Air Miles Adds Partnership with Neo Financial

Signs of life continue to shine through at the ailing Air Miles program.

Following an extremely rough year, Air Miles decided to make a baffling, 2021-esque YOLO into the world of crypto and the metaverse by partnering with two relatively obscure tech startups a few weeks ago.

Today, the fading loyalty giant has announced that it’s partnering with credit card-issuing fintech, Neo Financial. Let’s take a look at what this means for the Canadian rewards space.

A New Air Miles Partner

Neo Financial describes itself as a “technology-first financial tools” company, which means that they issue credit cards and bank account-like products that come with an integrated smartphone app.

The partnership with Air Miles commences immediately, though at this time, we don’t have any specifics on what the earning rates or rewards will be for Neo cardholders or regular Air Miles collectors.

However, we do have at least an initial offer: anyone getting a new or refinanced mortgage with Neo Financial will receive a gift of 1,000 Air Miles.

This represents a rebate worth $100 in Cash Miles, though one might be able to squeeze a little bit more out of Dream Miles depending on the redemption.

Still, it is unclear what closing mortgages will do to support technology-first financial tools.

Moreover, a rebate of $100 in Air Miles, which can only be used at a dwindling list of partners, or via the Onyx personal shopper feels weak – after all, many traditional financial institutions will offer mortgage closers a cash back rebate in hard currency, which can then be used to buy amenities like furniture or pay overhead costs like property taxes. 

Finally, there is the question of required expenditure. The aforementioned BMO Air Miles World Elite Mastercard grants between 2,000 and 3,000 Air Miles on its publicly available offers, and at least once had an offer of 5,000 Air Miles, for only $3,000 in spend.

On the other hand, most mortgages cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, and need tens of thousands up front in the form of a down payment. The credit card is therefore much more efficient in terms of Air Miles earned compared to money spent.

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