Brim mastercard - negative changes

[aballerina]

Just got an email from Brim and I'm not too happy.
They are eliminating the 0% foreign conversion fee. It will now be 1.5% (better than the 2.5% other cards charge but still ....)
Also the cashback is cut in half.
The only reason I had this card was for use outside of Canada. Thinking of cancelling.
It seems that the only other no fee card with 0% conversion fee is Home Trust Visa. Any of you have this card?

https://blog.rewardscanada.ca/news/major-devaluation-brim-financial-mastercards/

 

[kuhltiffany]

I’m thinking of canceling mine and looking for something else. Trying to find a credit card that has 0 Forex fees that doesn’t have a yearly fee, there aren’t many options available…

 

[mort1331]

Not that I use it,,but doesnt Rogers have no forex fees?

 

[aballerina]

Not that I use it,,but doesnt Rogers have no forex fees?

I looked into Rogers. They have a no fee card that gives 3% cashback rewards on US dollar purchases which makes up for the foreign conversion fee.
Unfortunately, you must have an $80,000 annual income which I don't have.

 

[KandyM]

I have Home Trust. It's fine. Seems a bit quirky, almost like it's a mom and pop bank or something. Awkward to change your pin, they have a 10 per day transaction limit, and they are unusual in fraud management (but perhaps better than the big banks) in that they will email you immediately if a charge looks suspicious and you can approve or deny the transaction over email.
We've had it for quite a while, maybe 10 years, and like it fine though. Only use for foreign transaction.

 

[Aladora]

Just got an email from Brim and I'm not too happy.
They are eliminating the 0% foreign conversion fee. It will now be 1.5% (better than the 2.5% other cards charge but still ....)
Also the cashback is cut in half.
The only reason I had this card was for use outside of Canada. Thinking of cancelling.
It seems that the only other no fee card with 0% conversion fee is Home Trust Visa. Any of you have this card?

https://blog.rewardscanada.ca/news/major-devaluation-brim-financial-mastercards/

I have Home Trust. It's fine. Seems a bit quirky, almost like it's a mom and pop bank or something. Awkward to change your pin, they have a 10 per day transaction limit, and they are unusual in fraud management (but perhaps better than the big banks) in that they will email you immediately if a charge looks suspicious and you can approve or deny the transaction over email.
We've had it for quite a while, maybe 10 years, and like it fine though. Only use for foreign transaction.

Ditto, I have had mine for years, ever since Amazon got rid of their no for-ex card. No issues at all, I have an okay limit and never felt the need to increase it, the pin they sent me was an easy one to remember for me (it is the same as a significant year in history, lol!), and I have not had problems with the transaction limit so far.

 

[Honeypot]

Did you look at the Scotia Passport Visa Infinite?

 

[aballerina]

Did you look at the Scotia Passport Visa Infinite?

Thanks.
Checked it out and while they are waiving the annual fee for the first year I don't meet their minimum annual income.
I'm going to apply for the Home Trust Visa.
Thanks for the replies everyone.

 

[deedubb]

I have the Home Trust as well as the Scotia Infinite Passport. I have read about a limited number of transactions with the Home Trust but don't use it enough to comment whether that is true. I have had no issues with it and for a no-fee, no forex and cash-back card, it is hard to beat. I have had issues when trying to use the Scotia card to purchase the UK Disney tickets, but no problem with the Home Trust. I immediately get a text and email saying there is suspicious activity, to which I simply have to reply that it was a purchase I made and the transaction goes through.

 

[Norton figment]

I have the Home Trust as well as the Scotia Infinite Passport. I have read about a limited number of transactions with the Home Trust but don't use it enough to comment whether that is true. I have had no issues with it and for a no-fee, no forex and cash-back card, it is hard to beat. I have had issues when trying to use the Scotia card to purchase the UK Disney tickets, but no problem with the Home Trust. I immediately get a text and email saying there is suspicious activity, to which I simply have to reply that it was a purchase I made and the transaction goes through.

I had the Scotia ignite when there was the deal not to pay the yearly membership and I too had issues buying the UK tickets. We had to call Scotia to get it to work, but the company that sells the tickets was amazing to work with to make sure I could buy the tickets in the end.

I have used it in the US last week tap and I had one store that I couldn’t seem to use the card at. Unfortunately I can’t remember which store it was or I share I had cash so it wasn’t that big a deal. I didn’t know about the 10 day limit but I’m fine with the home trust and not having to pay any additional fees. I did see best Western maybe has the card now with no foreign fees but I haven’t researched it and I’m not sure if it’s a Canadian card or US card got an email from best Western about it.

 

[yowcruiser]

The news regarding Brim is not all that shocking... whether they did not get the volume they were anticipating and now needs to cut features to remain viable... or this bait and switch approach was their strategy from the get go... who knows... but pretty much any "independent" that has tried something bold in the credit card space in Canada has had to review their plans at some point.

I have used Home Trust in the past and other than the transaction limit, it worked fine and probably one of the easiest option. I personally now use a mix of Scotia Visa Infinite and Rogers World MasterCard... For Rogers the "regular" card result in a net FX cost of 0.5% which is still better than many other options. One last option is the Scotia Amex Gold... it does have a cost of $120/year - but minimum qualifying income is 12k

 

[efrant]

I looked into Rogers. They have a no fee card that gives 3% cashback rewards on US dollar purchases which makes up for the foreign conversion fee.
Unfortunately, you must have an $80,000 annual income which I don't have.

Are you a Rogers customer? If so, the Rogers MC (not the Rogers World Elite MC that requires income of $80k) gives you 2% cashback on USD purchases, and if you redeem that cashback against your Rogers phone of internet bill, you get 1.5x more. (So it's essentially a 3% card on all spending.) Knock off the 2.5% foreign transaction fee for USD purchases, and you are up by 0.5%. Not great, but better than paying an extra 2.5%.

https://rogersbank.com/en/rogers_mastercard_details

 

[ElCray]

Are you a Rogers customer? If so, the Rogers MC (not the Rogers World Elite MC that requires income of $80k) gives you 2% cashback on USD purchases, and if you redeem that cashback against your Rogers phone of internet bill, you get 1.5x more. (So it's essentially a 3% card on all spending.) Knock off the 2.5% foreign transaction fee for USD purchases, and you are up by 0.5%. Not great, but better than paying an extra 2.5%.

https://rogersbank.com/en/rogers_mastercard_details

Just be aware that with the Rogers WE MC, if you cancel a booking with a deposit or return something you've bought in USD, you pay the 2.5% FX fee both ways. That's because there is no cash back benefit in that situation.

With the Scotiabank cards, because they are just no FX fee, you can cancel or return for no fee.

 

[efrant]

Just be aware that with the Rogers WE MC, if you cancel a booking with a deposit or return something you've bought in USD, you pay the 2.5% FX fee both ways. That's because there is no cash back benefit in that situation.

With the Scotiabank cards, because they are just no FX fee, you can cancel or return for no fee.

Yes, that's an important point. A couple of other things: the OP was asking about a card that didn't have the $80k minimum income requirement of the Rogers World Elite MC, so I would point out that the Scotiabank Passport VI has a $60k (I believe. Or is it higher?) minimum income requirement. In addition both the Passport and the Scotiabank Gold Amex have annual fees, so depending on how much spend is in foreign currency, they may not be worth it.