BMO Bank of Montreal (BMO) is introducing a new no-fee BMO AIR MILES MasterCard with reward and security features. At the same time, BMO has claimed that it will upgrade the benefits of its BMO Gold AIR MILES MasterCard and simplify its entire suite of credit card products.
BMO added that it is going to eliminate its bronze and silver AIR MILES categories, blending them into one no-fee BMO AIR MILES MasterCard, that awards 1 AIR MILES reward mile for every $20 spent on the card on August 3. The bank has said that this will double the reward miles for more than 1.2 million existing customers, and remove the $35 annual fee for another 400,000 customers.
The bank is also expected to upgrade its BMO Gold AIR MILES MasterCard by increasing the exclusive discount on the number of reward miles required to redeem for any AIR MILES flight from 20% to 25%. To round out the new product line up, beginning in August, BMO will also introduce a lower-interest-rate credit card for those who don’t have an interest in reward programs. The BMO Preferred Rate MasterCard will offer a 17.5% annual interest rate and comes with no annual fee, said the company.
Nancy Marescotti, director, brand marketing and card management, BMO, said: “We’ve taken a long hard look at what customers want from their credit cards and the findings are, if not surprising, certainly unequivocal. Customers want low rates, low fees and simple choices. And if they collect reward miles, they want a card that is accepted virtually everywhere, helps them maximize reward miles for the dollars they spend, and allows them to reach their reward goals as quickly as possible without sacrificing a low interest rate.”
