Simplii Financial Cash Back Visa* Card

Simplii Financial™ Cash Back Visa* Card

Eat, drink, and be merry with the Simplii Financial Cash Back Visa credit card. Enjoy high earn rates on restaurant, bar, takeout, and coffee shop purchases. You'll also earn 8% on your eligible purchases for the first 3 months, up to $1,000 in spending.

Rates & fees
Learn more
$0
Welcome bonus
Learn more
$297
Annual rewards
Learn more
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Monthly Spending:
$

Pros & cons

Pros

  • 8% cash back on eligible purchases for your first 3 months. Up to $1,000 spend.
  • Earn 4% on eligible restaurant, bar and coffee shop purchases up to $5,000 spend per year.
  • No fees to send money aborad with Simplii GMT.
  • No annual fee.

Cons

  • Limited insurance included.
  • Poor base earn rate of 0.5% cash back.

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 Simplii Financial Cash Back Visa Card, here's how you earn rewards:

  • 4% cash back on restaurants , up to $5,000 spend per year
  • 1.5% cash back on groceries , gas , drugstores , and pre-authorized payments, up to $15,000 per year
  • 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 Simplii Financial Cash Back Visa Card in particular, if you spend $2,000 per month, here's our estimated annual rewards earned depending on which reward you choose:

Statement credits $297

Calculating your annual rewards

$24,000 annual spending x 1.24% return on spending = $297 annual rewards

$297 annual rewards $0.00 annual fee = $297 net annual rewards

Details and eligibility

Estimated Credit Score
660 - 724
Personal Income
$15,000
Household Income
$15,000
Canadian resident who has reached the provincial age of majority.
Annual Fee
$0.00
Extra Card Fee
$0
Card type
Credit
Purchase
20.99%
Cash Advance
22.99%
Balance Transfer
22.99%

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

Simplii Financial Cash Back Visa Card's 3.9 Genius Rating is based on the weighted average of the following scores:

Rewards
2.6
Fees
4.2
Insurance
0.5
Interest
1.4
Perks
0.2
Approval
4.0
Acceptance
4.4
User Reviews
3.8

Methodology

All scores are produced by our math-based rating algorithm that takes into account over 126 credit card features.

Learn more about our rating methodology.

Simplii Financial Visa review

creditcardGenius Team
Fact Checked
Fact Checked
Accuracy is important to us so this article has gone through a thorough 3-stage review process and fact-checked by our team.

To earn a lot of cash back for no annual fee, the Simplii Financial Cash Back Visa has high earn rates, especially on food.

Here's both the good and the bad that you’ll get with this card.

Earning cash back with the Simplii Visa

The Simplii Visa is a no fee cash back credit card. And it actually has some pretty good earn rates:

  • 4% cash back on restaurants, up to $5,000 spend per year
  • 1.5% cash back on groceries, gas, drugstores, and pre-authorized payments, up to $15,000 per year
  • 0.5% cash back on all other purchases

If you eat out frequently, you won't be doing much better than 4% cash back, even if it is capped at $5,000 in annual spending.

And when it comes to no fee cards, there aren't many that are earning 1.5% in 4 different categories.

But there’s a small price to these high earn rates – you'll only be earning 0.5% cash back on all your non-category purchases.

As to when you'll get your cash back? The cash back you earn will be applied as a statement credit once per year in January.

3 benefits to the Simplii Financial Visa

The rewards are pretty good with this credit card. But there's more to this card than just rewards – here are 4 other things we like about it.

1. Welcome bonus

We all like a good welcome bonus when getting a new credit card. And Simplii offers one here.

8% on your eligible purchases for the first 3 months, up to $1,000 in spending. That's an extra $80 cash back in your pocket.

2. Send money abroad for free with Simplii Global Money Transfer

If you need to send money to someone else, anywhere in the world, the Simplii Visa can help.

With Simplii Global Money Transfer, you can use your Simplii card to send money to someone in another country. You won't pay any fees, and you'll even earn some cash back while you’re at it – a rare perk among international money transfer services.

3. No annual fee and low income requirements

Finally, this complete package has no annual fee, and only has a low income requirement of $15,000. Just note it's not available to residents of Quebec.

2 downsides to the Simplii Visa

Are there some downsides to this card? Indeed there are.

1. Poor base earn rate

We stated this earlier, but despite all the good bonus earn rates the card provides, you're only earning 0.5% cash back on non-category purchases.

But that's easy to overcome – simply carry another one of our best no fee credit cards to offset it. It’s a simple solution.

2. Cash back only awarded once per year

The other drawback is when you get your cash back. You'll only get it once per year in January. It's not the worst time to get it, as it can help pay your holiday bills.

