Capital · Credit Cards · MBNA
Twelve Ninety Nine,
And No Rewards At All.
A no fee card with a 12.99 percent purchase rate and nothing else attached. The balance transfer promotion runs twelve months at zero, costs three percent to enter, and reverts to 17.99 rather than 12.99. Every figure here is off MBNA, read 6 September 2026.
The MBNA True Line Mastercard has no annual fee and no fee for authorized users. It charges 12.99 percent on purchases, 17.99 on balance transfers and 24.99 on cash advances, and earns no rewards. A zero percent promotional rate runs twelve statement periods on transfers made within ninety days. Not advice.
On Purchases
Against 21.99% on almost every rewards card here.
Twelve Statement Periods
On transfers made within 90 days of opening.
Transfer Fee
No stated maximum. $10,000 costs $300.
What It Reverts To
Not 12.99. Five points higher than the purchase rate.
What The Card Is
Read off MBNA on 6 September 2026, in their words before mine.
It Earns Nothing, Which Is The Design
There is no rewards programme on this card. MBNA never raises the subject on the product page. The whole product is the rate, and a rewards card at 21.99 percent carrying a balance loses to this card carrying the same balance every time.
The Promotional Clock Runs Per Transfer
MBNA states the promotional rate “will remain in effect for 12 Statement Periods from the transaction date of each eligible transaction”. Two transfers made two months apart expire two months apart. It is not twelve months from opening the account.
One Late Payment Ends It
MBNA states the rate reverts “on the first day of the second Statement Period following any late Minimum Payment”. There is no reinstatement. On a card whose only feature is the rate, that is the whole risk.
You Cannot Transfer A TD Balance To It
MBNA states a balance transfer “may not be used to pay off or down your account balance or any other balances with us (including our affiliates, which would include any member of the TD Bank Group)”. MBNA is part of TD Bank Group, so TD issued cards are out.
The Arithmetic On A Free Card
There is no fee. The cost is the transfer fee and the reversion.
Three Percent Is The Real Price Of Zero Percent
On a $10,000 transfer the fee is $300 and there is no stated maximum on the three percent, only a $3.50 minimum. Twelve months at zero on $10,000 saves roughly $2,200 against 21.99 percent, so the fee is worth paying. It is still a fee, and it is charged at the balance transfer rate, not the promotional one.
The Reversion Rate Is The Trap
A balance still sitting after twelve statement periods moves to 17.99 percent, not 12.99. Anyone who came for the headline purchase rate will read the wrong number here. Clear the transfer inside the window or move it.
Transfers Take Time You Have To Budget
MBNA’s help centre states transfers can cover a maximum of three accounts, cannot exceed your available credit, and to allow at least two weeks for processing. With a ninety day window that is not a deadline to test.
The Gold Sibling Is Cheaper On Rate And Costs $39
MBNA’s True Line Gold is 10.99 percent on purchases and 13.99 percent on balance transfers for a $39 fee. Two points of purchase rate pays for $39 at about $1,950 of carried balance, and its balance transfer standard rate is four points lower. On the pages read it showed no zero percent promotion.
The Case Against Carrying It
Same standard as every other page here.
It Does Nothing Except Be Cheap
No points, no cash back, no travel insurance, no rental car coverage. The coverage that exists is purchase assurance and extended warranty and nothing else.
A Low Rate Is Not A Reason To Carry A Balance
12.99 percent is still 12.99 percent. This card is the least bad place for a balance that already exists, not a licence to create one.
The Foreign Transaction Fee Is Not Published
For a card sold entirely on cost, an undisclosed foreign exchange fee is a real blind spot. See below.
Quebec Applicants Should Assume Different Terms
MBNA’s Quebec low interest page lists only the True Line Gold, at different rates, and shows no zero percent transfer promotion at all.
How It Sits In A Stack
Not advice. How this card reads next to the others published here.
