The Best Credit Cards for Low Income in Canada 2024

The American Express Cobalt is one of Canada’s best travel credit cards. If you’re looking for a versatile credit card that rewards both everyday spending and travel, the American Express Cobalt is an ideal choice. Cardholders can enjoy strong travel insurance, a generous welcome offer, and flexible point redemption options.

Pros

• Exceptional point earning: 5x the points on eligible restaurant and food delivery, 3x the points on eligible streaming services, 2x the points on travel and daily transit. The earning potential for restaurants and takeout is significantly higher than most other cards
• Flexible point redemption: Travelers can choose from three ways to use their points: points 1:1 to several valuable loyalty programs including Aeroplan, use the Fixed Points Program to simplify redemptions regardless of travel dates, or use points for statement credits at a rate of 1 point = 1 cent. Or, redeem Membership Rewards for travel, gift cards, merchandise, or purchases
• Exclusive access: Enjoy privileges such as Front of the Line Presale and Reserved tickets to concerts, theatre performances, movie screenings, culinary events, and other special offers
• Comprehensive travel insurance: Benefit from a strong travel insurance package, including up to $5,000,000 in travel emergency medical 
• No additional fee for authorized users: Add authorized users for no extra cost (an average fee of $30-50 on other comparable cards) 

Cons

• Monthly fee: A monthly fee of $12.99 (totalling an annual fee of $156, which is higher than most other rewards cards)
• Limited acceptance: American Express isn’t as widely accepted in Canada compared to Visa and Mastercard
• Travel insurance age limitations: The travel insurance package does not cover trip cancellation or medical coverage for cardholders over the age of 65
• Lack of airport lounge access: Frequent travellers may be disappointed as this card does not offer access to airport lounges

While the Tangerine Money-Back Credit Card is a no annual fee card, what really sets it apart is the ability to customize your rewards. With this card, you can choose your own bonus categories (which will earn you a strong cash back rate of 2% per dollar spent). This is rare in the credit card market and means you can avoid being locked into a bonus category that you can’t take full advantage of, or that doesn’t align with your spending habits. 

Pros

• Customizable bonus categories: Flexibility to pick up to three bonus categories to earn 2% cash back on (out of a total of 10 options), which is in sharp contrast to most other cards where you have fixed bonus categories that you have no control over. Users are also given the freedom to change the bonus categories at any time (changes will take up to 90 days to come into effect)
• High cash back earning rate: 2% cash back per dollar on bonus categories is one of the richest earn rates for a no-fee card, plus your rewards are unlimited and don’t have monthly or annual maximums
• Wide acceptance: Widely accepted almost everywhere including No Frills and Costco 
• Additional cards at no cost: Free supplementary cards for authorized users
• Frequent cash back reimbursement: Cash back is refunded on a monthly basis, instead of the standard annual reimbursement

Cons

• Limited cash back for non-bonus categories: For all purchases that aren’t categorized under one of your chosen bonus categories, you’ll earn just 0.5% cash back
• Limited travel insurance and perks: No travel medical insurance or any substantial side perks

The MBNA Rewards Platinum Plus manages to punch above its weight, offering impressive rewards on everyday spending despite the fact it has no annual fee or any specific income requirements.

The MBNA Points program is also flexible and easy-to-understand, making it a perfect fit for points beginners or anyone who doesn’t want to deal with elaborate rewards charts or maps. The drawbacks: the card doesn’t offer much in the form of perks or travel emergency insurance and comes with rewards caps that can put a ceiling (albeit a mostly negligible one) on your ability to rack up bonus points.

