Pros & cons
Pros
- 5% cash back for the first 3 months, up to $2,500 in spend.
- Up to 3% cash back on purchases
- No annual fee.
- Save up to 7 cents per litre at Shell.
Cons
- Only earns 0.5% cash back outside of bonus categories.
- Limited insurance included.
Your rewards
$20 GeniusCash offer
On approval, receive $20 GeniusCash on us when you apply for BMO CashBack Mastercard using this offer page.
GeniusCash offer expires on Oct 31, 2025.
Getting your welcome bonus
Based on $2,000 in monthly spending, you can get up to 5% in your first 3 months on up to $2,500 in spending which translates to an estimated $100.◊
For all welcome bonus details click here.
Welcome bonus offer ends Jan 31, 2026.
How you earn rewards
Each card earns rewards differently. Part of choosing your card is deciding what type of rewards you want to get. With BMO CashBack Mastercard, here's how you earn rewards:
- 3% cash back on groceries (up to $500 per month)
- 1% cash back on recurring bill payments (up to $500 per month)
- 0.5% cash back on all other purchases
For all reward details click here.
How much your rewards are worth
The dollar value of your rewards depends on the specific rewards program ‒ and what you choose to redeem your points for. For BMO CashBack Mastercard in particular, if you spend $2,000 per month, here's our estimated annual rewards earned depending on which reward you choose:
| Statement credits | $243 | |
| Investments | $243 | |
| Direct deposit | $243 |
Calculating your annual rewards
$24,000 annual spending x 1.01% return on spending = $243 annual rewards
$243 annual rewards − $0.00 annual fee = $243 net annual rewards
Details and eligibility
- Estimated Credit Score
- 660 - 724
- Personal Income
- N/A
- Household Income
- N/A
- Annual Fee
- $0.00
- Extra Card Fee
- $0
- Card type
- Credit
- Purchase
- 21.99%
- Cash Advance Δ
- 23.99%
- Balance Transfer Δ
- 23.99%
- Balance Transfer
- 0.99%
- Transfer Term
- 9 months
Insurance coverage
- Extended Warranty
- 1 year
- Purchase Protection
- 90 days
Please review your insurance certificate for details, exclusions and limitations of your coverage, terms and conditions apply.
Learn more about the value of credit card insurance coverage.
Genius Rating
BMO CashBack Mastercard's 4.0 Genius Rating is based on the weighted average of the following scores:
Methodology
All scores are produced by our math-based rating algorithm that takes into account over 126 credit card features.
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BMO CashBack Mastercard review
To earn cash back rewards for no annual fee, the BMO CashBack Mastercard is a worthy contender in this category, especially when it comes to groceries.
Here's what this no fee BMO Mastercard has to offer.
How to earn BMO CashBack Rewards
The BMO CashBack Mastercard lets you earn cash back on all your purchases – everywhere. Here's how to both earn and redeem your rewards.
Earning cash back
How much on your daily purchases? Here's what you'll earn:
- 3% cash back on groceries (up to $500 in spend per month),
- 1% cash back on recurring bill payments (up to $500 spent per month), and
- 0.5% cash back on all other purchases.
And as an added bonus, for the first 3 months, you'll get 5% cash back on all your purchases – not a bad way to start off your cash back earnings.
Plus, it’s one of the highest sign-up bonuses for a no fee cash back card.
Redeeming your cash back rewards
We haven’t even gotten to one of the best things about this card yet…with the BMO CashBack Mastercard, you get to be the one who decides when and how you get your cash back.
That’s right, not only does this card allow you to get your money three different ways:
- deposited into your BMO chequing account,
- put into an Investorline account, or
- you can just use it as a statement credit.
...but you also get to decide when you get it. Your rewards can be redeemed monthly, annually, each time you hit a certain reward amount (minimum $25), or in one big lump sum on demand, with a minimum redemption of only $1.
Why is this so special?
Cash back cards usually limit the time (and often the way) you can enjoy your rewards. And even though cash is the most flexible of all rewards, cash back credit cards will often only let you enjoy your cash as a statement credit, once a year. So even though you’re racking up big rewards every month, that money is held captive by the bank.
With this card, you get your rewards when you want (or need) it. You decide.
3 benefits to the BMO CashBack Mastercard
Beyond the rewards, what else does this card have to offer?
Here's 3 other things to like about it.
1. One of the best balance transfer offers in Canada
Have some high interest credit card debt hanging around? The BMO CashBack Mastercard (along with other no fee BMO Mastercards) have a promotional balance transfer offer as part of signing up.
What is it? You'll get a low rate of 0.99% for 9 months on balance transfers, with a transfer fee of 2%. A perfect way to save on interest.
2 things to note about balance transfers. The first – you can't transfer credit card balances within the same bank. Meaning, if your credit card debt is with another BMO card, you won't be able to take advantage of this offer.
The other is to not use your credit card for new purchases when the balance transfers are completed. When you go to pay your bill, your payment gets applied to the balance with the lowest interest rate. Meaning, you'll start racking up interest at 20% on new purchases you've made to the card.
