The PC World Elite Mastercard and its family of cards are understandably thought to be the best credit cards for Loblaws shopping – but there are better alternatives, like the MBNA Rewards World Elite Mastercard.
Even though you'll earn plenty of PC Optimum points at Loblaws stores, there are areas where other cards have it beat.
Here's a full rundown of the best card PC Financial credit card, as well as a showdown between it and some big-name competitors.
Key Takeaways
- The PC World Elite Mastercard earns decent rewards at Loblaws stores but is outperformed by other cards in general.
- Unless you shop exclusively at Loblaws and its partner stores, you'll want another credit card that can earn more rewards outside of Loblaws.
- Two cards that can outperform the PC World Elite Mastercard are the CIBC Dividend Visa Infinite Card and the MBNA Rewards World Elite Mastercard.
Never miss an amazing deal again + get our bonus 250+ page eBook for FREE. Join 50,000 other Canadians who receive our weekly newsletter – learn more.
Quick facts about the PC World Elite Mastercard
Here are the quick facts on the PC Financial World Elite Mastercard.
| Card Feature | PC World Elite Mastercard |
|---|---|
| Rewards program | PC Optimum |
| Earn Rates | |
| Interest Rates | * 21.99% on purchases * 22.97% on cash advances and balance transfers |
| Insurance Included | 4 types |
| Annual Fee | $0 |
| Income Requirements | $80,000 personal or $150,000 household |
Pros:
- High rewards at Loblaws, Shoppers Drug Mart, and Esso stations.
- No annual fee.
- World Elite Mastercard benefits.
Cons:
- High income requirements of $80,000 personal or $150,000.
- Lacklustre insurance for a World Elite Mastercard.
- Average rewards outside of Loblaws stores.
- Annual spend requirement of $15,000 to maintain eligibility.
PC World Elite Mastercard rewards
The PC World Elite Mastercard is designed to be used at Loblaws stores.
You'll also be able earn rewards at places like Shoppers Drug Mart and other stores under the Loblaws umbrella, including:
- Loblaws
- Real Canadian Superstore
- Atlantic Superstore
- Zehrs
- Provigo
- Independent
- Save Easy
- No Frills
- Esso
Earning PC Optimum rewards
To earn rewards, simply scan your PC Optimum card at checkout or at the pump. You’ll earn rewards as follows:
- 30 points per $1 spent at PC stores
- 10 points per $1 + 10 points per litre at Esso
- 10 points per $1 spent on all other purchases
You may notice that the rates shown here don't match what's advertised on the PC Financial site. For Esso and Shoppers, their advertising includes what a normal PC Optimum member would also earn.
Here's what regular members earn:
- Shoppers Drug Mart: 15 points per $1 spent
- Esso stations: 10 points per litre of fuel + 10 points per $1 spent
Redeeming your PC Optimum points
You can redeem 10,000 points for a $10 discount at the register of any Loblaws store or Shoppers Drug Mart – a value of 0.1 cents per point.
You can also redeem your points at Esso stations. You have 2 options here:
- Redeem 4,000 points to save 10 cents per litre, up to a maximum of 40 litres of fuel. That's a savings of up to $4.
- Redeem 10,000 points for any car wash. These can cost upwards of $15 for an increased value of 0.15 cents per point.
Using 0.1 cents per point as your standard redemption, here's your return for all 3 options listed above:
| Earn rate | Rate of return |
|---|---|
| 30 points | 3% |
| 20 points | 2% |
| 10 points | 1% |
Pros and cons of the PC World Elite Mastercard
Let's dissect the pros and cons of PC Financial's flagship credit card.
3 benefits of the PC World Elite Mastercard
We'll start off with some benefits of this card.
1. High rewards at affiliated stores
As a store credit card, the PC World Elite Mastercard offers high rewards at these stores:
- Loblaws grocery stores
- Shoppers Drug Mart
- Esso and Mobil stations
Rewards at these stores fall under the highest earn category for this card:
- 30 points per $1 spent at PC stores
- 10 points per $1 + 10 points per litre at Esso
- 10 points per $1 spent on all other purchases
2. No annual fee
You’ll get these rewards for no annual fee, which is rare for a World Elite Mastercard. It's not common to get up to 3% back with a free card.
