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Email this10:51 am
April 26, 2019
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I have all credit cards as no fee cash back
Every now and then I verify my cash back.
My Home Trust Visa gives me 1% on all except foreign funds of which avoid the 2% forex fee.....still a good deal.
My Amex gives me 1.25% and double for first 3 months.
It does on everything. Great.
Although some retailers still don’t accept.
I have a BNS Mastercard Cash Back.....but it is a mess to figure out and on the list to terminate.
My BMO Mastercard I “thought” was 1% on everything. Am I hallucinating? A victim of online statements vs mailed statements with changes and updates? I now see they offer:
3% on groceries up to $500 per statement period
It shows as .5% plus a separate 2.5% bonus
1 % on recurring bills up to $500 per statement period
.5% on all else
So I notice all purchases at Costco using BMO Mastercard Cash Back ...groceries...prescriptions.....and hard and soft goods.......all get me the .5%. I feel gypped for 2 reasons....I thought 1% on all but have informed my self that won’t happen and secondly why no 3% on the grocery piece at Costco? I have been a trusting BMO customer for decades......but no longer trusting.
Does any one have a no fee MasterCard that gives 1% or more at Costco?
12:00 pm
April 6, 2013
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Issuers of personal credit cards do not receive the line-by-line details of each purchase. So, BMO doesn't know that some of those Costco purchases charged to a BMO MasterCard are groceries.
Reward programs with personal credit cards actually use the merchant category code (MCC) of the card terminal to determine the reward. Costco's card terminals are usually set to the warehouse club category and not to one of the grocery stores categories. So, Costco purchases are not treated as grocery store purchases.
Similarly, if one buys a $50 gasoline station gift card at a grocery store and charges it to the BMO MasterCard, then the BMO MasterCard will consider that to be a $50 grocery store purchase! 
That is a loophole for you to get 3% on your gasoline purchases using your particular BMO MasterCard.
12:24 pm
April 6, 2013
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Paragraph 2(b) of the BMO Cashback MasterCard terms & conditions has the details:
2. b) Earn 3% cash back in Grocery Store purchases up to a maximum of $500 per statement cycle period. The 3% cash back includes the base earn rate of 0.5% cash back for card purchases (“Base Rewards”) and the bonus of 2.5% cash back for Grocery Store Purchases (“Bonus Rewards”). To earn Bonus Rewards, your Grocery Store Purchase must be made at merchants classified by Mastercard’s “Merchant Category Code” as “grocery stores and supermarkets” (MCC 5411). BMO (“Bank of Montreal”) cannot guarantee that any merchant, operating in whole or in part as a grocery store, is classified by MCC 5411 and in no event will BMO be liable or responsible for any claims with respect to a grocery store purchase made at a merchant that is not classified by MCC 5411. …
12:51 pm
April 26, 2019
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Thanks Norman1. I knew that. And I found what the MCC is for Costco.....not a match!!
I am going to review all of our annual expenses what we pay on a card and all of our higher monthly expense that we use a card for.
Then I have to ask what card should I use for what. lol
So does any one get 1% off at Costco? If so with what no fee CashBack card?
1:06 pm
October 7, 2019
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GICinvestor said
So does any one get 1% off at Costco? If so with what no fee CashBack card?
Still use my no fee WE Rogers Mastercard at Costco - although they recently reduced the cashback from 1.75% its still 1.5% and yes that includes Costco
2:51 pm
December 7, 2011
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Tangerine MC at Costco always 0.5%, even when I purchased only groceries.
3:15 pm
April 26, 2019
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pwr1019 said
Still use my no fee WE Rogers Mastercard at Costco - although they recently reduced the cashback from 1.75% its still 1.5% and yes that includes Costco
Thanks. I saw that card as a candidate. Are you ok with it all around? 1.5 at Costco is better than the Costco Mastercard as you only receive 1% AFTER you have $3000 in purchases. Thank You!!!
3:16 pm
April 26, 2019
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Winnie said
Tangerine MC at Costco always 0.5%, even when I purchased only groceries.
Thanks Winnie thats what I have with my BMO Cash-back. Always looking for better!! lol.
4:25 pm
August 9, 2014
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GICinvestor, have you consider Brim financial, their no fee card offer 1 % reward and have no foreign transaction fee. However, please be aware that they use their own exchange rate instead of MC's rate for foreign transaction.
4:49 pm
April 26, 2019
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Jon said
GICinvestor, have you consider Brim financial, their no fee card offer 1 % reward and have no foreign transaction fee. However, please be aware that they use their own exchange rate instead of MC's rate for foreign transaction.
Thanks Jon. I will look at it.
5:15 pm
April 26, 2019
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Ok, I took a quick look.
BMO Cash Back No Fee must have just changed from 1% on all to .5% on all but a bonus of 2.25% for groceries (if the right MCC), and .5% bonus on recurring bills.
