If you're looking for a Visa card with a bonus return on your grocery spending, the BMO eclipse Visa Infinite might be worth a closer look.

With its 5x points for restaurants, groceries, gas, and daily transit, you'll rack up some solid rewards earnings on your everyday spending, but...what are those points actually worth?

This isn't a cash back credit card, so sorting out what value you're getting for your hard-earned rewards is a little trickier.

BMO eclipse Visa Infinite rewards

The BMO eclipse Visa Infinite earns BMO Rewards, which is BMO's own flexible rewards program.

Earning BMO Rewards

The only way to earn BMO Rewards is with a BMO credit card, including the BMO eclipse Visa Infinite card.

With this card you'll earn:

• 5x BMO Rewards points per $1 spent on eligible dining, groceries, gas, and daily transit purchases, and
• 1 point for each $1 spent on all other eligible purchases.

A unique feature of this credit card is that if you add an authorized user to your account, you'll earn 10% more rewards points. That said, you will need to pay a $50 annual fee for each authorized user.

The value of these points depends on what you redeem them for.

Redeeming BMO Rewards

BMO Rewards are flexible, with a number of redemption options.

Clearly, redeeming your BMO Rewards for travel will give you the most value for your points. And while redeeming points for statement credits will still give you a value of 0.5 CPP, it's at the bottom of the list.

If you're earning 5 points for every $1 spent on groceries, for example, here's what your approximate rate of return would be for each of these options:

• Any travel: 3.35%
• Investments: 3.35%
• Experiences: 3.25%
• Gift cards: 2.8%
• Merchandise: 2.7%
• Statement credits: 2.5%

Redeeming points for statement credits is essentially like cash back, and a return of 2.5% on your spending isn't bad.

But keep in mind that you're only getting 5x points on a handful of spending categories. For most things, you'll only get 1 point for every $1 spent, which is a significantly lower rate of return.

In fact, at 1 point per $1 spent, your rate of return plummets to a paltry 0.5% to 0.67%.

Maximizing your BMO Rewards

If you collect BMO Rewards and are looking for ways to maximize your value, we've written an extensive guide about how to maximize your BMO Rewards. We get into the nitty gritty, including what research we did to come up with our CPP estimates.

7 BMO eclipse Visa Infinite benefits

There are 7 major reasons to check out the BMO eclipse Visa Infinite.

1. 70,000 point welcome bonus

You'll start with a welcome bonus worth up to 70,000 (it's an exclusive offer with us).

This is a two-part welcome bonus, where you'll earn:

• 40,000 bonus BMO Rewards points after spending $3,000 in the first 3 months, and
• another 2,500 bonus BMO Rewards points every month when you spend $2,000 in the first year.

Redeemed for travel, 70,000 BMO Rewards points are worth an estimated $469. Redeemed for statement credits, they're worth $300. Not a bad welcome bonus, since it covers the annual fee.

2. 10% bonus rewards if you add an authorized user

A unique feature of this card is that you'll earn 10% more rewards if you add an authorized user to your account.

Not only does this allow you to earn even more rewards simply by having more people using the card, you'll get the added boost to those rewards.

Whether that's worth the additional $50 annual fee per authorized user is up to you. Also the bonus doesn't stack – whether you have one additional user or a dozen, you'll still only get 10% more rewards.

3. Annual fee waived for the first year

Like many premium credit cards, the annual fee for this credit card is waived for the first year you have the card.

This gives you a chance to take it for a test drive, to see if it works well with your typical spending patterns, and if you're able to take full advantage of its various perks and benefits.

If not, simply cancel the card before the end of your first year, and you'll skip out on that fee.

4. Annual $50 lifestyle credit

A unique feature of the BMO eclipse Visas is their inclusion of a "lifestyle credit." This is an automatic credit you'll receive within 2 billing cycles after making a purchase of equal to or greater than the value of the statement credit.

In the case of the BMO eclipse Visa Infinite, the lifestyle credit is $50, so you'll receive a $50 statement credit automatically the first time you make a purchase of $50 or higher on the card every year.

It's a bit of an odd thing, really – one may wonder why BMO doesn't just lower the annual fee by $50 – but, it is what it is. The lifestyle credit makes up for the annual fee a bit, so you might want to look at it that way.

5. Mobile device insurance

This credit card comes with 7 types of complimentary insurance coverage, the details of which you'll find in the "Insurance Coverage" tab at the top of this page.

One rare coverage that this credit card includes is $1,000 of mobile device insurance. This covers your smartphone for loss or damage if you purchase it with this credit card.

