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Email this12:16 pm
April 6, 2013
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Loonie said
…While the minimum income is stated, the spending threshold is not, leaving us to wonder if it is at the discretion of the individual card issuer.
If you only use this card for travel, it could be difficult to establish a pattern of spending a minimum amount every month.
Spending threshold may not have been mentioned because MasterCard Canada may not have changed it.
I don't think the spending threshold is a monthly one. The spending threshold for the PC Financial Word Elite MasterCard and the National Bank World Elite MasterCard is $25,000 per year. Maybe the telephone agent just expressed the threshold as a per-month number.
Since these limits are coming from MC and Visa, it may explain why Amex is able to often offer better deals, i.e.high rewards with low minimum incomes. I have often wondered about that. I guess the government isn't interested in them for some reason. Perhaps they are a much smaller player, especially with a more limited selection of merchants.
I read a while ago that AMEX doesn't play the interchange games that MC and Visa do. The interchange for AMEX is the same, regardless of the kind of AMEX used. So, merchants don't really care if their customers have upgraded from an ordinary AMEX card to one of the "premium" AMEX cards.
12:33 pm
December 17, 2016
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Retailers fight for lower credit-card fees as business group strikes deal
The two largest credit-card companies, Visa Canada and MasterCard Canada, charge businesses an average of 1.5 per cent of their transactions for accepting the plastic, with some interchange fees ranging to 2.5 per cent or more.
But business groups counter the Canadian rates are still much higher than those in Europe and Australia, and can drive up consumer prices. In Britain, for example, the rate is capped at just 0.3 per cent; in France, at 0.28 per cent; and in Australia, 0.5 per cent.
For its part, American Express Canada has even higher fees – between 3 per cent and 3.5 per cent for small merchants.
Now the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB,) which represents 110,000 small- and medium-sized enterprises, is set to unveil with JPMorgan Chase on Monday a deal to reduce Amex fees by almost 50 per cent – to 1.8 per cent – for some members in a bid to try to shake up the staid Canadian credit-card market.
12:34 pm
April 6, 2013
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AMEX can offer higher rewards because of its higher interchange.
These are some wholesale interchange rates that AMEX charges the card processor. Card processor will charge a markup on top of those to the merchant. These are from the chart at Helcim: Accepting American Express and Opt-Blue Rates:
| Industry | Transaction Size | Rate |
| AMEX RESTAURANT | < $25 | 1.85% + 10¢ |
| AMEX RESTAURANT | < $150 | 2.45% + 10¢ |
| AMEX RESTAURANT | > $150 | 2.75% + 10¢ |
5:59 pm
March 21, 2018
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User230 said
It has no tap, it lacks the ability to change pins, it has a limit of 10 transactions a month and bad customer service. You're not missing much.
Please clarify the 10 transactions comment.
Thanks Mary
6:03 pm
December 4, 2016
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Mary said
Please clarify the 10 transactions comment.
Thanks Mary
Someone made a whole thread about it on reddit.
Hometrust Visa 10 transactions per day limit
by inPersonalFinanceCanada
You can only make 10 transactions. Best to phone to get all the details. I'm just going off threads I read for this card as I have no intention on getting it.
7:11 pm
October 21, 2013
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I don't imagine it was ever intended to be a card for Business use.
I wonder, though, if those 10 transactions would be shared between 2 cardholders on a joint account, as they both have the same number; or woulld each person get 10?
7:38 pm
January 3, 2013
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I think 10 transactions a day are plenty considering the actual day is 12 hours. That means 1 transaction every 72 minutes. Why would anyone (non-business) need to do so many transactions a day?
Anyhow, I am happy to move on at this point. I am going to be Home Trust's customer for couple years (Using their GIC's) so probably reconsider next year or so. For now, Fido MC serves the purpose.
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