BMO eclipse Visa Infinite Privilege* Card Review

The BMO eclipse Visa Infinite Privilege* Card is part of a duo of cards released by BMO in late 2020 which represented their first foray into issuing Visa branded cards. Up until that point BMO had strictly been an issuer of Mastercard cards under their own proprietary program BMO Rewards and co-brand Mastercards for the AIR MILES reward program.

These newer eclipse Visa Infinite and Visa Infinite Privilege cards expanded on BMO's portfolio of card offerings as they did not replace any cards but complemented their existing BMO Rewards Mastercards.

The review of the BMO eclipse Visa Infinite Privilege* Card is broken down into the following sections:

Overview

The BMO eclipse Visa Infinite Privilege* Card is an all encompassing lifestyle rewards credit card with a primary focus on travel. The card has accelerated earn rates in several 'lifestyle' categories as the banks like to call them now as well as annual $200 lifestyle credit.

On the opposite end of the spectrum however is the card's base earn rate which is extremely weak for an Ultra Premium credit card - actually let me rephrase that - weak for almost any level of credit card. Read on to find out more about that!

Costs & Sign up Features

The BMO eclipse Visa Infinite Privilege* Card has an annual fee of $499 for the primary card. This fee is lower than most Ultra Premium card offerings in Canada where cards tend to range from $599 to $799 per year. Additional cardholders can be added for $99 per year per card.

Right now the welcome bonus on the card offers up to 90,000 BMO Rewards Points which is worth $600 towards travel. The welcome bonus is broken down as follows:

• 50,000 points when you spend $5,000 in the first 3 months.
• 40,000 additional points when you spend $100,000 in the first 12 months (that is not a typo, the requirement is $100,000)

The interest rate on the card is 20.99% on purchases. 23.99% on cash advances and balance transfers. These rates are slightly higher than equivalent cards at this level.

The minimum income requirements for the card are to have $150,000 annual personal income or $200,000 annual household income.

Earning

The card earns BMO Rewards points and earns those points as follows

• 5 points per eligible dollar spent on groceries, dining, drugstore purchases, gas and travel. This earn rate is awarded on the first $100,000 spent in these categories combined annually.
• 1 point per dollar spent on all other spending

If you choose to add supplementary cards to your account you'll earn 25% bonus points on all spending made on the account which would translate to 6.25 points per dollar for the accelerated categories and 1.25 points per dollar for all other spending.

For those who do add a supplementary card this card becomes one of the best in terms of % return for travel purchases. (This does not include co-brand cards or cards that let you convert points to airline or hotel programs). With the supplementary card bonus in place the return on travel purchases can be as high as 4.17%. The only other card in that range is the TD First Class Visa when you earn points via Expedia For TD and then redeem them via Expedia for TD which will provide a 4.4% return.

Point Valuation Chart

Spending Category	Points earned per dollar spent	Effective Rate of return (Travel or BMO Investment products)	Effective Rate of return (Cash Back)
Groceries, dining, drugstore purchases, gas and travel	5	3.33%	2.5%
All other spending	1	0.67%	0.5%
Points & value earned if you add a supplementary card:
Spending Category	Points earned per dollar spent	Effective Rate of return (Travel or BMO Investment products)	Effective Rate of return (Cash Back)
Groceries, dining, drugstore purchases, gas and travel	6.25	4.17%	3.13%
All other spending	1.25	0.83%	0.63%

Redeeming

Travel Redemptions

Prior to the summer of 2022 you had to book travel via BMO Rewards but that is no longer the case. The BMO eclipse Visa Infinite Privilege Card now card falls into the book any travel anywhere category of Travel Points cards which means you don't have to redeem via BMO Rewards. All you have to do is book your travel on your own, whether it be aircanada.com, westjet.com, expedia.ca or anywhere else including your trusted travel agent and when that charge shows up on your statement you simply go online to redeem points against the charge.

Points are redeemed at a rate of 150 points for $1. That is the beauty of this card and many like it, you don't have to have the full amount of points to begin to enjoy the rewards and you have complete control and flexibility of who you book with! If you buy an airline ticket for $600 and have 30,000 points you can choose to redeem those points for a $200 credit which means your flight costs you $400. You have up to 90 days after the travel charge posts to your account to redeem points so you can continue to pay off that charge with points for several statement periods if you wish!