You can read more about the do's and don't of balance transfers here.
2. Savings on rental car discounts
For some extra savings, you can save up to 25% on rental cars with either National or Alamo. It's a nice little extra for some savings when you go to travel.
3. Redeem your cash back on demand
It was stated earlier, but it's worth being here twice – being able to redeem your cash back when you want, with options as to where you want to put it.
Compared to many other cash back credit cards, where you only get your cash back once per year, as a statement credit, and a month of the bank's choosing.
2 drawbacks to the BMO CashBack Mastercard
There are, however, a couple of things to be aware of.
1. Lacklustre insurance package
The insurance is lacking with this card, including only extended warranty and purchase protection coverages.
This part is you get what you pay for, and in this case, it's not much. It's not uncommon for no fee cards to have little insurance, but there are other no fee credit cards with more coverage should you want it.
2. Poor base earn rate
The grocery earn rate is terrific, even if it is capped, and so is the rate on recurring bills (for a no fee credit card).
But you'll only earn 0.5% cash back on your other purchases. But since it's no fee, you can augment it with a no fee credit card that has a better base earn rate to compensate.
Comparison to the BMO CashBack World Elite Mastercard
BMO also has a premium cash back Mastercard – the
Here's how they compare.
| BMO CashBack Mastercard | BMO CashBack World Elite Mastercard | |
|---|---|---|
| Welcome Bonus |  $20 GeniusCash + 5% cash back for the first 3 months (terms) | $150 GeniusCash + Up to $480 cash back in the first year, first year free (terms) |
| Earn Rates | * 3% cash back on groceries (up to $500 per month) * 1% cash back on recurring bill payments (up to $500 per month) * 0.5% cash back on all other purchases | * 5% cash back on groceries, up to $500 in monthly spend * 4% cash back on transit, up to $300 in monthly spend * 3% cash back on gas, up to $300 in monthly spend * 2% cash back on recurring bills, up to $500 in monthly spend * 1% cash back on all other purchases |
| Insurance Coverages | 2 types | 13 types |
| Special Features | * 0.99% interest for 9 months on balance transfers * Redeem cash back on demand | * Free roadside assistance * World Elite benefits * Redeem cash back on demand |
| Annual Fee | $0 | $120 |
| Income Requirements | None | * Personal: $80,000 * Household: $150,000 |
The big difference is in the rewards. You'll earn much more in rewards – around double based on a typical $2,000 monthly spend.
The World Elite card is also far superior in terms of insurance coverage, providing 13 types of coverage, compared to just 2.
Of course, the no fee credit card does have 2 advantages, besides not having an annual fee.
The first is the balance transfer offer, which is helpful for anyone who is carrying a large balance on the credit cards they can't pay in full.
And, it has no income requirements, while the World Elite will need income requirements of either $80,000 personal, or $150,000 household.
In short
For a no annual fee cash back credit card, there's certainly a lot to like about it, especially when you consider that you have easy access to your rewards.
FAQ
What does the BMO CashBack Mastercard earn for rewards?
The BMO CashBack Mastercard earns 3% cash back on groceries (up to $500 per month), 1% cash back on recurring bills (up to $500 per month), and 0.5% cash back on all other purchases.
Is there a student version of the BMO CashBack Mastercard?
There sure is! The BMO CashBack Mastercard for students is identical, except for the fact that it has approval for students in mind.
Does the BMO CashBack Mastercard have a balance transfer offer?
Yes, the BMO CashBack Mastercard has a balance transfer offer of 0.99% for 9 months, with a transfer fee of 2%.
Key benefits
BMO is not responsible for maintaining the content on this site. Please click on the Apply now link for the most up to date information.
† Based on a comparison of the non-promotional grocery rewards earn rate on cash back credit cards with no annual fee as of June 1, 2022.
User reviews
Reviewed by 14 Canadians
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Update after never missing a payment in fact after almost paying this card off in one payment I soon as I did they dropped my credit limit and now after they charged there fees and rates put my 3 dollars over my limit they charged me almost 30 dollars more for going over this card needs a minus 50 starts and this bank deserves to go bankrupt
After opening this card with a 2000 dollar limit and after never missing a payment in fact after I almost paid the whole balance off they then drop my limit to 600 dollars this is disgusting especially not missing a single payment
While the rewards for groceries are acceptable, BMO has failed to send me a statement notification for the last several months (I am signed up for them) so I am required to remember to sign into my account to retrieve my online statements without any heads up. I appreciate that my other credit cards and utility providers send notifications for this. I have contacted BMO regarding this issue but they haven't been able to fix it. It doesn't give you a lot of confidence in their tech department .. not so good for a bank.
Trying to apply for Mastercard online, went through process x 3, said technical issue on their end and the 3rd time and one phone call told I had to go to a bank to apply with ID
Why do they have an online option to apply if you can't do it. Will apply for another card with another bank that is more accomodating
Person on phone has heavy accent, unable to understand
Good card but hate bmo reps there always putting 5$ charge for cash advance but its no advance i buy stuff on the net