MBNA Rewards Platinum Platinum – Quick review

The Pros

• The MBNA Rewards Platinum Plus has no annual fee.
• It earns up to 4 points per dollar spent (2% in travel rewards) on eligible restaurant, grocery, digital media, membership and household utility purchases during the first 90 days  , and 2 points‡ for every $1 spent on eligible purchases in those categories thereafter – in both cases, these earn rates apply until $10,000 is spent annually in the applicable category.
• You’ll earn at least 1 point per dollar (1% in travel rewards) on all other everyday purchases. In comparison, many other no fee rewards cards start earning rewards from as little 0.5%.
• MBNA points values are easy to calculate. 1 point = 1 cent when redeemed for travel, or 1 point = 1% in travel rewards.
• You can redeem MBNA points from virtually any airline of your choice.
• Aside from travel rewards, MBNA points also offer great value on gift card redemptions (1 point = around 0.8 – 0.9 cents on gift cards).
• The card doesn’t come with any specific income requirements.
• Cardholders will receive mobile device insurance, purchase assurance and extended warranty benefits.
• As a Mastercard, the MBNA Rewards Platinum Plus is accepted virtually everywhere.

The Cons

• There is an annual spend cap on bonus categories. You’ll earn 4x the points eligible restaurant, grocery, digital media, membership and household utility purchases during the first 90 days, and 2 points‡ for every $1 spent on eligible purchases in those categories thereafter – in both cases, these earn rates apply until $10,000 is spent – after which you’ll earn the standard 1 point per dollar.
• You must use MBNA Rewards’ proprietary website when redeeming points, which means you can’t use points to book travel directly from an airline or hotel provider.

Everyday earn rate

The MBNA Rewards Platinum Plus lets you rack up points faster than virtually any other no annual fee travel credit card in Canada.

You’ll earn:

• 4 points per dollar on eligible restaurant, grocery, digital media, membership and household utility purchases during the first 90 day, and 2 points‡ for every $1 spent on eligible purchases in those categories thereafter – in both cases, these earn rates apply until $10,000 is spent annually in the applicable category
• 1 point per dollar on everything else

When considering most rival no fee travel credit cards will earn you the equivalent of 0.5 to 1 point per dollar on everyday purchases, the MBNA Rewards Platinum really manages to stand out.

Here’s a break down how much you can earn on the credit card based on an average monthly spending scenario of $1,500 in the following categories:

Spending Category	Monthly Spending
Groceries	$240
Gas	$180
Restaurants	$250
Bills	$200
Travel	$100
Entertainment	$60
Pharmacies	$20
Everything else	$500

 

Total rewards after 1 year

$266

There is a small caveat worth calling out, however: the bonus categories have an annual spending cap. You’ll earn 4 points per dollar on the first 90 days on on eligible restaurant, grocery, digital media, membership and household utility purchases. If you spend over $1,000 within a year in a particular category, like say groceries, you’ll earn 1 point per dollar on any grocery purchases from $5,001 and beyond till the end of the year. 

While the annual spending caps are a drawback, there’s some silver lining. 

• For one, the caps are set reasonably high at $10,000 annually, which means they won’t come into effect at all unless you spend an average of over $415 per month on groceries, gas, or dining. In other words, you’ll likely earn double the points on all or the vast majority of your spending in bonus categories. 
• Secondly, even if you do hit the cap, you’ll still continue to earn rewards on bonus categories but just at a slightly lower rate of 1 point per dollar. That’s still a solid rewards rate that manages to out-earn most other no fee travel credit cards in Canada. 
• Finally, the cap resets every year.

MBNA Points redemption 

Points value overview

	Avg. value of 1 point	Avg. value of 10,000 points
Travel	1 cent	$100
Gift cards	Avg. 0.8 – 09 cents	Avg. $80-$90
Cash credits	0.5 cents	$50
Merchandise	Avg. 0.7 cents	Avg. $70

For travel

MBNA Rewards is first and foremost a travel points program, which means you’ll get the most value out of each MBNA point when redeeming for travel rewards including:

• Flights
• Vacation packages
• Hotel stays
• Car rentals
• Cruises

You’ll get a return of 1 cent per point (the equivalent of 1% cash back in travel savings) when using points for any of those aforementioned travel rewards. You can start redeeming for travel in increments of as little as 100 points, so you won’t have to rack a giant pile of points before you can start putting them to good use. You’ll also have the flexibility to book travel from virtually any airline, and won’t be resurrected to a limited number of partner carriers or worry about seat restrictions, black out dates or elaborate rewards charts.

There is a drawback though. You must use MBNA’s proprietary travel search engine and can’t price match or apply points against purchases you made on your own directly from an airline, hotel, or travel provider.

