Changes to the Rogers Bank Credit Card Portfolio

UPDATE- I provided the effective date (October 19, 2016) on when the foreign transactions fees will no longer be waived.

There are 2 significant changes to the Rogers Bank credit card portfolio. First of all, there is a potential deal breaking changes to the Rogers Platinum MasterCard and the introduction of the new Fido MasterCard. Below are the highlights of the 2 credit cards:

Rogers Platinum MasterCard

• $29 annual fee (waived the first year and/or continually waived when a Rogers bill is set up as a pre-authorized payment)
• Earn $25 welcome bonus
• Earn 4% cash back on all foreign currency purchases (effective August 17, 2016)
• Earn 1.75 cash back on all other purchases
• UPDATE- Foreign transaction fees waived (until October 19, 2016)

Fido MasterCard

• No annual fee
• Earn $50 sign up bonus ($25 after your first purchase, another $25 when you register your Fido bill for pre-authorized payments)
• Earn 4% cash back on all foreign currency purchases
• Earn 1.5% cash back on all other purchases

Keep in mind that in both cases, you can only use your cash back on Rogers / Fido purchases.

Thoughts on Changes to the Rogers Platinum MasterCard

Let’s talk about the Rogers one first. First of all, the welcome bonus has dropped from $35 to $25. There have been reports that you can get much more if you sign up in a Rogers store. So be sure to check that out, if you are still considering this credit card.

The deal breaker change though is that effective August 17, 2016, there foreign transaction fees will be waived. Currently, the way it works is that you get 1.75% cash back on all purchases, and foreign transactions fee waived. Normally, these fees cost 2.5% with most other credit cards. That means the net is 1.75%. With this change, you are now need to pay the foreign transaction fee, so the net becomes 1.5% (4% – 2.5%). It’s only a drop of 0.25%.

Is this enough of a deal breaker?

Thoughts on the Addition of the Fido MasterCard

This is actually a nice addition to the credit card world. Personally, I have a soft spot for new credit cards. The no annual fee along with the 1.5% cash back puts more pressure on all the credit cards out there that only off 1% cash back (on no annual fee credit cards).

Final Thoughts

Granted the change of the foreign transaction fee is unfortunately, the net is still the more competitive. What I mean is that the only other competitor out there is the Chase Amazon.ca Rewards Visa, which also waives the fee, but they only offer a 1% cash back. So the 1.5% net cash back on both of the above listed credit cards still makes them the more competitive.

Rogers did JUST enough to stay on top of their competitors…