BMO World Elite Mastercard now 40% worse | Credit card reward programs | Discussion forum

Cashback is increasingly a better deal than travel rewards, if for no other reason than that you get the cash in your hot little hands on a regular basis. If you want, you can invest it. when you receive it.

With travel rewards, you never really know how much you're getting because they can always change the redemption ratio at a time when you are not ready to redeem all your points. Even worse if you are forced to deal with the travel agency which the CC company is affiliated with or owns.
Better to "take the money and run!" put it aside in a separate account if you want, let it earn some interest, then, when you are ready to travel, there's your "free" money with which to pay the bill. This may help with the psychological perception of getting "free" travel.

If you must have a travel rewards card, my preference is for the ones which will reimburse your travel costs. That way, you can take advantage of any travel deals and use your points to pay off the balance on your CC. I would also take a very close look at their insurance policies. Sometimes the policies alone can be worth the cost of the card.

Something else to consider is the Rogers Bank cards which return 4% on foreign currency transactions. This covers the 2.5% that you would lose on the transaction fees alone, and still returns 1.5% to you. If you travel or shop outside Canada, this is a great card for paying those bills, even though it isn't, strictly speaking, a travel rewards card. Put those savings aside for the next trip.