Canada’s 7 Best BMO Credit Cards

The BMO VIPorter World Elite®* Mastercard®* has quickly become a favourite on the Prince of Travel team. And for good reason.

For starters, the card comes with an excellent welcome offer, which paves the way for meaningful redemptions in the first and second years, and beyond.

Plus, the card is jam-packed with perks for VIPorter loyalists and anyone who wants to elevate their economy travel game in Canada.

As a cardholder, you'll enjoy VIPorter Venture Avid Traveller status, which affords you a number of meaningful perks when you travel with Porter Airlines.

Furthermore, VIPorter is an excellent loyalty program with plenty of opportunities to score outsized value. I might even dare to say that it's the best program for economy redemptions in North America.

Porter Airlines is an exciting airline to watch these days, and you'd do well to add this card to your portfolio and keep it for the long term.

The BMO eclipse Visa Infinite* Card is the anchor of BMO's credit card portfolio. It earns at a rate of 5 BMO Rewards points per dollar spent on groceries, dining, gas, and travel.

That’s quite a wide range of categories which earn at BMO’s top rewards rate. When redeemed at the best possible rate, for travel or into an investment account, this works out to 3.35% back.

For a reasonable annual fee of $120, you’ll get an annual lifestyle credit of $50. You'll also earn 10% more points for adding an authorized user to your account.

If you’d rather keep your annual fees down, or if your income is too low to qualify for the higher-tier card, this card is still a good option for many of the same premium benefits.

Plus, you’ll often find the first-year annual fee is waived, so you can see how the card suits you before committing long-term (with the ability to double-dip on the $50 lifestyle credit should you decide to cancel).

BMO has made their first foray into the higher-end lifestyle credit card market with the BMO eclipse Visa Infinite Privilege* Card.

The card earns 5 BMO Rewards points per dollar spent on all of the same categories as its Visa Infinite counterpart, plus drugstores.

You'll also get an enhanced bonus for adding an authorized user to your account. For your trouble, all cards on the account will earn an extra 25% points. If you’re going to go all-in on this premium card, the more the merrier.

There’s a high annual fee of $599, but you get a no-questions-asked $200 lifestyle credit every calendar year to cover a good chunk of your costs. Throw in strong travel insurance and a DragonPass membership with six annual airport lounge visits, and you’ve got the makings of a proper premium card.

The BMO CashBack® Mastercard®* is the best BMO credit card with no annual fee.

The card earns 3% cash back on groceries, a ridiculously high rate for a no-fee card and even higher than many premium cards. You’ll also earn 1% back on recurring payments.

However, you’ll only get the bonus rates on your first $500 spent per month. The card isn’t great for high spenders, but if you’re in the market for a card with no annual fee, you’re probably pretty budget-conscious to begin with.

The cash back rate for all other purchases is only 0.5%, and there aren't any other bonus categories. But this isn’t too far off of the value of the rewards on BMO’s other no-fee cards. All other things being equal, cash back is certainly a more versatile rewards currency, and a strong grocery category only sweetens the deal.

For bigger cash back rewards, look to the BMO CashBack® World Elite®* Mastercard®*.

The card uses a tiered category bonus structure. Groceries earn 5%, and uncategorized purchases earn 1%, with a handful of other categories rounding out the range in between.

Unfortunately the category bonuses are capped at a low level of spending per month. If you exceed those limits, you'll only earn 1% cash back.

The BMO Ascend World Elite®* Mastercard®* is BMO's premier Mastercard, offering a strong alternative to the eclipse Visa lineup for those who prefer the Mastercard network.

The card earns BMO Rewards points at accelerated rates: 5x on travel purchases and 3x on dining and entertainment, with 1x on everything else. That makes it one of BMO's strongest earners in travel-heavy spending categories.

Beyond earning rates, the Ascend World Elite stands out for its travel perks: you'll get four complimentary DragonPass lounge visits per year, a $200 NEXUS rebate, and comprehensive travel insurance. It's the only BMO Mastercard that offers lounge access, which matters if your travel patterns favour airports where Visa lounges are scarce.

The annual fee of $150 is waived in the first year, making this an easy card to try alongside your eclipse cards.

The BMO VIPorter Mastercard®* is the entry-level counterpart to the VIPorter World Elite, offering a lower-cost path into Porter Airlines' VIPorter loyalty program.

At just $89 per year (waived in the first year), the card comes with a respectable welcome bonus of 40,000 BMO Rewards points when you hit the spending tiers. You'll also enjoy VIPorter status perks like priority airport services and priority rebooking when flying Porter.

While the earning rate of 1x on all purchases isn't as flashy as the World Elite version, the real value lies in the VIPorter status benefits, the lower barrier to entry, and the Instacart perks — you'll get three months of complimentary Instacart+ membership plus a $5 monthly Instacart credit on orders of $35 or more. If you're curious about Porter but aren't ready to commit to the $199 World Elite annual fee, this is the card to start with.