3. World Elite Mastercard benefits
All the usual World Elite Mastercard benefits are available to you. These include:
- Mastercard Travel Pass (no free passes included)
- Mastercard Priceless experiences
- Mastercard Travel Rewards
4 downsides of the PC World Elite Mastercard
The PC World Elite Mastercard is by no means perfect. Here are a few things to consider.
1. Average rewards outside of Loblaws stores
If you shop outside of Loblaws, Esso, and Shoppers Drug Mart, you'll only earn 10 points per $1 spent on your purchases – just 1% back.
It's by no means a terrible earn rate, but if you shop for groceries outside of the Loblaws group, several other credit cards will allow you to earn high rewards everywhere.
2. High income requirements
You'll need either a $80,000 personal income or a $150,000 household income to qualify. This the standard for all World Elite Mastercards – even the no fee ones – and puts the card out of reach for some.
3. Ongoing minimum spend requirement
You'll need to spend $15,000 annually on your card or PC Financial will downgrade you to another one of their products.
Unfortunately, PC Financial is not upfront with this on their site. Plenty of people have mentioned being downgraded in forums (see here and here).
4. Lacklustre insurance
Compared to other World Elite Mastercards, the insurance included is quite lacklustre with only 4 types. It's on par with what a decent no fee credit card will provide but lacking compared to premium credit cards.
Comparing the PC World Elite Mastercard to the competition
When we compared some other cards, the PC World Elite Mastercard is either matched or outclassed – though this doesn't mean it's a bad card. Other options – like the CIBC Dividend Visa Infinite Card and the MBNA Rewards World Elite Mastercard – are more well-rounded cards that can earn you better rewards elsewhere or offer more perks and benefits.
Comparison of earn rates
We'll start off by looking at the earn rates of the MBNA Rewards World Elite Mastercard. It's a flexible rewards credit card that earns MBNA Rewards points:
- 5 points for every $1 spent on restaurants, groceries, and select recurring bills (up to $50,000 spent annually per category)
- 1 point per $1 spent on all other purchases
With our other challenger, the CIBC Dividend Visa Infinite Card, we have a cash back credit card with these earn rates:
- 4%† cash back on eligible gas, EV charging, and groceries
- 2%† cash back on eligible restaurants, transportation, and recurring bills/payments
- 1%† cash back on all other purchases
In our hypothetical comparison, we'll look at 2 spending levels – one at $2,000 per month and the other at $1,000. We have 3 spending criteria:
- All your grocery shopping is done at Loblaws
- All your gas is purchased at Esso
- All drugstore purchases are made at Shoppers
| Category | $2,000 monthly spend | $1,000 monthly spend |
|---|---|---|
| Loblaws | $800 | $400 |
| Gas | $200 | $100 |
| Shoppers Drug Mart | $100 | $50 |
| Recurring Bills | $300 | $150 |
| Restaurants | $150 | $75 |
| Travel | $100 | $50 |
| Others | $350 | $175 |
| Total | $2,000 | $1,000 |
Let's start with all Loblaws spending. Here's what each card offers for rewards, minus any annual fees.
For the MBNA Rewards World Elite Mastercard, we're assuming your getting max value for your points of 1 cent when redeemed for travel or e-gift cards.
A tricky part arises when figuring out the earn rate on gas at Esso stations. You earn 10 points per $1 spent on your purchase, and another 10 cents per litre on gas. We're taking the price of gas at $1.60 per litre for this. On 1 litre, you're spending $1.60 and earning 26 points – a return of 1.63%.
| PC World Elite Mastercard | CIBC Dividend Visa Infinite Card | MBNA Rewards World Elite Mastercard | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Category | Monthly Spend | Earn Rate | Annual Rewards | Earn Rate | Annual Rewards | Earn Rate | Annual Rewards |
| Loblaws | $800 | 3% | $288 | 4% | $384 | 5% | $480 |
| Esso | $200 | 1.63% | $39 | 4% | $96 | 1% | $24 |
| Shoppers Drug Mart | $100 | 3% | $36 | 1% | $12 | 1% | $12 |
| Recurring Bills | $300 | 1% | $36 | 2% | $72 | 5% | $180 |
| Restaurants | $150 | 1% | $18 | 2% | $36 | 5% | $90 |
| Travel | $100 | 2% | $36 | 1% | $12 | 1% | $12 |
| Others | $350 | 1% | $42 | 1% | $42 | 1% | $42 |
| Annual Fee | $0 | -$120 | -$120 | ||||
| Net Rewards | $495 | $534 | $720 |
There are 2 things to remember with our alternative cards. For the CIBC Dividend Visa Infinite Card, gas up at Journie Rewards stations instead (Ultramar, Pioneer, Fas Gas, Chevron) and you can save 3 cents per litre on your fuel. In this fictitious spend, we've purchased 125 litres of fuel. That's an extra $45 in savings.
