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Email this5:19 pm
January 3, 2013
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I started hunting for 1 or 2 new credit cards to take benefit of the bonus and maybe good points. I am mostly concentrating on Travel Credit Card. So far have below in my radar. Anyone can recommend one over the other? They all seam appealing. Good Welcome Bonus. High Points. Good benefit. Maybe I only consider the ones with 1st year fee waiver.
Scotiabank®* Gold American Express® Card (Reward 4%, Annual Fee $99)
Earn 20,000 Scotia Rewards bonus points, worth $200 in travel, with $750 in net purchases in first three months. Plus, first year $99 annual fee waiver.
Earn 4x Scotia Rewards points for every $1 you spend at gas stations, grocery stores, on dining and entertainment
https://www.ratesupermarket.ca/credit_cards/scotiabank/scotiabank_gold_american_express_card
TD Platinum Travel Visa (3%, Annual Fee $99)
15,000 TD Points upon approval, 3 TD points earned for every $1 spent on card.
https://www.ratesupermarket.ca/credit_cards/td_canada_trust/td_platinum_travel_visa
CIBC Aventura® Visa InfiniteTM (1 - 1.5%, Annual Fee $120)
15,000 Bonus Aventura Points on first use of card.
Earn 1 Aventura Point for every $1 spent.
Earn 1.5 Aventura Points at gas stations, grocery & drug stores.
https://www.ratesupermarket.ca/credit_cards/cibc/cibc_aventura_visa_infinite
Capital One® Aspire Travel™ World Elite MasterCard® (2%, Annual Fee $150)
Earn 2 reward miles for every $1 – on all purchases
Get 40,000 bonus reward miles when you spend $1,000 on net purchases in the first 3 months after account opening – a value of $400 in travel
https://www.ratesupermarket.ca/credit_cards/capital_one/capital_one_aspire_travel_world_elite_mastercard
American Express Gold Rewards Card (1%, Annual Fee $150)
New American Express® Gold Rewards* Cardmembers can earn a Welcome Bonus of 25,000 Membership Rewards® points just by making $1,500 in purchases in the first three months of Cardmembership.
No Annual Fee for the first year; $150 Annual Fee thereafter*
That's enough to redeem for a round-trip Fixed Mileage Flight Reward TM* to almost anywhere in North America.
** This is a charge card and need to be paid in full every month.
Note: I never had American Express credit card.
Thank you
5:31 pm
December 17, 2016
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"Note: I never had American Express credit card."
As a frequent traveller to Europe AMEX cards are one of the least accepted credit cards, if they're accepted at all.
5:42 pm
January 3, 2013
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Top It Up said
"Note: I never had American Express credit card."
As a frequent traveller to Europe AMEX cards are one of the least accepted credit cards, if they're accepted at all.
Thanks for your feedback. I don't have intention to actually use it abroad. My Amazon Visa is the one I always use to avoid the exchange fee. I am mostly interested in the bonus. My round trip flight to Mexico was $355 in Dec 2016. Maybe I could get a free flight or use the point to redeem instead of paying the full price! Just dreaming for now!
5:45 pm
January 3, 2013
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From all other credit cards, I just found good value on Scotia Momentum® VISA* Infinite Card for their 4% cash back and waived fee for the 1st year.
I also wonder, when do people usually cancel their credit cards? I currently have 3 card but only use 2 of them. Adding another 2 would be a headache which means I might cancel my RBC MasterCard which I only use once a year! I haven't canceled it only because they gave me a crazy high balance which might come handy at one point
.
12:06 am
October 21, 2013
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I can't comment on your short list, but, yes, you should consider cancelling one or more of your credit cards. Whatever credit limit you have on them counts against your credit possibilities and affects your credit rating. However, that said, I would want to make sure I always had the amount of credit available that I thought I might need for an unlikely but possible eventuality.. So, I would aim to eventually get rid of the RBC, once you have enough credit on other cards to cover you. Or perhaps RBC could transfer you to a more desirable card and retain your credit limit with them. You may be able to voluntarily reduce your credit limit with RBC whenever you get a bit more credit elsewhere, and eventually get rid of it that way.