If you never need to use this insurance, that's fine...it's free. But if you do need to use it, this coverage can save you up to $1,000 for the cost of a replacement device.

6. Free credit score monitoring

As a BMO customer, you'll have access to their CreditView free credit score monitoring service. This is available through their mobile or online banking apps.

7. Enhanced security features

If you're concerned about your credit card – whether you've misplaced it or think it may be compromised somehow – the BMO eclipse Visa Infinite comes with some advanced security features for added peace of mind.

Whether on the road or at home, you can lock, unlock, or report your card lost or stolen at any time.

4 BMO eclipse Visa Infinite drawbacks

While the BMO eclipse Visa Infinite has a lot going for it, you'll still need to grapple with things like an annual fee, high interest rates, and pesky income requirements.

1. Typical but still expensive annual fee

While the $120 annual fee is fairly typical for a premium credit card, it's still a lot of money every year to keep a credit card in your wallet.

While the annual fee is waived for the first year you have the card, and the $50 lifestyle credit offsets it a bit, you'll still have to take full advantage of this card's rewards, insurance, and other perks and benefits to justify that cost.

Based on our typical spending breakdown, the average Canadian would have to spend about $600 a month to earn enough rewards to cover the annual fee.

2. Above average interest rates across the board

The BMO eclipse Visa card has higher than average interest rates of:

• Purchases: 21.99%
• Cash advances: 23.99% (21.99% for Quebec residents)
• Balance transfers: 23.99% (21.99% for Quebec residents)

While most credit cards have interest rates hovering around the 20% level, these are a little higher than most, and are something to be aware of.

3. Standard high income requirements

Where some credit cards don't have minimum income requirements for approval, many do, and the BMO eclipse Visa Infinite is one of these.

In order to qualify for this credit card, you'll need income of either:

• $60,000 personal, or
• $100,000 household.

Unfortunately, this requirement puts this credit card out of reach for many Canadians.

4. Additional cards are also expensive

Finally, if you do get the BMO eclipse Visa Infinite and want an additional card for someone else, you'll pay $50 annually for the privilege.

BMO eclipse Visa Infinite vs. BMO Ascend World Elite Mastercard

The BMO eclipse Visa Infinite has another BMO Rewards equivalent, the BMO Ascend World Elite Mastercard. Let's see how these stack up, side by side.

Feature	BMO eclipse Visa Infinite Card	BMO Ascend World Elite Mastercard
Welcome bonus	$150 GeniusCash + Up to 70,000 bonus points, first year free (terms)	$125 GeniusCash + Up to 90,000 100,000 bonus points, first year free (terms)
Annual fee	$120	$150
Rewards	* 5 BMO Rewards points for every $1 spent on dining, groceries, gas, and transit * 1 point per $1 spent on all other purchases	* 5 points per $1 spent on travel * 3 points per $1 spent on dining, entertainment, and recurring bills * 1 point per $1 spent on all other purchases
Bonus rewards	* 10% more points when you add an authorized user to your account * $50 annual lifestyle credit	* Mastercard Travel Pass membership and 4 free passes
Lifestyle credit	$50	None
Insurance coverages	6 types	14 types
Income requirements	* Personal: $60,000 * Household: $100,000	* Personal: $80,000 * Household: $150,000

This comes down to what you want in a credit card. With credit cards you can't get everything and BMO has made these credit cards to cover different things.

If you simply want the most rewards, the BMO eclipse Visa Infinite Card is the better option. You'll get more points and that lifestyle credit.

But for insurance and perks, you'll want to get the BMO Ascend World Elite Mastercard instead. It sacrifices those rewards to increase what it offers in these 2 areas.

Bottom line

All in all, it's nice to see a BMO Visa credit card with a solid rate of return on some common everyday purchase categories, such as gas and groceries.

FAQ

Does the BMO eclipse Visa Infinite have an annual fee?

The BMO eclipse Visa Infinite has a $120 annual fee that is waived for the first year you have the card.

How is the BMO eclipse Visa Infinite different from the BMO eclipse Visa Infinite Privilege?

The BMO eclipse Visa Infinite Privilege has a higher annual fee of $599, and higher income requirements of $150,000 personal, or $200,000 household. On the other hand, it comes with some extra benefits, such as airport lounge access and complimentary lounge passes.

Where the BMO eclipse Visa Infinite is more designed for every day shopping, the BMO eclipse Visa Infinite Privilege is clearly designed more for frequent travellers.

Does the BMO eclipse Visa Infinite earn rewards?

It does. With the BMO eclipse Visa Infinite card, you'll earn flexible BMO Rewards.