New No FX Fee Credit Card - Brim Financial

Thanks for the post. Looks interesting, especially the global wifi. The world elite card even has trip cancellation which I have not seen on other cards. I just got the Home Trust card but this one looks tempting.
 
I did a bit more research on the Brim card. There are a lot of interesting features, but I tried to compare the Rogers Platinum Mastercard with the Brim card purely on foreign currency transactions (I also threw in the Home Trust Visa for comparison). I used a real example where I recently just paid for my 2-Bedroom BWV point rental on my Rogers Platinum Mastercard. The USD cost was $5,644.00 and the Mastercard exchange rate used at the time was 1.293253012.

Rogers Platinum Mastercard:
2.5% FX Fee
4% Cash Back on Foreign Currency Transactions

Charge Amount = $5,644.00 USD x (1.293253012 + .025) = $7,440.22

Points Earned = 36,293.75 (Base) + 46,673.76 (Foreign Currency Bonus) = 82,967.51

Dollars Earned on 82,968 = $290.39

Net Cdn Cost for $5,644.00 USD Transaction = $7,440.22 - $290.39 = $7,149.83

Brim Mastercard:
(assuming $0 fee card, earning 1 point for every dollar spent and $.01 per point, net of 1% cash back. You can increase this, but the fee on the card goes up substantially)

0% FX Fee
1 Point Back per $1.00 Spent

Charge Amount = $5,644.00 USD x 1.293253012 = $7,299.12

Points Earned = 7,299.12

Dollars Earned on 7,299.12 at a rate of $.01 per point = $72.99

Net Cdn Cost for $5,644.00 USD Transaction = $7,299.12 - $72.99 = $7,226.13

HomeTrust Visa:

(Earns at the same rate as the $0 Brim Mastercard, 1% cash back on purchases. Also assuming that Visa and Mastercard use similar exchange rates)

0% FX Fee
1% Cash Back per $1.00 Spent

Charge Amount = $5,644.00 USD x 1.293253012 = $7,299.12

Dollars Earned on $7,299.12 at a rate of 1% Cash Back = $72.99

Net Cdn Cost for $5,644.00 USD Transaction = $7,299.12 - $72.99 = $7,226.13

Difference: $7,226.13 - $7,149.83 = $76.30 More Paid with Brim Credit Card and Home Trust Visa

Of course, there are a lot of other differences that will come into any decision as to which card to go with. Some people don't like the yearly redemption with the Rogers Mastercard or the $29 fee that is only waived if you have a Rogers service on the card.

If anybody notices any errors in my calculation, please let me know. I will correct as necessary.
 
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Keep in mind that Rogers is devaluing the earnings power of their cards starting May 23. See here: https://rogersbank.com/en/notification

Ugh, I did not notice that, but I guess I am not surprised. While decreasing the earn rate, the did also eliminate the yearly fee, which is interesting. Here's is the calculation based on the new earn rate on the Rogers Platinum card (Changes in red):

Rogers Platinum Mastercard:
2.5% FX Fee
3% (was 4%) Cash Back on Foreign Currency Transactions

Charge Amount = $5,644.00 USD x (1.293253012 + .025) = $7,440.22

Dollars Earned on $7,440.22 = $217.76 (note this is 3% of $7,258.75, which is the value Rogers used when calculating the points)

Net Cdn Cost for $5,644.00 USD Transaction = $7,440.22 - $217.76 = $7,222.46

Brim Mastercard:
(assuming $0 fee card, earning 1 point for every dollar spent and $.01 per point, net of 1% cash back. You can increase this, but the fee on the card goes up substantially)

0% FX Fee
1 Point Back per $1.00 Spent

Charge Amount = $5,644.00 USD x 1.293253012 = $7,299.12

Points Earned = 7,299.12

Dollars Earned on 7,299.12 at a rate of $.01 per point = $72.99

Net Cdn Cost for $5,644.00 USD Transaction = $7,299.12 - $72.99 = $7,226.13

HomeTrust Visa:

(Earns at the same rate as the $0 Brim Mastercard, 1% cash back on purchases. Also assuming that Visa and Mastercard use similar exchange rates)

0% FX Fee
1% Cash Back per $1.00 Spent

Charge Amount = $5,644.00 USD x 1.293253012 = $7,299.12

Dollars Earned on $7,299.12 at a rate of 1% Cash Back = $72.99

Net Cdn Cost for $5,644.00 USD Transaction = $7,299.12 - $72.99 = $7,226.13

Difference: $7,226.13 - $7,222.46 = $3.67 More Paid with Brim Credit Card and Home Trust Visa

Well, it looks like Rogers brought their card almost exactly in line with the Home Trust Visa, and the new Brim Mastercard. The Brim has some unique features that interest me, so I have applied for that one. Note that it is in pre-release, so no idea when the card will come out.
 
