Neo World Mastercard® Review

If you can keep at least 10k in a Neo everyday account, the Neo World Mastercard could very well be the best no-fee cashback credit card on the Canadian market. By keeping this amount in your account, you’ll boost your cashback to some impressive rates.

To learn more about this unique budget-conscious cashback card, keep scrolling.

How You Earn Rewards with the Neo World Mastercard

Let’s jump right into it. Here’s how much you’ll earn with the Neo World Mastercard:

• 2% cashback on grocery purchases, up to $1,000 spending per month (3% cashback if you have $5k in a Neo everyday account, or 4% cashback with $10k in a Neo everyday account) – drops to 0.5-1% cashback after hitting spending cap
• 2% cashback on gas purchases, up to $1,000 spending per month (3% cashback if you have $5k in a Neo everyday account, or 4% cashback with $10k in a Neo everyday account) – drops to 0.5-1% cashback after hitting spend cap
• 2% cashback on recurring purchases up to $500 spending per month (3% cashback if you have $5k in a Neo everyday account, or 4% cashback with $10k in a Neo everyday account) – drops to 0.5-1% cashback after hitting spend cap
• 0.5% cashback on all other purchases up to $2,500 spending per month (1% cashback if you have $10k in a Neo everyday account)
• 5% cashback at Neo Partners

Simply put, the Neo World Mastercard already comes with some strong cashback rates on popular everyday spend categories, but if you save enough inside of a Neo everyday account, you can collect even more cashback than before! Not to mention, you’ll earn additional cashback when you shop at Neo Partners for another bonus cashback boost.

Redeeming your Rewards with the Neo World Mastercard

Perhaps one of the best parts about the Neo World Mastercard is also the fact that you can withdraw your cashback rewards at any time. After you receive your cashback in your account, you’re free to spend those rewards on anything you’d like.

3 Benefits of the Neo World Mastercard

Want some more good news about the Neo World Mastercard? Well, you’ve come to the right place. 

In this section, we’ll highlight all of the perks this Mastercard has to offer.

No Annual Fee

For starters, the Neo World Mastercard is particularly appealing given the fact that it has no annual fee on top of a remarkable rewards program. Still, just keep in mind that to qualify for the card you will need to meet some annual income requirements.

Boosted Cashback

For a no-fee credit card, the cashback rates on the Neo World Mastercard are still pretty impressive, but that gets taken one step further when you commit to keeping at least 10k in a Neo everyday account. If you do, you’ll boost important categories like groceries, gas, and recurring payments up to 4% – which is a rate that’s unheard of on a no-fee credit card for these categories!

Partner Optimizing Opportunities

As mentioned, if you shop at any participating Neo Partners, you can receive additional cashback on top of your initial or boosted rates. These rates will vary by retailer, but on average, you can expect to receive about 5% cashback when you meet specified spending requirements.

4 Downsides of the Neo World Mastercard

As always, our reviews remain unbiased. 

With this in mind, here are some of the downsides of the Neo World Mastercard:

Income Requirements

As a World Mastercard, the Neo World Mastercard unfortunately comes with some income requirements. These requirements might make this budget-friendly option less accessible to lower annual earners.

As of now, expect personal income requirements of $50,000 and household income requirements of $80,000.

Below-Average Unboosted Base Rate

Let’s say you don’t have at least 10k saved in a Neo everyday account (which is understandable). In this case, you’ll be subject to a below-average base rate on all unspecialized spending categories.

Capped Cashback

There are even some cons when it comes to the Neo World Mastercard's specialized earn categories, and these cons are the monthly spending caps. 

As listed, you can spend up to $1,000 a month on groceries, $1,000 a month on gas, and $500 a month on recurring payments. Afterwards, you’ll earn that below-average base rate we mentioned before. Even then, you’ll only be able to spend up to $2,500 a month. Sure, this amount might be tricky to reach, but it's still worth noting. If you reach this point, you won’t earn any more rewards with a high rate for the month.

Lacking Perks and Coverage

Perhaps the most disappointing aspect of the Neo World Mastercard is the fact that it lacks extensive coverage by only offering the basics (extended warranty insurance and purchase protection insurance) and the fact that there are absolutely no benefits.

Even though this is a no-fee credit card, there are still some similar competitors that offer a little bit more in one or both of these categories.

Comparison to Other No-Fee Cashback Credit Cards

To help you gauge whether or not the Neo World Mastercard is the right choice for you, we’re going to compare it against three competing top no-fee cashback credit cards.

Here’s a quick look at the comparisons we’ll be making:

Neo World Mastercard vs Rogers Red World Elite Mastercard

Also available for no annual fee, the Rogers Red World Elite Mastercard earns cardholders nice cashback on U.S. dollar purchases, plus all regular purchases at a boosted rate if they happen to have a qualifying Rogers, Fido, or Shaw service. If you don’t have one of these services, you can still earn decent cashback on all of your purchases, plus you can receive a redemption bonus on your earned cashback when you use it towards Rogers, Fido, and Shaw purchases – effectively earning you a 3% cashback value! However, these rates don’t optimize everyday spending the way the Neo World Mastercard does, especially if you happen to keep at least $10k in a Neo everyday account. Still, the base rate on the Rogers Red World Elite Mastercard is much better than the below-average base rate offered by the Neo World Mastercard – even if you don’t have an eligible Rogers, Fido, or Shaw account.

