To the point
Lowe's, Rona and Réno-Dépôt stores have announced that they will be leaving the AIR MILES program effective February 1, 2021.
Lowe's, Rona and Réno-Dépôt Leave AIR MILES
Lowe’s Canada – which operates Lowe’s, Rona and Réno-Dépôt stores – has announced the end of its partnership with AIR MILES effective February 1, 2021.
So, you have until January 31, 2021 to earn 1 AIR MILES Reward Mile for every $20 spent at these stores. You can get offers with bonus miles on top of this.
You also have until January 31, 2021, to redeem 95 Cash Miles for a $10 rebate at checkout.
Note that if you need to return an item bought using AIR MILES cash miles after January 31, 2021, a gift card will be issued for the value redeemed in AIR MILES cash miles.
Finally, no adjustment of AIR MILES miles can be made effective February 1, 2021 if you forgot to present your AIR MILES loyalty card before January 31, 2021.
You can find the different terms and conditions related to this announcement on these pages:
AIR MILES credit cards
If you are used to paying at these stores with the BMO® AIR MILES® World Elite®* Mastercard®*, nothing changes for you: you will continue to earn 1 AIR MILES Reward Mile for every $10 in Card purchases. Like for all purchases charged to this card – including at Costco or Walmart.
If you don’t have this card yet, take advantage of our exclusive offer for milesopedia members.
But there will be some change for BMO AIR MILES credit cards with no annual fee.
You can earn 3x the miles at some AIR MILES partners with those credit cards, including Lowe’s, Rona and Réno-Dépôt.
With the withdrawal of these 3 stores from the AIR MILES program, it will no longer be possible to earn 3x the miles for these purchases. For example, by using a credit card with no annual fee such as the BMO® AIR MILES® Mastercard®* at these stores, you will earn 1 AIR MILES Reward Mile for every $25 in Card purchases.
If you don’t have this card yet, take advantage of our exclusive offer for milesopedia members.
Other credit cards
Lowe’s, Rona and Réno-Dépôt are in the “Home Improvement” category for credit card purchases. But very few credit cards in Canada offer additional cash back for this category.
To our knowledge, only the Tangerine Money-Back Credit Card and the World Mastercard Tangerine allow you to choose the Home Improvement category to earn a 2% cash back.
If you would like to get a lot of cash back for this type of purchase (and all purchases with no category), the best credit card in Canada is the SimplyCash™ Preferred from American Express.
With this credit card, you can earn a 2% cash back on all your purchases with no annual limit. And this one has currently a 10% cash back offer on it, up to $4,000 in Card purchases.
This can be an excellent choice for contractors or if you have a lot of home improvement purchases to make!
Conclusion
Adding and removing partners is part of the life of rewards programs. A few days ago, we learned of the addition of multiple partners on the airmilesshops.ca online shopping portal.
Today, it is a major withdrawal by Lowe’s to move forward with VIPpro, its own rewards program.
If you wish to continue to earn Reward Points for your home improvement expenses, there is still the partnership between Home Hardware and Aeroplan! Or you can use the right credit card for this type of purchase.
Come to discuss that topic in our Facebook Group!
