Launched in November 2024, the Neo World Elite Mastercard is the new premium card offering from Calgary based FinTech company Neo Financial. This relatively young company has been looking to disrupt the old school banking system in Canada with a variety of banking products including spending and savings accounts, mortgages and of course credit cards.
The launch of this card and its no fee sibling the Neo World Mastercard are the next step in their disruption efforts and are a direct attack on the Big 5 Banks's cash back card offerings.
The review of the Neo World Elite Mastercard is broken down into the following sections:
Overview
The Neo World Elite Mastercard is a premium cash back rewards credit card available to residents across Canada including those in Quebec. It has some really impressive accelerated earn rates in popular spending categories that have the potential to be increased to the record breaking 7% cash back for grocery store purchases. The card also features an extensive suite of insurance coverage along with all the standard World Elite Mastercard benefits. Neo has definitely set the bar high with this card as it is one of the best cash back cards in Canada. (The card will feature in our 2025 credit card rankings! Stay tuned to see if it is actually crowned the best by RWRDS Canada)
Recommended Reading:
Canada's Top Cash Back Credit Cards
Check it out here
Costs & Sign up Features
The Neo World Elite Mastercard has a $125 annual fee for the primary card and at this time they do not provide the option for additional (supplementary) cards.
At this time there is no welcome bonus offer for the card.
The interest rate on the card is 19.99% - 26.99% on purchases and 22.99% - 28.99% on cash advances. In Newfoundland and Quebec, the Purchase Credit Rate on the Neo World Elite® Mastercard is 19.99% - 23.99%.
The minimum annual income requirements for this card are $80,000 personal or $150,000 household.
Earning
The card earns straight cash back on all purchases and for the three accelerated spending categories of Groceries, Recurring Bills and Gas, the earn rate increases when you hold $5,000 or more in a Neo Everyday account.
| Spending Category | $0 | $5,000 | $10,000 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Groceries (Capped at $1,000 spend per month) |
5% | 6% | 7% |
| Recurring Bills (Capped at $500 spend per month) |
4% | 4.5% | 5% |
| Gas (Capped at $1,000 spend per month) |
3% | 3.5% | 4% |
| All other spending (including post cap spend) |
1% | 1% | 1% |
Cardholders can also earn additional cash back when using the card at any one of over 12,000 participating Neo partners. Some partners like Shell and Boston Pizza, are an "always on" cash back boost while other partners may provide additional cash back on the first purchase, fifth purchase, tenth and so on.
Redeeming
The beauty of cash back credit cards is the simplicity in redemption - no worries about calculating value in travel or merchandise rewards. The cash back rewards are right there in front of you, no guess work involved and for many cash is king.
With the Neo World Elite Mastercard the cash back rewards post to your account as soon as each purchase clears. This means you have immediate access to that cash back reward. No waiting to reach $25 in rewards, or until the end of month nor waiting for the once per year cash out as seen on some cards.
Features and Benefits
The Neo Financial World Elite Mastercard does not have any features or benefits that are specific to it. However, the card does come with the standard benefits that are provided on most World Elite Mastercards in Canada:
World Elite Mastercard benefits
- Mastercard Travel Pass provided by DragonPass Complimentary membership to Mastercard Travel Pass provided by DragonPass gives access to over 1,300 airport lounges worldwide at discounted rate of $32 USD per person per visit
- FlexiRoam Global Data Roaming Stay connected around the world without a SIM card and get up to 15% off a Global Data Roaming plan plus up to 3GB of data, free.
- Fubo Discount Access 50+ live-stream sports channels and save $30 on your first three months of Fubo
- H&R Block Discount Save up to 30% when you pay for your tax preparation services using your eligible Mastercard
- Booking.com Discount Up to 7% off prepaid stays and save as you explore
Insurance
The Neo World Elite Mastercard comes with quite a good insurance package for a cash back rewards card. The insurance coverage includes the following:
- Out of Province/Country Emergency Medical Insurance (14 days under age 60)
- Trip Cancellation Insurance: up to $1,000 per person ($5,000 total per trip)
- Trip Interruption Insurance: up to $1,000 per person ($5,000 total per trip)
- Flight Delay Insurance: 4 hours $250/day max. ($500 in total)
- Car Rental Theft and Damage Insurance: 48 Days up to C$65,000 MSRP
- Delayed Baggage Insurance: 6 hours up to $1,000 in total
- Lost / Stolen Baggage Insurance: up to $1,000 in total
- Damaged Baggage Insurance: up to $1,000 in total
- Hotel/Motel Burglary Insurance: Up to $1,000
- Purchase Protection Insurance: 90 days
- Extended Warranty Insurance: Up to 1 extra year
What is good about this card
The cash back earn rates of 3% on gas, 4% on recurring bills and 5% on groceries coupled with the 1% base earn rate means this card easily meets or beats the best cash back cards from the Big 5 Banks. Those rates also hold their own against the best cash back cards from issuers like American Express and Rogers.
The ability to earn even higher cash back rates of 4% on gas, 5% on recurring bills and 7% on groceries is huge - if you can spend a lot in those categories to make it worthwhile to hold $10,000 in a Neo Everyday account (see the next section for more details!) The 7% on groceries is the highest true everyday cash back earn rate offered on any credit card in Canada.
The World Elite Mastercard benefits are always a great addition. The Mastercard TravelPass by DragonPass pays your annual membership fee for an airport lounge access program and then you get a discounted entry rate of US$32 per visit. (Most lounges now charge $50 to $60 or more if you don't have any of these membership programs to use)
The insurance coverage is really good for a cash back credit card. It's equal to or better than what you'll find on the majority of other cash back cards in Canada but it does fall short of many travel cards. Not in the types of coverage but rather the coverage amounts. For example, out of province emergency medical only covers those under 60 years of age whereas most other cards provide coverage up to 64 years old.
