UPDATE! IGNORE MOST OF WHAT YOU READ BELOW! Neo has reached out to RWRDS Canada and we have further details beyond what you read below and will have a write up as soon as we can! At first glance it will change things – for the better.
Click here to see the complete card details! It’s much better than what you read below.
There are some changes being made to the yet to launch Neo World Elite Mastercard including a lowering of the proposed annual fee and the addition of a new accelerated earn rate category along with cuts to several earn rates! This card was originally slated to launch this past August but that time came and went and the card has been stuck in waitlist status ever since. As pointed out by Porfiry on RFD, Neo has now tweaked the offering on the card as they get set to launch it soon (hopefully).
New lower annual fee
When the card was first announced earlier this year the annual fee was set at $149. The latest update now shows the card with an annual fee of $125 – that’s good news considering the overall offering on the card wasn’t worth a $149 fee but with the drop in the fee also comes some noticeable earn rate cuts along with the addition of one new accelerated earn rate.
Accelerated earn rate for recurring bills
This latest update also sees Neo adding an accelerated earn rate of 4% on recurring bills. This is in addition to the already announced 5% cash back on gas and grocery (gas has been cut though, see next section!)
Gas and all other spend earn rates cut
The first iteration of the card was set to receive 5% cash back on gas purchases but with this update that has been dropped to 3%. Even more significant is the earn rate on all other spending (non-accelerated categories) has been cut in half from 2% to 1%
Overall cash back earn rates may be dependent on holdings with Neo
We are awaiting confirmation but there is a high chance that just like the other Neo cards that underwent changes earlier this year, the actual earn rates on the Neo World Elite Mastercard will be dependent on how much money you hold in the very low interest earning Neo Everyday account. If it is just like those other cards, you will need to hold $10,000 in the account to receive the highest cash back earn rates – and then those will be capped annually.
Here are the previous card’s earn rates based on how much you hold a Neo Everyday account. We do not have the new chart from Neo as of yet that shows the new recurring bills category, the 3% on gas and 1% on everything else but one could assume you’ll only earn the 4% and 3% respectively if you hold the $10K or more.
Here are the first version of the card’s annual spending caps. We do not have the new amounts yet but I feel like they will be very similar to this, although with only 1% being awarded on “All Else” I would really hope that will not be capped.
It does look like they will move from annual spend caps to monthly based on this term on the waitlist page:
Cashback earn subject to monthly spend limit. When monthly spend limit is reached, earn rate decreases for subsequent spending. Spend limit resets monthly. Minimum balance required to earn the highest rate.
They will now offer a World Mastercard as well
For those looking to not pay any annual fees, Neo will also offer a no fee World Mastercard.
Here are the quick details of the updated World Elite Mastercard and the World Mastercard:
Special welcome bonus for joining the waitlist
If you join the waitlist for either card now and then apply for and are approved for a card you will receive an extra 2% cashback on gas and grocery and an extra 0.5% on everything else for the first month when the cards launch.
Wrapping it up
In my opinion the Neo World Elite Mastercard has already been devalued even before it has become publicly available! Sure the addition of a 4% earn rate on Recurring Bills is great but the question that will surround that will be the monthly cap. If it is anything similar to the first unreleased version of the card it may only be awarded on $500 in spend per month ($6,000 annually). Then you have the gas cash back rate cut from 5% to 3% and the everything else spend cut to 1% from 2%. For most people the addition of one 4% category will not make up for these other cuts to the earn rates. Of course, a lot of this will be dependent on what the monthly caps will be and if you need to hold money in a Neo Everyday account.
Click here to learn more and to join the waitlist for these cards
Images via Neo Financial