To the point
With this offer from HSBC Bank Canada on its HSBC World Elite Mastercard, you could earn up to 130,000 points!
Sommaire
Sign-Up bonuses
For Quebec
If you are a resident of Quebec, you can get:
- Welcome Bonus of 20,000 Points (up to $100 value)
- Receive an additional 80,000 Points ($400 travel value) if you keep your account open and active for 180 days
- Earn 10,000 Points ($50 travel value) for adding your 1st Authorized User*
- 20,000 Points (up to $100 value) as an Anniversary Bonus*
On the other hand, the first-year annual fee is $149.
But don’t forget the $100 annual travel enhancement credit! This partly offsets the annual fee.
This is a welcome offer that we value at $451 in the first year:
| 130,000 points Welcome Bonus | $500 |
| Annual Travel enhancement credit | $100 |
| First-Year Annual Fee | $149 |
| Offer value | $451 |
And if you keep the card for a second year, you’ll earn an additional 20,000 points, a $100 value. That’s what I recommend you do, especially since you’ll get a new $100 Annual Travel enhancement credit.
Knowing that travel is uncertain for the next few months, this is a credit card to get now while waiting for better days! Especially since it does not require any minimum expenses: the welcome bonus will be released in time to book your future trips!
Outside Quebec
If you are not a resident of Quebec, you can get:
- Welcome Bonus of 20,000 Points (up to $100 value)
- Earn an additional 50,000 points (max. value of $250) if you make $6,000 in purchases with the card within six months of opening your account*.
- Receive a first-year annual fee waiver for the primary card ($149 value)
- Earn 10,000 Points (up to $50 value) for adding your 1st Authorized User*
- Receive an additional 20,000 Points (up to $100 value) as an Anniversary Bonus*
This is a welcome offer that we value at $450 in the first year:
| 70,000 points Welcome bonus | $350 |
| Annual Travel enhancement credit | $100 |
| First-Year Annual Fee | $0 |
| Offer value | $450 |
And if you keep the card for a second year, you’ll earn an additional 20,000 points, a $100 value. That’s what I recommend you do, especially since you’ll get a new $100 Annual Travel enhancement credit.
Here you will get the first-year free. And given the current situation, HSBC gives you 6 months (instead of the usual 3 months) to charge $5,000 to the card (an average of $833 per month).
An HSBC Rewards Card
The HSBC World Elite® Mastercard® is part of the HSBC Rewards travel points program. Let’s see how to earn HSBC Rewards points with this card and especially how to redeem them to save on travel!
HSBC Rewards Points earning
With the HSBC World Elite® Mastercard®, you can earn:
- 6 points per 1 dollar on all eligible travel purchases (= 3% in travel rewards)
- 3 points per 1 dollar on all other eligible purchases (= 1.5% in travel rewards)
The HSBC World Elite® Mastercard® is one of the best credit cards for travel purchases, but also everyday purchases. Few cards offer 3% on travel and 1.5% on everyday purchases.
Avios, Krisflyer or Asia Miles Earning
With this Card, you can transfer your points to airline partners. You’ll find below a mileage earning table based on purchases charged to the HSBC World Elite® Mastercard®:
| Program | Travel (6 points / dollar) | Other purchases (3 points / dollar) |
| Asia Miles | 1.92 miles per dollar | 0.96 mile / dollar |
| Krisflyer | 2.16 miles / dollar | 1.08 mile / dollar |
| Executive Club | 2.4 miles per dollar | 1.2 mile / dollar |
So if you earn HSBC Rewards points to transfer them into Avios miles from British Airways Executive Club, it’s like you’re accumulating:
- 2.4 avios miles per dollar for your travel purchases
- 1.2 avios mile per dollar for all your purchases
It is much better than RBC’s British Airways credit card! And that’s not taking into account conversion promotions between HSBC Rewards and airline loyalty programs (up to 35% bonus)!
By transferring your HSBC Rewards points into Avios miles during a 35% conversion promotion, it’s like you’ve earned:
- 3.24 Avios miles per dollar for your travel purchases
- 1.62 Avios miles per dollar for your other purchases
It’s exceptional for a credit card in Canada!
Accepted at Costco
The HSBC World Elite® Mastercard® belongs to the Mastercard network.
With that card, you’ll earn 3 points per dollar at Costco (= 1.5% in travel rewards).
Redeeming HSBC Rewards Points
You can redeem HSBC Rewards points earned by the HSBC World Elite® Mastercard® on your terms:
For travel
Redeeming HSBC Rewards points for travel rewards will be the best possible use of your points earned by the HSBC World Elite® Mastercard®.
