Is A Premium Credit Card Worth It?

I had a BMO Cashback MasterCard, no fee, earning 0.5% cash back. As my spending increased, I began to look at a fee based card. The BMO Cashback World MasterCard offers 1.25% cash back, but with a $79 annual fee.

At some point, the premium card will return more than the free card. In this case, with a spend of $10535/year or $878/month, the premium card returns more. At this spending rate, the free card will give $52.68 back at the end of the year, and the premium card will give back $131.69, less the $79 annual fee, or $52.69.

Since my annual credit card spend is much less than $10535, I elected to remain with the free card.