For nearly a year now we have been looking at how you can use your loyalty programs and credit cards to help you out financially during these difficult times encountered due to the pandemic. In many of our articles we talk about the liquidity of your points, miles and even cash back as there is a lot of variation from each of the programs and card issuers. It is the latter where much of that variation comes in - that is how quickly or how easily can you access your credit card points or miles or cash back to help lower your credit card statement balance.

The reason we look at this is front and centre in our news and world today. Thousands of Canadians have been laid off from work or are working much less hours from home or at their workplace and this means lower to even no income. On the original date of publishing this article a survey reported that 49% of Albertans were already feeling a financial pinch. That's where you can look at your credit card reward programs as source of financial aid by using the rewards or cash back to help pay down your expenses. We won't go into huge detail in this article since we have covered it in great depth in the following articles:

• Shifting your loyalty program strategy to help during these trying and tough financial times
• In light of what's going on in the world should you shift to a cash back credit card instead of a travel card? Why not a card that has both?
• Use Instacart to circumvent Loblaw stores non-acceptance of Amex and to earn 5x points with the Cobalt Card
• Low Interest Credit Card Options

The one recurring theme you'll notice in many of those articles is our warning about many of the most popular cash back credit cards. They are being heavily promoted right now since travel is almost nonexistent but you have to be aware that a lot some of them don't give you easy access to that cash back. Many Some of them only provide you your cash back return once annually - something that doesn't work for many who may need access to those rewards in the short term. You may notice we have changed from a lot or many to some as credit card issuers are shifting their cards to easier access. That being said we developed the following chart so that you can see the liquidity of the points, miles and cash back provided by some of the more popular cards in Canada. We have also added in the cash back equivalent returns so that you can also compare those between the cards.

FYI The chart is sorted by the 'Minimum Cash Out Level' then by 'Minimum Time' followed by minimum spend.

If you are looking for a new card and are wondering about the cash back liquidity, ideally you'll want to look at the following:

• A card that has a low cash out level
• No time or date restrictions on when you can cash out.
• You'll also want to take into account the minimum spend (And what you have to spend it on - some cards' best earn rates are on travel which is non-existent at this time) as well as the minimum and maximum cash back rate of return
• You'll also notice that many of the 'Big Name' cash back cards aren't very liquid - they only award your cash back once per year or monthly.
  
  

