The CIBC Petro Points MasterCard is a no annual fee rewards credit card that lets you save 2 cents off every litre of fuel at participating Petro-Canada stations across Canada. Card holders earn Petro Points on virtually all purchases, wherever you shop.
You can also receive 15,000 bonus Petro Points when you use your CIBC Petro Points MasterCard for the first time.
Earn Petro Points on virtually every purchase, everywhere MasterCard is accepted. Plus, you have the potential to save even more on fuel at Petro-Canada.
Combine the CIBC Petro Points MasterCard Card with a 5 cent per litre Fuel Savings Reward Card to save a total of 7 cents per litre at the pump.
Earning Rewards with the CIBC Petro Points MasterCard:
- 10 points per dollar spent on every card purchase made outside of Petro-Canada – from restaurant meals to monthly bill payments, travel and more.
- 15 points per dollar spent at grocery and pharmacy retailers with the Points Multiplier feature. For example, whether it’s milk or a lawn chair, if you can buy it at a grocery store you will earn 15 Petro Points for every dollar spent.
- 50% more Petro Points at Petro-Canada. Use your CIBC Petro Points MasterCard on eligible purchases at Petro-Canada and collect an additional 50% more Petro Points.
- 5,000 bonus Petro Points every month when you spend more than $1,000 on your card.
Petro Points add up quickly
The CIBC Petro Points MasterCard is the quickest way to earn Petro Points for instant fuel savings and rewards.
- Spend $800 on your card outside Petro-Canada – 8,000 points
- Spend $250 on your card at grocery stores and pharmacies – 3,750 points
- Buy 30 litres of SuperClean fuel per week at Petro-Canada – 1,800 points
- Spend $10/week on items like coffee, lottery or car washes at Petro-Canada – 1,200 points
- Monthly CIBC Petro Points Bonus – 5,000 points
- Total for the month – 19,750 points
Additional card benefits
The value of your card goes far beyond earning Petro Points and saving at the pump. You will also receive the following benefits:
- Purchase Security & Extended Warranty Insurance
- Free personalized CIBC Convenience Cheques
- Guaranteed hotel reservations
- Cash advances of up to $1,000 a day
- Emergency card replacement
- Car rental discounts up to 25% at participating locations
- Worldwide MasterCard acceptance
Final Thoughts
Before the CIBC Petro Points MasterCard was introduced, I thought the Petro Points gas rewards program was inferior compared to Esso Extra points.
Now that you can use the CIBC Petro Points MasterCard to earn bonus points on grocery and pharmacy purchases, as well as 5,000 monthly bonus points for spending $1,000 per month, Petro Points looks like a pretty decent option.
Still, there are much better gas rewards cards available in Canada. For a basic no annual fee credit card, I would check out the PC MasterCard or the MBNA Smart Cash MasterCard.
There are big changes coming to Air Miles, one of the most popular loyalty programs in Canada. First, there was the recent announcement of the Air Miles Cash feature, which will take effect in March, 2012 and eventually replace the option to redeem Air Miles for gift cards and certificates. Another change to the program is the introduction of the new Air Miles expiry policy.
Air Miles Expiry Policy
As of December 31st, 2011 all Air Miles reward miles in your account will have a date stamp of 5 years. This means that any reward miles that have been earned before December 31st, 2011 will need to be redeemed by December 31st, 2016.
No action is required by Air Miles collectors at this time. They want collectors to use their reward miles and are developing additional ways to make it even easier to redeem (referring to Air Miles Cash).
How to get the most out of your Air Miles rewards before they expire
The introduction of Air Miles Cash allows collectors to instantly redeem their reward miles in-store on their everyday purchases at participating sponsors, making it easier than ever before.
You can check out the over 1,200 reward options from hundreds of Rewards Brands listed on airmiles.ca. Alternatively, you can redeem Air Miles for travel. Air Miles is one of Canada’s largest travel agencies.
What is the difference between expiry and an inactive account?
The new Air Miles expiry policy means that effective December 31, 2011 all reward miles posted from that day forward will have a date stamp of five years. The last day to redeem Air Miles rewards will be at the end of the quarter, five years from the date of them being posted to a collectors account.
An inactive account is one that has had no transactional activity for 24 consecutive months or longer – in other words, no reward miles have been earned, redeemed, donated or transferred in that time. Air Miles accounts that have not earned, redeemed, donated or transferred at least one reward mile for 24 consecutive months will be closed.
Why did this expiry policy get introduced?
Most loyalty programs in Canada and around the world already have an expiry policy of some kind (some expire accounts, while others expire points).
These practices are put in place to provide accounting certainty and are an accepted industry practice.
Final Thoughts on the new Air Miles Expiry Policy
There was an outcry from Aeroplan collectors when they introduced a similar expiry policy a while ago. The policy stated that Aeroplan miles would expire 7 years from the date the were earned, and accounts would be closed after just 12 months of inactivity.
The new Air Miles expiry policy will make it tougher to accumulate the large number of Air Miles needed for a free flight or a dream vacation. But for many, 5 years is plenty of time to cash in your Air Miles. I also think the 2 year window to keep your account active through some sort of earning or redemption activity is quite reasonable.
This change is more of a reflection of the way the Air Miles program is moving towards instant redemption at sponsors through the Air Miles Cash balance initiative. It won’t affect very many collectors, but the one’s who were saving up their reward miles for a huge trip should be prepared to use them sooner than later.