Rogers Red Mastercard®
Review

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  Balance Protection

  Minimum payments

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  No Cost roaming

  5 days

The Rogers Mastercard is one of the two credit cards offered by Rogers. After Rogers made some recent changes to this card, it is now one of the best credit cards to carry in Canada for almost anyone with a Rogers, Fido, or Shaw Service, which we will get into.

How You Earn Rewards

The rewards you earn on this card depend on one main factor. Whether you have an eligible Rogers, Fido, or Shaw service, quoting this directly from the Rogers page, an eligible service is:

• Postpaid Rogers-branded consumer mobile plans (which includes wireless home phone and tablet data plans). For these plans, users who have permission to make changes (i.e. a Level 1 Authorized User) are also eligible.
• Postpaid Fido-branded consumer mobile plans – primary account holders only (which includes wireless home phone and tablet data plans)
• Any Rogers, Shaw or Fido-branded internet, TV, home phone, home monitoring or satellite service – primary account holders only

If you have one of these, then great because your rewards earned on this card will be:

• 2% cashback on all eligible purchases if redeemed as cash.
• 3% on all eligible purchases if redeemed for Rogers, Fido, or Shaw services.

But if you don't have one of these services, your rewards earned on this card will be:

• 2% on USD purchases
• 1% cashback on all eligible purchases

In general, while I think this is an excellent card if you have one of these services, it might not be the best card for you if you don't have one of the mentioned services, as there might be other cards that could earn you more rewards. 

Redeeming your Rewards

While you can always redeem 2% cashback, we recommend using it for one of our services to receive 3% instead. If you earn more cashback than your monthly bill, you can save the extra for a new phone, accessory, or other electronics from one of our services.

Benefits of Rogers Red Mastercard

1. Great card to have for most people

Because this card has a high cashback rate with eligible services, it is a great card for people who want to carry around one card or even for those who carry multiple credit cards to maximize rewards.

For people who only want to carry one card, this is a Mastercard, so it is the most widely accepted credit card, and it also offers a good reward rate on only categories, making it a great card.

For people who want to carry multiple cards, this is a great card because if one of your cards is an American Express card, then you would need to have another card as a backup card for times that the merchants don't accept credit cards. In addition, there are many merchants that don't fall into a certain category (Like clothing or department stores), and in these scenarios, using the Rogers Mastercard would maximize your rewards.

2. Unique benefits

The 5-day home-like roaming benefit is a unique benefit only available to this card. If you have traveled abroad, you know how expensive international calls would be. So by using this benefit, which is valued at around ($75), you can save a bit on this fee.

In addition, the card has balance protection, which is nice.

3. Easy Redemption

Many credit cards require you to wait a full year before accessing the cashback you’ve accumulated. However, the Rogers Red Mastercard allows you to access your cashback at any time once you reach a certain low threshold.

2 Downsides of Rogers Red Mastercard

1. Very minimal benefits

Although the Rogers Mastercard has a unique benefit and balance protection, it does not offer any other benefits.

Most notably, almost all free credit cards in Canada offer Purchase protection and extended warranty, which this card does not have. Also, some free cards have other benefits in addition to purchase protection and extended warranty.

So, if you are looking for a card with many benefits and don't care as much about rewards, then this card might not be the best for you.

2. Not the best card for people with no qualifying service

If you don't have any of those qualifying services and don’t meet the requirements for the Rogers World Elite card either, your base rewards rate will drop substantially. Due to this decrease, you’ll likely find other cards that can earn you significantly higher rewards.

Comparison to other popular cashback credit cards

If you meet the income and credit score requirements for the Rogers World Elite Mastercard, then it's a mistake to go for the Rogers Red because you would be missing out on some free benefits, especially since that card also does not come with annual fees.

When comparing Rogers Red to other cards such as the SimplyCash Preferred from American Express and the Simplii card, the cashback rates are generally higher, given that you receive a flat cashback rate on all your purchases with Rogers.

Final Verdict

For the many reasons mentioned throughout this review, whether you want to carry around one card or want to carry multiple to maximize your rewards, this a great card to have.

FAQ

Is Rogers Red Mastercard worth it?

Yes, if you have a qualifying Rogers, Fido, or Shaw service, then we absolutely recommend going for either this card or the World Elite version of it, if you qualify. But if you don't have a qualifying service, you might be better off with another card.

Is Rogers Red Mastercard Accepted Everywhere?

Given that the card is on the Mastercard network, the most widely accepted network in Canada, you can expect it to work almost everywhere.

Is Rogers Red Mastercard Accepted at Costco?

Yes, Costco only accepts Mastercards, and since the Rogers Red is on the Mastercard network, it will work at Costco as well.