Personal Credit Cards FAQs

Applying for your new CWB personal Mastercard^® takes under 2 minutes to complete.  To get started, visit https://personalcreditcard.cwbank.com/signup and click on the apply button.

You'll be asked to fill out general information including your full name, email address, home address, employment information and to select which card you would like. We'll get back to you within a few days with your account and credit limit if you are approved.  

Our team will let you know in as little as 2 days on the status of your application.

We'll send you an email to the address provided in your application to let you know the status of your approval, as well as when you can expect to receive your physical card in the mail, and your credit limit once you've been approved.

To apply for the CWB World Elite^® Mastercard^®, you must have an annual income of $80,000 or an annual household income of $150,000. You also qualify if you expect to spend over $25,000 on this credit card per year.

After submitting your application, we may contact you for additional documentation or information in order to verify your identity and, better protect our cardholders against identity theft. If you're contacted by [email protected], please refer to the requests in the email.

We can use a number of different document types to verify your identity. The most common documents include a scanned copy of your driver’s license, another credit card statement or a bank statement, a utility or gas bill that is in your name or a mobile phone bill that is in your name.

You should receive your new CWB credit card within 7 to 10 business days of receiving your approval email depending on where you live and Canada Post volumes.

Inside of your welcome package, you'll find:

• Your new credit card
• A welcome letter outlining how to activate your new card and other information on your card
• The Disclosure Statement that outlines the fees associated with your card as well as other information like minimum payments and grace periods
• Cardholder Agreement which governs the usage of your account

Activation of your new card takes under 1 minute to complete.

Once you receive your new card, visit https://personalcreditcard.cwbank.com/activate and enter the full 16 digit number on your card. Use the one-time passcode we've sent to your email address we have on file. Once you log-in, you'll be able to set the PIN for your new card digitally, and your card is activated!

You can now start using your card online and for in-store transactions.

CWB has worked closely with Brim Financial to tailor the features, benefits and fees to best fit our clients’ needs.

Earning rewards is easy with your new CWB Rewards Mastercard^® or World Elite^® Mastercard^®. You'll earn reward points on every purchase you make using your CWB card.

With the CWB Rewards Mastercard^®, you'll earn 1% back in points on every purchase you make with no limitations.

With the CWB World Elite^® Mastercard^®, you'll earn 2% back in points on every single transaction¹.

¹ up to $25,000 in total annual spend starting January 1st. Above that amount you'll earn 1% back in points for transactions.

With CWB Rewards powered by Brim, you’re in control of how you earn points and where you redeem them. All purchases earn points at the same rate (1% for CWB Rewards Mastercard^® holders and 2% for CWB World Elite^® Mastercard^® holders), making your daily cup of coffee just as rewarding as your weekly groceries. Plus, you can redeem points on any purchase with a single swipe, or use points as cashback towards your balance at any time.

You can earn up to 30% back in additional points at over 230 retail partners like Apple, Indigo, Lululemon, Hello Fresh, and Avis. 

There are 3 ways to earn additional points:

Access to CWB Rewards Powered by Brim are automatically set up with your card. All you need to do is use your CWB card at Brim’s partners and you’ll start earning 5%, 10% even up to 30% back in points.

Both InCard and eShop are great ways to earn bonus points faster. 

InCard offers are embedded directly in your card, meaning all you need to do is use your CWB credit card at these partners, either in store or online. Partners with InCard offers include Indigo, Sunwing, Avis, Budget, Contiki, Bloomberg, Hello Fresh and others.

eShop offers are online only offers that are embedded in your card. To access eShop offers, all you need to do is log-in to your CWB credit card portal or app and click on the partner/offer you want to take advantage of. You will be immediately redirected to their e-commerce website and you simply need to use your CWB credit card as the payment method at checkout. Partners with eShop offers include Apple, Lululemon, Nike, Patagonia and others.

For a complete list of partners, check out the Rewards tab in the CWB credit card portal.

Redeeming your points is easy. You can redeem your rewards in two ways; as pure cashback under the “Make a Payment” button on the Dashboard or you can redeem against specific transactions.