It Is The Answer To The Second House Rule
Never carry a balance on a rewards card is one of the four principles on the card stack page. This is the card that rule points at. If something has to sit, it sits here.
It Is Not A Card You Spend On
Earning nothing at 12.99 percent while a no fee cash back card earns two percent means every purchase you put here costs you the difference. Use it for the balance and nothing else.
The Promotion Is A One Time Tool
Ninety days to transfer, twelve statement periods to clear, three percent to enter. Used once, deliberately, it is worth a lot. Left to run out, it is a 17.99 percent card.
What Could Not Be Confirmed
In circulation, and not on the issuer page. Printed rather than dropped.
The Foreign Transaction Fee
MBNA’s account agreement confirms a foreign currency conversion fee exists and is “a fixed percentage of the Transaction amount” set out in the card’s Disclosure Statement. That statement is not published on mbna.ca and the percentage could not be confirmed for this card on 6 September 2026. The 2.5 percent MBNA does publish is scoped by its own text to the Amazon.ca Rewards cards and is not carried across.
Whether The Rate Is Fixed Or Variable
MBNA’s account agreement states that “Your interest rates are variable rates”, calculated as a fixed margin above TD Prime Rate. The True Line product page says nothing either way. Whether 12.99 percent moves with prime could not be confirmed for this card.
Whether The Promotion Excludes Quebec
MBNA’s Quebec pages list only the True Line Gold and carry no zero percent transfer offer, and the Quebec URL for this card serves Gold content instead. No explicit exclusion sentence was found, so the Quebec position is reported as an inference from MBNA’s own page inventory rather than as an issuer statement.
All figures read off MBNA’s own Canadian pages and linked PDFs for the MBNA True Line Mastercard on 6 September 2026: annual fee $0 with no additional annual fee for each added authorized user and up to nine authorized users, annual interest rates for the rest of Canada of 12.99% on purchases, 17.99% on balance transfers and 24.99% on cash advances, a promotional zero percent annual interest rate applying to balance transfers made within 90 days of account opening and remaining in effect for 12 statement periods from the transaction date of each eligible transaction, reverting to the standard balance transfer rate on the first day of the first statement period after expiry or the first day of the second statement period following any late minimum payment, a balance transfer transaction fee of 3.00% of the dollar amount of each transfer with a $3.50 minimum and no stated maximum, a stated prohibition on transferring balances held with MBNA or any member of TD Bank Group, eligibility stated only as Canadian residency and the age of majority with no published income or credit score requirement, no rewards programme, and coverage limited to purchase assurance for ninety days with a $60,000 lifetime account limit and an extended warranty doubling the manufacturer’s warranty to a maximum of one additional year. The foreign transaction fee and whether the rates are fixed or variable could not be confirmed for this card and are published above as unconfirmed. No figure on this page comes from a comparison site. Cody Wise does not hold this card.
The Rest Of The Card Pages
What is actually in the wallet, and the one that is not.
The Whole Card Stack
Nine cards across six issuers, what each one costs and what it is actually for.
The Amex Platinum
The premium card in the wallet, with the $799 fee broken down against its credits.
The Centurion
The card with no application form, and what American Express actually publishes about it.
Common Questions
12.99 percent on purchases, 17.99 percent on balance transfers and 24.99 percent on cash advances, for the rest of Canada. Read off MBNA on 6 September 2026.
No. The annual fee is $0 and there is no additional annual fee for each added authorized user, up to nine.
Zero percent for twelve statement periods on balance transfers completed within ninety days of account opening, with a transfer fee of three percent and a $3.50 minimum. The twelve periods run from each transfer’s own transaction date.
17.99 percent, the standard balance transfer rate, not the 12.99 percent purchase rate. It also reverts on the first day of the second statement period following any late minimum payment.
No. There is no rewards programme on this card.
A Rate Is Not A Return
Until You Spend There.
Every accelerated rate in Canada is a rate on one category. The only question that matters is whether that category is where your money actually goes.
Not financial advice.