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For higher income earners who are also devoted customers of PC-affiliated retailers, like Loblaws and Esso gas stations, this card packs some serious points-earning potential.
As food costs continue to rise, there’s no better time to earn cash back to boost your household finances—or at least, your grocery budget. If you’re partial to shopping at Loblaw-owned grocery stores (such as Real Canadian Superstore, No Frills, Fortinos and Loblaws) or frequently fill up at Esso and Mobil gas stations, the PC World Elite Mastercard could be a good points earner on these essential purchases. With every dollar charged to this card, you earn PC Optimum points you can use to save on groceries and other everyday purchases.
Annual fee: $0
Card details
| Interest rates | 21.99% on purchases, 22.97% on cash advances (21.97% for residents of Quebec) |
| Income required | Personal income of $80,000 or household income of $150,000 |
| Credit score | 560 or higher |
| Point value | 10 PC points = $0.01 at Loblaws grocery network and Shoppers Drug Mart. |
All PC Optimum members earn points on select purchases. And those points can be redeemed for groceries, drugstore items, home essentials, clothing and gas. But with the PC World Elite Mastercard, you’ll rack points up much faster: You get 30 points per $1 spent at affiliated Loblaw banner grocery stores. Plus, you earn 45 points per $1 at Shoppers Drug Mart and 30 points per litre at Esso and Mobil stations. Beyond that, it’s 10 points per $1 spent on everything else.
The PC World Elite Mastercard is a unicorn in the credit card world. Although it has no annual fee, cardholders get the added benefit of insurance coverage. As part of the package, you’ll get car rental collision/loss damage waiver insurance and up to $1 million in travel emergency medical insurance (for up to 10 days from departure). Those are two valuable features that could save serious coin on your next trip if you’re involved in an accident. It’s hard to find a $0 annual fee credit card with these kinds of extras.
Earning is easy: simply charge purchases to your PC World Elite Mastercard. You’ll earn the most when you shop at PC-affiliated stores, and fuel up with its gas station partners.
With the PC World Elite Mastercard, you’ll earn 30 Points per $1 spent at affiliated Loblaw banner grocery stores (such as Loblaws, Fortinos, No Frills and Real Canadian Superstore), making this one of the best no-fee credit cards. The earn rate is a whopping 45 points per $1 spent at Shoppers Drug Mart (as well as Pharmaprix in Quebec) and at least 30 points per litre of gasoline or diesel fuel purchased at Esso and select Mobil stations in Canada. You’ll get 10 points per $1 spent on everything else.
One of the best features of PC Optimum is that redemption is a cinch. As soon as you accumulate 10,000 PC Optimum points, you can redeem them for $10 worth of free groceries or merchandise at any participating stores; or you can save them for fatter savings down the line. Points are calculated based on the purchase price of eligible products, less any applicable discounts and taxes shown on the receipt.
You can redeem PC Optimum points at about 2,500 participating retail locations, including:
Just tell the cashier that you would like to “spend” your points when you scan your PC Optimum card at the checkout counter. Or you can redeem points off your bill while shopping online at the Beauty Boutique, Joe Fresh and PC Express websites.
You can see the list of participating retailers here. While the PC Optimum rewards program is very flexible, there are a few limitations you should be aware of. PC Optimum points cannot be earned or redeemed for certain items, including tobacco, alcohol and gift cards.
Each province and territory has different rules pertaining to earning and redeeming PC Optimum points on prescriptions, medication and other pharmacy or healthcare-related products and services, so check with the staff first.
With no annual fee and a great rewards program, there aren’t a lot of downsides to this rewards card. However, there are a few items of note. First, the earn rate of 10 points per $1 spent is significantly less at non-PC-affiliated retailers, so if you don’t shop at partner stores, this card probably isn’t for you. Also note that PC Optimum points can only be redeemed in increments of 10,000. So, if you have 47,000 points, you can “spend” 40,000 of them for $40 off your purchase, and hold the remaining balance of 7,000 points in your account to build on.
This card is aimed at higher-income shoppers (who have a minimum personal income of $80,000 per year or household income of $150,000 per year), so if you’re a student or just starting out, it’s unlikely you’ll qualify. However, there are two other PC Mastercard options with lower income requirements; just beware the earn rates are proportionately less juicy as well. Also, a $15,000 minimum annual spending requirement is now enforced.
For those who are loyal shoppers of Loblaws, its sister grocery storesm and Shoppers Drug Mart, and who choose to fuel their vehicles at Esso and Mobil stations, this no-fee rewards card is one of the best for groceries and gas. However, if you like to shop around for the best deal, or find yourself spending at multiple stores each week, there are other grocery store credit cards that can earn you rewards without having to change your shopping habits.
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Credit card companies generally don’t have a way to verify your income tax unless they are associated with your personal bank. If you tell them that your income 80k+. They’ll just say ok and give you the higher teir card.
Surprisingly, this advertorial misses a very important location to earn PC Optimum points: PC Travel-an affiliate online/phone travel site to book vacation/flights/hotels. 3X/5X point bonus offers are great! Watch out/follow up for points becomes necessary.
Great review. One thing to note which I’m a bit sore about – I am an existing PC MasterCard holder (the plain standard card) and I asked PCF if I could be upgraded to the World Elite (I am over the personal income requirment, and comfortably over the household earn requirement). They flat out said no and that I have to have spent $25000 over the past 24 months on my existing card in order to qualify. $25k is a pretty unreasonable sum for even a high spender on what is definitely not going to a primary travel card. It appears that PCF really don’t want people applying for this card (probably costs them too much from points redemptions).
Its not just for earnings of $80,000. If you spend $24,000 a year on the card also.
Just a note of caution – we had the elite pc m/c since it came out. That’s quite a few years ago. All was going well until about 1 week ago – March 1st, 2021, when received a letter in the mail to tell us we had not met the spending threshold of $15000.00 annually and that our elite card would be closed March 31/21.
I called pc customer service who would not accept any responsibility for the decision and blamed everything on m/c, so I called them. They said the decision is made based on the new spending requirement and there is no room for reconsideration, period. So i I applied for a new card, a world pc m/c, and sit and wait for the powers-to-be to tell me I didn’t spend enough for some new threshold applicable to the world card, which they arbitrarily set whenever they feel like it.
We are seriously ticked and I don’t expect our spending will increase on the pc m/c anytime soon.