BMO · Visa
Best for everyday categories
5 points a dollar on groceries, gas, dining and transit, which is about 3.3% back once you use BMO's own redemption rate. Four categories at that rate is the broadest coverage on this page.
Rates and features verified 2026-08-18Full terms and conditionsHow we research cards
What we like, and what we don’t
Worth having
- 5 points a dollar across four categories, which works out to roughly 3.3% back
- First year annual fee waived
- Generous caps: $20,000 each on gas and transit, $6,000 each on dining and groceries
- $50 lifestyle credit every year, triggered by any single purchase over $50
- Strong insurance including $5,000,000 travel medical and $1,000 mobile device cover
- A $20 monthly streaming credit in the first year, worth up to $240
Watch out for
- BMO Rewards are worth 0.667 cents on travel and only 0.5 cents on everything else, so read every multiplier at a third of face value
- Travel and drugstore are not bonus categories and earn the base rate
- The 5x rate applies at Canadian merchants only
- The streaming credit needs $500 of spending in the month to qualify, which the headline does not say
- Travel medical is 15 days and stops at 65
- No trip cancellation or interruption coverage at all
- Two BMO documents disagree about whether the caps are per category or a single $50,000 pot
What this card earns
- Groceries
- 5x
- Gas
- 5x
- Dining and restaurants
- 5x
- Transit
- 5x
- Everything else
- 1x
- Bonus rates apply up to
- $52,000 of annual spending after that, the base rate
- What we value a point at
- 0.67¢
The earning fine print
5 points a dollar on groceries, gas, dining and transit, at Canadian merchants only. BMO Rewards redeem at 150 points to the dollar on travel, which is 0.667 cents, so 5 points a dollar is about 3.3% back rather than 5%. The caps are separate per category and run on the calendar year: $6,000 on dining, $6,000 on groceries, $20,000 on gas and $20,000 on transit. That is $52,000 of bonus eligible spending, which is our arithmetic rather than a BMO figure. CAUTION: two other BMO documents still describe a single combined $50,000 cap, so the structure is not settled.
The welcome offer
- Welcome bonus
- 30,000 points after you spend $4,000, within 4 months
- Second tier
- 20,000 points after you spend $7,000, within 6 months
- Also included
- The first-year annual fee is waived
- Offer ends
- 2026-10-31
What the offer actually requires
Three tiers, not two. 30,000 points at 110 days on $4,000 of spending, 20,000 more at 180 days on $7,000, and a further 20,000 at 365 days on $12,000, for 70,000 in total. BMO headlines "up to $1,150 in first year value", while a second live BMO page advertising the same card says "$570 value in your first year". The $467 recorded here is the 70,000 points at BMO's own travel redemption rate.
Fees and interest rates
- Annual fee
- $120 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%
Who can get this card
- Minimum personal income
- $60,000
- Minimum household income
- $100,000
Insurance and benefits
- Travel medical
- $5,000,000 first 15 days of a trip, age 64 and under
- Mobile device
- $1,000
- Rental car damage waiver
- Included
- Purchase protection
- Included
- Extended warranty
- Included
- Annual travel credit
- $50
- Concierge
- Included
What the benefits really mean
The $50 lifestyle credit runs on your account anniversary rather than the calendar year, and is triggered by a single purchase of $50 or more. Purchase security and extended warranty share a $60,000 lifetime maximum. There is no trip cancellation, interruption or flight delay coverage. Quebec residents pay 21.99% on cash advances and balance transfers rather than 23.99%.
Our verdict
The best structured rewards card BMO offers and a genuine competitor to the Scotiabank and CIBC cards on this page. Four bonus categories at roughly 3.3% covers more of a normal household budget than the two or three category cards do, and the caps are loose enough that most people will never reach them.
Do the point value arithmetic before you get excited. Five points a dollar reads like 5% and is closer to 3.3%, and only if you redeem for travel. Redeem for anything else and you are down to 2.5%. That still beats most of this page, but it is not what the marketing implies.
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Where this came from. bmo.com product page, terms and conditions popup, benefits guide PDF, certificate of insurance, cost of borrowing insert June 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.