[PROMOTION] BMO World Elite MasterCard (expired on June 1, 2014)
It seems that BMO has extended a promotion that was supposed to end on March 3, 2014. Apply for the BMO World Elite MasterCard before June 1, 2014 and your annual fee will be waived on the first year. Here are the highlights of the card:
- $150 annual fee, waived the first year (if you apply before June 1, 2014)
- Free supplementary cardholders
- Earn 30,000 sign up bonus points (does not seem to specify how the points will be award)
- Earn 4 points and up to 25% off rentals at National Car Rental & Alamo Rent A Car locations worldwide
- Earn 2 points for every $1 spent on all purchases
- Priority Pass membership, which includes 4 free VIP lounge visits per year
First off, the 30,000 points sign up bonus is awarded only to first time BMO World Elite MasterCard cardholders. So if you already took advantage of this credit card, then you might want to consider another credit card, but you can always confirm with a BMO representative.
Every point is worth 1 cent when redeeming for travel purchases and points do not expire so long as the account remains open. Furthermore, keep in mind the fine print, BMO can take away your points if you cancel the card within 30 days of having the credit card. If you close your account, you have 90 days to redeem your points. You can also read more comparison analysis in our previous post.
This post will focus more on whether it is worth it to retain this credit card beyond the first year when the annual fee applies.
First of all, the 2 points per $1 spent is a great return, because it essentially comes out to a 2% return on all purchases. You can also earn 4 points per $1 spent and up to 25% off rentals at National Car Rental & Alamo Rent A Car locations worldwide, which can be useful if you can take advantage of this spending bonus. There are not too many credit cards out there that give you that high of a return on all purchases. So this can be beneficial to big spenders.
Allowing free supplementary cardholders can also be useful because you can pool all your points into one account, so that you can accumulate points quicker for redemption.
The other benefit of value is the 4 VIP lounges passes. The passes give you access to Priority Pass lounges.
Overall, I would actually prefer the Capital One Aspire World Travel MasterCard over this credit card, mostly because there is less of a hit on the annual fee and the travel insurance coverage is better.
However, if you are a big spender, rent cars often .at National and/or Alamo car rentals and can make use of the lounge passes, then you should be able to get enough value to make the $150 annual fee worth it.