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RBC’s Answer To The Amex Cobalt?

With the revamp of RBC Rewards to Avion Rewards earlier this month, RBC has launched two new credit cards that may be enticing for consumers in Canada.

RBC ION Visa

Annual Fee: $0
Income: N/A
Interest Rate: 19.99% Purchases, 22.99% Cash Advances
Supplementary Cards: $0

The RBC ION Visa takes the place of the underwhelming RBC Rewards Visa as the no annual fee option in the RBC lineup.

By using the card for your day-day purchases, you’ll earn Avion points at the multipliers of:

  • 1.5X — Grocery, Restaurants, Food Delivery
  • 1.5X — Gas, Transport, EV Charging
  • 1.5X — Digital Streaming, Subscriptions, Digital Media
  • 1X — Elsewhere

This is a modest rate for a no-fee card and makes it a good pick-up for students or others wanting a no-fee lifestyle Visa.

The card launched with a welcome offer of 6,000 Avion points, valued anywhere from $60-$120, depending on how it’s redeemed. More on this later.

RBC ION+ Visa

Annual Fee: $48 (billed $4 monthly)
Income: N/A
Interest Rate: 19.99% Purchases, 22.99% Cash Advances
Supplementary Cards: $0

In response to the refresh American Express gave the American Express Cobalt last year, RBC has added a new lifestyle-oriented card to their lineup.

Taking over from the RBC Rewards Signature Visa, the Ion+ Visa is meant to be a middle ground between the entry-level Ion Visa and the Avion line.

By using the card for your day-to-day purchases, you’ll earn Avion points at the multipliers of:

  • 3X — Grocery, Restaurants, Food Delivery
  • 3X — Gas, Transport, EV Charging
  • 3X — Digital Streaming, Subscriptions, Digital Media
  • 1.5X — Elsewhere

This is a relatively healthy earn rate for a card that only carries a $48 annual fee (billed $4 monthly), over $100 less than its main competitor — the American Express Cobalt.

This makes the ION+ Visa a very enticing option for those who want a lifestyle card, but may not spend enough to capitalize on the famous 5X earn rate on Eats & Drinks offered by the Cobalt card.

Currently, the card has a welcome offer of 12,000 Avion points. We value that at $120-$200 if redeemed through the fixed point grid or transferred to airline partners (see below). While there is no historical data to pull from, this could be a reasonable offer as it doesn’t require any spending to receive the points.

Redeeming Avion

Though, things get a little more tricky when it comes time to redeem these points. If you only hold an ION or ION+ card, there are few ways to maximize value from your Avion points. Your options are:

  • Transfering to WestJet at 100 Avion = $1
  • Redeeming for all other travel at 172 Avion = $1
  • Interact e-Transfer at 172 Avion = $1

The only reasonable choice out of these is transferring to WestJet, which does not take full advantage of the Avion program. Using either of the other two redemption options nearly halves your earn rate, which makes the card much less appealing. This is where a little bit of strategizing can go a long way:

By holding an RBC Avion Visa in addition to the ION, you can take full advantage of the Avion program by transferring the points earned on the ION to the Avion Visa. This will allow you to redeem these points at a much higher value by using the fixed points grid or transferring them to the complete list of airline partners listed below:

  • WestJet: 100 Avion = $1
  • British Airways Avios: 100 Avion = 100 Avios
  • Cathay Pacific Asia Miles: 100 Avion = 100 Asia Miles
  • American Airlines Advantage: 100 Avion = 70 American Airlines Advantage Miles

For us, the most appealing of these is transferring to Avios or Asia Miles, as both programs give us access to some of the best business & first-class products in the world. The sign-up bonus from the ION alone won’t get you to the other side of the world, but by pairing it with the Avion Visa (and its record-high bonus), you would be able to experience some of the best British Airways, Qatar and Cathay Pacific have to offer.

Conclusion

Overall, I like the two cards RBC has added to their catalogue and the changes they have made to the Avion program. I’m looking forward to seeing their modifications to the Avion Visa line, as those cards seem due for an update.

I’d personally stick to the ION+ and pair it with the Avion Visa Platinum or Infinite to create a potent one-two punch, possibly one of the best in Canada.

However, it is essential to mention that the annual fees of the ION+ ($48) and the Avion Visa ($120) total $168, which ends up being more than the yearly fee of the Cobalt ($157). Therefore this combo would generally only make sense if:

  • A large chunk of your grocery & food spend is at establishments that do not accept American Express — such as the Loblaws group.
  • You get a rebate on one (or both) card’s annual fee through an eligible RBC bank account.

To see if either card makes sense for you, we’ve created an interactive calculator where you can input your spending and see your net rewards, either by itself or in tandem with the RBC Avion Visa. You also have the opportunity to see how this compares to the Cobalt, so you can choose the card that’s best for you.

We also invite you to use StackUp, a tool we’ve created that allows you to see with what credit score and income others were approved or denied. You can compare your statistics with those data points and see where you stand.

If you currently hold the ION or ION+, we invite you to add your own statistics to our ever-growing data points collection to help others better visualize their approval odds. It is entirely confidential and would greatly help others applying for cards, and us, as we try to grow this platform.

Thank you for taking the time to read this article. If you have any questions, feel free to comment down below and we’ll get back to you!

See where you StackUp, and find your chances of getting approved for the ION or ION+!