National Bank of Canada is back in the bonus points game as they brought back some limited time welcome bonus offers for their proprietary rewards Mastercards. All of their A la carte Rewards cards now see a 15,000 bonus point welcome bonus plus the annual fee on the primary card is refunded for the first year. For the better of the last two years these cards have seen cash back offers as their limited time bonuses instead of bonus points which made a lot of sense as no one was really travelling. Now that travel is slowly coming back we see the shift back to a bonus points offer instead of cash back.
The new 15,000 point bonus offer and first year free is available on the following three cards when you apply by December 20, 2021:
- National Bank of Canada World Elite Mastercard
- National Bank of Canada World Mastercard
- National Bank of Canada Platinum Mastercard
Those 15,000 points are awarded once you spend $3,000 on your card within the first three months. Those points are worth $150 towards travel booked via NBC’s A la carte travel agency or $125 to $136 for any travel that you book on your own and then redeem points against the charge.
The NBC World Elite Mastercard is this bank’s top card and it is a
pretty decent card overall. It doesn’t make it into the Top 5 of any of
our categories in Canada’s Top Travel Rewards Credit Cards but
it’s not that far out. I would definitely place it in the Top 10 of the
Travel Points category in Canada. One reason for this is that the card
normally doesn’t have a welcome bonus, so this limited time offer is a welcome bonus! Pun intended. The card is also a bit weaker in the
rewards
department when you line it up against comparable offerings from
other banks. With a variable earn rate of 1.5 points to 2 points per
dollar spent and a travel redemption value ranging from 0.83 to 1.0 cent
per point this card provides a return of 1.25 to 2% (and the 2% is
only awarded on your spend between $40,000 and $80,000 annually). As
you can see this is where the card lacks compared to its competition
however
where it doesn’t lack is in the insurance department. It has some of the
best insurance benefits you can find in Canada, in particular for out
of province travel medical insurance. The Travel Medical Insurance
provides up to $5,000,000 in coverage per person and covers travel of up
to 60 days for those up to 54 years old, 31 days for 55-64 years old
and 15 days to 74 years old.The card also provides up to $250 in annual rebates for associated travel costs
– broken down as follows: up to $100 on airport parking, $50
on seat selection and $100 on baggage fees. This is another nice benefit
to have now that the ability to utilize it is returning.
One final note for the World Elite Mastercard and this is primarily for those who live in the Montreal region or connect via Montreal’s airport frequently and that is lounge access. The card provides unlimited access for the cardholder and one guest to the National Bank Lounge for international departures.
Wrapping it up
The welcome bonus may not be the $300 cash back we saw on some of these cards before but when you consider these cards normally don’t have a standard welcome bonus then anything is better than nothing. At the very least you can get the 15,000 points and try one of the cards out since you won’t pay the annual fee in the first year and then decide before your year is up whether you want to keep the card or not.