MBNA Rewards Platinum Plus Mastercard

The MBNA Rewards Platinum Plus Mastercard is a good no-fee card. It’s a downgrade option from MBNA’s premium cards if you wish to keep an account open with the bank but don’t want to pay annual fees. As a Platinum Plus card, it also has above-average insurance for a no-fee card.

For new applicants, this card is an interesting choice either for low spenders who would struggle to meet all-or-nothing welcome bonus requirements, or for high spenders who will maximize the category limits.

Bonuses & Fees

This card offers a welcome bonus, split into a few different parts:

• 5,000 MBNA Rewards points upon spending $500 on the card within the first 90 days of cardmembership
• 5,000 MBNA Rewards points for enrolling in paperless statements
• 4 points per dollar spent on restaurant, groceries, digital media, membership, and household utilities within the first 90 days of cardmembership

The elevated earn rate replaces the base earn rate on those categories, and is limited to $10,000 spent per category. If you hit the maximum for each category within 90 days, you’d earn an additional 100,000 MBNA Rewards points per category on top of the normal rate. However, that level of spending would be best suited to other cards with higher sign-up bonuses.

With a minimum spend requirement of $500 new applicants can earn a bonus of 10,000 MBNA Rewards points in addition to rewards on everyday spending.

Quebec residents are not eligible for the elevated earn rates, and can instead earn up to 10,000 MBNA Rewards points with no minimum spend:

• 5,000 MBNA Rewards points upon making your first purchase with the card and keeping your account in good standing for 90 days
• 5,000 MBNA Rewards points for enrolling in paperless statements

The card has no annual fee for the primary cardholder and up to nine additional cardholders.

Earning Rewards

This card offers a tiered rewards structure:

• 2 points per dollar spent on restaurant, grocery, digital media, membership, and household utility purchases
• 1 point per dollar spent on all other purchases

The accelerated rate is limited to $10,000 in purchases per year for each merchant category. If you exceed that threshold, you’ll earn the base rate of 1 point per dollar spent on any further purchases. Spending during the welcome bonus period counts towards these limits.

Redeeming Rewards

MBNA Rewards can be redeemed through their online travel booking portal. You can book flights, hotels, car rentals, vacation packages, and cruises. Points can be used for bookings made through the travel portal at a rate of 100 points = $1, or 1 cent per point.

For other purchases, you can use your points for statement credit at a rate of 120 points = $1, or 0.83 cents per point or 0.83% return on spending on uncategorized purchases. Even if you don’t use your rewards for their optimal travel value, this rate is still superior to similar no-fee cards which only earn 0.5% cash back on uncategorized spending, including MBNA’s own Smart Cash cards.

You can also exchange your points for gift cards. Rates vary depending on the brand and value of the gift card, generally at least 0.87 cents per point and occasionally even exceeding the value of travel redemptions.

MBNA Rewards never expire as long as you remain a cardholder.

Perks & Benefits

Cardholders can get car rental discounts at Avis and Budget: 10% in Canada or the US, and 5% internationally.

Insurance Coverage

As a no-fee card, this card comes with relatively basic insurance benefits, with the notable exception being mobile device insurance. With up to $1,000 in coverage in the event of loss, theft, or accidental damage, this is a big perk which might make this card worth holding on to.