As all statements before Jun 2020 all received 1% on every purchase.
Cash back for Costco, groceries, prescriptions, hard lines and soft lines all .5%
So BMO .....no notification of change of MC and no notification of my LOC was going to get cancelled. BMO you........
BNS Cash Back No Fee 1% on Gas Grocery Prescriptions and Recurring Bills and .5% on all else.
Costco is all else, groceries, prescriptions, hard lines and soft lines all .5%
AMEX Cash Back No Fee 1.25% and a bonus 1.25% for first 3 months. Still some vendors not accepting. I just received it at the start of Covid-19 so not too much use.
Costco does not accept, of course.
So far everywhere I have used it, no exceptions have received the 1.25% on all and will receive the bonus 1.25% 3 months.
Home Trust Visa Cash Back No Fee 1% and 0% cash back on foreign BUT no Forex fee.
So far everywhere I have used it in Canadian funds, no exceptions have received the 1% on all.
Costco does not accept, of course.
So does MC at any FI have the same back bone policies??? So similar BMO and BNS.
5:57 pm
April 26, 2019
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pwr1019 said
Still use my no fee WE Rogers Mastercard at Costco - although they recently reduced the cashback from 1.75% its still 1.5% and yes that includes Costco
Does any one know how Fido Mastercard and Rogers Platinum Mastercard works for cash back at Costco.
7:50 pm
April 26, 2019
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Also is there a category to choose with Tangerine MasterCard that gives 2% for Costco shopping!
Forget it. I see the answer above.
12:33 am
October 21, 2013
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We primarily use a fee-based card. I have nothing better to offer you than what you have been told already.
Thanks for the warning though. They may all be quietly reducing their rewards now.
For us, the fee-card has been more than justified, but it might not be if they reduce the reward as I imagine the fee will not be correspondingly reduced.
Some people get around it by "churning" promotional offers for new cards, getting a new card every year or so and using it to get higher rewards until the offer expires. For me, this looked like too much work, but OK for some.
These things should be reassessed every year anyway, and this is a good time to do it. Rewards change, and so do spending habits.
10:11 am
January 12, 2019
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GICinvestor said
Thanks Norman1. I knew that. And I found what the MCC is for Costco.....not a match!!I am going to review all of our annual expenses what we pay on a card and all of our higher monthly expense that we use a card for.
Then I have to ask what card should I use for what. lol
So does any one get 1% off at Costco? If so with what no fee CashBack card?
As far as I know, 'CapitalOne' no-fee Master Card gets you 1% cash-back rewards @ Costco ... and everywhere else, too. 
" Live Long, Healthy ... And Prosper! "
10:13 am
April 26, 2019
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Thanks for the warning though. They may all be quietly reducing their rewards now.
Quiet is NOT a good idea. I have had a BMO MasterCard for decades (a plain MC converted to AirMiles converted to CashBack) and you just don't make slime ball changes and not inform the customer!!! It is their responsibility to make some type of highlighted information of the change. On my statement, an email or a letter. The BMO MC now goes to the back of our two wallets and we will use others. Is this a trend we will see with all no fee cash backs? Do I jump into Rogers World Elite? With my luck it will change too.
So much for being a long time BMO customer. I have no qualms of cancelling the MC just out of spite!!!
These things should be reassessed every year anyway, and this is a good time to do it. Rewards change, and so do spending habits.
You have to reassess every month to see if you have a change. I have never ever verified my cash back amounts. But since I was just new with Amex I was checking my statements and thought....why not check the others too! BMO MC just made the change this month.
10:16 am
April 26, 2019
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Dean said
As far as I know, 'CapitalOne' no-fee Master Card gets you 1% cash-back rewards @ Costco ... and everywhere else, too.
But only after you spend $3000 at the .5% cash back value.
2:00 pm
March 30, 2017
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With so many cards to choose from, my simple rule is thumb is a card has to pay me for me to use it. I wont consider any card with fee and wont waste my time calculating whether I am better off or not with the intended /expected purchase.
Currently using Cibc visa infinite for groceries and gas which is 4% rebate. This card is free if you bank with cibc and meet their min requirement.
A grandfather Capital One which is 2% everything. $120 fee a year but gives me $100 back in rebate each year. Oops I guess I do pay $20 a year fee haha
5:30 pm
April 26, 2019
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savemoresaveoften said
With so many cards to choose from, my simple rule is thumb is a card has to pay me for me to use it. I wont consider any card with fee and wont waste my time calculating whether I am better off or not with the intended /expected purchase.Currently using Cibc visa infinite for groceries and gas which is 4% rebate. This card is free if you bank with cibc and meet their min requirement.
A grandfather Capital One which is 2% everything. $120 fee a year but gives me $100 back in rebate each year. Oops I guess I do pay $20 a year fee haha
So who is the winner Capital One or you???? Time to reassess and look for a no fee cash back?
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