If you're redeeming as cashback, you can choose the total amount of your rewards or choose a custom amount to insert. The amount of your chosen points value will reduce your total balance due the following business day.

If you'd prefer to redeem against a specific transaction that has been processed like a new computer, clothing or even flights, your total balance due on your next statement will be reduced by the amount of that transaction you redeemed against. All you have to do is click the little blue bar next to the transaction and follow the steps that pop up.

1 point is valued at $0.01

For example: 10,000 points = $100 in value

Yes, if you misplace your card and are worried about someone else using it, you can easily lock your card or any of the cards of your additional cardholders instantly. You can do this through your credit card portal.

Take control of your card security with the ability to customize your own security features on your card or on the cards of any of your additional cardholders. You can:

• lock online transactions when you know you will not be using your card for any e-commerce transactions, in order to protect yourself against fraudsters attempting to use your card information online
• lock foreign transactions when you know you will not be spending in a foreign currency.

Toggle these off and on as you continue to use your card – everything is in real-time so you can turn the block off, make an online or foreign transaction and then turn it back on again to better protect yourself

And, you'll also be notified if a transaction is declined as a result of one of the blocks being turned on, in case you are trying to make a transaction and forgot!

Yes, you can customize how your children or others can spend on the additional cards on your account. In your Portal or app, you have the ability to lock their card instantly or block certain types of transactions. It is perfect for parents that want their children to have a credit card but not to be able to use it for online or foreign transactions (or if they misplace their card!).

During activation, you have the ability to set your PIN digitally. If you forget your PIN or need to change it as a security measure, you can do so in real-time through the credit card portal or in the app.

To do this, go to the My Cards section under Account Settings and click on Change PIN. This will prompt you to insert your card number and will then allow you to change your PIN. Your new PIN will automatically be downloaded to your new card on your next transaction.

Installment pay is a unique feature that allows you to divide your purchases that are over $500 into smaller monthly payments making it easier for you to manage bigger purchases when you need to.

Whereas traditional installment programs require you to fill in lengthy applications at the point of sale, CWB’s installment pay is fully embedded in our Portal, which means you can easily install any purchase you have made from the comfort of your own home.

Please refer to your Cardholder Agreement and disclosure statement for eligibility and for all of the Terms and Conditions.

Setting up an installment is done completely online, making it incredibly easy to use from wherever you are. Click on an eligible transaction under the Installments tab on the Activity page, choose a duration to install over and confirm.

Your monthly installment payments and processing fee will show up in your monthly statement and will be reflected in your minimum payment for that billing cycle.

Our installment plans range from 12 to 24 months. You have the flexibility to choose the duration that best fits your needs.

Yes, you can pay off your installment plan at anytime by paying the full amount. You can also email in to [email protected] to cancel your installment plan.

Using installments opens up your available credit so you’re able to continue to spend on your CWB card. After you set up an installment plan, your available credit will increase by the amount of the installment plan and will decrease as you pay off your monthly installments.

Yes! You can add your CWB Rewards Mastercard^® or CWB World Elite^® Mastercard^® to the following mobile wallets: Apple Pay, Google Pay, Samsung Pay, Fitbit Pay and Garmin Pay.

Open the Mobile Wallet on your preferred device (Apple phone, Google phone, etc.), and follow the instructions on the device. Have your card on hand as you'll be asked to insert your credit card details into the wallet or payment app. You'll also need to accept the Terms and Conditions, after which you will receive a one-time passcode that you will insert into the wallet app or payment app when prompted. That’s it! You can then begin using your card on any of the wallets listed above.

Using a mobile wallet is very similar to tapping your card/using contactless. Initiate the use of your Mobile Wallet on your device and then move your phone or device towards the contactless section of the point of sale.

We have set no limit to the size of a transaction that you can put on a mobile wallet on a CWB credit card. Some merchants do however restrict transaction size, so it depends from merchant to merchant. If there is a cap, most merchants set it at $150-$250.

Yes, all CWB credit cards are contactless meaning that you can tap your card in lieu of inserting and typing in your PIN.

