No Fee Credit card that does not charge foreign exchange rate | Page 2 | Credit card reward programs | Discussion forum

countysaver said

Wealthsimple still has its illogical/non-transparent waiting list to apply for its Visa. People, including me, have been waiting a year or more to be invited to apply; some, with seven figure relationships are blocked while others are invited immediately. WS steadfastly refuses to explain who/why it favours. My theory is that it's because WS is not a bank and not authorized to issue credit cards; it is dependent on the small unidentified bank(s) with which it partners who can't issue more credit than available deposits permit per banking regulations. A murky fog of non-disclosure. Maybe when WS draws enough deposits to its non-investment side ... and... deposits that money to the mystery bank(s) they can issue more credit cards. It's a theory unfounded in insider knowledge.  

It's reasonable to assume that they are constrained by their need to manage risk. It's a new line of business for WS and they underestimated demand. It's also true that WS is not a bank. The issuer of these cards is Wealthsimple Payments Inc. under a Visa licence rather than some mystery bank.

They have told us that they are prioritizing people who deposit salaries, long term clients and Generation/Premium. They also said that the waitlist will be eliminated in 2026. Seems transparent; not sure what else they can say. In my family all “Generation” clients got the card circa October 25 even though we don't have direct deposits. Initially the credit limit was a bit low but I followed up and it was increased. Understand people get frustrated if they have to wait but it's really not a big deal; it's not like there aren’t 3467964 other cards out there.

It is really convenient for foreign trips though once you get it. Not just the zero charges on FX and 2% cashback but the whole set up is good. Like I can use WS via Apple Pay for large amounts while my other cards wont allow that. And information on charges comes through to the account right away. A bunch of little things like this which are nice. Insurance is very decent. And they did cancel a fraudulent charge which was attempted at a gas station in Mexico.