Tangerine Money-Back

The Tangerine Money-Back Card is a top choice among Canadian consumers due to its distinctive features and benefits.

✅ No annual fee — keep more of your rewards.

✅ 2% cashback in up to three categories of your choice (e.g. groceries, gas, restaurants, recurring bills, and more).

Overview & key specifications

• Category flexibility: Choose which categories earn 2% and change selections anytime (changes take effect the following month)
• Issuer: Tangerine
• Annual fee: $0
• Sign-up bonus: 15% cash back on purchases for the first two months, up to $1,000 in spending (maximum $150 cash back)
• Ongoing rates: 2% cash back on two chosen categories (3% possible with qualifying Tangerine banking relationship), 0.5% cash back on all other purchases

How the card works

The standout feature of the Tangerine Money-Back Card is configurability. Cardholders pick which categories earn the elevated 2% cash back. By default you can choose two categories; opening a Tangerine bank account and maintaining a specified balance or daily minimum can expand that to three categories.

The 15% sign-up promotion for the first two months is very straightforward: put regular everyday spending on the card during that period and you can earn up to $150 back from the first $1,000 in purchases. After the promo, day-to-day purchases in your selected categories earn 2% and everything else earns 0.5%.

Strategy: How to get the most value

• Always pay your balance in full and on time. Interest rates on unpaid balances exceed 20% and quickly erase any cash back earned.
• Make the Tangerine card one of your core cards for flexible category rewards, and rotate categories before a big anticipated spend (categories take effect the next month).
• Use other specialty cards for categories where they dominate. For example:
  • Use a 4% restaurant card (e.g., Simplii) for dining.
  • Use a grocery-focused card (e.g., a 3% BMO grocery card) if you don’t shop at Walmart and it yields more than 2%.
  • Use flat-rate cards (e.g., AMEX SimplyCash at 1.25% or similar) for non-category purchases rather than relying on Tangerine’s 0.5% for everything else.
• Consider opening a Tangerine bank account and meeting the minimum daily requirements if you want the third category—evaluate whether the banking tradeoff is worth the extra 2% bucket for your spending pattern.

Pros

• No annual fee.
• Very flexible category choices and the ability to change monthly.
• Includes Walmart grocery purchases in the groceries category.
• Strong sign-up bonus (15% for two months up to $1,000).
• Option to expand to three 2% categories with a Tangerine banking relationship.

Who should get the Tangerine Money-Back Card?

• Canadians who want a no-fee, flexible cash back card and like the option to tailor categories to their spending.
• Shoppers who frequently buy groceries at Walmart and want their grocery spend rewarded.
• People who have predictable recurring expenses (subscriptions, transit, parking) and want to earn cash back automatically.
• Anyone who plans occasional big-ticket purchases (furniture, home improvement, hotels) and wants to switch categories temporarily to earn 2% back.

Final recommendation

The Tangerine Money-Back Credit Card is an excellent, no-annual-fee, flexible cash back option for Canadians who want control over which categories earn elevated rewards. Its 15% sign-up promotion is generous and easy to take advantage of by shifting everyday spending onto the card for two months. The ability to change categories monthly makes it uniquely useful for planned high-dollar expenses like furniture or renovations.

That said, it is best used as part of a multi-card strategy: keep specialty cards for categories where they clearly beat Tangerine (restaurants, some groceries, flat-rate spending) and use Tangerine for its flexibility advantage—particularly Walmart groceries, public transit & parking, and rotating one temporary high-spend category.