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The offer unlocks in three tiers of cumulative spending. So you don’t have to spend it all at once: the counter keeps running until the end of the first year.
The BMO eclipse Visa Infinite* Card has no annual fee for the first year. Plus, you’ll receive a $50 annual credit after your first year as a cardholder.
With the BMO eclipse Visa Infinite* Card, you can earn 5 BMO Rewards points per dollar spent on:
And 1 BMO Rewards point per dollar spent everywhere else.
Here are some examples of purchases on my BMO eclipse Visa Infinite* Card:
As you can see, in terms of point accumulation, the BMO eclipse Visa Infinite* Card particularly focuses on everyday purchases: groceries, gas, local transportation, restaurants, bars, and even home food delivery.
All 5x categories (with a Visa credit card accepted almost anywhere)!
My home food delivery purchases (GoodFood), takeout restaurant (McDonald’s), or bakery purchases allowed me to earn 5 points per dollar.
If you use your points for travel, this means a return of 3.33% on these purchases (or 2.5% when paying for any purchase with your points).
For all other expenses, it will be 1 point per dollar.
I tested it on Costco.ca (which accepts Mastercard and Visa credit cards): the purchase only earned 1 point per dollar.
If you add an authorized user to your account, you will earn 10% more points.
This means you’ll earn 5.5 points per dollar in bonus categories (groceries, gas, local transport, restaurants, bars, home food delivery). That’s a return of 3.66% if you use your points for travel purchases through BMO Rewards.
The additional card fee is $50. Therefore, you will need to spend at least $14,000 per year to justify adding the additional card. And if you spend more, you’ll get more value!
The $12,000 in purchases that unlock the full bonus also earn base points. And the 5-points-per-dollar categories cover groceries, restaurants, food delivery, gas, and local transport. So most of a family budget already goes there.
Here’s an example breakdown over a year, with 75% of spending in the 5-points categories:
Then add the welcome bonus. On the BMO Rewards portal, 150 points are worth $1 toward travel. So here’s the full picture for the first year:
On top of these $853 in points, you also get the $120 annual fee waived in the first year. So the total value comes close to $970. And the $50 annual credit comes as a bonus on your first anniversary.
You can use your BMO Rewards points in many ways:
Let’s analyze the two most common uses of BMO Rewards points.
To redeem your BMO Rewards points, you’ll need to use the BMO Rewards website. You can redeem BMO Rewards points for different types of trips:
The fare is similar to what you might find with other online travel agencies.Using BMO Rewards points for travel is the best possible use of your points: 150 points = $1. Thus, 80,000 points have a value of $533.
We’ve been tracking the BMO eclipse Visa Infinite* Card since launch and testing it with our own purchases. The screenshots above come from a real account: groceries, food delivery, takeout restaurant, and a test on Costco.ca.
These tests confirm one thing: the 5-points categories really do cover everyday spending. However, anything outside those categories drops back to 1 point per dollar.
With a 3.33% return in the boosted categories, the card compares with the best grocery and restaurant cards in Canada. However, it remains an everyday spending card, not a travel card: no airport lounge access, no NEXUS credit.
Our calculations are based on three consistent rules. First, we value BMO Rewards points at 0.67 cents, i.e., the travel redemption rate on BMO’s portal (150 points = $1). Next, we only count benefits actually received during the first year. Finally, we always compare the value of the points to the real annual fees.
The accumulation table above is based on a specific profile: $12,000 in annual spending, with 75% in the 5-points categories. If your breakdown differs, adjust the table lines to your own amounts.
Also, the offer terms come from BMO. Our analyses remain independent of the commercial agreements we have with issuers.
If your annual spending regularly exceeds $75,000, also take a look at the BMO eclipse Visa Infinite Privilege* Card, which expands the 5-points categories to travel and pharmacies, with a welcome bonus of up to 200,000 points.
To see how this offer stacks up against the rest of the market, check out our best credit cards page. Also, sign up for our newsletter to receive new welcome offers every week.
Here are frequently asked questions in the milesopedia community about this card.
Savings are this way:
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