BMO Rewards Guide | How to maximize your points

BMO Rewards has been really aggressive as of late. They’ve had huge marketing campaigns and they often offer BMO customers one of the cards for free for the first year. Admittedly, getting the annual fee waived for a premium travel credit card is appealing, but is BMO Rewards any good?

While BMO Rewards does have a few aspects to the program, it also quite a few limitations. In addition, the redemption of your points is a bit deceiving. This doesn’t make the program bad, you just need to know the ins and outs to maximize your points. In this BMO Rewards guide, I’ll go over how you can get the most value out of the BMO Rewards program.

BMO Rewards points value

It takes 150 BMO Rewards points to claim $1 in travel. That means one BMO Rewards point is worth .67 cents. This is the maximum value you can get out of BMO Rewards. This is a bit annoying because other similar programs give you a value of 100 points for $1 in travel. So when looking at the earning rate for BMO Rewards cards, you need to factor in the lower value for each point.

While using your points for travel gives you the best return, it’s important to know what else you can redeem your points for and what your points would be worth in those situations.

Redemption type	Redemption value
Travel	.67 cents per point
Investments	.67 cents per point
Merchandise	.45 - .65 cents per point
Gift cards	.40 - .45 cents per point
Statement credit	.33 cents per point

As you can see, the BMO Rewards point value is best used for travel purchases and investments. Most people will use their points for travel, but as you’ll find out shortly, using your points for investments might be the better value. Gift cards have a slightly lower value, but it depends on which merchant you’re redeeming with. While merchandise can have a value close to travel, most items are worth much less.

How to redeem BMO Rewards points for travel

BMO Rewards recently changed its redemption system for the better. Previously, you were required to book your travel through the BMO Rewards portal to use your points. However, you can now charge any travel expense to your BMO Rewards card and then use your points to get a statement credit for those purchases.

That means you can use your points for any last-minute deals you come across. In addition, since you can now book directly with travel partners, you can earn status benefits through loyalty programs such as Aeroplan and Marriott Bonvoy.

Once you’ve charged your travel expenses, you can immediately redeem your points with the Pay with Points feature found in your BMO Rewards account. A credit will then be applied in 3 to 5 days.

Many people don’t realize that when you book travel with the BMO Ascend World Elite Mastercard, your travel insurance coverage applies as long as you spend any amount of your travel purchase on the card. This applies to paying in cash and points. That means you could charge or redeem $1 with your card/points, and you’d have access to great travel insurance.

How to redeem BMO Rewards for investments

One huge advantage of BMO Rewards is that you can redeem your points for investments. If you have a BMO Investments account, you can redeem 15,000 BMO Rewards points for $100 in investments. At face value, that redemption is worth the same as travel redemptions, but you need to think long-term.

For every $100 you put into your investment accounts, you have the potential to grow your money significantly. Let’s say you invest the money in your RRSP or TFSA, that money could grow quite a bit over the course of your life. It’s not that uncommon to get 4 to 6% in returns annually with a balanced portfolio and that amount compounds every year.

Travel redemptions give you an immediate return, but using your BMO Rewards points for investments could give you more value in the long run. This is a classic case of delayed gratification.

How to redeem BMO Rewards for gift cards and merchandise

BMO Rewards gives you the option to redeem your points for gift cards and merchandise like all rewards programs. For some reason, BMO Rewards makes things slightly complicated as quite a few merchants have different redemption values. That said, some recent redemptions I saw include:

• $25 = 6,250 BMO Rewards points
• $50 = 11,750 BMO Rewards points
• $100 = 23,000 BMO Rewards points
• $500 = 112,500 BMO Rewards points

To figure out the best value for gift cards, take the dollar value of the redemption and multiply it by 100. Then take that number and divide it by 100. For example, 50 X 100 / 11,750 = .43 cents per point.

When it comes to merchandise, every item has a different value. In 99.9% of the cases, redeeming your points for merchandise over travel will be of a lower value.

