The expanded partnership between RBC and Pattison Food Group’s More Rewards officially launched today. First announced in March 2024, the partnership first saw the launch of the RBC More Rewards Visa Cards earlier this year and now this additional earning opportunity for holders of other RBC credit and debit cards.
RBC cardholders will earn 2x More Rewards points
Just like many of RBC’s others partnerships with Moi Rewards, Petro-Points and Canadian Tire (Coming soon) this partnership now allow RBC credit and debit cardholders to earn 2x More Rewards points when linking their accounts and using that linked RBC card at Pattison Food Group grocery stores like Save On Foods, Pricesmart, Urban Fare and others. It appears almost all of RBC’s payment products are eligible for linking other than the RBC More Rewards Visa cards.
Simply link your accounts via this page on RBC’s site and you’ll be able to start earning 2x points.
I was able to link my WestJet RBC World Mastercard with ease although I will not forego using my Cobalt Card at Save-On Foods etc. so it’s a moot point for me other than testing out the linking process.
Do the math!
You’ll have to “do the math” to see if it makes sense to switch from the payment card you currently use to using an RBC card for purchases at grocery stores offering More Rewards. Most RBC cards have underwhelming earn rates on groceries if you don’t include the RBC More Rewards Visas (which aren’t eligible for this linked loyalty offer) and to a lesser extent the RBC ION+ card when combined with an Avion card. (Recommended reading: Loyalty Lesson – How to extract more value from Avion Rewards)
Ideally using a Points Earning Machine for your purchase like the American Express Cobalt Card, Scotiabank Gold American Express Card or MBNA Rewards World Elite® Mastercard® will end up rewarding you more than using an RBC payment product and earning 2x More Rewards points for doing so.
Remember More Rewards points are only worth 0.42 cents each when redeemed for travel which means a doubling will give you 0.84 cents. That is not worth it if you are giving up 5x points, 5% or even 4% cash back on a plethora of other cards to simply earn 1 point per dollar on something like the RBC Avion Visa Infinite Card and the extra 0.42 cents in value.
Wrapping it up
Any time you have new linked loyalty partnerships that allow you to earn more, it’s great news for those who can utilize those partnerships. Save-On Foods and other Pattison Food Group stores can be found across Western Canada so it’s not difficult for RBC debit and credit card holders to earn additional More Rewards points on these purchases if they don’t have another payment product that is more rewarding. There is no reason why people should not be linking the programs if an eligible RBC card product is their preferred payment method at these stores.
And as I have said before, as exciting of news as all these linked loyalty partnerships are, it doesn’t help the underlying issue with RBC’s own Avion Rewards core value proposition. The core program continues to provides less value than Scene+, Aeroplan, CIBC Aventura Rewards, Amex Membership Rewards and the list goes on.
Unfortunately that’s what happens when you have such a large existing cardholder base that is a captive audience. Why give all of your clients more when you can simply give a little bit more selectively to those who shop at More Rewards grocery stores. (Which is most likely partially funded by Pattison – so how much does it really cost RBC?)
For those cardholders that don’t visit any of these retailers there is no increased value in the program and no additional cost to RBC. It really is an excellent masterclass on RBC’s part on how not to give away the bank when you have a large clientele base that have yet to discover the better value propositions of the competitors.
Click here to learn more and to link your accounts
Images via RBC
