BMO CashBack® World Elite® Mastercard® Review

The BMO CashBack World Elite Mastercard boasts a remarkable balance between rewards, coverage, and benefits.

Everyday shoppers will love the high cashback rates they receive on spend categories like groceries, gas, transit, and recurring payments. At the same time, travellers will admire valuable insurance categories like trip interruption or car rental personal effects insurance and benefits like a Dragon Pass membership and roadside assistance.

To learn more about what this top-notch cashback credit card has to offer, including a comparison between relevant competitors, keep reading.

How You Earn Rewards with the BMO CashBack World Elite Mastercard

We briefly mentioned the BMO CashBack World Elite Mastercard’s rewards program in our introduction, but let’s break down those earn categories even further.

With the BMO CashBack World Elite Mastercard, you’ll receive:

• 5% cashback on groceries (capped at $25 cashback per statement)
• 4% cashback on daily transit (capped at $12 cashback per statement)
• 3% cashback on gas (capped at $9 cashback per statement)
• 2% cashback on recurring payments (capped at $10 cashback per statement)
• 1% cashback on all other credit card purchases

Clearly, the best ways to earn cashback on the BMO CashBack World Elite Mastercard is by checking off your grocery list or travelling on daily transit, but you can also earn solid rates when filling up your gas tank or covering recurring payments.

Overall, in terms of its rewards program, this card is great for everyday spenders looking to optimize their day-to-day errands.

Redeeming your Rewards with the BMO CashBack World Elite Mastercard

Unlike other cashback credit cards that make you wait to redeem your rewards once a year, the BMO CashBack World Elite Mastercard allows you to cash in your cashback anytime either into your BMO chequing or savings account, a BMO Investorline account, or have it applied to your balance as a statement credit.

Through the BMO rewards portal, you can deposit your cashback whenever you’d like as long as you’ve earned at least a dollar.

You can also set up automatic deposits each time you reach a specified amount in rewards (for example, every time you hit $25).

5 Benefits of the BMO CashBack World Elite Mastercard

What would the BMO CashBack World Elite Mastercard be without its benefits?

To show you just how valuable this cashback card’s perks truly are, we rounded them up for you below.

A Cashback Welcome Bonus

Right now, when your application for the BMO CashBack World Elite Mastercard is accepted, you can receive a 10% cashback welcome bonus in the first few months of membership, capped at a specified amount.

If that wasn’t enough, cardholders can also expect their first year’s annual fee to be completely rebated – talk about a warm welcome!

Competitive Cashback Rates

As you could probably tell when reading the rewards section, the BMO CashBack World Elite Mastercard is a top competitor when it comes to cashback rewards on everyday spend categories – especially when it comes to groceries.

While there are other cards that come with just as impressive rates on similar categories (which we’ll get into in our comparison section), the BMO CashBack World Elite Mastercard certainly stands out.

Benefits Fit for a Road Trip

If you tend to take road trips, the BMO CashBack World Elite Mastercard has a couple of perks that will support you while on your journey.

For starters you can receive discounts at National Car Rental, Alamo Rent A Car, and Enterprise Rent-A-Car locations worldwide while using the Car Rental Booking tool.

If you ever need to fill up your gas tank during your travels, the BMO CashBack World Elite Mastercard also provides decent discounts on Shell fuel.

To top things off, if you ever need a battery boost, a flat-tire change, lockout services or towing – the BMO CashBack World Elite Mastercard is also equipped with roadside assistance.

An Airport Lounge Membership

While the BMO CashBack World Elite Mastercard doesn’t come with any airport lounge access, it does come with a Dragon Pass membership – so you can visit participating airport lounges for a small entry fee.

To learn more about the Dragon Pass specifically, check out our Dragon Pass detailed review.

The Ability to be Constantly Connected

Another perk worth mentioning is the BMO CashBack World Elite Mastercard’s Global Data Roaming plan. This plan works with FlexiRoam to provide plenty of data around the world without a SIM card or any additional charges.

3 Downsides to the BMO CashBack World Elite Mastercard

There are a few notable downsides to the BMO Cashback World Elite Mastercard. We've pointed them out for you below:

High Income Requirements

To apply for the BMO Cashback World Elite Mastercard, applicants must meet high personal or household income requirements – making the card less accessible to some.

One downside might not seem like a big deal, but since this downside determines whether or not you can even get your hands on this card – we’d say it’s pretty important.

Doesn't Optimize Dining

Another downside to the BMO Cashback World Elite Mastercard is the fact that it lacks a dining rewards category which means it misses out on optimizing a popular (and expensive) spend category for many everyday shoppers and foodies.

However, cardholders could remedy this drawback by using the BMO Cashback World Elite Mastercard as a supplementary card to another credit card (perhaps one that's good for dining out). This way, the BMO Cashback World Elite Mastercard could be used to help grocery purchases while another paired card could fill in any missing optimization gaps.

