As promised several weeks ago and at the request of our readers, here we present our recommendations for replacement options for your HSBC Mastercards.
Based on the feedback of the RWRDS Canada community we are only listing Mastercard card options as it seems the recurring pain point with the transition are consumers being left Mastercard-less and in particular not having a card to use at Costco warehouses in Canada.
We’re going to make this plain and simple without over complicating it and writing a bunch of fluff by jumping right into our recommendations for Mastercards to replace HSBC Mastercards:
Best options for the HSBC World Elite Mastercard
There are numerous reasons people had the HSBC World Elite Mastercard in their wallets – some for the excellent earn-burn options, some for the features and benefits and others for insurance coverage the card provided or for many – all of the above!
Sadly, there is no all-in-one solution as a replacement card so I figured it is best to list out the best replacements based on the various features of the HSBC World Elite Mastercard:
6x points (3%) earn rate on travel purchases:
BMO AscendTM World Elite®* Mastercard®* – This card earns 5 points/$ on up to $15,000 of travel spend annually. That earn rate works out to a 3.33% return when you redeem the points towards any travel purchase.
4x points (2%) earn rate on gas, groceries and drug stores:
Groceries:
MBNA Rewards World Elite Mastercard – This card earns 5 to 5.5 points per dollar spent on up to $50,000 of grocery spend annually. This works out to a 5% to 5.5% return when redeemed for travel or a 4.17% to 4.57% return for cash back statement credits
Gas & Drug Stores:
Brim World Elite Mastercard – This card earns the equivalent of 2% cash back on all purchases up to $25,000 annually.
Flexible travel redemptions (aka book travel how you want with whomever you want)
BMO AscendTM World Elite®* Mastercard®* – This card allows you to redeem points at a rate of 150 points to $1 towards any travel purchases made on the card. The rate of return (earn to burn ratio) ranges from 0.67% to 3.33%
MBNA Rewards World Elite Mastercard – This card’s primary travel redemption must be made via MBNA Rewards which is technically not “book travel how you want with whomever you want”. The travel redemptions via MBNA Rewards run 100 points to $1 which provides a rate of return (earn to burn ratio) of 1% to 5.5%.
You can however choose to book travel how you want with whomever you want by paying for the purchase with the MBNA card and then using the statement credit (Cash back) redemption option of 120 points to $1 towards that purchase. The rate of return (earn to burn ratio) for this option ranges from 0.83% to 4.57% – as you can see it has the potential to be better than the BMO card and most other cards in the market!
No Foreign Transaction fees:
These are no Mastercard credit cards left in Canada that offer No Foreign Transaction fees. The only options are prepaid Mastercards like the EQ Bank Card or the Wealthsimple Card.
Annual Travel Credits:
National Bank of Canada World Elite Mastercard – This card provides up to $150 in annual refunds for travel related purchases like airport parking, seat selection, baggage fees, airline ticket upgrades and access to airport lounges.
Converting points to airlines (Hybrid card option):
There are no publicly available Mastercards in Canada that currently offer conversion options to airline programs. The Diners Club Club Rewards Mastercard has conversion options but the card is not open for new applications (hold onto it if you do have it!).
Future possibility: MBNA has promised their MBNA Rewards World Elite Mastercard will receive a transfer option to Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan. If and when this happens it will be the go-to Hybrid Mastercard in Canada.
Out of Province Emergency Medical Insurance for those 65 and over:
National Bank of Canada World Elite Mastercard provides 15 days of coverage for those aged 65 to 75. It does not have any coverage for 76+. For that oldest age group there are several Mastercards that offer 3 days of coverage including the WestJet RBC World Elite Mastercard.
Best option for the HSBC Metal World Elite Mastercard
There really isn’t a match for this card in the world of Mastercards. The closest option would be the BMO AscendTM World Elite®* Mastercard®* for the lounge access that comes with it (4 passes per year which doesn’t really match the unlimited provided by HSBC – but it’s more than any other Mastercard) However, the BMO card does not offer No FX fees and has really poor base earn rates.
Best options for the HSBC +Rewards Mastercard
This HSBC card was a low fee low rewards low interest card option. There actually are not a lot of travel Mastercards that could fill its spot that include an non-promotional “always on” low interest rate. Leaning towards the travel side of things, our top recommendations would be the no fee MBNA Rewards Platinum Plus® Mastercard® or the no fee BMO AIR MILES®† MasterCard®*
Best options for the HSBC Travel Rewards Mastercard
Here the best options are just like card above with the no fee MBNA Rewards Platinum Plus® Mastercard® or the no fee BMO AIR MILES®† MasterCard®* being front runners
Best option for the HSBC Cash Back Mastercard
The best replacement option for this card would be the Tangerine Money-Back Credit Card as you can select similar categories to earn accelerated cash back (Tangerine actually earns more) and then it has the same base cash back earn rate of 0.5%
Wrapping it up
There you have it! Those are our recommendations if you are looking for a Mastercard that will fill the void once your HSBC card is converted to an RBC Visa product. As mentioned above, there is no all-in-one replacement for these cards, in particular the HSBC World Elite Mastercard – it was hands down the best Mastercard in Canada. You’ll have to look at the primary reason(s) you have that card and then select the Mastercard that can best match those.
Is there a card we missed that should be included above? Let’s us know in the comments if you think so! Also free free to comment and let the RWRDS Canada community what you have decided to do in terms of a replacement Mastercard. Is it one of the cards listed above or did you pick something else?
Recommended reading: Details of the HSBC to RBC transition (continually updated)
Images via HSBC & Mastercard