Is it worth it to hold $10,000 in a Neo Everyday account to receive the higher cash back?
Here's the math for you.
If you hold that $10,000, you must push your spending close to or over the annual caps for it to be worthwhile. You'll get the 2% extra on groceries (Max. $240 extra annually), 1% more on recurring bills (Max $60 extra) and 1% more on gas (Max $120 extra). Thus, if you max out all the categories your are looking at $420 extra cash back by holding $10,000 in a Neo Everyday account.
That's the equivalent of a 4.2% non-compounding interest rate (however Neo does pay out the cash back almost immediately so you could start earning interest on it soon after) plus you'll earn the $10 annually in interest for holding the $10,000 in the account with 0.1% interest. This means you are looking at an extra $430 in cash back over 12 months.
What is not so good about this card
The requirement to hold cash in a low interest bearing account to get the highest cash back earn rates. This is akin to the requirement to hold funds in a "Big 5 Bank" account so that you get the monthly fees waived. Granted, you get excellent cash back rates without holding any funds so it's really up to you to see if it is worth holding the $10,000 in a Neo Everyday account.
There is no welcome bonus offer. The majority of higher end credit cards - cash back or travel - offer a welcome bonus for new cardmembers. However, that is not the case with the Neo World Elite Mastercard. To slightly offset this, Neo does offer some extra bonuses at select partners the first time you use your card at those merchants.
The annual caps on spending for the accelerated earn rate categories. The caps instituted by Neo are not the lowest but they are also not the highest (or unlimited) like some cards in the market. For example, when the average family of four spends over $16,000 annually on groceries, a cap of $12,000 means $4,000 or more of grocery spend on this card would only earn 1%. That can erode your overall return to below what you could receive on cards with higher annual caps and that's even if those other cards have lower cash back earn rates. (In other words, do the math!)
Recommended reading: Loyalty Lesson - How a card with 4.16% cash back can be better than one offering 5%
The foreign exchange transaction fee of 3% is the highest you'll find on any credit cards in Canada. This fee is applied to all purchases made in currencies other than Canadian dollars (whether travelling, online shopping etc.). If you do have a lot of foreign currency purchases that extra 0.5% charged by Neo over what other cards charge (and 3% more than No FX Fee cards) will quickly eat into your cash back returns.
Who should get this card
- Consumers with low to mid-range spend in any or all of the three accelerated categories of groceries, gas and recurring bills
- Consumers who are comfortable in holding $10,000 in a Neo Everyday account to earn even more and can push their monthly spend to hit those monthly caps ensuring they are earning the most cash back possible
- Consumers who want a better cash back in their wallet than what is offered by one of the Big 5 Banks (and most other issuers in Canada)
Conclusion
Neo Financial's mission is to disrupt the Big 5 Banks with competitive banking and credit card products and I would say they have done just that with the Neo World Elite Mastercard. This card is better than any of the true cash back cards offered from the Big 5 Banks and ranks up there with the best cash back cards from the non-Big 5 Bank issuers.
The 7% cash back that can be earned on groceries is record breaking - it is the highest true cash back earn rate in Canada and even trumps most travel cards that don't have the option for outsized value redemptions with select airlines or hotels.
All in all, Neo has made a winner here and we here at RWRDS Canada are keeping our fingers crossed they keep it that way by not being as dynamic in changing this card as they have been with their first credit card products. As much as start ups and industry in general these days are all about adapting and changing things on the fly, I think this is one case where Neo and more so it's customers, would benefit from some extended stability.
Latest card details:
Neo World Elite® Mastercard
Get up to 15% cashback on your first time purchase on Neo's partner network
Annual Fee: $125 Primary Card | Interest Rate: Purchases 19.99% - 26.99% (19.99% - 23.99%for Quebec & Newfoundland residents) | $80,000 personal or $150,000 annual household income
- 5% cashback on groceries
- 4% on recurring bills
- 3% on gas
- 1% back on everything else from day one
- Boost your rewards up to 7% on groceries, 5% on recurring bills, and 4% on gas when you bank with Neo
- Visit any of Neo's 10,000 partners and earn an additional average of 5% cashback on top of your everyday cashback.1
- Comprehensive insurances and World Elite® travel benefits
- Secured option available
1 Average based on current offers at select partners. Cashback varies per plan, offer and partner.
Offer is subject to the Rewards Policy, the Neo Platform Terms and Conditions and all other applicable terms and conditions. Offer may be amended or cancelled at any time without notice
* Neo World Elite Mastercard and Neo Secured World Elite Mastercard credit cards are issued by Neo Financial™ pursuant to license by Mastercard International Incorporated.
Mastercard® is a registered trademark, and the circle design is a trademark of Mastercard International Inc.
Other cards to consider if you are looking at this card:
- American Express Cobalt Card
- SimplyCash® Preferred Card from American Express
- CIBC Dividend® Visa Infinite* Card
- Collabria Cash Back World Elite Mastercard (Various credit unions)
- CWB World Elite Mastercard
- MBNA Rewards World Elite® Mastercard®
- Meridian Visa Infinite* Cash Back Card
- Rogers Red World Elite Mastercard
- Scotia Momentum® Visa* Infinite Card
- TD Cash Back Visa Infinite Card
This review was first posted on December 12, 2024 and is updated on a regular basis
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