Capital One No Hassle Rewards Change

Huh…I’ve been raving about Capital One 1% cash back MasterCard and recommending it to everyone I know.

If we do a comparison with other rewards like Aeroplan or PC points there may be better valued Reward Cards out there. But those rewards are only accessible through gift cards, grocery, or flights. It’s limiting and requires too much work to get the maximum value.

That’s why I like the 1% cash back on purchases. Like the name implies…it’s No Hassle. Every time I reach $15 rewards I transfer directly to pay down my balance.

I just found out it’s no longer available to new customers. The 1% cash back is replaced by MILES! According to the reward chart, if redeemed for flights it still comes to 1% cash value. If redeemed for cash the reward is only 0.75%.

What does this mean? The credit card company probably worked out that in terms of cost, flight redemption costs them closer to 0.75% in most cases than the stated 1%. Only the most vigilant reward hunters will get the actually stated 1% value for their miles.

I’m going back to recommending the CIBC dividend card. It’s tiered. Up to 1% for annual purchases over $3,000.