Another benefit of this "book travel on your own" type of reward is that you can be on vacation and buy travel on the card (say a rail ticket) and then redeem points when you get home. This can't be done with cards that don't have this reward feature since you need to redeem the points ahead of time with those other cards. Essentially the BMO eclipse Visa Infinite Privilege Card now falls into the category of the most flexible travel rewards cards.

Cash Back Redemptions

There are also non-travel redemption options in the BMO Rewards program. For many Canadians the most popular reward after travel is cash back and BMO has that with the Pay with Points option. This works in the same way as the travel rewards option although with a different redemption rate. Basically you can apply points to receive a cash back credit on a non-travel charge. The redemption rate for Pay with Points is 200 points to $1 (You can see the value per point in the cash point value chart above)

Other Redemptions

You can also redeem BMO Rewards points for BMO financial products, merchandise and gift cards. Investment/Financial products can be redeemed at the same rate as travel of 150 points to $1. All other redemption options also come in at a lower value than redeeming for travel or those financial products but they are nice to have them as an option.

Features and Benefits

The BMO eclipse Visa Infinite Privilege* Card provides some great benefits and additional features that complement the points earning side of things:

$200 annual lifestyle credit

The number one feature of the BMO eclipse Visa Infinite Privilege Card is the annual $200 lifestyle credit. This is a credit that is awarded when you get the card and then resets each year on January 1st. The credit is awarded when you have a charge on your card that meets or exceeds $200. Simply think of it as a $200 cash back gift for each year you have the card. Some competing cards do offering credits but those are tied into travel related purchases not a credit towards any purchase like the BMO card offers.

Airport Lounge Access

The card provides access to over 1,300 business class lounges in over 130 countries around the world. The lounge access benefits are as follows

• Visa Airport Companion Program hosted by Dragonpass - Includes six (6) free visits annually. After you use up the 6 free visit you can pay US$32 per person to access lounges. At US$99 per year for the membership and US$32 per visit this benefit alone is worth nearly C$400 on its own if you do use up all six of your passes.

Visa Infinite Privilege benefits

• Visa Infinite Privilege Airport Benefits Receive exclusive perks at Toronto City Airport Terminal, Vancouver Airport, Ottawa Airport and Montreal-Trudeau International Airport
  - Priority Security Lanes at International and Domestic checkpoints (Toronto, Vancouver, Ottawa, Montreal-Trudeau)
  - Priority airport taxi and limo lane (Vancouver) - Access to dedicated premium parking spots (Vancouver, Ottawa)
  - Up to 20% off parking (Ottawa, Vancouver, Montreal-Trudeau)
• Visa Infinite Luxury Hotel Collection provides benefits like room upgrades, complimentary Wi-Fi and breakfast, late checkout, and so much more at over 900 Visa Infinite Luxury Hotel Collection properties around the world.
• Visa Infinite Dining Series - Each event includes multi-course meals, drink pairings and an interactive experience. You'll get to taste dishes from some of the country's top chefs and restaurants as they guide you through each course.
  
• Wine country benefit from wineries across Ontario and British Columbia including complimentary tastings and tours. You can also get access to online offers like complimentary shipping and savings on wine purchases.
• Get golf perks with Troon Rewards® through your Visa Infinite card and automatically receive Silver Status. You’ll save 10% on golf fees, merchandise, and lessons at over 150 courses around the world.
• Access to private movie events and at-home offers as part of the Visa Infinite Screening Series. In the fall, get special perks at the Toronto International Film Festival®.
  
• Visa Infinite Privilege cards include a Complimentary Concierge service that can offer help with anything like the perfect travel itinerary, restaurant recommendations, finding the perfect birthday gift, and more
• RSVP Rewards Diamond Status: Enroll in the Visa RSVP Rewards Benefit and automatically receive Diamond status delivering benefits at 60+ participating Sandman, Sandman Signature and Sutton Place Hotels from coast-to-coast in Canada and beyond.
  