For gift cards

If you want to use points for rewards other than travel, you can get some pretty solid value when redeeming for gift cards.

On average, you’ll get around 0.8 to 0.9 cents per point on gift cards, which is only slightly less than what you’d typically get out of your points on travel rewards. That’s impressive, especially when considering some other points programs offer a quarter or even half as much value on gift card rewards versus travel redemptions. 

The MBNA Rewards website includes quite a large catalogue of physical gift card and e-gift card options including: Amazon, Walmart, Wayfair, Home Depot, Hudson’s Bay, eBay, Uber, and more.

For cash credits

When using points for cash credits to pay off your credit card balance, you can redeem points in increments of 200 points for $1. That works out to 0.5 cents per point, which is half the value you’d get when using points for travel (1 cent) and about half what you’d get on gift card redemptions (0.8-0.9 cents).

When redeeming points for cash credits, you’ll also need to have at least 10,000 points accumulated.

All things considered, it’s better to use points for travel or gift cards, and if you’re looking for rewards to reduce your balance, a straight-up cash back credit card may be a better option.

For merchandise

The value of your points when redeeming for merchandise can vary considerably, depending on the item in question. Overall though, you’ll usually get around 0.7 cent per point. So if you’re planning on using points for non-travel rewards, it’s probably better to go the gift card route over redeeming for a specific item.

MBNA Rewards’s online merchandise catalogue is quite vast and covers virtually every product line – from electronics and toys to kitchen appliance and jewelry. 

Fees, income requirements, and more

One of the best features of the MBNA Platinum Plus is its low barrier to entry – there are no annual fees and you won’t need to meet a specific income to get approved.

As per usual for a rewards credit card, you won’t owe any interest if you pay off your balance on time and in full every month, but if you do carry a balance from one month to the next, an annual purchase interest rate of 19.99% will kick in. Annual interest rates on cash advances is 24.99% while balance transfers is set at 22.99%, which is about average.

Side perks and insurance

Along with the basic coverage of purchase protection and extended warranties (up to one year) available on most credit card, the MBNA Platinum Plus also comes with purchase assurance. 

With purchase assurance, most items you bought on your credit card will be covered in the event they’re damaged, lost or stolen within 90 days of the transaction date up to a lifetime value of $60,000. Note though, some items are excluded included art, jewellery, consumable goods, and several electronics. 

The card also comes with three other major types of insurance including:

• Common carrier accidental death and dismemberment insurance: up to $1,000,000)
• Trip cancellation insurance / unexpected return home: up to $2,000
• Rental collision/damage waiver insurance: including up to $2,000 in personal effects coverage

The card’s rental car insurance, in particular, stands out for also offering personal effects coverage, which means if your rental car is stolen and some of your personal belongings along with it, you’ll receive some compensation for your belongings.

The one major drawback of the card’s insurance coverage is it doesn’t include any travel medical emergency coverage (e.g. coverage of healthcare bills if you’re sick while abroad), lost or delayed baggage insurance, or trip cancellation insurance. All things considered though, these benefits are rarely offered by other entry-level fee credit cards.

Bottom line

The MBNA Rewards Platinum Plus easily takes the top spot in our rankings as the best no fee travel card in Canada, and is an easy choice if you’re looking for an entry-level rewards card that costs nothing to carry and can help get a seat on a free or discounted flight faster.

The PC Financial Mastercard is a great option if you want to earn rewards on one of the most common expenses – groceries. Especially if you frequently shop at affiliated stores like Loblaws, No Frills or Shoppers Drug Mart.

Pros:

• No annual fee: For a rewards card, charging no annual fee is a major perk and can help you ramp up your earnings even more
• High return on spending: Your points are valuable at Loblaws-affiliated stores and for gas purchases because of high earn rates on everyday spending
• Unlimited points earnings: Your Optimum points earnings isn’t limited to monthly or annual amounts like with other cards

Cons:

• Redemptions are restricted: You can’t redeem your points for things like statement credits, you are limited to redeeming for gas or groceries at affiliated stores