Best No-Fee Credit Card in Canada: Tangerine Money-Back Credit Card Review

One credit card in my wallet that I love to recommend to friends is Tangerine’s Money-Back Credit Card. I’ve had it for over a year now, and looking back I regret not getting it when it was first introduced in March 2016.

Instead, I carried around another no-fee credit card that is pretty much consistently ranked as the worst card on every best no-fee credit card in Canada list. And it was my fault too. I got that original credit card because I was promised to get my monthly bank fees waved. I didn’t do any research and didn’t compare it to other credit cards first. I just said “Sure, if it means saving $10 per month, sign me up!”

Well, after a few years, I realized I could do better. I also realized I could switch banks and not have to worry about paying monthly bank fees in the first place.

And that’s exactly what I did. Now, I’m not only paying $0 in bank fees, I’m earning way more in cash-back on my regular purchases.

Earn 2% Money-Back on Things You Already Spend Money On

One of the biggest draws for me to get this card above others in the marketplace was the flexibility it gives you in terms of its money-back rewards program.

Most other cash-back credit cards have strict limitations on what you can earn their highest rate on. For instance, I see a ton of credit cards that offer 2% on gas, then less than 1% on everything else. I don’t have a car, so this means literally nothing to me. Or, I see credit cards that offer 2% on groceries, then 0.50% on all other purchases. I use my credit card for a variety of things, not just groceries!

Tangerine’s Money-Back Credit Card on the other hand lets you choose what you want to earn 2% cash-back on. You’re allowed to choose from a list of categories, so you can earn 2% on things you spend the most money on, then 0.50% on things you spend the least money on.

• Grocery
• Restaurants
• Gas
• Recurring Bill Payments
• Drug Store
• Entertainment
• Furniture
• Hotel-Motel
• Home Improvement
• Public Transport and Parking

This is great if you’re like me and already track your spending. Before choosing your categories, you can just take a quick look at your spending tracker and see what categories make the most sense.

Change Your Money-Back Categories Anytime

If you’re not sure what categories to choose because you don’t track your spending regularly, that’s okay too. You can choose your categories based on what makes the most sense to you right now, then after a month or two, check to see what categories Tangerine assigned your purchases.

If they aren’t categories you initially chose when you got the credit card, you can change your categories anytime. This is a really great feature, especially when your life changes (ie. you buy a home, start a family) and so do your spending habits.

To give you an idea of what other people spend their money on, the most popular categories that customers choose are Groceries, followed by Restaurants and Gas.

For me, I took a good look at how I use the credit card to see if they actually matched the categories I chose. The categories I initially chose were Groceries, Restaurants, and Drug Stores. Well, what I noticed after a few weeks was that I did spend a lot on Groceries and Restaurants, but NOT ONE Drug Store purchase. So, I’ve decided instead to change my Drug Store category to Public Transport. I use the TTC quite a bit, so I know I’ll benefit more from switching to that category.

Choose How You Want to Get Your Money-Back

Another interesting feature is you can choose to either get your money-back applied to your credit card balance or deposited in your Tangerine Savings Account each month.

There’s actually more of an incentive to get it deposited into your savings account because you’ll be allowed to choose 3 categories for the 2% money-back, instead of just 2 categories you get if you have your money-back applied to your credit card balance.

Not a big surprise, I chose for my cashback to go straight into my savings account. And it wasn’t just so I could get one more category, though that was a nice bonus. It’s because it made me feel like I was actually earning interest, instead of simply paying off revolving debt.

As someone who has been happily debt-free (aside from my mortgage) since 2010, saving money and earning interest is way more exciting and empowering to me than paying off debt.

No Limit on How Much Money-Back You Can Earn

If you’re wondering if there’s a cap for how much money-back you can earn, there isn’t. Unlike other credit cards, there is absolutely no limit on how much you can earn. Moreover, you’ll never earn less than 2% on your chosen categories. I can name a few credit cards that offer high cash-back rates but only to a certain limit. Once you’ve reached that cap, their regular low rate will kick in for all additional purchases.

The only way you’ll earn less than 2% cash-back is if you spend outside your categories. And if you see that a lot of your purchases are being categorized as “Other,” and thus only earning you 0.50% cash-back, you should look at your credit card statements to see what you’re actually spending your money on. It might be an indication that you need to change your categories to better match your spending patterns.

Enter to Win $250 from Tangerine

**Contest is now closed**

Alright, let’s get to the good stuff. I’m doing a HUGE giveaway in partnership with Tangerine!

To celebrate the Tangerine Money-Back Credit Card, I’m giving away $250! That’s straight up CASH, BABY! And whoever wins, will get the $250 put directly onto their Tangerine Money-Back Credit Card. Don’t have a card? Sign up here.

Only Canadians are eligible for this contest.

Contest Rules

Here are the rules on how to enter. Failure to abide by these rules will make you ineligible to win.

The contest closes Thursday, June 21. I will be announcing the winner on Twitter, so make sure to follow me!

Option 1

Comment on this blog post with the Money-Back category that you believe you spend the most money in. As a reference, the entire list is mentioned above, or you can check them out here.

Option 2

Retweet with a comment this tweet with your favourite Money-Back category and use the hashtag #TangerineMoneyBack.

Good luck!