[PROMOTION] First Year Fee Waived on the BMO World Elite MasterCard is Back
The first year fee promotion on the BMO World Elite MasterCard is back again. We’ve seen this promotion quite often. Again, below are the highlights of the credit card:
- $150 annual fee (waived the first year if you apply before April 10, 2015)
- No fee for supplementary cardholders
- Earn 30,000 sign up bonus points
- Earn 2 points for every $1 spent on all purchases
- VIP airport lounge access
- Concierge Service, with 24-hour access to travel, dining, leisure and entertainment recommendations
- Minimum $70,000 (individual) or $120,000 (household) income requirement
The first year fee waived makes this credit card a no-brainer. Unfortunately, the sign up bonus is only awarded to first time BMO World Elite MasterCard cardholders. Former BMO World Elite MasterCard and BMO Rewards World Elite MasterCard cardholders will not be awarded the sign up bonus. All this really means is that you cannot churn this credit card.
This essentially means that this is the type of credit card that you buy and hold. You would not be able to cancel and sign up again to take advantage of another sign up bonus.
So the question is whether it is worthwhile to retain the credit card beyond the first year to justify the $150 annual fee. There are several perks that you can take advantage of.
For instance, you will receive a standard Priority Pass membership worth $99 USD plus 4 free VIP lounge visits per membership year (worth $108 USD).
There is a reasonable amount of travel coverage. Furthermore, what’s great is that you do not have to pay an additional fee for supplementary cardholders, so you can earn points much faster.
Personally I still prefer the Capital One World Aspire Travel MasterCard because for a credit card like this, I would prefer to retain the credit card as long as possible. The $150 annual fee is still too steep for me and the existing perks do not make up the fee for me.
As usual, do the calculations for yourself before going forward!
For BMO World Elite Mastercard for travel, the first year fee is NOT WAIVED. I signed up for it in Aug or Sept 2015 and they charged $150 on the first bill. They refuse to remove it because they say they have not had this promotion in the past two years. I can find a few secondary websites claiming their first year fee is waived, but nothing direct from BMO. Is there any evidence they have offered this promotion in 2015? So far, not pleased.
What I recommend is that when you apply for a credit card that is suppose to have a promotion to waive it’s annual fee, call to ensure that the promotion is effective before activating the credit card to avoid incurring a fee.
Unfortunately they take off all the information to a promotion as soon as it expires. I would give another rep a try on another call or ask for a manager instead and work from there. It might take a few phone calls to sort this out.