Yes, you can tap for any transaction up to $150 in value. If the transaction is above $150, it will automatically prompt you to insert your card after trying to tap – it will not decline your transaction, simply ask you to insert instead.

If you are tapping using a mobile wallet, there is no maximum transaction amount limit. 

With family cards you to add up to 5 additional cardholders to your account instantly. Each cardholder added will receive their own credit card and log-in information to view only their transactional activity.

As the Primary of the account, you will have access to view transactions made by all cardholders, lock their card or block specific transactions, and set monthly spending limits for each cardholder. It’s perfect for parents looking for more control and visibility over their children’s spending behaviour and those looking to promote more fiscal responsibility by giving their children their own spending account.  

You can add an additional cardholder to your account at the time of your application, or anytime thereafter by going to My Cards under your Account Management section of the CWB credit card portal.

You can set spending limits under the My Cards section in your account settings. Each cardholder can have their own unique spending limit that resets monthly. Setting spend limits does not reduce your overall credit limit, it just limits what other cardholders on your account can access of your total credit limit.

No, you don't need to set monthly spending limits for different cardholders. If spending limits are not set, they will simply have access to the entire credit limit on your account just like all other credit cards in Canada today.

Yes! All transactions made by your additional cardholders will earn the same amount of points as if you made the transaction. All points accumulate up to your primary account.

You will be able to see all the purchasing activity of your additional cardholders in your Portal. You can also filter by additional cardholder to track purchasing on an individual level. If you prefer to track their spending in real-time, you can also set up purchase notifications via email notification

Yes, our primary delivery of statements is electronically. During the application flow, we had preselected eStatements for your account that you had the option of opting out of for paper delivery of your statements. If you did not opt-out, you will receive statements electronically every month.

We will email you when your new monthly statement is ready to be viewed. In that email, there will be a link that takes you directly to the Statements section under Activity in the portal. You will have the ability to review your current statement under that section, as well as up to 13 previous statements on your account.

If this is the case, please call into the call centre number or email into [email protected] and we will provide the requested copies. There is a $5 per copy charge for statements that are older than 13 months.

The following options are accessible through your credit card portal, or through your preferred financial institution:

CWBdirect^® Online Banking  

• Go to Pay a Bill in your bank or credit unions’ Online Banking platform and search for “CWB Personal Mastercard - Brim” as your bill payee. Once you add CWB Mastercard as your payee contact, insert your credit card number under the account number section and type in the amount to be paid
• Payments made through the Bill Payment system generally take 2-3 business days before it is reflected in your account

All other major Canadian financial institutions

• Payments are accepted from all major Canadian financial institutions. Go to Pay a Bill in your bank or credit unions’ Online Banking platform and search for “Brim Financial” as your bill payee. Once you add CWB Mastercard as your payee contact, insert your credit card number under the account number section and type in the amount to be paid
• Payments made through the Bill Payment system generally take 2-3 business days before it is reflected in your account

Interac Online

• Payments made using Interac Online^® through the  Portal are posted in real-time, giving you instant access to your available credit
• If you have both an Interac and Visa Debit or Debit Mastercard^® log-in to your debit card, this service is not available through your financial institution and payments should be made using the Bill Payment system

There are two options for bill payees you can select:

1. CWB Personal Mastercard - Brim
   
2. Brim Financial

The spend monitoring feature allows you to view your current monthly spending behaviours down to the day, and compare that to the previous month or any month in the past so you can better manage your spending and financial behaviours.

We also group your spending into 10 distinct categories to give you a more well rounded view of your spending habits on a month by month basis.

You have the ability to set a monthly budget within each individual category. For example, if you only want to spend $300 this month on eating out at restaurants and bars, you have the ability to set that monthly budget and be reminded when you are approaching that budget.

Boingo^® is an award-winning Wi-Fi service that gets you connected to over 1 million public hotspots around the world, including airplanes, restaurants and hotels. Check out boingo.com/retail to learn more. 