100,000 HSBC Rewards points are worth $500 in travel rewards.
To redeem your HSBC Rewards points, charge any travel purchase on your HSBC World Elite® Mastercard® (and earn 6 points per dollar).
Then you can go to the HSBC Rewards portal to apply your points on your travel purchases and get a statement credit.
For example, here an Air Transat flight I’ve recently bought on my HSBC World Elite® Mastercard®:
Or for purchases on Airbnb or Hotels.com:
To redeem HSBC Rewards points, it works with a chart starting at 25,000 points ($125):
| Points | Statement credit |
| 25 000 | $125 |
| 35000 | $175 |
| 45 000 | $225 |
| 55 000 | $275 |
| 65 000 | $325 |
| 75 000 | $375 |
| 85 000 | $425 |
| 95 000 | $475 |
| 105 000 | $525 |
| 115 000 | $575 |
| 125 000 | $625 |
| 135 000 | $675 |
Therefore, you will need to have a minimum of 25,000 points to get a statement credit. With 100,000 points, you will have $500 as a statement credit!
For converting points into miles
In Canada, few institutions offer the ability to convert travel points into airline loyalty programs (American Express, RBC and HSBC).
HSBC Rewards is a partner with three airline loyalty programs:
- Asia Miles – Cathay Pacific
- Krisflyer – Singapore Airlines
- Executive Club – British Airways
Here is the HSBC Reward Points to miles conversion ratio:
| HSBC Rewards Points | Miles | Ratio | |
| Asia Miles | 25 000 | 8 000 | 0.32 |
| Krisflyer | 25 000 | 9 000 | 0.36 |
| Executive Club | 25 000 | 10 000 | 0.4 |
If you want to convert your 100,000 Welcome Bonus points into miles, here’s what you could get:
| Program | Miles |
| Asia Miles | 32,000 miles |
| Krisflyer | 36,000 miles |
| Executive Club | 40,000 miles |
And that’s not taking into account conversion promotions between HSBC Rewards and airline loyalty programs (up to 35% bonus)!
So if you wait for a 35% conversion promotion to convert your 100,000 points earned with the welcome bonus, you could get 54,000 Avios miles!
For gift cards and products
Like all the loyalty programs, you can use your HSBC Rewards points for gift cards.
Many retailers are available such as Costco, Esso, Amazon, Best Buy, Disney, Transat, Via Rail, IGA. Here are some examples and costs in points:
| Gift-card | HSBC Rewards Points | Value |
| Costco | 65,000 | $200 |
| Esso | 33,400 | $100 |
| Amazon | 33,400 | $100 |
| Best Buy | 80,900 | $250 |
| Disney | 41,300 | US$100 |
| IGA/Sobeys/Safeway | 17,600 | $50 |
As always, my advice will be to redeem your HSBC Rewards points for travel and not gift cards.
However, if you have less than 25,000 points (and therefore unusable against travel), it may be convenient to liquidate your points through this method.
For financial rewards
Finally, the last option to use HSBC Rewards points is for financial products offered by HSBC.
Here are the different possible redemptions:
| HSBC Rewards Points | Value | |
| HSBC Mastercard Account Credit | 25 000 | $75 |
| HSBC Mortgage Account Credit | 25 000 | $100 |
| HSBC Savings Account Credit | 25 000 | $75 |
A card for travellers
The HSBC World Elite® Mastercard® is primarily a card designed for travellers or those who regularly pay in foreign currency. Here are the main perks.
$100 Annual Travel enhancement credit
A great perk of the HSBC World Elite® Mastercard® is the $100 Annual Travel enhancement credit. This annual travel credit is available as soon as you apply for the HSBC World Elite® Mastercard® and renewed on the account anniversary date.
If you think about it: your HSBC World Elite® Mastercard® annual fee is, therefore, virtually reduced from $149 to $49. Unbelievable for a World Elite Card! So you can keep it year after year.
To use this credit, just:
- book a plane ticket,
- buy extras for seats, luggage
- buy airport lounge passes
After that, you will have 60 days to use your Annual Travel enhancement credit on it. You can apply it on several small transactions like this:
No foreign currency conversion fees
HSBC World Elite® Mastercard® best perk: no foreign currency conversion fee. Only a few credit cards in Canada offer this travel perk.
Being often abroad, I use my HSBC World Elite® Mastercard® for all my everyday purchases. Here are, for example, recent purchases on my card during a stay in France:
Checking the tool provided by Mastercard for foreign currency conversion rate, it’s easy to verify that there are no conversion fees applied by HSBC (all other cards having a 2.5% fee).
