BMO eclipse Visa Infinite Privilege^* Card

The BMO eclipse Visa Infinite Privilege* Card offers a welcome bonus of 80,000 BMO Rewards points, which you'll earn upon spending $6,000 in the first three months with the card.

There's also other bonuses:

• 40,000 points by spending $30,000 in the first six months with the card,
• 80,000 points by spending $75,000 in the first year.
• Total of up to 200,000 BMO Rewards points

The annual fee is $599. With the $200 annual statement credit, the net first-year fee is $399.

Supplementary cards can be added for an annual fee of $99 apiece.

How much is this offer worth?

The BMO eclipse Visa Infinite Privilege* Card launches with the following earning rates:

• 5 BMO Rewards points per dollar spent on travel, dining, groceries, gas, and drugstores (on up to the first $100,000 in purchases per calendar year)
• 1 BMO Rewards point per dollar spent on all other purchases

For greater clarity, the bonus categories are defined as follows, and are limited to purchases made in Canada:

• "Travel" includes flights, hotels, car rentals, and vacations packages.
• "Dining" includes restaurants, bars, and cafes, as well as food delivery services like Uber Eats and meal-kit companies like Hello Fresh and GoodFood.
• "Groceries" includes any grocery store or supermarkets, but excludes wholesale retailers like Costco or general-goods retailers like Walmart.
• "Gas" includes all gas stations.
• "Drugstores" includes drugstores and pharmacies.

The 5x return on these five categories is among the strongest in Canada, putting the BMO eclipse Visa Infinite Privilege* Card (as well as its Visa Infinite* counterpart) right up there alongside the Cobalt Card and the Scotia Gold Amex as the only 5x-earning Canadian credit cards.

Since BMO Rewards points are valued at 0.67cpp as outlined above, the return of 5x BMO Rewards points can also be thought of as a very competitive 3.35% return on these categories.

Moreover, as an introductory benefit, if you add a supplementary card to your BMO eclipse Visa Infinite Privilege* account, you'll receive a 25% boost to the earning rates, which is the first credit card feature of its kind in Canada. As a result, you'll enjoy the following elevated earning rates:

• 6.25 BMO Rewards points per dollar spent on dining, groceries, gas, and transit
• 1.25 BMO Rewards point per dollar spent on all other purchases

In this case, you're getting an effective 4.19% return on spending in the five bonus categories – that's by far the best fixed return you'll get on travel, gas, and drugstores among any Canadian credit card!

However, on purchases outside of these five categories, the BMO eclipse Visa Infinite Privilege* Card only offers 1 point per dollar spent. This is therefore equivalent to a 0.67% return on spending, so this wouldn't really be the strongest card for day-to-day spending outside of the bonus categories.

BMO Rewards points are worth 0.67 cents per point (cpp) when redeemed against the cost of travel booked via the BMO Rewards online portal (at the rate of 150 BMO Rewards points = $1).

Therefore, the signup bonus of 50,000 BMO Rewards points can be redeemed as $333 worth of travel. Plus, you'll earn more points from everyday spending as you work towards the spending requirements.

BMO Rewards points can also be redeemed at 0.5cpp against any statement purchase (at the rate of 200 BMO Rewards points = $1), but the value in doing so is clearly not as strong, so you should always aim to use your BMO Rewards points to book travel, if possible.

In terms of perks and benefits, you'll get a Visa Airport Companion Program membership with six complimentary visits per year to Visa Airport Companion Program's 1,300+ global airport lounges, which can be used in any combination: six lounge visits as a solo traveller, three visits as a couple, etc.

There's also select benefits under the Visa Infinite Privilege* brand, such as priority airport services in Vancouver, Montreal, Ottawa, and Toronto Billy Bishop, as well as access to the Visa Infinite Privilege* Concierge and unique dining and wine events through the Visa Infinite network.

This card's standout benefit is a $200 annual statement credit (often referred to as a "lifestyle credit"), which is awarded annually. To receive the credit, the Primary Cardholder must make a single purchase of $200 or greater during the annual period. The credit is awarded within two statement cycles following the account anniversary date.

You can effectively try out the card for the first year while only paying a net fee of $399 – and you'll get to try out the card's welcome bonus, best-in-class earning rates, lounge passes, Visa Infinite Privilege* perks, etc.