Pros & cons
Pros
- Up to 3% cash back on purchases.
- No annual fee.
Cons
- Only available for Costco members.
- Only includes 3 types of insurance.
- No special earn rate at Costco warehouses.
Your rewards
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 CIBC Costco Mastercard, here's how you earn rewards:
- 3% cash back on restaurants and Costco gas
- 2% cash back at other gas stations, EV charging , and at Costco.ca
- 1% 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 CIBC Costco Mastercard in particular, if you spend $2,000 per month, here's our estimated annual rewards earned depending on which reward you choose:
| Costco Gift Certificate | $226 |
Calculating your annual rewards
$24,000 annual spending x 1.33% return on spending = $318 annual rewards
$318 annual rewards − $0.00 annual fee = $318 net annual rewards
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Details and eligibility
- Estimated Credit Score
- 760 - 900
- Personal Income
- N/A
- Household Income
- $15,000
- Annual Fee
- $0.00
- Extra Card Fee
- $0
- Card type
- Credit
- Purchase
- 21.75%
- Cash Advance Δ
- 22.49%
- Balance Transfer Δ
- 22.49%
Insurance coverage
- Extended Warranty
- 1 year
- Purchase Protection
- 90 days
- Mobile Device
- $1,000
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
CIBC Costco Mastercard's 4.3 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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CIBC Costco Mastercard review
A credit card exclusively for Costco members, the CIBC Costco Mastercard offers high earn rates for no annual fee.
However, it has one flaw – it doesn't offer bonus rewards at Costco Warehouses.
Here's what this card has to offer, along with various alternatives for shopping at Costco.
Earning rewards with the CIBC Costco credit card
WIth the CIBC Costco Mastercard, you'll be earning cash back on all your purchases.
Here's what you'll earn on your purchases:
- 3% cash back on restaurants and Costco gas
- 2% cash back at other gas stations, EV charging, and at Costco.ca
- 1% cash back on all other purchases
For a no annual fee card, those are some pretty good earn rates. We particularly like the bonus earn rate when shopping at costco.ca.
Those earn rates have one flaw however – there's no bonus rewards for shopping at Costco Warehouses.
It's quite rare to see a store branded card not offer bonus rewards with the merchant that issues it.
How do you get your rewards? You'll get them issued in the form of a Costco gift certificate. You can then use them towards the purchase of any item from a Costco Warehouse.
Alternative credit cards for shopping at Costco Warehouses
If you visit Costco frequently, then the CIBC Costco Mastercard is for you. Otherwise, you wouldn’t want to be tied to a single card or place. This is why we suggest several credit cards that will reward you at Costco, but do the same at other grocery chains as well – just for a little more flexibility.
Here's a quick overview of a few different cards you can look at.
| National Bank World Elite Mastercard | RBC WestJet World Elite Mastercard | RBC CashBack Preferred World Elite Mastercard | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Earn Rates | * 5 points per $1 spent on groceries and restaurants * 2 points per $1 spent on gas, electric vehicle charging, recurring bills, and travel booked through À La Carte Rewards * 1 point per $1 spent on all other purchases | * 2 WestJet points per $1 spent on WestJet or WestJet Vacations purchases * 1.5 WestJet point per $1 spent on all other everyday purchases | * 1.5% cash back on the first $25,000 spent annually * 1% cash back after $25,000 spent annually |
| Annual Fee | $150 | $119 | $99 |
| Insurance Coverage | 10 | 10 | 3 |
| Income Requirements | $80K personal or $150K household | $80K personal or $150K household | $80K personal or $150K household |
| Learn More |
Each of these cards will earn you at least 50% more rewards on all your purchase made at a Costco Warehouse.
Here's the earn rate of each card when shopping at Costco.
With that said, there’s obviously some downsides. Each of these cards has an annual fee to pay. They also offer much more in the way of rewards and benefits to help offset some of the cost.
But they have large income requirements. Seeing that all of them are World Elite Mastercards, you'll need either a personal income of $80,000 or a household income of $150,000 to qualify for any of them.
But if you can qualify, you'll up your rewards substantially, while getting an overall better credit card.
You can see our full comparison of the CIBC Costco Mastercard and our top 5 alternatives here.
3 benefits of the CIBC Costco Mastercard
There are some other benefits to the CIBC Costco Mastercard on top of the rewards. Here are 3 other things to like:
1. No annual fee and low income requirements
First off, this card has no annual fee. It will cost you nothing to keep in your wallet.
But it also has a low income requirement of only $15,000 in annual personal income, making it very accessible to most Canadians.
2. A free upgrade to a World Mastercard
If you meet the standard World Mastercard income requirements of either $60,000 personal or $100,000 household, you can get a free upgrade to a World version of this card.
It doesn't offer anything extra in terms of rewards, insurance, or more perks, but it does open up access to World Mastercard benefits.
3. Mobile device insurance
This card only offers 3 types of insurance, but one of those is very valuable mobile device coverage.
You'll get coverage for something that goes almost everywhere you do, and be provided with coverage in case it breaks, gets lost, or is stolen.
2 downsides to the CIBC Costco Mastercard
It's not perfect. In addition to not earning bonus rewards at Costco Warehouses, here are 2 other things to consider.
1. Only available to Costco members
A big downside is the card isn't available for everyone. You'll need to be a Costco member to be able to apply for this card.
If you're already a Costco member, this doesn't apply to you. But if you want to get it and don't have (or need) a membership, you'll essentially have to fork out $60 to be able to apply for the card.
2. Rewards only paid out once per year
You won't get access to your rewards very often – once per year in January.
And it's not really true cash back – you get rewards issued as a gift certificate you can then use towards any purchase in a Costco Warehouse. And if you're wondering, no, it can't be used at costco.ca.
Leave a review
These are our thoughts on the CIBC Costco Mastercard, but what about you?
Do you have the card? Have you had it in the past?
Leave us a user review so others can see what you thought of it.
FAQ
What does the CIBC Costco credit card offer for rewards?
The CIBC Costco Mastercard offers rewards at these rates:
- 3% cash back on restaurants and Costco gas
- 2% cash back at other gas stations, EV charging, and at Costco.ca
- 1% cash back on all other purchases
The cash back earned gets paid out as a Costco gift certificate in January of every year and can only be used to pay for goods at Costco Warehouses.
Does the CIBC Costco Mastercard include any insurance?
The CIBC Costco Mastercard includes 3 types of insurance, one of which is mobile device coverage.
What is the annual fee and income requirements of the CIBC Costco Mastercard?
The CIBC Costco Mastercard has no annual fee and a personal income requirement of $15,000.
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User reviews
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Terrible, Scam card . Their only purpose is to charge you fees. Stay away if you don't want to be robbed
Some of the reviews below surprised me. It's not a perfect card, but 3% for restaurants and Costco gas, and 2% for other gas can add up quite well. Too bad you can only redeem in the New Year. It does post late on occasion but overall it's been a steady decent card for cash back.
Don't waste your time it's the work Mastercard and the worst service and good luck if you get help or if someone answer your calls
Initial 1st using this card was great. But last few visit at Costco, Teller says card is not operating. Call cibc and followed there instructions. By going to a CIBC bank and update profile. Try card at Costco after this request and still 'does not work'. Yes payments of card were always up to date. Frustrating
CIBC has to be one of the worst banks for customer service. I was on the phone for 43 minutes waiting to speak to a customer service representative when I was unexpectedly and abruptly cut off. I called back and was informed that I would have another 45 minute wait time. THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE. Pathetic CIBC.