Below-Average Base Rate

For a paid card, the BMO Cashback World Elite Mastercard's base rate is considered low compared to other paid competitors, making it not the best card for overall earning value.

Keeping track of a card's base rate is important when it has capped earnings, because once you hit the reward caps, you'll be subject to the card's base rate even on specialized earn categories. For the BMO World Elite Mastercard, there are earning caps implemented per credit card statement.

Comparison to Other Top Cashback Credit Cards with Similar Rewards Categories

The next part of this review allows you to make an educated decision about whether or not the BMO CashBack World Elite Mastercard is right for you by comparing it to other top Cashback credit cards on the Canadian market with similar reward categories.

Take a look at this comparison table before we get into the breakdown:

BMO CashBack World Elite Mastercard vs. Neo World Elite Mastercard

Let’s start off strong with the Neo World Elite Mastercard, which coincidentally is also a World Elite Mastercard contender.

Like the BMO CashBack World Elite Mastercard, the Neo World Elite Mastercard offers impressive cashback rates on groceries, recurring payments, and gas – with even better rates for recurring payments. There’s also a way to optimize each shared reward category even further. Each earn category’s cashback rate on the Neo World Elite Mastercard can be boosted when cardholders save a specified amount inside of a Neo everyday account or when they make purchases at partnered retailers. Even before this boost is implemented, this cashback card is considered to be one of the best, but once boosted, there’s no question that the Neo World Elite Mastercard truly is the best cashback card.

The Neo World Elite Mastercard's insurance coverage is also better than the coverage on the BMO Cashback World Elite Mastercard, as it includes more coverage categories, particularly car rental accident, car rental personal effects, trip interruption and trip cancellation insurance.

Both cards feature a Dragon Pass membership, but that’s the only benefit you’ll receive with the Neo World Elite Mastercard, whereas the BMO CashBack World Elite Mastercard goes on to add much more.

While these two World Elite Mastercards have the same income requirements, the Neo World Elite Mastercard is a bit more expensive annually and it doesn’t offer the same first year annual fee rebate as the BMO CashBack World Elite Mastercard.

So, if you’re focused on the rewards program alone, the Neo World Elite Mastercard offers the same high cashback rates on groceries and gas, and better rates on recurring payments – especially when these rates are boosted through a Neo everyday savings account or through partnered merchants. Not to mention, the Neo World Elite Mastercard also has better coverage. Alternatively, if you want better cashback rates on transit in particular and tons of travel benefits, then the BMO CashBack World Elite Mastercard is still the superior option.

BMO CashBack World Elite Mastercard vs. Scotia Momentum Visa Infinite Card

The Scotia Momentum Visa Infinite Card also earns cardholders cashback rewards on groceries, recurring payments, gas, and transit – the same categories specialized by the BMO CashBack World Elite Mastercard. That said, the cashback rates on groceries is better with BMO, same with the cashback rates on gas and daily transit. Still, the Scotia Momentum Visa Infinite Card has better reward rates on recurring payments.

The coverage on the Scotia Momentum Visa Infinite Card is also more extensive, including valuable protections like mobile device insurance, plus trip interruption and trip cancellation insurance.

The benefits on the BMO CashBack World Elite Mastercard are also more extensive since the Scotia Momentum Visa Infinite Card only offers car rental discounts at Avis Rent A Car and Budget Rent A Car, plus, of course, Visa Infinite Exclusive Benefits.

Both cashback cards have the same annual fees and both annual fees are waived for the first year of membership. That said, the Scotia Momentum Visa Infinite Card’s income requirements are lower than the BMO CashBack World Elite Mastercard – making it a little more accessible to some applicants.

Ultimately, you might choose the Scotia Momentum Visa Infinite Card over the BMO CashBack World Elite Mastercard if you want better cashback rates on recurring payments, if you want more insurance coverage with valuable inclusions, and if you want a card with lower income requirements. Otherwise, the BMO CashBack World Elite Mastercard is still top-tier in terms of overall perks, plus grocery, gas, and transit reward rates.

For a thorough breakdown of the Scotia Momentum Visa Infinite Card, see card details.

This contender is also currently part of our rebate program, making it much more appealing, learn more here.

Final Verdict

Even among other top credit cards with similar rewards categories, the BMO World Elite Mastercard has a better balance of rewards and perks.

While some cards like the Neo World Elite Mastercard or the Scotia Momentum Visa Infinite Card may have better cashback rates on certain shared categories plus more insurance coverage, neither card offers the same amount of benefits along with their rewards at a similar price-point.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the income requirements on the BMO CashBack World Elite Mastercard?

As of now, to successfully apply for the BMO CashBack World Elite Mastercard, applicants must have a personal income of $80,000 or a household income of $150,000.