Brim is amping up their game to compete with the other big wig banks for the premium card market with this offer for their Brim World Elite Mastercard. That offer sees the first year annual of $199 waived when you apply for and are approved for their top end card. The offer also states that you receive $500+ in first time bonuses with select merchants that partner with Brim. You have to be a new Brim customer and apply by April 30 to get the first year annual fee waiver.
If you are not familiar with Brim Financial they are the first non-bank issuer of Mastercards in Canada. They launched a couple of years ago with a trio of credit cards from a base level no annual fee card to their top level World Elite Mastercard. Despite having some issues when they first launched the company now has gotten their act together and are really progressing with their product and loyalty program. All the details on the program and their cards can be found here.
The World Elite card is the only card from their portfolio with this limited time annual fee waiver and it provides 2% back in points (essentially cash back) on the first $25,000 in spending on the card annually. After that it drops to 1%. The card has a very strong insurance package and also offers free Boingo Wi-Fi (this was a feature before all Canadian cards received on April 1, 2020 – read about that here) This card along with all other Brim cards also provides No Foreign Transaction Fees on all purchases that are not in Canadian dollars.
It’s nice to see them offer this card with an annual fee waiver so that people can try out them out as at $199 per year otherwise this card is overpriced. When you compare it to other World Elite, Visa Infinite and some American Express cards you are (or will be) paying $49 to $79 more per year and your limited on the rewards side – a card that charges $199 per year should not cap its 2% earning at $25,000 in spending – many other cards will earn more on the rewards side. It also has competitors that offer no Foreign Transaction fees and now that all World Elite Mastercards have free Boingo Wi-Fi they have lost that competitive advantage for that benefit. I recall a good media friend of ours who said they like this Brim World Elite card as they got free Wi-Fi on WestJet flights but now that can be had on many cards and at a lower cost with the potential for higher rewards.
Overall this is a good offer from Brim Financial especially if you have been considering the card but were hemming and hawing over the annual fee. You can try the card out for a year at no cost and seeing that you can redeem as little as 100 points for a $1 credit you don’t have to hoard your points and worry about losing them if and when you cancel the card. You can also hope, as we do, that Brim reevaluates this card and gives it some extra benefits or higher rewards to make the $199 annual fee worth it. Or maybe they would consider lowering that annual fee to place it in line with many of its competitors.
Learn more about this offer here.
Image via Brim Financial