Earlier in the year we brought quick details of the limited time cash back offer for CIBC’s AC Conversion Visa and now wanted to delve deeper into what this card is and what it offers. The CIBC AC Conversion Visa is a prepaid Visa credit card
option offered by CIBC and Air Canada that has been around now for quite a few years and is somewhat unique in that you can load multiple currencies onto to card at once to use when traveling to various parts of the world.
1% cash back on all spending until April 30, 2022
Seeing that there isn’t as much travel happening just yet and not much of need for using foreign currencies coupled with an influx of reward earning prepaid cards hitting the market it most likely seemed prudent for CIBC to add the limited time cash back option to encourage holders of this card to load Canadian funds to it and utilize it here at home. Hence right now when you get the card (or already have the card) and use it you’ll earn 1% cash back on all spending until the end of April 2022. Do note the 1% cash back is not just for Canadian purchases, it is awarded on all spending for any of the 10 currencies you can load on the card so if you are traveling abroad or shopping online with one of the supported currencies you’ll also earn cash back on those purchases. Cash back earning is awarded monthly within 10 days of each month’s end and is posted as a credit to your account. The prepaid card must be open at the time to get the cash back credit.
No fees
The AC Conversion Visa charges no fees to order the card, no fees to load and no conversion fees when you make a purchase. It’s the last one of the no fees that makes this prepaid card differ from other prepaid cards in that you won’t pay that pesky 2.5% foreign currency transaction fee unless it is a currency outside of the 10 supported currencies that you can load on the card (see the next section). There is also no fee to withdraw cash from Canadian ATM’s and they also charge no fee on your first foreign ATM withdrawal each month.
Load up to 10 currencies
The AC Conversion card allows you to load up to 10 currencies all with no foreign transactions fees and those 10 will cover most of the popular foreign destinations that Canadians travel to. To me the only major currencies for Canadian’s travelling abroad that are missing are India’s Rupee and China’s Yuan. Actually I’m kind of surprised to see Turkey on the list instead of places like India or China!
You can load any of those currencies by logging to your account online or via the app. The app does make the whole process of loading your card, transferring amounts between currencies and checking your balances extremely easy.
Refer a friend bonus
The card also features a refer a friend bonus. For each friend that you refer, you and that friend will each earn $10 that will be loaded into your card account.
Wrapping it up
The AC Conversion card fits into a nice little spot in the credit card market for those who travel abroad but may not qualify for a standard credit card that offers no foreign transaction fees or for someone who doesn’t want to add such a card to their existing credit card portfolio. Having the ability to earn 1% cash back for the next couple of months on the card is a nice little bonus to get you introduced to the card to see how it works.
Click here to learn more about this card
This post was sponsored by CIBC Capital Markets. The views and opinions expressed in this blog, however, are purely my own.