When it comes to coverage, the Neo World Mastercard only features the basics. Specifically extended warranty and purchase protection insurance. On the other hand, the Rogers Red World Elite Mastercard comes through with added protections like car rental damage and theft insurance, trip interruption and trip cancellation insurance, and emergency medical coverages – which is all very impressive for a no-fee credit card.

Likewise, the Rogers Red World Elite Mastercard also has a couple of added benefits (unlike the Neo World Mastercard). These benefits include an airport lounge Dragon Pass membership and 5-day no-cost roaming – two perks that are perfect for travellers.

Unfortunately, if you were concerned about the income requirements on the Neo World Mastercard, you won’t be happy to hear that the Rogers Red World Elite Mastercard has even higher personal and household annual income requirements.

Overall, if you’re an eligible Rogers, Fido, or Shaw account holder, or you simply want a better base rate on all your purchases, plus some helpful travel insurance and benefits, the Rogers Red World Elite Mastercard is the way to go. Otherwise, if you’d rather optimize your everyday errands and bills specifically with the opportunity to boost these earnings even further through savings and partnered retailers, the Neo World Mastercard is still the better and more accessible card to apply for.

Neo World Mastercard vs Simplii Financial Cashback Visa Card

Another high-ranking no-fee cashback credit card is the Simplii Financial Cashback Visa Card.

This card earns you amazing cashback on eligible restaurant, bar, and coffee shop purchases (capped annually), followed by decent cashback on gas, groceries, drugstore, and pre-authorized payments (also capped annually), before settling on a below average base rate – similar to the unboosted one provided by the Neo World Mastercard. Obviously, the Neo World Mastercard offers better grocery and gas optimization – especially when boosted. While it may appear that the Simplii Financial Cashback Visa Card is superior when it comes to dining out, keep in mind that if you strategically dine out at a Neo Partner establishment with the Neo World Mastercard, you may be able to receive even more cashback than you would on food-related expenses with the Simplii Financial Cash Back Visa Card.

As for coverage and benefits, both cards only offer extended warranty and purchase protection insurance and lack any added perks altogether.

Notably though, the Simplii Financial Cash Back Visa Card has much lower income requirements than the Neo World Mastercard – making it much more accessible to a wider variety of applicants.

Ultimately then, you’d only swap the Neo World Mastercard for the Simplii Financial Cash Back Visa Card if you couldn’t meet the income requirements of the Neo World Mastercard or if you tend to dine out at establishments that aren’t affiliated with Neo’s partner cashback program.

Neo World Mastercard vs Tangerine World Mastercard

The Tangerine World Mastercard has its own unique rewards program. This program is customizable, allowing cardholders to optimize two categories from the 10 offered by Tangerine. You can even choose an additional category if you happen to have a Tangerine savings account. 

Tangerine earn category options are as follows, featuring the same specialized categories offered by the Neo World Mastercard (groceries, gas, recurring payments):

• Groceries
• Restaurant purchases
• Gas
• Recurring bill payments
• Entertainment
• Home improvement
• Drug store purchases
• Public transportation and parking
• Furniture purchases
• Hotel-motel bookings

The specialized optimization rate on the selected categories is similar to the initial cashback rate on popular spend categories with the Neo World Mastercard, except, unlike the Neo World Mastercard, these rates don’t get any higher through boosted opportunities. The base rate on this card is also similar to the unboosted base rate on the Neo World Mastercard, but obviously, the Neo World Mastercard gives you the chance to surpass that if you save $10K in a Neo everyday account. If you have a Tangerine savings account, you can pick groceries, gas, and recurring payments to have similar initial earnings as the Neo World Mastercard, but of course the base rate will remain lower.

In addition to basic extended warranty and purchase protection insurance, the Neo World Mastercard also offers car rental damage and theft and mobile device insurance. Not to mention, the card also comes with an airport lounge Dragon Pass membership (without complimentary visits) and access to the Boingo Wi-Fi hotspot.

It’s important to note, however, that the Tangerine World Mastercard does have some slightly higher income requirements.

All in all, you might pick the Tangerine World Mastercard if you crave optimization customization, if you want better coverage, and if you’d like a couple of travel perks. Otherwise, the Neo World Mastercard is still better and more accessible overall for optimizing groceries, gas, recurring payments and the overall base rate if you happen to have at least 10k in a Neo everyday savings account.

Final Verdict 

Even put side-by-side with other top-tier no-fee cashback credit cards, the Neo World Mastercard is still seemingly superior in terms of rewards – especially if you have at least $10k in a Neo everyday account.

Some cards, like the Tangerine World Mastercard come close with their rates, but overall, none of the competitors offer the same opportunities for cashback boosts.

A couple of the other cards, particularly the Rogers Red World Elite Mastercard and the Tangerine World Mastercard come with better coverage and perks – but if you’re looking at no-fee cashback rates alone, the Neo World Mastercard always prevails.