$100 annual fee The Desjardins Cash Back World Elite Mastercard is a solid choice for anyone who spends a lot on groceries and prefers to shop at stores that accept Mastercards.
It’s also useful for some types of travel insurance, although gaps in its coverage will leave you looking for another card to make up for these deficiencies.
Bonuses & Fees
This card has no welcome bonus, and no first year fee reduction.
Instead, the annual fee is $100. Additional cards cost $30 per year, a fee which is waived if you’re a Desjardins banking member.
Earning Rewards
This card offers a tiered rewards structure:
- 4% back on groceries
- 3% back on restaurants, entertainment, and transit
- 1% back on all other purchases
While you can do better for uncategorized spending, these category rates are incredibly strong for a Mastercard. There’s also no annual limit on cash back in bonus categories.
Redeeming Rewards
Cash back is issued as a statement credit when your rewards reach $100.
Perks & Benefits
The card comes with all of the standard Mastercard World Elite benefits, including a DragonPass membership (although without any free passes).
Also, the card offers car rental benefits, including no young driver surcharge, no fee for additional drivers, Hertz Five Star status, and discounts on luxury car rentals. Cardholders can get a discount of up to 25% at Hertz or 10% at Dollar and Thrifty on regular car rentals.
Insurance Coverage
At first glance, the card appears to offer strong emergency travel medical coverage, up to $5,000,000 for cardholders up to age 75. However, this coverage is only valid on trips of 3 days or less. If your trip is longer, you’d have to buy additional days of coverage for even the first 3 days to be covered. I’d consider this useless, and I’d rely on my other cards for this type of coverage.
The card can be used for insurance on award tickets. Coverage is valid as long as the fees were paid using the credit card.
The card’s car rental insurance grants coverage for cars valued at up to $85,000, higher than the industry standard for this type of insurance. Paired with discounts on luxury car rentals, this could make for some memorable road trips!
Finally, the card has mobile device protection. If you buy your phone or tablet with this card, you’ll be covered for up to $1,000 for two years, in the event of loss, theft, or accidental damage.