If you have a CWB World Elite^® Mastercard^® you have free access to Boingo^®. Once you activate your new card, go to brim.boingo.com and insert your credit card number to set up your free account.

If you have a CWB Rewards Mastercard^®, you do not have free access to a Boingo^® account.

Having a CWB World Elite^® Mastercard^® gives you access to Boingo^®’s Global Wi-Fi offering. It’s Boingo^®’s strongest and most comprehensive coverage package. It’s an offering of $39 USD/month completely free on your CWB World Elite^® Mastercard^® account.

Once you activate your CWB World Elite^® Mastercard^®, go to brim.boingo.com where you will insert your card number and set up your free account. Creating your account is easy and takes under a minute to complete:

1. Go to brim.boingo.com
2. Type in your CWB World Elite^® Mastercard^® number
3. Create a Boingo^® username and password
4. Download the Boingo^® app to find a hotspot

You’ll have free Wi-Fi access on participating airlines, airports, trains, hotels, restaurants and cafes that might have otherwise charged you for accessing Wi-Fi. Visit boingo.com/retail and type in a city, street or postal code to find out how you can benefit from a free Boingo^® account. Boingo^® has really strong coverage throughout Europe and Asia so it really comes in handy when you are flying and travelling through those regions.

Visit boingo.com/faqs to learn more about Boingo^®’s Global Wi-Fi offering.

Still have questions? Please view the Boingo^® Wi-Fi Access Terms and Conditions document on Brim’s legal page or contact our team for more information.

Lounge Key is a service offering from Mastercard^® that enables you access to over a thousand different airport lounges around the globe. You'll have the ability to access each of these lounges for $27USD per visit.

Visit airport.mastercard.com to search for airports or lounges included in the program. You can also download the Mastercard^® Airport Experiences app to search on the go.

Lounge Key is an exclusive feature for CWB World Elite^® Mastercard^® card holders.

When you arrive at a lounge that is supported under Lounge Key, simply show your CWB World Elite^® Mastercard^® at the reception. The reception will swipe your card, confirm your eligibility and then charge the visit directly to your card.

Please refer to the CWB Mastercard^® comparison chart for brief descriptions on the embedded insurances on both of the cards. Further insurance details can be found in your Insurance certificates in your welcome package.

For more information, please call Brim’s insurance partner Royal Sun & Alliance at 1-833-429-2746 for any questions related to the insurance benefits on the CWB Rewards Mastercard® and CWB World Elite® Mastercard®, issued by Brim.

Zero liability is a Mastercard^® benefit that is embedded in your CWB Rewards Mastercard^® or CWB World Elite^® Mastercard^®. Zero liability applies to your purchases made in the store, over the telephone, online, or via a mobile device and ATM transactions. Have peace of mind knowing that CWB won't hold you responsible for unauthorized use if:

1. You have used reasonable care in safeguarding your card, including not contributing to any unauthorized use, and safeguarding any related Personal Identification Number (PIN) or password
2. You report the loss or theft of your card immediately after becoming aware of it to CWB

Mastercard^® Global Services is a free benefit that is available to all CWB Rewards Mastercard^® and CWB World Elite^® Mastercard^® cardholders. Wherever you are, you can contact Mastercard^® Global Services for specific needs. Mastercard^® Global Services is available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. They can help assist you in the following travel related benefits:

• Lost and Stolen Card Reporting – we’ll notify your card issuer within 15 minutes of you reporting your card missing
• Emergency Card Replacement – we can arrange delivery of a replacement card to you anywhere in the world, usually within 48 hours
• Emergency Cash Advance – we can arrange local currency in just two hours
• Locate an ATM that accepts Mastercard^®, Maestro and Cirrus brands

You can contact Mastercard^® Global Services anytime at 1-800-307-7309.

Yes, as a CWB Rewards Mastercard^® or CWB World Elite^® Mastercard^® cardholder, you have full access to Mastercard^® Priceless^® Cities. Priceless^® Cities is a program available exclusively to Mastercard cardholders and provides access to unforgettable experiences in the cities where you live and travel. You can visit priceless.com for more information on the benefits of Mastercard^® Priceless^® Cities.

