[Updated 10/2023] Mastercard has partnered with Instacart and Peacock to offer additional benefits to World Mastercard and World Elite Mastercard cardholders, such as complimentary membership and statement credits. If you have one of these cards and also use these services, it may be worth signing up.

The Instacart benefit is as follows:

  • World Mastercard and World Elite Mastercard cardholders can get two complimentary months of Instacart+ membership, plus $10 off the second order each month.

The Peacock benefit is as follows:

  • World Mastercard and World Elite Mastercard cardholders with a Peacock Premium membership can receive a $3 monthly statement credit.
  • World Elite Mastercard cardholders with a Peacock Premium+ membership can receive a $5 monthly statement credit.
  • All Mastercard cardholders can access Priceless Experiences, such as NBCUniversal’s iconic shows and studios across the country, BravoCon, and more.

About Mastercard and Its Benefits

Most credit cards have a logo on the front such as Visa, Mastercard, Discover, or AMEX. These refer to the card payment network. In addition to the benefits offered by the issuing bank, the payment network itself may also provide benefits. We previously covered the extra benefits available at different Visa card tiers; today we’ll look at the benefits offered through the Mastercard network. Mastercard divides its cards into three tiers: Standard Mastercard, World Mastercard, and World Elite Mastercard. Each tier offers different benefits, and higher tiers include the benefits from lower tiers.

In general, you can tell a card’s tier by looking under the Mastercard logo on the card, though on some cards it appears elsewhere on the front.

On some cards it appears on the back. In any case, if you’re not sure, the fastest way is to call the number on the back of your card and ask customer service.

Standard Mastercard

If there is no additional label beneath the Mastercard logo, the card generally falls into the Standard Mastercard tier. If you’re unsure, you can call the customer service number on the back of the card to ask. That said, based on what I’ve seen, most cards are at least World Mastercard, so standard-tier cards are actually relatively uncommon.

Regular Mastercard cards come with a few basic benefits, some of which overlap with benefits provided by the card issuer.

Based on the official page, there is really only one benefit listed: a promotional offer from McAfee. Better than nothing.

World Mastercard

World Mastercard offers quite a bit more. Basically, many cards with at least some name recognition fall into the World Mastercard tier.

A few of the benefits here are actually useful:

  • Lyft: After paying for three Lyft rides in a month, you can get $5 to use toward your next ride.
  • DoorDash: New users get 3 months of complimentary membership, plus an extra $5 off the first order each month.
  • ShopRunner: Cardholders can get complimentary membership.

There is also a nice cell phone protection benefit: if you pay your cell phone bill with a World Mastercard, you can get up to $600 in coverage per claim.

Cell phone protection: By paying your cell phone bill with your World Mastercard, you'll receive up to $1,000 in yearly coverage (maximum two claims per year, for up to $600 per claim) if you damage your phone or if it gets stolen.

However, the exact terms depend on how each issuer defines and administers this phone insurance benefit. For more details, see:

There is also a travel platform, but after a quick look I didn’t see any especially targeted or compelling benefits.

There are also private golf and some special-event experiences, though they probably won’t be useful for most people.

The credit card protection benefits are exactly the same as those for Standard Mastercard.

World Elite Mastercard

There are also several familiar cards in the World Elite tier:

There is also an official summary page for these benefits:

A few of the benefits here are useful:

  • Lyft: After paying for three Lyft rides in a month, you can get $5 to use toward your next ride.
  • DoorDash: New users get 3 months of complimentary membership, plus an extra $5 off the first order each month.
  • ShopRunner: Cardholders can get complimentary membership with 2-day shipping.
  • Fandango: Spend $20 and get a $5 credit.

There is also a nice cell phone protection benefit: if you pay your cell phone bill with a World Elite Mastercard, you can get up to $800 in coverage per claim.

Cell phone protection: You're covered for up to $800 per claim, but the same $1,000 annual limit and $50 deductible apply.

However, the exact terms depend on how each issuer defines and administers this phone insurance benefit. For more details, see:

The other benefits are basically the same as World Mastercard, so I won’t include more screenshots here.

Summary

Overall, as you can see, Mastercard’s benefits are still fairly limited. Compared with Mastercard, Visa also has targeted benefits through its hotel platform, plus Visa Offer. Hopefully Mastercard will step it up and add more perks.