Find the best BMO credit cards without impacting your credit score

BMO credit cards overview

BMO offers 13 credit cards in total, one of which is sure to meet your needs.

If you love to travel and regularly shop at any of the over a dozen AIR MILES retail partners (like Sobeys grocery stores and Shell gas stations), BMO has partnered with AIR MILES to offer 2 travel rewards credit cards that can help you save on your trips: the BMO AIR MILES Mastercard (no annual fee) and the BMO Air Miles World Elite Mastercard ($120 annual fee). Each tier comes with more bonus MILES as part of their the sign-up offers, better perks, and stronger earn rates that let you collect additional MILES with each purchase. The AIR MILES World Elite stands out in particular for its strong flat earn rate of 1 MILE per dollar on everything you buy, complimentary airport lounge access (includes two free passes renewed annually), and comprehensive travel insurance benefits with over a dozen types of coverage.

AIR MILES can be redeemed as either Dream Miles for free flights or vacation packages from a number of partner airlines, or in the form of Cash Miles for free gift cards in flat increments of 95 MILES for $10.

If you’d rather earn straight-forward cash back with each purchase you make, BMO also offers 3 cash back credit cards: the BMO CashBack Mastercard (no annual fee), BMO CashBack World Mastercard ($79 annual fee), and the BMO CashBack World Elite Mastercard ($120 annual fee). The entry-level BMO Cash Back Mastercard offers stellar rewards on everyday essentials with up to 3% on groceries but earns just 0.5% on virtually all other everyday purchases. The World Mastercard has an individual annual income requirement of $60,000 and gives you a flat 1.25% cash back with every purchase you make while the World Elite Mastercard has an income requirement of $80,000 and offers 1.5% on every purchase. Both the World and World Elite also come with complimentary roadside assistance coverage built-in; an added benefit for car owners worth around $69.

BMO's cash back rewards system is extremely flexible, letting you redeem your cash back at any time of the year in increments of as little as $1.

BMO also offers 5 other credit cards that you may want to consider, including the BMO Preferred Rate Mastercard, which is a low interest credit card (12.99% APR) that has a $20 annual fee. You could also look at the BMO US Dollar Mastercard or Prepaid Travel Mastercard, if you cross over the border often enough. For more in-depth descriptions of our favourites, read our blog on the best BMO credit cards here.

 

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BMO Rewards

BMO also offers 2 credit cards that are tied to its branded rewards program, aptly called BMO Rewards. Both the BMO Rewards Mastercard ($0 annual fee) and BMO World Elite Mastercard ($150 annual fee) let you earn BMO Rewards points, which can be redeemed for travel (at a rate of 0.71 cents per 1 point) or can even be put towards a BMO investment account (0.67 cents per 1 point) or cash credits (0.5 cents per 1 point). The BMO World Elite Mastercard delivers strong points multipliers on dining and travel, and comes with up to a 40,000 bonus points ($280 travel value) as part of its sign-up bonus as well as a first year annual fee waiver.

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More on BMO

The Bank of Montreal (BMO) was the first official bank in Canada, founded in 1817 in Montreal, Quebec. Today, it is the fourth largest bank in Canada and among the ten largest banks in North America. BMO specializes in personal and commercial banking, investment banking and wealth management. The bank has more than 900 branches in Canada, and operations in Chicago and elsewhere in the U.S. BMO employees more than 45,000 employees worldwide and serves more than 12 million clients across the globe.