BMO Ascend World Elite Mastercard review

BMO Ascend World Elite Mastercard: The fundamentals

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BMO Ascend World Elite Mastercard

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Annual charge: $150

Welcome provide: Earn as much as 100,000 factors

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Card particulars

Rates of interest	Rates of interest: 21.99% on purchases, 23.99% on steadiness transfers, 23.99% on money advances
Earnings required	Private revenue of $80,000 or family revenue of $150,000
Credit score rating	760 or greater
Level worth	1 BMO Rewards level = $0.0067 when redeemed for journey

BMO has an in depth lineup of bank cards. To shortly determine in the event you’re within the Ascend World Elite Mastercard, check out its earn charges and fundamental options.

Professionals and cons of the BMO Ascend World Elite Mastercard

The BMO Ascend World Elite Mastercard has quite a bit going for it, however there are additionally some points to concentrate on earlier than you apply.

Professionals:

• Annual charge is waived the primary 12 months: Save $150 in your first 12 months with this promotion. Plus, when you’ve got a BMO Premium Chequing Account, the annual charge stays waived.
• Vast acceptance: Mastercard is accepted at nearly each service provider that takes bank cards. Plus, you possibly can even use it at Costco and Loblaw banner shops.
• Excessive reward earn charges: Frequent travellers will recognize incomes 5 factors per $1 spent on journey. Fashionable spending classes like eating, leisure, and recurring payments additionally see accelerated earn charges.
• World Elite perks: Premium journey insurance coverage protection, robust airport lounge advantages, and a aggressive journey earn charge.

Cons:

• Excessive revenue necessities: All World Elite Credit cards require a steep $80,000 in annual private revenue or $150,000 in annual family revenue, which can put this card out of attain for some.
• Excessive annual charge: The charge for a lot of premium bank cards hovers round $120, so $150 for this card is significantly greater.
• Supplemental playing cards price further: Be ready to pay a further $50 annually if you wish to add a licensed person to your account, and notice you can’t waive the supplemental card charge.
• Money again caps: Journey spending rewards are capped at $15,000 spent in journey per 12 months. Rewards on eating, leisure, and recurring payments are capped after $10,000 in annual expenditures.

BMO Ascend World Elite Mastercard rewards defined

The BMO Rewards program lets you earn BMO Factors in your bank card purchases, redeemable for journey bills corresponding to flights (together with all taxes), resorts, cruises, and trip packages. 

With the BMO Ascend World Elite Mastercard, you earn:

• 5 factors per $1 on journey
• 3 factors per $1 on eating, leisure, and recurring payments
• 1 level per greenback on every part else

If you’re able to redeem BMO Rewards factors, log into your BMO account and select your redemption choice: journey, BMO investments, experiences, present playing cards, or merchandise. Redeeming for journey offers you the most effective worth.

BMO Ascend World Elite Mastercard perks and advantages

Along with the BMO Rewards program, you’ll get entry to some nice perks and advantages.

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Airport lounge entry

Cardholders of the BMO Ascend World Elite Mastercard obtain complimentary membership to Mastercard Journey Go by DragonPass, which entitles them to VIP entry and 4 annual complimentary passes, good at 1,300+ airport lounges throughout the globe.

Intensive insurance coverage protection

The BMO Ascend World Elite Complete Journey and Medical Safety bundle is a beneficial perk, offering out-of-province and out-of-country emergency medical safety of as much as $5 million, in addition to protection for flight delays or cancellations, misplaced or delayed baggage (together with private results insurance coverage), and automobile rental collision harm protection. Bought individually, this protection may price round $120 per journey, however cardholders get it for limitless journeys of as much as 21 days every.

Reductions on gas, rental vehicles, and experiences

Check out customized affords which might be loaded onto your card, and don’t overlook you earn gas reductions at Shell, Alamo, Nationwide Automotive Rental, and Enterprise Hire-A-Automotive. You too can get deeply discounted tickets to Canadian Cirque du Soleil exhibits and resident exhibits in Las Vegas. Our advice: don’t overlook to examine your card for money again affords and reductions earlier than travelling.

What cardholders assume

We headed to Reddit to see what actual cardholders needed to say concerning the BMO Ascend World Elite Mastercard. The consensus appears to be that BMO Rewards aren’t as beneficial as different bank card reward applications. 

However the greatest difficulty Redditors have with the BMO Ascend World Elite Mastercard is the brand new annual spending requirement. 

Beginning in Might 2025, BMO launched a $15,000 annual spending requirement to waive the cardboard’s annual charge. Many individuals felt the cardboard wasn’t value paying a charge for, and that assembly the $15,000 spending threshold wasn’t worthwhile both, given the bounds on rewards for sure classes.

To spherical out our assessment, we checked third-party evaluations to see how BMO scored for buyer satisfaction:

• J.D. Energy: BMO earned a below-average rating of 542, in comparison with the typical 564 (properly behind Amex’s prime rating of 628).
• Higher Enterprise Bureau: 1.1/5 based mostly on 150 buyer evaluations
• Trustpilot: 1.4/5 based mostly on 195+ buyer evaluations, primarily concerning poor customer support and inaccurate fee.

Extra on credit cards:

About Jessica Gibson

Jessica Gibson is a private finance author with over a decade of expertise in on-line publishing. She enjoys serving to readers make knowledgeable selections about bank cards, insurance coverage, and debt administration.