My husband and I were going over the mail at the kitchen table when the RBC envelope landed. He read it once, looked up, and said, “So the fee goes up, but we make more back?” That’s the whole thing, really. Two cards, two dates, one decision deadline. I’m going to walk you through it the way we did it — with the actual numbers, no hand-waving.
Quick context: RBC (Royal Bank of Canada, one of the country’s big banks) announced changes to two cash back Mastercard options, effective in two waves — October 1 and December 2, 2026. The full details are in RBC’s official notice on its cash back credit card updates page, which is where every number in this post comes from. The original reporting is at MoneySense.
What actually changes on the two cards
There are two cards here, so I’ll keep them separate. The RBC Cash Back Preferred World Elite Mastercard is the one with the fee change. The plain RBC Cash Back Mastercard has no annual fee and stays that way.
RBC Cash Back Preferred World Elite Mastercard — effective October 1, 2026:
- Annual fee: $99 → $120 (that’s the $21 increase that made the news)
- Supplementary card: $0 → $50 per additional card
- Purchase interest rate (APR): 20.99% → 21.99%
- Cash back on groceries, dining, restaurants, food delivery: up to 1.5% → 3%, unlimited
- Cash back on gas, EV charging, public transit, rideshare: up to 1.5% → 3%, unlimited
- New category — streaming and digital gaming: 3%, unlimited
- All other purchases: up to 1.5% → 1%, unlimited
- The $25,000/year spending cap on bonus rates is gone. Full rates apply to every eligible purchase, no cap.
- New insurance: out of province/country emergency medical, flight delay and delayed baggage, and mobile device coverage.
RBC Cash Back Mastercard (no annual fee) — effective October 1, 2026:
- APR: 20.99% → 21.99%
- Groceries: 2% on the first $6,000/year, then 1% → 2%, unlimited
- Gas, EV charging, transit, rideshare: used to be treated as “other purchases” at 0.5% on the first $6,000 → now 1%, unlimited
- All other purchases: 0.5% on the first $6,000 → 0.5%, unlimited
- The $6,000-per-category cap on bonus rates is gone.
Both cards also get the same redemption changes effective December 2, 2026 (yes, it’s identical for both, and I’m only writing it once): the minimum redemption drops from $25 to $1, you can redeem online or in the RBC Mobile app instead of calling in, and the automatic once-a-year December redemption goes away — you redeem whenever you want.
The Costco and Walmart catch
This is the question everyone on Reddit asked, so I’ll answer it directly. The 2% grocery rate does not apply at Costco or Walmart. RBC classifies both as warehouse clubs, not grocery stores, so you’d earn 0.5% there starting October 1.
That’s a real loss if your grocery run happens at those places, because under the current policy you get 0.5% more in the everyday-purchases category on both cards. One percentage point sounds small until you multiply it by a year of big-basket shopping.
If you’re not a Costco/Walmart shopper, though, you’re looking at 3% on groceries and gas on the Preferred card with no cap. That’s the generous part of this story.
What this means for you
If you shop at Costco or Walmart, you lose a point of cash back and the fee on the Preferred card goes up by $21. If you don’t, you’re getting 3% on groceries and gas with no spending cap, and the no-fee card doubles your grocery rate to 2% unlimited. Both cards also let you redeem down to $1, whenever you want, without picking up the phone.
My rule of thumb: cash back only wins if you pay your balance in full. A 21.99% APR eats 2–3% of rewards quickly. (This is general math, not professional financial advice — your situation is yours, and it’s worth running your own numbers or checking with your planner before deciding.)
One more thing I checked: the RBC partner perks are unchanged. That means 3¢/L fuel savings plus 20% more Petro-Points (RBC’s fuel savings program) on eligible purchases, 3x Canadian Tire Money when your card is linked to your Triangle Rewards account, 50 Be Well points per dollar at Rexall (a Canadian pharmacy chain), and a free 12-month DashPass subscription with DoorDash. The Preferred card keeps its Mastercard Collection access, travel rewards, and Dragon Pass Membership lounge access — that’s 1,300+ airport lounges worldwide.
The deadline: December 30, 2026
Here’s the part with a real clock. If you don’t like where things are heading, you can close the account or switch to another RBC credit card at no cost, penalty, or cancellation indemnity — but you have to notify RBC before December 30, 2026, and pay the balance in full.
RBC’s own FAQ says you can switch through Online Banking or Mobile Banking, or call an advisor at 1-800-769-2512. If you’re comparing options first, Ratehub’s CardFinder (the comparison tool referenced in the original reporting) is a decent place to line up alternatives side by side.
Here’s what we did at the kitchen table: we wrote the deadline on a sticky note for the fridge and set a reminder for mid-December. Two minutes of work so we don’t have to think about it in two months. That’s the whole strategy — look at your actual statements, count how much you actually spend at the stores where the rate changed, and let the math pick the card for you.
Money rarely surprises you if you go look at it first. Check your statement this week — you already know where you shop, you just need the numbers in front of you to decide.