How to redeem BMO Rewards for cash

BMO Rewards allows you to redeem your points for a statement credit which is basically cash. For every 15,000 BMO Rewards points, you get a $50 cash credit. You can redeem in increments of 15,000 points so 45,000 BMO Rewards points would be worth $150. That means your points are worth .33 cents when going this route. That’s half the value of travel redemptions!

The credit takes 3-5 business days to show up on your account and it only applies to the primary cardholder.

Generally speaking, you never want to redeem your points for gift cards or a statement credit unless you’re under financial hardship, as they offer a much lower value compared to travel rewards.

Do BMO Rewards points expire?

No, as long as you have an active BMO credit card that earns you BMO Rewards points, your points will not expire. If you plan on cancelling your card, you should redeem all your points before doing so. If you can’t use all your points for travel purposes before you close your account, redeem them for gift cards or a statement credit.

How BMO Rewards compares to others

BMO Rewards is comparable to Scotia Scene+ since both programs allow you to redeem your points for any travel purchase. However BMO Rewards doesn’t have a fixed points flight program like RBC Rewards, CIBC Rewards and American Express Membership Rewards, BMO Rewards is still highly competitive and has lots of advantages such as:

• No blackout dates
• No minimum amount of points to redeem
• BMO Ascend World Elite Mastercard insurance covers award redemptions

That said, one thing that BMO Rewards lacks is any transfer partners. Mind you, this isn’t common among the major banks but RBC Rewards does allow you to transfer your Avion points to WestJet Rewards and American Express has Aeroplan and Marriott Bonvoy as partners.

How to earn BMO Rewards points

You can earn BMO Rewards points by using BMO Rewards credit cards. The easiest way to earn BMO Rewards points is from the welcome bonus and everyday spending.

BMO has a few different cards that earn you BMO Rewards points. This includes both consumer and business cards. The BMO Ascend World Elite Mastercard (formerly known as the BMO World Elite Mastercard) stands out as it is consistently ranked as one of the top credit cards in Canada and is one of the best BMO credit cards, but I’ve listed a few others for your reference.

The BMO Ascend World Elite™* Mastercard®* has long been known as one of the best travel credit cards in Canada due to its generous signup bonus and benefits. The earn rate of 3 bonus points for every $1 spent on travel, entertainment and dining purchases; and 2 points per $1 spent on all other purchases is incredible.

There’s no denying that the Mastercard LoungeKey membership and 4 free annual airport lounge visits are appealing since the actual value of this benefit is more than $250. One little-known fact about the BMO Ascend World Elite Mastercard is that you only need to charge a portion of your travel expenses (as in any amount over 0%) for your card to qualify for the included travel insurance.

BMO eclipse Visa Infinite* Card

The BMO eclipse Visa Infinite* Card is appealing due to the generous welcome offer and increased earn rates. While there’s no denying that earning more points is always good, you need to factor in the actual value of your points. 5 BMO Rewards points per $1 spent on eligible dining, groceries, gas, and transit purchases have a real value of 3.35 cents. That’s still incredible, but you could argue that the Amex Cobalt card is better.

It’s worth noting that the BMO eclipse Visa Infinite* Card has a better redemption value when using your points to pay compared to the standard BMO Rewards rate. You can claim 200 points for $1 in redemptions, a value of .50 cents per point. Note that there’s a higher-tier version of this card in the BMO Eclipse Visa Infinite Privilege card.

BMO Rewards® Mastercard

If you don’t qualify for the BMO World Elite™* Mastercard®* or you don’t like paying an annual fee, then the BMO Rewards® Mastercard is a good option. The sign up bonus is worth up to 10,000 BMO Rewards points. Your earn rate is a straight 1 point per $1 spent, but you earn 2X that at participating National Car Rental and Alamo Rent A Car locations. The included purchase protection and extended warranty are a nice touch considering this is a credit card with no annual fee.

Final thoughts

My BMO Rewards review is positive, even though it ranks last on my list of Canada’s bank travel rewards programs. It may not be the best travel rewards program from a major bank in Canada, but you can quickly earn points with the BMO World Elite Mastercard. Redeeming your points is also easy since there are no blackout dates and no minimum points required to redeem an award.