Changes to the National Bank Platinum Mastercard^® card

National Bank has begun notifying its customers of several changes that will be made to the National Bank Platinum Mastercard^® as of September 1, 2022.

These changes affect 3 aspects of the card:

• Earning reward points
• Annual fee
• Insurance

Until August 31, 2022, National Bank Platinum Mastercard^® cardholders can earn 1 point per dollar on all purchases.

As of September 1, 2022, the National Bank Platinum Mastercard^® will feature purchase categories earning up to 2 points per dollar:

For the Grocery and Restaurant category, you will be able to earn 2 points per dollar on up to $1,000 in total monthly purchases charged to the card.

Once you reach $1,000 in monthly purchases, you will earn 1.5 points per dollar on the Grocery and Restaurant category. This is still very good compared to other cards that only offer 1 point per dollar after the threshold is reached.

The National Bank provides the following example:

If you spend $400 monthly on groceries, $200 on gas, $100 on recurring bills and $150 on other purchases, the $850 spent will generate 1,350 points, broken down as follows: 800 points for grocery spending (since the total gross monthly amount is $850, or less than $1,000), 300 points for gas spending, 150 points for recurring bills, and 100 points for other purchases.

Let’s see the difference between before and after (knowing that before, it was possible to get 1 point per dollar for all purchases):

As you can see, with the new structure and this volume of spending, it is possible to get an average of 58% more points.

Now, let’s calculate on a higher spending budget, as shown in our credit card comparison tool (using the average spending in Canada):

*For simplicity’s sake, we consider that the grocery purchases were made at the beginning of the billing.

As you can see, with the new structure and this volume of spending, we can earn an average of 31% more points.

In both cases, only the “other” category is decreasing. It is up to you to make your calculations based on your spending volume to see if this card continues to be advantageous for you.

However, to take advantage of the new structure, we recommend that you make your large grocery purchases early in your billing cycle to allow you to benefit from the 2 points per dollar rate!

Good news! The annual fee for the National Bank Platinum Mastercard^® will drop from $89 to $70.

This is great for a card that requires no minimum income and provides a good return for everyday purchases.

There are three changes to the insurance offered by the National Bank Platinum Mastercard^®:

• Added two-year mobile device insurance
• Removal of Personal Effects Protection when renting a vehicle
• Reduced insurance coverage amounts for trip cancellation and interruption
  • Trip cancellation insurance increases from up to $1,250 per insured person per trip to $1,000
  • Trip interruption insurance is reduced from up to $2,500 per insured person per trip to $1,500

As always, when changes are made to a credit card, there are losers and winners.

In terms of points accumulation, those who spend most of their money on the National Bank Platinum Mastercard^® for groceries, restaurants, gas and electric recharging and recurring payments will be the big winners. In fact, they will get between 1.5 and 2 points per dollar (instead of 1 point previously).

However, those who were able to use their Card at “out of category” stores (such as Costco), will only earn 1 point per $1.5, or 0.67 points per dollar (instead of 1 point previously).

Finally, the addition of Mobile Device Insurance follows the trend of most premium credit cards. But Mobile Device Insurance is still rare for cards at this level of annual contribution ($70) and requiring no minimum income.

You don’t have this card yet and you are interested in these new features? At the moment, Milesopedia readers have access to an exclusive offer:

• 35,000 welcome bonus points
• First-Year Free

Here are the details of the offer: