Changes to the Fido and Rogers MasterCards

With the termination of the grandfathered Chase Marriott and Amazon cards, which waived foreign transaction fees, the Rogers Bank Fido MasterCard and Rogers Platinum MasterCard have become slight more popular cards to use on foreign purchases. However, effective March 13, 2018 and May 23, 2018, there are/will be some changes to the cards.

Below are the highlights of each card, with the changes in bold:

Fido MasterCard

• No annual fee
• Earn $50 cash back sign up bonus (earn $25 after your first purchase and earn $25 when you register your Fido bill for pre-authorized payments both within the first 3 months)
• Earn 4% cash back on foreign exchange purchases (will be decreased to 3% cash back on May 23, 2018)
• Earn 2% cash back on Rogers products and services (will be newly added on May 23, 2018)
• Earn 1.5% cash back on all purchases (will be decreased to 1.25% cash back on May 23, 2018)
• No more maintenance fee for 12 months of inactivity (effective March 13, 2018)

Rogers Platinum MasterCard

• No annual fee (effective March 13, 2018, the $29 annual fee has been eliminated)
• Earn $25 cash back sign up bonus
• Earn 4% cash back on foreign exchange purchases (will be decreased to 3% cash back on May 23, 2018)
• Earn 2% cash back on Rogers products and services (will be newly added on May 23, 2018)
• Earn 1.5% cash back on all purchases (will be decreased to 1.25% cash back on May 23, 2018)
• No inactivity maintenance fee

Below are my thoughts on the changes.

Annual Fee

Note that if you paid the annual fee on the Rogers card, within the last 12 months, a prorated credit of the difference will be applied to your account by December 31, 2018. Any time you eliminate annual fees, it is usually a good thing. The question is whether they reduced the benefits by too much, relative to the fee.

I suspect that the reason they eliminated the fee was because probably very few were paying the fee anyway. It would not make much sense to have the Rogers card without having any Rogers products, then we would better off just have the Fido card instead.

Sign Up Bonus

The sign up bonuses seem to remain unchanged. I have heard reports that if you apply for the card in store, you may qualify for a higher sign up bonus. But some conditions usually apply.

Note that they can change the sign up bonuses without any notice.

Earning Ratios

Both cards will have the exact same earning ratios. What I find bizarre is that they mine as well just offer 1 card instead of 2.

I like how they increased the cash back on Rogers products and services. I am not a fan of decreasing the foreign purchases %. However, it is still better than most cards out there, since you should still come out ahead by 0.5% (3% cash back – 2.5% foreign transaction fee).

I would only use these credit cards on any other purchases if you are not getting at least 1.25% cash back.

Reward Redemption

You have to use your cash back toward specific purchases (or receive an annual statement credit), such as:

• Credit towards your monthly Rogers, Fido and chatr bills
• Purchases in Rogers and Fido branded stores (including accessories and phones)
• Online purchases on fido.ca or rogers.com
• Purchases at Today’s Shopping Choice
• Subscriptions to Texture
• Toronto Blue Jays tickets, merchandise at Jays Shop online or in store
• Rogers Centre concession purchases
• *Request (by December 1 each year) an annual statement credit (awarded in January statement)

Conclusion

I like how they increased the earning ratio for Rogers products and services. Already, it makes very little sense to have one of these two credit cards if you are not a Rogers client or a Blue Jays fan. What would have make this credit card much more competitive is to waive the foreign transaction fees and give the regular 1.25% cash back. But that is probably too much to ask!