Click to Pay refers to a one-click checkout option that you can use when you're making a purchase on a website, mobile app or any other digital channel with an American Express^®, Discover^®, Mastercard^® or Visa^® credit, debit or prepaid card.

Changing your credit limit is easy – simply email into [email protected] with your request for a credit limit increase or decrease along with the requested credit limit you would like on your account. Our credit teams will review in earnest and will respond back to you via email within 2 business days with the update to your account or in response to your request.

As you begin to use your new card, our system will automatically learn your spending behaviour and habits. If there are certain transactions that our system deems as an alert, for example a transaction that is coming in from Asia while all other transactions are in Canada, we may block the transaction and alert you. This is to keep your account safe and to protect you from fraudulent attempts on your card. 

Within the SMS or email fraud alert, it will identify the transaction that we deemed high risk and include information such as the amount of the transaction, who was the merchant, and the date/time of the transaction. All you need to do is answer with a Y or a N, indicating whether you performed the transaction or whether it was fraud. If Y is answered, we will open up your card so you can use it unencumbered. If N is answered, we will immediately block your card for future transactions and reissue you a new credit card.

You can respond Y or N either through the SMS alert or the email alert or both.

Within the portal or the app, you have the ability to set travel notices whenever you are leaving for a new international destination and will be using your CWB credit card. Setting a travel notice automatically updates our system to ensure that you won’t be encumbered while using your card internationally while traveling. If you are travelling to Tokyo for example, our system is updated with this knowledge when you insert a travel notice and won’t flag any transactions originating out of Japan for the duration of your stay.

Setting a notice is very easy – go to Travel Notice under your Account Settings. You can choose a city or country and then identify the dates you will be travelling and confirm.

Your security question and answer are set up during your activation process. You can choose from a number of different questions and then type your preferred answer. The security question will be asked by our call centre agents to confirm your identity when you call into the call centre for assistance. This is to protect your account from fraudsters calling in stating they are you.

You can speak to one of our call centre agents by calling at 1-888-252-4201 in Canada & US (toll-free) or call collect at 647-252-4202. Our hours of operation are 8am MT to 8pm ET.

Our General Customer Service call centre can assist you with any inquiry you have on your account, including questions about delivery of cards, reissuance of a new card, questions on rewards or fees associated to your account, etc. They can also perform account maintenance on your account such as changing your contact information, performing a product change, or take requests for credit limit increases. They can also redirect you to other agents such as fraud or lost/stolen cards agents, or insurance agents depending on the questions or requests you call in to discuss.

If you believe your credit card has been used fraudulently or is lost or stolen, immediately go into your account and lock your card. This will protect your account from any fraudulent attempts. We also provide a 24/7 call centre access to agents regarding fraud and lost or stolen credit cards. Call into at 1-888-252-4201 in Canada & US (toll-free) or call collect at 647-252-4202 at anytime and press 4 when prompted by the voice recording. You will be immediately directed to an agent that can provide support in cancelling your lost or stolen card and reissue you a new plastic.

There may be instances in which you do not reply to the fraud alerts we send via SMS and email, or if we believe that your account has been truly taken over by fraudsters, we may block you card which informs you to call into our fraud call centre to verify to unblock your account. Once we verify that all of the transactions we flagged were in fact yours, we will unblock your account and you can continue to use your card unencumbered.

While you can always call into our call centre to speak to one of our agents about your card or to change the information associated to your account, we have built out the full functionality to change account or card information from the comfort of your own home on your computer or mobile device.

In the portal and the app, you will have the ability to change the following account settings:

• Home Address
• Home Telephone Number
• Mobile Telephone Number
• Email Address
• Password
• Security Question and Answer
• PIN on your Card
• Product Type (CWB Rewards Mastercard or CWB World Elite Mastercard)
• Adding an additional cardholder to your account
• Changing contact information for your additional cardholders
• Setting monthly spending limits for your additional cardholders
• eStatements or Paper Statements
• Email Communications (opting in or opting out of various email notifications)
• Setting travel notices