[snip]

Rogers Platinum Mastercard:

2.5% FX Fee
3% (was 4%) Cash Back on Foreign Currency Transactions

Charge Amount = $5,644.00 USD x (1.293253012 + .025) = $7,440.22

Dollars Earned on $7,440.22 = $217.76 (note this is 3% of $7,258.75, which is the value Rogers used when calculating the points)

Net Cdn Cost for $5,644.00 USD Transaction = $7,440.22 - $217.76 = $7,222.46
I did notice one error in your calculation: Rogers charges an f/x fee of 2.5% on the converted CAD amount, so if your USD charge is $5,644, then the CAD charge is US$5,644 x 1.293253012 x 1.025 = $7,481.60 not US$5,644 x (1.293253012 +0.025) = $7,440.22

EDIT:

Source: https://rogersbank.com/legaldocs/en/Cardholder_Agreement.en.pdf

"All transactions made in a foreign currency are converted to Canadian dollars at the rate established by Mastercard International in effect on the date that we post the transaction to your Account (which may not be the same date as the date of the transaction) plus an amount equal to 2.5% of the transaction amount after it has been converted to Canadian dollars."
 
I did notice one error in your calculation: Rogers charges an f/x fee of 2.5% on the converted CAD amount, so if your USD charge is $5,644, then the CAD charge is US$5,644 x 1.293253012 x 1.025 = $7,481.60 not US$5,644 x (1.293253012 +0.025) = $7,440.22

Thanks - I was not entirely sure how they did their calculation, but all of my calculations were based on the actual amounts from my credit card and reward statement. So the charge on the card was $7440.22 but they based the rewards percentages on $7.258.75. So all of my numbers and the end result above are correct, I just did not expand the full details on how Rogers calculated the result.
 


Since we don’t have a Rogers or Fido account, I think we will go with Brim. Probably too late for our end of April trip since it’s in pre-release.
 
EDIT:

Source: https://rogersbank.com/legaldocs/en/Cardholder_Agreement.en.pdf

"All transactions made in a foreign currency are converted to Canadian dollars at the rate established by Mastercard International in effect on the date that we post the transaction to your Account (which may not be the same date as the date of the transaction) plus an amount equal to 2.5% of the transaction amount after it has been converted to Canadian dollars."

Sorry, you are right. Based on this, the calculation does change substantially. Here are the new results (changes in blue):

Based on how Rogers does the calculation, the actual exchange rate that Mastercard used that day was 1.28610028.

USD Amount = $5,644.00

Converted Amount = $5,644.00 x 1.28610028 = $7,258.75

Charge Amount = $7,258.75 x 1.025 (FX Fee) = $7,440.22

Rogers Platinum Mastercard:
2.5% FX Fee
3% (was 4%) Cash Back on Foreign Currency Transactions

Charge Amount = $5,644.00 USD x 1.28610028 x 1.025 = $7,440.22

Dollars Earned on $7,258.75 = $7,258.75 x .03 = $217.76

Net Cdn Cost for $5,644.00 USD Transaction = $7,440.22 - $217.76 = $7,222.46

Brim Mastercard:
(assuming $0 fee card, earning 1 point for every dollar spent and $.01 per point, net of 1% cash back. You can increase this, but the fee on the card goes up substantially)

0% FX Fee
1 Point Back per $1.00 Spent

Charge Amount = $5,644.00 USD x 1.28610028 = $7,258.75

Points Earned = 7,258.75

Dollars Earned on 7,258.75 at a rate of $.01 per point = $72.58

Net Cdn Cost for $5,644.00 USD Transaction = $7,258.75 - $72.58 = $7,186.17

HomeTrust Visa:

(Earns at the same rate as the $0 Brim Mastercard, 1% cash back on purchases. Also assuming that Visa and Mastercard use similar exchange rates)

0% FX Fee
1% Cash Back per $1.00 Spent

Charge Amount = $5,644.00 USD x 1.28610028 = $7,258.75

Dollars Earned on $7,258.75 at a rate of 1% Cash Back = $72.58

Net Cdn Cost for $5,644.00 USD Transaction = $7,258.75 - $72.58 = $7,186.17

Difference: $7,222.46 - $7,186.17 = $36.29 More Paid with Rogers Platinum Mastercard

Based on this, the Brim or Home Trust Visa appear to be much better value than the Rogers Platinum Mastercard. Interesting...
 
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Has anyone checked out the new Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite Card? No Fx fees and trip cancellation and interruption insurance included. Plus a few other perks...might be worth a look.
 
I did look at it, but since I use the "no FX" cards as secondary cards only when I travel to the US, this one is too pricey for me. You are right though, it has some great perks. I use the MBNA card as my main reward card as it gets 2% cash back on everything.
 

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