A 5% grocery card pays 5% only on the spending below its limit.

Only up to a limit written in the card’s terms. On $1,000 of groceries a month, BMO’s 5% card returns 3% in the month and 1.84% over the year after its fee. The limit, and how it resets, decides more than the rate on the front.

BMO’s terms for its CashBack World Elite Mastercard say: “Earn 5% cash back on the first $500 you spend on grocery purchases made at merchant locations in Canada per statement cycle period and 1% unlimited cash back thereafter.”

A statement cycle is the period between one statement and the next. After the first $500 of groceries in that period, the rest earns 1%.

Every card here has a limit like this, but not the same kind.

Per statement cycle. BMO’s two cards: 5% (World Elite) or 3% (CashBack Mastercard) on the first $500 of groceries each statement period.

Per month. Neo’s World Elite Mastercard: “If you spend over $1,000 on groceries in one month, the cashback rate is 1% for grocery spending for the rest of the month.”

Per year. CIBC’s Dividend Visa Infinite: the 4% applies to “the first $50,000 in net annual card purchases” or “$20,000 in net annual card purchases on grocery stores, supermarkets, gas service stations” and other listed categories, “whichever comes first”, then 1%. The limits “reset to zeros after your December Statement Date.”

None. Tangerine’s Money-Back Credit Card: “unlimited 2% cash back” in the categories you choose, with no limit in its terms.

An assumption, not a figure about you: $1,000 a month spent at grocery stores. Put your own number in its place and the same arithmetic applies.

The same headline rate, 5%, pays $30 on one card and $50 on another, because the limit sits in a different place.

Three of the cards charge a yearly fee: BMO CashBack World Elite $139, Neo World Elite $149, CIBC Dividend Visa Infinite $120. BMO’s CashBack Mastercard and Tangerine’s Money-Back card charge none. BMO waives its World Elite fee in the first year and CIBC rebates its first-year fee; the figures below are for a year in which the fee is paid.

At $1,000 a month, BMO’s World Elite returns $360 in the year, less its $139 fee: $221 on $12,000 of groceries, or 1.84%. Tangerine’s card returns 2% of $12,000, $240, with no fee.

Because each card’s limit and fee are different, the order changes as spending rises. These are the monthly grocery spends at which one card’s yearly return, after fees, passes another’s. Each is a calculation at that spend. None of them says one card is better than another, because that depends on how much, and where, you spend.

About $554 a month. Neo World Elite passes BMO CashBack.

About $614 a month. CIBC Dividend passes BMO World Elite.

About $817 a month. BMO CashBack passes BMO World Elite.

About $842 a month. Tangerine passes BMO World Elite.

About $1,253 a month. CIBC Dividend passes Neo World Elite.

Below $842 a month, BMO’s World Elite returns more than Tangerine’s card after its fee. Above it, Tangerine’s returns more, and the gap grows with spending.

Welcome offers. A welcome offer is paid once, in the first year, so it is left out of a yearly comparison.

Where you shop. Each issuer decides what counts as a grocery purchase by the store’s merchant category, and each says so in its own words. Tangerine says purchases at “wholesale clubs, alcohol retailers, general merchandise merchants, convenience stores”, and food at “discount retailers or specialty retailers”, “may not earn 2% Money-Back Rewards due to the MCC categorization.” BMO says of its CashBack Mastercard: “Convenience stores, general merchandise stores, bakeries, butchers and other speciality shops are excluded from this offer (those purchases will earn the base rate of 0.5% cash back).” Neo says: “Wholesale stores (like Costco and Walmart) aren’t considered grocery stores under Mastercard’s merchant classification.” CIBC counts “merchants classified by the credit card network as (i) grocery stores and supermarkets”.

Everything else on the card. Only groceries are counted here. Each card also pays on other spending, with its own limits. CIBC’s yearly $20,000 limit is shared with gas, electric vehicle charging, commuter transportation, restaurants and recurring payments.

Neo’s higher rates. Neo says that when you add funds to a Neo Chequing or Neo Everyday account, “you’ll get higher cashback rates on gas, grocery, and everything else.” It does not publish those rates outside the app, so this page uses the published 5%.

Find last month’s grocery-store spending in your banking app. Not all food: purchases at grocery stores and supermarkets.

Find the limit in your card’s terms. It is usually one line in the footnotes: an amount, and whether it resets each statement, each month or each year.

Compare. Spending under the limit earns the rate on the front. Spending over it earns the lower rate. Take off the yearly fee, then divide by a year of groceries.

Which of these cards is best?

This site does not rank cards. The answer changes with how much you spend on groceries, where you shop and what else you put on the card. The crossing points show where it changes.

Why $1,000 a month?

It is an example, chosen so the limits matter. Put in your own number.

Does the first-year fee waiver change this?

In the first year, yes, for BMO’s World Elite and CIBC’s card. From the second year, the fee applies.

Every claim on this page was checked against these documents on 30 September 2026.

• BMO: CashBack World Elite Mastercard · CashBack Mastercard · Terms and footnotes
• Neo Financial: World Elite Mastercard · Gas and Grocery · How Neo’s cashback works
• CIBC: Dividend Visa Infinite Card · Cardholder benefits guide
• Tangerine: Money-Back Credit Card · Money-Back Rewards Program terms

Watch · 7:42

5% Back on Groceries. What Do You Actually Get? Published 30 September 2026. Loads on click. Nothing is requested from YouTube until you ask.

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