Is It Worth Getting a Walmart Mastercard?

Walmart stores across Canada provide convenient all-in-one shopping opportunities, where busy people looking for a good deal can stock up on groceries, household essentials, and more.

To help loyal shoppers get a bit extra out of their purchases, Walmart Canada offers two co-branded Mastercards that let you earn Walmart Rewards Dollars on all your purchases.

Walmart offers two co-branded credit cards in Canada, the Walmart Rewards Mastercard and the Walmart Rewards World Mastercard, both issued by Fairstone Bank.

Both cards have no annual fee and let you earn Walmart Rewards Dollars on all your purchases. These rewards can then be redeemed at Walmart stores and online at Walmart.ca.

In this article, we take a look at both cards to help you decide if they’re worth adding to your wallet, or whether perhaps there’s an option out there that’s better for your Walmart purchases.

You earn Walmart Rewards Dollars with both the Walmart Rewards Mastercard and the Walmart Rewards World Mastercard, just at slightly different rates.

Let’s compare:

*After you reach the $5,000 yearly limit, the earning rate reverts to the base rate of 1%

Now that we’ve covered the basics of both cards, let’s review the good and the not-so-good aspects of the Walmart Mastercards.

First, both cards come with no annual fee and the Walmart Rewards Mastercard also has no minimum income requirement. These features help make the card easy to access for the majority of people.

Next, the ability to earn 5% back on popular Walmart brands can really boost your rewards earnings on eligible groceries, pharmacy/personal care, clothing, and more. It’s great to see this level of earning rate covering so many essential categories.

If fact, if Walmart is your go-to store for these categories, and you’re willing to choose the eligible Walmart brands, this 5% is worth $0.05 back on every dollar you spend on eligible purchases.

Finally, Rewards Dollars are easy to redeem once you have a balance of at least $5.  From there, they can be redeemed in increments of $5 at Walmart stores across Canada or online at Walmart.ca.

However, keep in mind that Rewards Dollars can’t be redeemed for cash or for tobacco, lottery tickets, alcohol, and prescription medication.

In terms of the not-so-good aspects of the Walmart Mastercards, there are couple that stand out.

First, the Walmart Rewards World Mastercard’s minimum household income requirement of $100,000 is quite high, making the card fairly inaccessible for many Walmart shoppers.

Second, neither of the two Mastercards offer much in the way of perks or benefits, so their usefulness beyond earning rewards is limited.

Finally, the earning rates offered by both cards are not amazing, especially the low return of only 1.25% on non-Walmart-brand in-store purchases.

Depending on your spending habits and rewards priorities, there may be better credit card options available for your Walmart purchases (more on this coming up!).

Okay, so all things considered, should you get either the Walmart Rewards Mastercard or the Walmart Rewards World Mastercard?

Ultimately, the most important thing when deciding this is to consider your personal and financial preferences and whether either of the cards suits your needs.

That said, if you buy a lot of the Walmart brands that earn 5% back, one of the Walmart Mastercards could be a good option for these purchases.

The cards’ earnings in the gas, taxi, and transit category are also comparable to many other cards on the market, giving you a decent return in Rewards Dollars that you can then use the next time you shop at Walmart or Walmart.ca.

However, if you tend to shop at multiple different stores, you may be better off with one of the alternatives that we discuss in the next section.

Let’s first remember that most Walmarts are not considered grocery stores by your credit card’s category system. This means that the best card for your Walmart purchases is one that has a good earning rate in the “everything else” category.

Now, if the Walmart you shop at is an eligible Walmart Supercentre, some Visas and Mastercards will categorize these locations as grocery stores. In this case, your best bet is to choose a credit card that has a high earning rate in the grocery category.

Our guide to the best credit cards for grocery stores is a great resource if you have a Walmart Supercentre nearby or if you’re just looking to maximize your rewards at other grocery stores.

Let’s look at the best cash back and reward points cards for your Walmart purchases.

If you’re a Rogers, Fido, or Shaw customer, the Rogers Red World Elite Mastercard gets you 2% cash back on all your purchases (or 1.5% cash back if you’re not a Rogers, Fido, or Shaw customer).

This earning rate is twice the 1% that most cards offer in this category and is competitive with the earnings rates offered by the Walmart Mastercards.

This card also comes with an array of travel perks and benefits, like 5 free Roam Like Home days and solid travel insurance coverage.

While the BMO CashBack World Elite Mastercard mentioned above has an annual fee of $120, the BMO CashBack Mastercard has no annual fee!

This card lets you earn 3% cash back on grocery purchases, including at eligible Walmart Supercentres, plus 1% cash back on recurring bill payments, and 0.5% back on everything else.

While the “everything else” category isn’t as strong as the earning rates offered by the Walmart Mastercards, the cash back earned with this card lets you redeem against all your purhcases, not just those made at Walmart.

The American Express Cobalt Card is similar to the Scotiabank Gold American Express Card in that you’ll only earn the base rate of 1 Membership Reward (MR) point per $1 spent at Walmart.

The difference is that we value MR points at 1.7 cents, so this is one of the better earning rates available on Walmart purchases. Additionally, with the right strategy you can get even more out of your points by transferring to airline and hotel loyalty programs and finding the right redemption.

The American Express Cobalt Card also offers up to 5 points per $1 spent in other categories and is widely considered to be one of the best credit cards in Canada.

The MBNA Rewards World Elite Mastercard earns 5 points per $1 spent on eligible restaurant, grocery, digital media, membership, and household utility purchases, and 1 point per $1 spent on everything else.

Once you’ve accumulated some points, you can redeem them for cash back, merchandise, gift cards, travel, and more. Not only that, but your points will never expire as long as your account is open and in good standing.

Alternatively, if you’d prefer a card with no annual fee, you could also consider the MBNA Rewards Platinum Plus Mastercard, which offers similar but slightly lower earning rates.

The Walmart Rewards Mastercard and the Walmart Rewards World Mastercard give you the ability to earn up to 5% back on eligible Walmart purchases.

If Walmart is your go-to store for groceries, personal care items, or clothes, these two Mastercards could be your ticket to saving money on your frequent purchases.

If your shopping habits are fairly diverse, you might be better off considering one of the alternative cards we mentioned above or exploring our other guides to find the right card for you.