Card	Minimum Cash Out Level	Minimum time to redeem for cash back	Minimum amount of spend required to reach the lowest cash back redemption level*	Maximum Cash Back Rate of Return	Minimum Cash Back Rate of Return
Neo Mastercard	$0.01	No time/date restrictions	$1	5+%	1%
BMO CashBack Mastercard	$1	No time/date restrictions	$34	3%	0.5%
Card	Minimum Cash Out Level	Minimum time to redeem for cash back	Minimum amount of spend required to reach the lowest cash back redemption level*	Maximum Cash Back Rate of Return	Minimum Cash Back Rate of Return
Brim World Elite Mastercard	$1 (100 Points)	No time/date restrictions	$50	2%	1%
BMO World Elite Mastercard	$1 (200 points)	No time/date restrictions	$66.67 Based on all spend made in dining, travel and entertainment categories	1.5%	1%
BMO CashBack World Elite Mastercard	$1	No time/date restrictions	$67	1.5%	1.5%
Brim World Mastercard	$1 (100 Points)	No time/date restrictions	$67	1.5%	1%
Card	Minimum Cash Out Level	Minimum time to redeem for cash back	Minimum amount of spend required to reach the lowest cash back redemption level*	Maximum Cash Back Rate of Return	Minimum Cash Back Rate of Return
Brim Mastercard	$1 (100 Points)	No time/date restrictions	$100	1%	1%
BMO Rewards Mastercard	$1 (200 points)	No time/date restrictions	$200	0.5%	0.5%
American Express Cobalt Card	$10 (1,000 points)	No time/date restrictions	$200 Based on all spend made in the eats & drinks category	5%	1%
The Platinum Card from American Express	$10 (1,000 points)	No time/date restrictions	$334 Based on all spend made in the dining category	3%	1%
American Express Gold Rewards Card	$10 (1,000 points)	No time/date restrictions	$500 Based on all spend made in the gas, grocery, drug store and/or travel categories	2%	1%
Card	Minimum Cash Out Level	Minimum time to redeem for cash back	Minimum amount of spend required to reach the lowest cash back redemption level*	Maximum Cash Back Rate of Return	Minimum Cash Back Rate of Return
Scotia Gold American Express Card	$20 (3,000 points)	No time/date restrictions	$600 Based on all spend made in dining, grocery and entertainment categories	3.9%	0.67%
Rogers World Elite Mastercard	$20	No time/date restrictions	$1,334 Based on all spend made for purchases in C$	1.5%	0.5%
Scotia Passport Visa Infinite	$20 (3,000 points)	No time/date restrictions	$1,500 Based on all spend made in dining, grocery, entertainment & daily transit categories	1.56%	0.67%
Rogers Platinum Mastercard	$20	No time/date restrictions	$2,000 Based on all spend made on Rogers services	1%	0.5%
Fido Mastercard	$20	No time/date restrictions	$2,000 Based on all spend made on Rogers services	1%	0.5%
Card	Minimum Cash Out Level	Minimum time to redeem for cash back	Minimum amount of spend required to reach the lowest cash back redemption level*	Maximum Cash Back Rate of Return	Minimum Cash Back Rate of Return
CIBC Dividend® Visa Infinite* Card	$25	No time/date restrictions	$625 Based on all spend made on gas and groceries	4%	1%
CIBC Dividend Platinum® Visa Card	$25	No time/date restrictions	$834 Based on all spend made on gas and groceries	3%	1%
TD Cash Back Visa Infinite* Card	$25	No time/date restrictions	$834 Based on all spend made on grocery, gas & recurring bill payments	3%	1%
Laurentian Visa DOLLARS Card	$25	No time/date restrictions	$834 Based on all spend made on pre-authorized debits	3%	1%
TD® First Class Travel® Visa Infinite* Card	$25 (10,000 points)	No time/date restrictions	$1111.11 Based on all spend made online via ExpediaForTD	2.25%	0.75%
Card	Minimum Cash Out Level	Minimum time to redeem for cash back	Minimum amount of spend required to reach the lowest cash back redemption level*	Maximum Cash Back Rate of Return	Minimum Cash Back Rate of Return
CIBC Dividend® Visa* Card	$25	No time/date restrictions	$1,250 Based on all spend made on groceries	2%	0.5%
RBC Cash Back Mastercard	$25	No time/date restrictions	$1,250	2%	1%
RBC Cash Back Preferred World Elite Mastercard	$25	No time/date restrictions	$1667	1.5%	1.5%
CIBC Aventura Visa Infinite Card	$25 (4,000 Points)	No time/date restrictions	$2,000 Based on all spend made on travel	1.25%	0.62%
CIBC Aventura® Gold Visa* Card	$25 (4,000 Points)	No time/date restrictions	$2,000 Based on all spend made on travel	1.25%	0.62%
Card	Minimum Cash Out Level	Minimum time to redeem for cash back	Minimum amount of spend required to reach the lowest cash back redemption level*	Maximum Cash Back Rate of Return	Minimum Cash Back Rate of Return
TD Cash Back Card	$25	No time/date restrictions	$2,500 Based on all spend made on grocery, gas & recurring bill payments	1%	0.5%
Desjardin Cash Back Visa / Mastercard	$25	No time/date restrictions	$2,500	1%	0.5%
RBC Avion Visa Infinite	$25 (4,300 points)	No time/date restrictions	$3,440 Based on all spend made on travel	0.73%	0.58%
CIBC Aventura® Visa* Card	$25 (4,000 Points)	No time/date restrictions	$4,000 Based on all spend made on travel, gas stations, grocery stores and drug stores	0.63%	0.32%
RBC Rewards+ Visa Card	$25 (4,300 points)	No time/date restrictions	$4,300 Based on all spend made on travel	0.58%	0.29%
Card	Minimum Cash Out Level	Minimum time to redeem for cash back	Minimum amount of spend required to reach the lowest cash back redemption level*	Maximum Cash Back Rate of Return	Minimum Cash Back Rate of Return
MBNA Smart Cash® World Mastercard®	$50	No time/date restrictions	$2,500 Based on all spend made on gas stations and grocery stores	2%	1%
MBNA Smart Cash Platinum Plus® Mastercard®	$50	No time/date restrictions	$2,500 Based on all spend made on gas stations and grocery stores	2%	0.5%
Desjardin Cashback World Mastercard	$50	No time/date restrictions	$2,500	2%	1%
mbna Rewards World Elite Mastercard	$50 (6,000 points)	No time/date restrictions	$3,000	1.67%	1.67%
HSBC World Elite Mastercard	$75 (25,000 points)	No time/date restrictions	$4,167 Based on all spend made on travel	1.8%	0.9%
Card	Minimum Cash Out Level	Minimum time to redeem for cash back	Minimum amount of spend required to reach the lowest cash back redemption level*	Maximum Cash Back Rate of Return	Minimum Cash Back Rate of Return
Desjardins Cash Back World Elite®Mastercard®	$100	No time/date restrictions	$2,500 Based on all spend made on groceries	4%	1%
Laurentian Bank Visa Infinite	$100 (10,000 points)	No time/date restrictions	$3334 Based on all spend made on pre-authorized debits	3%	1%
Meridian Visa Infinite* Cash Back Card	No Minimum	Monthly (On statement date)	N/A	4%	1%
Meridian Visa Platinum Cash Back Card	No Minimum	Monthly (On statement date)	N/A	2%	1%
Meridian Visa Cash Back Card	No Minimum	Monthly (On statement date)	N/A	1%	0.5%
Card	Minimum Cash Out Level	Minimum time to redeem for cash back	Minimum amount of spend required to reach the lowest cash back redemption level*	Maximum Cash Back Rate of Return	Minimum Cash Back Rate of Return
Tangerine World Mastercard	No Minimum	Monthly (On statement date)	N/A	2%	0.5%
Tangerine Money-Back Credit Card	No Minimum	Monthly (On statement date)	N/A	2%	0.5%
SimplyCash™ Preferred Card from American Express	No Minimum	Yearly (September)	N/A	2%	2%
SimplyCash™ from American Express	No Minimum	Yearly (September)	N/A	1.25%	1.25%
Scotia Momentum® VISA* Infinite card	No Minimum	Yearly (November)	N/A	4%	1%

* Does not take into account any welcome bonus offers and is calculated based on the highest possible earn rate for each card. For example, the American Express Cobalt is taken at the 5x points level ($200 x 5 = 1,000 points)

Be sure to check this page frequently as it will be continually updated when new offers come out on any of the above card or other cards. I would recommend you bookmark it!

Image by Steve Buissinne from Pixabay

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