[ANALYSIS] MBNA CFL Rewards MasterCard

We previously wrote about credit cards for National Hockey League fans. Below is one for Canadian Football League fans. The name of the credit card is MBNA CFL Rewards MasterCard that allows you to earn MBNA reward points. The highlights are as follows:

• No annual fee
• 1,000 bonus points after your first eligible purchase
• 1,000 bonus points every year on your account anniversary as long as you make one purchase a year
• Earn 1 point for every $1 spent on all purchases
• Redeem your points for Canadian Football League Memorabilia, exclusive experiences and merchandise

This is a pretty straight-forward card. Just like the NHL credit cards, you can select the logo of your favourite team to display at the front of your credit card.

Pros: Not having any annual fees makes this credit card very attractive. I also appreciate all the exclusive CFL experience rewards that you can redeem for. If you are a CFL fan, this is the card for you to earn points to gain access to exclusive experiences and merchandises without paying for it either.

Cons: The problem with the rewards is that it can take forever to earn enough points to redeem for a reward. For example, a baseball (in this case football) cap with your team’s logo on it goes for 3,790 points, which means you need to spend $3,790. Even if the cap retails for $30 tax included, you’re getting a dismal 0.8% return ($30 / $3,790).

The top prize would probably a trip to the Grey Cup will cost you 616,610 points, which means you need to spend $616,610. The trip does include:

• Two tickets to the Grey Cup Game
• Two flights to the Grey Cup host city and 3 night double hotel accommodations (1 room)

But it will take a very long time to earn that many points if you are only earning 1 point per $1 spent.

Recommendations: The sign up bonus could go a little higher than 1,000 points. It could at least start at 2,000 sign up with a minimum $200 spent in the first 3 months or 5,000 points on $500 spent.

I would have liked to see an earning of 1.5 point for every $1 spent at CFL stadiums, including tickets, merchandise, food and beverage.

I do like the anniversary bonus of 1,000 points for only needing to make one purchase a year, however I would have liked to see something like 5,000 anniversary points for spending $1,000 in a year. The no annual fee makes it difficult to increase the number of points we can earn, but that is why I suggest a minimum spend requirement.

This credit card has a lot of potential. For now, I want to give it a thumbs up and I hope that the product will continue to improve.