As for the MBNA Rewards World Elite Mastercard, you earn 10% bonus points every year you have the card on your birthday, up to 15,000 points earned. In this case, we've earned 84,000 points, so our bonus is 8,400 points, or $84.
So what about the half spend? Here's how it looks:
| PC World Elite Mastercard | CIBC Dividend VIsa Infinite | MBNA Rewards World Elite Mastercard | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Category | Monthly Spend | Earn Rate | Annual Rewards | Earn Rate | Annual Rewards | Earn Rate | Annual Rewards |
| Loblaws | $400 | 3% | $144 | 4% | $192 | 5% | $240 |
| Esso | $100 | 1.63% | $20 | 4% | $48 | 1% | $12 |
| Shoppers Drug Mart | $50 | 3% | $18 | 1% | $6 | 1% | $6 |
| Recurring Bills | $150 | 1% | $18 | 2% | $36 | 5% | $90 |
| Restaurants | $75 | 1% | $9 | 2% | $18 | 5% | $45 |
| Travel | $50 | 3% | $18 | 1% | $6 | 1% | $6 |
| Others | $175 | 1% | $21 | 1% | $21 | 1% | $21 |
| Annual Fee | $0 | -$120 | -$120 | ||||
| Net Rewards | $248 | $207 | $300 |
Even when only spending $1,000 per month at these levels, the CIBC Dividend Visa Infinite Card is a bit behind, and the MBNA Rewards World Elite Mastercard is still far ahead.
And none of this accounts for you spending some money on groceries elsewhere, where the PC World Elite Mastercard would fall even further behind.
But there's a big point to remember with this $1,000 monthly spend. With the PC World Elite Mastercard, you're required to spend $15,000 per year to maintain your eligibility. The half spend doesn't meet this threshold, meaning you may get downgraded to another PC Mastercard, where you'll earn even less rewards.
In short, there are better credit cards to earn rewards when shopping at Loblaws stores. You can see other top grocery credit cards here – just note that the Amex cards listed won't be of value to you at Loblaws as they don't accept American Express.
×4 Award winner 
$100 GeniusCash + Up to 30,000 bonus points + birthday bonus worth up to 15k points.*
GC: $100
4x Award winner ×1 Award winner Join and earn up to $400 in value including a first-year annual fee rebate.†
1x Award winner Join and earn up to $400 in value including a first-year annual fee rebate.†
Your thoughts on the PC Financial World Elite Mastercard
PC Financial certainly has a worthy credit card for your Loblaws shopping, although it’s not as good as others.
Do you have, or have you had the PC World Elite Mastercard in the past?
Let us know what you think of it in the comments below.
FAQ
What does the PC World Elite Mastercard offer for rewards?
The PC World Elite Mastercard earns the following for rewards:
- 30 points per $1 spent at PC stores
- 10 points per $1 + 10 points per litre at Esso
- 10 points per $1 spent on all other purchases
What are the annual fee and income requirements of the PC World Elite Mastercard?
The PC World Elite Mastercard has no annual fee and income requirements of $80,000 personal or $150,000 household. You’ll also be required to spend $15,000 annually to maintain eligibility.
What are some alternatives to the PC World Elite Mastercard?
There are plenty of credit cards in Canada that earn high rewards on groceries at Loblaws stores. Some of them include:
- MBNA Rewards World Elite Mastercard
- CIBC Dividend Visa Infinite Card
- Scotia Momentum Visa Infinite Card
- BMO CashBack World Elite Mastercard
Amex cards are not included in our list as they are not accepted at Loblaws stores.
creditcardGenius is the only tool that compares 126+ features of 227 Canadian credit cards using math-based ratings and rankings that respond to your needs, instantly. Take our quiz and see which of Canada's 227 cards is for you.
GC: 
Comments
Leave a comment
Required fields are marked with *. Your email address will not be published.
Showing 6 comments