But it's a far cry from other cash back cards that allow you to redeem your cash back anytime you want (as long as you reach certain minimums).

Comparison to the Tangerine Mastercard

So how does it compare to other credit cards? An excellent comparison would be to the Tangerine Money-Back Credit Card, one of our top no annual fee credit cards.

Here's how they compare.

Simplii Financial Visa Tangerine Money-Back Mastercard
Welcome Bonus 8% on your eligible purchases for the first 3 months, up to $1,000 in spending (terms) Earn an extra 10% cash back for the first 2 months, up to $1,000 spent (terms)
Earn Rates * 4% cash back on restaurants, up to $5,000 spend per year
* 1.5% cash back on groceries, gas, drugstores, and pre-authorized payments, up to $15,000 per year
* 0.5% cash back on all other purchases
* 2% cash back on purchases in up to 3 Money-Back Categories
* 0.5% cash back on all other purchases
Average Earn Rate 1.24% 1.14%
Types Of Insurance Included 2 2
Apply Now Apply Now Apply Now

When it comes to overall rewards, they're quite similar (at least based on our typical $2,000 monthly spend), with a small edge to Simplii thanks to its higher bonus rates.

For Tangerine, our rate is based on getting 2% back in 3 different categories. Tangerine has a big upside – you get to decide which categories earn 2% cash back, giving you total control over where you earn bonus rewards. You get to choose 2 categories if your rewards are deposited as a statement credit, or 3 categories if you put them in a Tangerine Savings account.

So which is better depends on where you do your spending.

Our tip? Use both cards in your wallet. With Tangerine, pick your categories in something different from what Simplii offers. Then, you'll be earning bonus cash back in up to 8 different categories – a winning combination in our books.

Leave a review

These are our thoughts on the card, but what about you?

If you have the card (or have had it in the past), leave a user review so others can see what you thought about it.

FAQ

What does the Simplii Financial Visa offer for rewards?

The Simplii Financial Visa offers cash back rewards at the following rates:

  • 4% cash back on restaurants, up to $5,000 spend per year
  • 1.5% cash back on groceries, gas, drugstores, and pre-authorized payments, up to $15,000 per year
  • 0.5% cash back on all other purchases

You'll get your cash back once per year in January.

Do you need to be a Simplii banking customer to get the Simplii Visa?

In the past, in order to get this Visa card, you had to have a Simplii bank account. But that is no longer the case, and the card is now available to everyone.

What is the annual fee and income requirements of the Simplii Financial Visa?

The Simplii Financial Visa has no annual fee or income requirements. However, it is not available to residents of Quebec.

Key benefits

  • Double your cash back on Restaurants, Bars and Coffee Shops.
  • Earn 8% cash back for your first 3 months up to $1,000 in eligible spend.
  • Earn up to 4% cash back on eligible restaurant, bar and coffee shop purchases, up to $5,000 per year.
  • Earn up to 1.5% cash back on eligible gas, groceries, drugstore purchases and pre-authorized payments, up to $15,000 per year.
  • Earn up to 1.5% cash back on eligible gas, groceries, drugstore purchases and pre-authorized payments, up to $15,000 per year.
  • Purchase Security and Extended Protection Insurance.. Protect your purchases with double the manufacturer’s warranty, up to one additional year.
  • Get cash back when you send a Global Money Transfer and pay with your Visa* Card.
  • Send money abroad for no fee with your Simplii Visa using Simplii Global Money Transfer.

User reviews

3.8 out of 5

Reviewed by 8 Canadians

5 stars
38%
4 stars
25%
3 stars
25%
2 stars
0%
1 stars
13%
Chris E 3 months ago
1

4% on restaurants with no fee, can't be beat. What is insane to me though is it is not even mentioned on this very site's "Best Restaurant Credit Cards In Canada" article.

Diljot a year ago
1

Great credit card. 4% Cashback for restaurants & food is amazing.

Barb 2 years ago
1

I thought at first the Simplii visa was a good, no annual fee card. However when I received my first statement this year, I discovered that I was missing a credit on the balance I had on my card- it disappeared! so I phone the bank and they said it was taken for "maintenence fees".... needless to say that I have canceled my card and went to Tangerine...hopefully "no fee" means "no fee" for my new bank

Brenden 2 years ago
2

This should be the first credit card for every Canadian. 4% cash back for restaurants and bars with no annual fee is insane. Get this card when you turn 18 and keep it forever. A card exclusively for food and drinks.

Brad Izsak 3 years ago
1

It’s a ok card, it will be hard to keep track of the. 5k spent at restaurants before I switch to my tangerine cc. The one huge downside for me is. Simplicity visa does not have a autopay balance. That’s a fail in my books. Will see if I keep the card.

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