MBNA · Mastercard
$39 for the same $500 monthly gas and grocery cap as the free version, with a 1% base instead of 0.5%. The upgrade is worth about $60 a year.
Rates and features verified 2026-08-18Full terms and conditionsHow we research cards
What we like, and what we don’t
Worth having
- 1% base rate rather than the 0.5% on the free Platinum Plus version
- 2% on gas and groceries within the monthly cap
- Rental car collision damage waiver, which the free version does not include
- 5% on gas and groceries for the first six months
Watch out for
- The $39 fee buys roughly $60 a year of incremental cash back over the free version, which is a thin margin
- The same $500 monthly cap on gas and groceries, shared between the two categories
- $50,000 personal or $80,000 household income required, which is high for what the card delivers
- No travel medical, trip cancellation or mobile device insurance
- MBNA does not publish a foreign transaction fee anywhere we could reach
What this card earns
- Groceries
- 2%
- Gas
- 2%
- Everything else
- 1%
- Bonus rates apply up to
- $6,000 of annual spending after that, the base rate
- Bonus categories at once
- 2 you choose which
The earning fine print
Ongoing: 2% cash back on gas and groceries subject to a $500 MONTHLY spend cap; 1% on all other eligible purchases. Conservative reading: the $500 monthly cap is a single shared cap across gas and groceries combined, annualising to $6,000 of accelerated spend (recorded in earn_cap_annual) and a maximum of roughly $60 of INCREMENTAL cash back per year over the 1% base. The cap resets each monthly statement period. For the first 6 months the rate is 5% instead of 2% under the same $500 monthly cap. Up to 9 authorized users at no fee. MBNA states personal income must exceed $50,000 or household income must be at least $80,000.
The welcome offer
- Welcome bonus
- $5 after you spend $3,000, within 6 months
What the offer actually requires
'Earn 5% Cash Back on gas and groceries for the first 6 months' subject to the $500 monthly spend cap. Bonus_tier1_spend of 3000 is the maximum qualifying spend over the 6-month window ($500 x 6); MBNA publishes only the monthly cap. No end date published.
Fees and interest rates
- Annual fee
- $39
- Additional card
- Free
- Foreign transaction fee
- Not published by the issuer
- Purchase APR
- 21.99%
- Cash advance APR
- 22.99%
- Balance transfer APR
- 22.99%
Who can get this card
- Minimum personal income
- $50,000
- Minimum household income
- $80,000
Insurance and benefits
- Rental car damage waiver
- Included
- Purchase protection
- Included
- Extended warranty
- Included
What the benefits really mean
Purchase Assurance covering eligible items for 90 days with a $60,000 lifetime limit per account. Extended Warranty doubling the manufacturer's warranty up to one additional year. Price Protection refunding up to $500 per item within 60 days, with a $1,000 calendar-year maximum. Rental Vehicle Collision Damage Waiver. No travel medical, trip cancellation or mobile device insurance despite the World Mastercard designation. The 2% categories cap at $500 of spend per month, so the incremental value over the 1% base is roughly $60 a year against a $39 annual fee. The card can be net-negative for many users. The '5%' is a 6-month intro rate under the same monthly cap. Income requirements ($50,000 personal / $80,000 household) are high relative to the card's value. A World Mastercard with no travel medical or mobile device insurance. FX fee is NOT PUBLISHED.
Our verdict
Work out what you are buying. The difference between this card and MBNA's free version is a 1% base instead of 0.5%, plus rental car cover. On $12,000 of non category spending that is $60 of extra cash back against a $39 fee, so you clear $21. That is not a margin worth managing a card for.
The income requirement makes it stranger still. MBNA wants $50,000 of personal income for a card whose entire advantage over the free version is $60 a year. Somebody who qualifies for this can qualify for the SimplyCash Preferred, which pays 2% on everything and 4% on the same categories with a much larger allowance. This card is priced above what it does.
Cards worth comparing this against
Compare this against every card we track
Where this came from. MBNA Smart Cash World product page and MBNA's cash back category page (fee, APRs, income requirements, earn rates and the $500 monthly cap, intro rate, insurance). FX fee is NOT PUBLISHED by MBNA on the open web.. 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.