Insurance

The BMO eclipse Visa Infinite Privilege* Card provides excellent insurance coverage and is in fact one of the best that amongst all its direct competitors. The coverage is as follows:

• Out of Province/Country Emergency Medical Insurance (22 days for ages up to 64 and 3 days for 65+)
• Trip Cancellation Insurance
• Trip Interruption Insurance
• Flight Delay Insurance
• Baggage Delay Insurance
• Lost, Stolen or Damaged Baggage Insurance
• Car Rental Theft and Damage Insurance (48 days up to $85,000 MSRP)
• Purchase Protection Plan
• Buyer’s Assurance Protection Plan
• Mobile Device Insurance

 

What is good about this card

If we dissect this card and only look at singular items the card's earn rate on travel purchases of 6.25 points per dollar when you do have a supplementary card (a 4.17% return when redeeming for travel) is one of the best in Canada. Very few cards reach a return like that unless you get into intense calculations of taking various American Express cards that earn 2 points per dollar for travel and converting those points to Marriott or Aeroplan leading to high value redemptions for hotels or flights respectively. So for the most part this card is one of the best for providing high return value on travel purchases.

The annual lifestyle credit is another good thing about this card. Who doesn't want to get a $200 gift every year you have a credit card and not be worried about making the right type of purchase to receive that credit?

Another great thing about this card is the 25% bonus you receive on all spending if you add supplementary cards. This makes the card a good combo for couples or families. The bonus makes its overall earn rates a little more competitive but still lower on average than other Ultra Premium cards in Canada. You will have to note that BMO's T&C's state 'As an introductory feature' so it can and may very well be removed by BMO in the near future.

The lounge access with six free entry passes each year is great. This card essentially pays for itself or more if you combine the value of the lounge access + passes and your annual lifestyle credit.

What is not so good about this card

The base earn rate is our biggest gripe here. This is the only Ultra Premium credit card in our market that provides less than a 1% return on your base spending. For someone who makes a lot of purchases outside of the accelerated categories you would not want to go for this card - even if you take into account the supplementary card bonus as you are still earning less than 1% back. There are entry level no fee cards that earn more than this! Personally here at Rewards Canada we feel no premium card let alone an ultra premium travel rewards credit card should be awarding a value of less than 1% back for non accelerator categories.

The spending to earn the welcome bonus is outrageously high. This is the only card in Canada that requires six figure spending to earn the entire bonus. And what do you get after spending $100,0000? 40,000 additional points worth $267. You could earn more value than that with other cards that only require a couple thousand dollars in spending.

The redemption options outside of travel and BMO financial products erode the point value even more. The card is marketed as a lifestyle card (not just travel) but many of the non-travel lifestyle type reward options have very poor earn to redeem ratios that make this card unattractive in that regard.

Who should get this card

• Consumers who purchase a lot of travel and know they will be adding a supplementary card to ensure they maximize the points earning for their travel purchases
• Consumers who know they will only redeem their points for travel and/or BMO Financial rewards
• Consumers who don't have a lot of purchases outside of the accelerated earn rate categories
• Consumers who bank at BMO and want to keep all financial products with the bank

Conclusion

It was great to see BMO expand their portfolio by adding in Visa branded cards several years ago however for the most part they missed the mark with this card. They had the opportunity to really make a dent in their competition with these cards but have failed to do so. Don't get us wrong there are a couple of features that BMO offer on this card that are exciting - the annual lifestyle credit and the bonus points for having supplementary cards. However those new features don't make up for a base earn rate that doesn't even provide a 1% return. Overall this card fits a small niche market of people who spend a lot on travel and don't want to be tied into a specific program so they can redeem those points for any sort of travel.

Latest card details:

Other cards to consider if you are looking at this card:

• American Express® Aeroplan®* Reserve Card
• The Platinum Card® from American Express
• CIBC Aventura Visa Infinite Privilege Card
• Desjardins Odyssey® Visa Infinite Privilege*
• RBC Avion Visa Infinite Privilege Card
• Scotiabank Platinum American Express® Card
• TD® Aeroplan® Visa Infinite Privilege* Card

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