Rogers™ Red World Elite® Mastercard® Review

The Rogers Red World Elite Mastercard is Canada's best no annual fee cash back credit card. Thanks to some improvements being made to the card in early 2024 it is a great card to have no matter if you are a Rogers customer or not.

The review of the Rogers World Elite Mastercard is broken down into the following sections:

Overview

The Rogers Red World Elite Mastercard is a cash back credit card and a pretty good one at that! Don't be deceived by the Rogers name - the cash back earned on the card does not have to be used for Rogers services nor is the card only for Rogers customers. Anyone can get this card and you have the option to redeem for true cash back in the form of statement credits towards purchases.

Recommended reading: Rogers Red Mastercard Review

Costs & Sign up Features

The Rogers Red World Elite Mastercard is in a small subclass of premium World Elite Cards that are offered with no annual fee. That's right - this is a premium card and it costs $0 per year to have.

The purchase interest rate on the card is 20.99% - 25.99%* while cash advances are charged 22.99% - 27.99%*. Annual income requirements are $80,000 Personal or $150,000 Household. If you don't meet this income level check out the Rogers Mastercard! (It's another amazing no fee cash back card as well!)

* Standard rate on Purchases and Fees: 20.99% Standard rate on Cash Advances, Cash-like Transactions and Balance Transfers: 22.99%
If you are not approved for an Account at the above rates and you reside outside Quebec, we may still issue you an Account at our alternate interest rates, as follows: Rate for Purchases and Fees: 25.99% Rate for Cash Advances, Cash like Transactions and Balance Transfers: 27.99%

Earning

The card earns cash back rewards as follows:

• Earn 2% unlimited cash back on all eligible non-U.S. dollar purchases if you have 1 qualifying service with Rogers, Fido or Shaw. Otherwise,
• Earn 1.5% unlimited cash back on eligible non-U.S. dollar purchases.
• Earn 3% unlimited cash back on all eligible purchases made in U.S. dollars.
  

Redeeming

As with most cash back cards there is only one redemption option with The Rogers World Elite Mastercard and that is to redeem for cash back! The Rogers card has a very simple and easy cash back redemption process. Once your cash back rewards balance reaches $10 you can redeem towards purchases you made that have a value of $10 or more. For example if your cash back balance is $10 and you had a purchase post to your account of $12 you could apply your cash back rewards balance towards that purchase.

Rogers provides several options to go about redeeming your cash back. You can choose to do it manually via the Rogers Bank Mobile App or online via your Rogers account. The manual process lets you instantly apply your cash back rewards balance towards purchases made in the previous 90 days. The second option Rogers provides is an automatic redemption whereby your cash back rewards balance is automatically applied to your next purchase once the $10 level is reached.

50% bonus when redeeming cash back towards any Rogers product or service (including your bill):

There is an additional bonus to the card's cash back redemption option if you use your cash back rewards towards a Rogers purchase. The bonus is 50% and it will be awarded when you apply your cash back against eligible Rogers purchases, including new phones, bill payments and accessories. Just like the standard cash back option, the minimum redemption amount is $10 however when you do apply it towards your Rogers purchase the credit will be 50% higher. For example, if you redeem $20 in cash back rewards towards your Rogers purchase your account will be credited with $30.

Features and Benefits

Seeing that the card carries no annual fee it isn't chock full of benefits like some other cards however it does provide the standard benefits that come on all Canadian World Elite Mastercards.

5 Roam Like Home days every year

• Get 5 Roam Like Home days at no cost every year for Rogers mobile plans (up to $80 value)

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
  
  

Insurance

The Rogers World Elite Mastercard comes with a decent insurance package for being a no fee card and that package includes the following:

• Out of Province/Country Emergency Medical Insurance (10 days under age 65, 3 days for 65-75)
• Trip Cancellation Insurance
• Trip Interruption Insurance
• Car Rental Theft and Damage Insurance
• Purchase Protection Insurance
• Extended Warranty Insurance

What is good about this card

The cash back earn rates are great! The flat 2% earn rate for Rogers customers translates to the highest base cash back earn rate in Canada for a no annual fee cash back card. Even if you are not a Rogers customer the 1.5% base earn rate and 3% on eligible U.S. purchases is better than most competing no fee cash back cards.

If you shop a lot at Costco this is definitely a card to consider as there are only a few cards that offer 1.5% to 2% returns for the warehouse giant and most of those other cards carry annual fees.

Being able to redeem anytime your cash back balance reaches $10 is great. This is a low limit and makes it very easy to realize the savings the card can provide. It's nice to not have to wait for your monthly statement to get the rewards or in the case of some cash back cards annually!

The World Elite Mastercard benefits and the insurance provided are wonderful features for this card. Again highlighting the fact the card has no annual fee, so to get this level of coverage and benefits is pretty amazing.

What is not so good about this card

No welcome bonus offer, most credit cards offers some sort of welcome bonus even if they are free and have excellent earn rates.

The income requirements put this card out of reach for a lot of Canadians. These are the standard requirements for a World Elite Mastercard but $80,000 personal and $150,000 household is quite high.

Who should get this card

• Consumers who want an easy to use and extremely rewarding no fee cash back card
• Consumers who shop a lot a Costco and want to maximize the return on their spending
• Consumers who need a Mastercard for their credit card portfolio but don't want to pay an annual fee for it
• Consumers who want an airport lounge access program and travel insurance from a no fee card
• Consumers who are Rogers customers
  
  

Conclusion

The Rogers World Elite Mastercard is a strong cash back credit card that should be given consideration. The no annual fee, the low redemption requirement of only $10 and the earn rates all combine to make this card one of the better cash back cards in Canada. It doesn't hurt that it even has some travel insurance coverage and Mastercard TravelPass as additional benefits. If you don't travel often and aren't concerned with travel points or travel rewards this is definitely a card to take a look at.

Even if travel rewards are your goal but use other cards like a Visa or American Express as your primary card this one can really make sense to fill the Mastercard slot of your wallet. As you know Rewards Canada always advises our readers to have at least one Visa, one Mastercard and one American Express card in their credit card portfolios and this card can really make sense as a secondary or tertiary card.

Latest card details:

Other cards to consider if you are looking at this card:

• American Express Cobalt® Card
  
• SimplyCash™ Preferred Card from American Express
  
• SimplyCash™ Card from American Express
  
• CIBC Dividend® Visa Infinite* Card
  
• CIBC Dividend Platinum® Visa* Card
  
• Neo Financial Mastercard
  
• RBC Cash Back Preferred World Elite MasterCard
  
• Rogers Mastercard
• Scotia Momentum® VISA* Infinite card
  
• Tangerine World Mastercard®
  
• TD Cash Back Visa Infinite* Card
  
  This review was first posted on February 8, 2019 and is updated as required

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