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%.

Category-by-category breakdown

Below are the categories available for the 2% cash back selection and how to think about each one.

Groceries

Great choice for regular grocery shoppers. A unique advantage: Tangerine treats Walmart grocery purchases as groceries (not as discount store purchases), so those Walmart grocery buys still qualify for the 2% rate. If you primarily shop at Walmart, this makes the Tangerine card especially compelling.

Note: other cards (for example, the BMO Cashback Mastercard) offer 3% on groceries, but they may exclude certain merchants like Walmart.

Furniture

Low-frequency but high-value category. Switch to furniture the month before a planned furniture purchase (IKEA, other retailers), earn 2% on the big spend, then switch back afterward. The monthly-change flexibility is the key advantage here.

Restaurants

Shervin strongly discourages using the Tangerine card for restaurants because other no-fee cards deliver better rewards here. For example, the Simplii Financial Visa offers 4% cash back on restaurants, bars, and coffee shops. If you have that card, keep restaurant spend on it instead.

Hotels

Useful when travelling. Select this category for months where a hotel stay is coming up, earn 2% back on booking and stay-related charges, then switch categories afterward.

Gas

Good option given high fuel costs. Note that some cards, such as the AMEX SimplyCash, also offer 2% on gas—so if you already hold that card, duplicate coverage isn’t necessary. If not, Tangerine’s gas category is a solid pick.

Recurring bill payments

Includes streaming subscriptions, phone/internet bills, and other periodic charges. This is a very practical pick for anyone with multiple recurring subscriptions and can generate steady cash back without extra effort.

Drug stores

Works well for families or people who frequently purchase prescriptions, health items, or personal-care goods.

Home improvements

Another occasional but high-value category. Switch to home improvements when renovating, completing repairs, or buying renovation materials—then switch back when done.

Entertainment

Covers movies, concerts, events, and similar activities. Choose this if entertainment is a regular part of your budget.

Public transportation & parking

A highly practical and underused category. Whether you rely on transit or regularly pay for parking, this category often represents unavoidable recurring spending, and Tangerine is one of the few cards that offers an elevated cash back rate here. Shervin recommends this as one of the core picks for most cardholders.

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 and cons

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.

Cons

• 0.5% on non-selected categories is low compared with some flat-rate cards.
• For specific categories (restaurants, some groceries, flat-rate spending) there are other no-fee cards that outperform Tangerine.
• The banking requirement to unlock three categories may not be worth it for everyone.

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.

Pricing

The card is free to hold—no annual fee. The most significant “cost” to consider is the opportunity cost of not holding other specialty cards for certain categories, so pairing Tangerine with one or two complementary no-fee cards is the most effective approach.

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.