My 71.08 euros purchase at the FNAC store costs me $103.90 on my HSBC credit card statement.
And remember to ALWAYS pay in local currency (here in Euros) while abroad. The conversion rate offered on the retailer machine will ALWAYS be unfavourable.
Here is the proof for this same purchase at the FNAC store with my HSBC World Elite® Mastercard®:
Instead of CA$103.90, I would have been charged CA$107.74! A $3.84 difference!
Unlimited Wi-Fi access through Boingo
HSBC World Elite® Mastercard® holders have free and unlimited access to Wi-Fi through Boingo (more than one million access points around the world).
To take advantage of this free benefit, register at this address with your HSBC World Elite® Mastercard® number.
Then, you will have a Boingo account you can use worldwide. Boing usually charges US$14.99 per month for this!
Swiss, Lufthansa and Singapore Airlines are among the few airlines that offer Boingo on board their aircraft. I have already been able to use it on board and in many airports and public places.
10% discount with Expedia and Agoda
HSBC World Elite® Mastercard® holders receive a 10% discount for their prepaid hotel bookings with Expedia or Agoda.
To benefit from this, you will need to register:
Airport lounges access with LoungeKey
Finally, HSBC World Elite® Mastercard® holders receive a complimentary membership to Mastercard Airport Experiences Provided by LoungeKey.
However, there will be a charge of US$32 per person for each visit. You can, of course, use your annual $100 Travel enhancement credit to cover it.
A card with solid insurance
With a “World Elite Mastercard” level, the HSBC World Elite® Mastercard® provides a wide range of insurance, especially for travel.
Worldwide Emergency Travel Medical insurance
Regarding the Emergency Travel Medical insurance, the HSBC World Elite® Mastercard® provides coverage of up to $1,000,000 per insured person:
- the primary cardholder
- Spouse
- dependent children
Coverage extends to 31 days per trip for people under age 65.
Beware though: travel in Cuba is not covered by this insurance.
Baggage Delay or Loss insurance
Regarding Baggage Delay or Loss insurance, you are covered to a maximum of $750per insured person (maximum of $500 per item) with the HSBC World Elite® Mastercard®.
It covers:
- Loss or damage
- Theft
- Burglary
- fire or transport hazards
You are also covered for up to $200 per trip for the purchase of necessities if your checked baggage is delayed by the carrier for 12 hours or more en route to your destination.
Trip Cancellation and Trip Interruption/Delay insurance
Regarding trip Cancellation and Trip Interruption/Delay insurance, the HSBC World Elite® Mastercard® covers up to $2,000 per insured person ($5,000 per trip). You have to charge at least75% of your eligibletravel expenses to your card.
This includes all non-refundable expenses (prepaid trips) in the event of cancellation, as well as costs incurred for the change of ticket or the cost of a ticket to return home early.
Car rental insurance
Regarding car rental insurance, the HSBC World Elite® Mastercard® covers up to 31 consecutive days. You have to charge at least 75% of the cost of the rental vehicle to your card.
This includes collisions or damage up to the full value of the damaged or stolen rental vehicle, as well as towing or loss of use charges.
Car Rental insurance also includes Personal Effects and Car Rental Accidental Death and Dismemberment insurance coverage.
Be careful, like all the other credit cards providing car rental insurance, liability insurance is not included.
Purchase Assurance and Extended Warranty Insurance
Finally, regarding Purchase Assurance and Extended Warranty Insurance, when you use your HSBC World Elite® Mastercard® to purchase eligible items, Purchase Protection provides coverage in the event of loss, damage or theft for 90 days from the purchase date.
Extended Warranty coverage automatically doubles the original manufacturer’s warranty for up to one additional year when you use your HSBC World Elite Mastercard to purchase most items.
Conclusion
The HSBC World Elite Mastercard is a card I like for several reasons:
- No foreign transaction fees
- Points redemptions flexibility (either used in travel credit or transferred to airline partners)
- The fact that it is a Mastercard, it is accepted everywhere (including at Costco)
- Its ability to earn points for travel purchases(6 points per dollaror 3% )
- Its earning rate for all other purchases(3 points per dollar or 1.5% )
Also, there is a 10% discount for select hotel purchases with Expedia and Agoda and unlimited access to Wi-Fi through Boingo.
It’s a card I keep because its annual $100 Travel enhancement credit largely offsets the annual fee.
During our family trip around the world, we used it a lot to save on our foreign currency transaction fees and to redeem points for Airbnb rentals!
