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NEW President’s Choice Financial World Elite MasterCard

There has been a significant amount of anticipation for the new PC Financial World Elite MasterCard. It is actually Canada’s first World Elite MasterCard with no annual fee. Here are the highlights of this new credit card:

  • No annual fee
  • Earn 30 PC points for every $1 spent at PC stores, Shoppers Drug Mart, Pharmaprix, pctravel.ca and PC mobile (excluding PC mobile prepaid services)
  • Earn 30 points per litre of Esso Supreme (Octane 91) and Esso SUPREME+ (Octane 93)
  • Earn 20 points per litre on other gasoline or diesel
  • Earn 10 PC points for every $1 spent on all other purchases
  • Travel Emergency Medical Insurance for trips up to 10 days from date of departure, for those under age 65
  • Car Rental Collision/Loss Damage Waiver Insurance
  • Identity Theft Assistant Service
  • 24/7 concierge service (for dinner reservations, reserve event tickets, deliver gifts, etc.)
  • Requirement: $80,000 personal annual income or $150,000 household annual income

Oddly enough, there does not seem to be a sign up bonus for the time being. But that’s not a big deal because 30 points per dollar at all those location is a pretty good earning ratio (which is equivalent to 3% cash back) for a no annual fee credit card. Having no annual fee makes this credit card very attractive to retain long term, which is what I would recommend for PC Plus points collectors.

Since Loblaws decided to buy Shoppers Drug Mart, this is the first sign of integration between their two points programs (PC Plus and Shoppers Optimum). We may eventually see a full integration of the two programs. But I am glad to see that you can earn the same 30 points at Shoppers Drug Mart as you can earn at PC stores.

Conversely, I wouldn’t use this credit card for purchases that only gives me 10 points per dollar, as you can get more value from another credit card on other purchases. As usual, I always recommend having a diverse credit card portfolio where you can maximize the return by using different credit cards on different category purchases.

To redeem your PC points, you need to redeem a minimum of 20,000 points (worth $20) and in increments of 10,000 PC points thereafter. Note that PC points are not redeemable against certain purchases including: tobacco, lottery tickets, alcohol, prescription medication and milk in Quebec.

The insurance protection associated with this credit card are great perks to have and definitely gives a lot of value. This new credit card brings some greatly needed competition to the credit card market in Canada.

So, overall, I’m going to give this credit card 2 thumbs up!!

11 Comments

  1. Excellent post

    I have a request could it be possible to have a review of the different options under the World Elite banner from Master Card

    1. That is definitely a great suggestion. Thanks for that, will look into it for a future post!

  2. I understand the suggestion of having multiple credit cards for big spenders. Those that have cash back near 1000$ a year, who might be able to get an extra 100$ a year by juggling 2-3 different cards, but the headache associated with if having multiple cards is not worth the trouble for most people

      1. Also earning and burning points for some of us is a hobby and we find pleasure setting goals and then rewarding ourselves when maximizing the value of each currency i.e spg, amex, pc points

  3. Matt, you forgot the fact that 80k annual income is required to qualify for this card, or 150k household income.

    1. Thanks for pointing this out Daniel. I do not normally include the income requirements in my post, but I have added it for this post. I may look to add it in the future for other cards.

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