Ready to earn 2% cash back on daily essentials?
They can be worth it—but only if you use them right.
Cash back credit cards make sense when you:
Pay your balance in full every month
Don’t overspend just to “earn more rewards”
Earn more in cash back than you pay in annual fees and interest
If you carry a balance, the interest charges usually wipe out any benefit from cash back pretty quickly.
KOHO Everything
If you like rewards but don’t want to juggle traditional credit card debt, KOHO Everything gives you cash back:
Grow your savings with 3.5% interest, one of the highest rates in Canada
Earn a 2% cash back rate on groceries, eating, drinking, and transportation and 0.5% cash back on everything else
There are no foreign exchange fees, so you save on international purchases and travel
Unlimited transactions and free e-transfers
No minimum balance required, ever.
When Cash Back Credit Cards Are Worth It
They’re usually worth it if you:
Always pay your statement in full
Have predictable spending in bonus categories (like groceries or gas)
Spend enough each year that your rewards exceed any annual fee
Don’t let the card change your behaviour (no “I’ll buy more because I get points”).
In that situation, cash back is basically a rebate on money you were going to spend anyway.
When They’re Not Worth It
They’re often not worth it if you:
Carry a balance and pay interest most months
Pick a card with an annual fee you don’t actually earn back
Start overspending because “I get cash back on this”
In those cases, the bank usually earns far more in interest and fees than you ever do in rewards.
A Simple Way to Think About It
If you’re still building habits or worried about debt → a prepaid option like KOHO Everything is often the smarter choice.
If your budget is solid and you never carry a balance → a good cash back credit card can give you extra value on top of spending you already planned to do.