PAY-PER-VISIT at US$32 per visit with no complimentary passes. Lounge_passes_per_year is 0 because zero is the published number of free visits. Installment Pay option available. Digital card issuance. CWB also offers a 'Waiver of Liability' programme protecting the business against employee card abuse. APPLICATION: not available online. Application is via a CWB relationship manager or local banking centre. CORPORATE STATUS: CWB was acquired by National Bank of Canada (completed February 2025); CWB's business credit card pages remain live and make no mention of the acquisition, but there is migration risk to these products. Free employee cards: Up to 15 additional employee cards included; unlimited cards require the CWB Business Pro Package at $5.00/month. Issued by Canadian Western Bank. CWB's own landing page (1.5%) and the product page (0.5%) publish contradictory base earn rates for cards in this family. 'Lounge access' means Mastercard Travel Pass at US$32 per visit, there are no complimentary visits. The up-to-30% back is confined to Brim's select retail partner network, not general spend. CWB was acquired by National Bank of Canada in February 2025; the product's long-term availability is uncertain and the pages carry no notice. No online application. You must go through a relationship manager, which slows approval versus fintech competitors. Employee cards beyond 15 require the $5/month Business Pro Package.
Our verdict
Fifteen free employee cards is the reason to look. Most banks charge $50 a card, so a team of ten costs $500 a year elsewhere and nothing here, which for a business with staff swamps a difference of half a percentage point in cash back.
The earn rate itself is weak and CWB cannot decide what it is. The landing page advertises 1.5% back in points and the product page says 0.5%. We record 0.5% because that is the figure on the page describing this card, and where an issuer contradicts itself the conservative reading is the one that does not overstate. Also read the lounge line: a membership with no free visits is not lounge access.
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Where this came from. cwbank.com/en/business/credit-cards/echelon-rewards-card ; cwbank.com/business/credit-cards (fetched 18 Aug 2026). 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.