6:31 am
November 19, 2014
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Yas said
From all other credit cards, I just found good value on Scotia Momentum® VISA* Infinite Card for their 4% cash back and waived fee for the 1st year.
+1 That is the card we use for all groceries/gas.
Also have the Amazon Chase card for travelling and for buying stuff on Amazon. The last card is the MBNA Smart Cash.
Between the three of them, we are averaging between 800 and 1000$ total cashback a year.
Give me that any day over all the phoney baloney "points" systems.
1:48 pm
January 3, 2013
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Loonie said
I can't comment on your short list, but, yes, you should consider cancelling one or more of your credit cards. Whatever credit limit you have on them counts against your credit possibilities and affects your credit rating. However, that said, I would want to make sure I always had the amount of credit available that I thought I might need for an unlikely but possible eventuality.. So, I would aim to eventually get rid of the RBC, once you have enough credit on other cards to cover you. Or perhaps RBC could transfer you to a more desirable card and retain your credit limit with them. You may be able to voluntarily reduce your credit limit with RBC whenever you get a bit more credit elsewhere, and eventually get rid of it that way.
Oh WOW! I think I was getting the whole rating in a wrong way thinking higher balance is better for credit rating! I am going to cancel this RBC Master Card.
1:49 pm
January 3, 2013
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Koogie said
Yas said
From all other credit cards, I just found good value on Scotia Momentum® VISA* Infinite Card for their 4% cash back and waived fee for the 1st year.+1 That is the card we use for all groceries/gas.
Also have the Amazon Chase card for travelling and for buying stuff on Amazon. The last card is the MBNA Smart Cash.Between the three of them, we are averaging between 800 and 1000$ total cashback a year.
Give me that any day over all the phoney baloney "points" systems.
Great. I already use Chase for the same reasons as yours and MBNA Smart Cash for other purchases. I think this ScotiaBank CC is a good option.
Thank you.
9:46 pm
October 21, 2013
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Yas said
Oh WOW! I think I was getting the whole rating in a wrong way thinking higher balance is better for credit rating! I am going to cancel this RBC Master Card.
Just to clarify, since you weren't aware of this issue...
There are two issues,your credit rating and the amount of credit you have.
For your credit rating, the issue is how good you are at paying your bills and what percentage of your available credit you actually use. If you pay your bills on time and only use about a third of your available credit, they will care little about how many cards you have.
The other issue is how much credit you have. The more cards you have, the more credit you are likely to have. If that total gets too high in relation to your income, then they will be less willing to give you more credit, and, thus, more credit cards.
My own feeling is that I don't want to make my life any more complicated than necessary. (And it's still complicated!) I only keep the cards that I have a real use for, where that use is not duplicated by another card. So far, I've kept it down to 2 but may well add another. I did get rid of one a year or two ago because I couldn't justify keeping it.
Always try to have 1 Visa and 1 MasterCard because sometimes the system may be down in one or the other of them, so you need a back-up on the other system.
Note: Meridian CU is offering a new suite of credit cards. At least one of them gives 4% for gas and groceries.You can get the details from a branch if you are in an area they serve, and they are taking applications now, but this info is not yet all online.
4:13 pm
January 3, 2013
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Great points Loonie.
I have never had an unpaid balance and always paid them fully. Regarding the usage, now that I am doing the calculation, I have never went over 15% credit usage at a time. I hate to owe money and I usually pay whatever balance I see at anytime. I didn't have time to cancel the RFB this week but will call them next week.
And great point regarding Meridian. Going to check it now.
Also I was thinking to open a credit card to maybe use the welcome points and get a one way or round trip ticket paid for Central America.
12:23 am
October 21, 2013
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Some info about the Meridian Visa cards is now online. Looks quite good to me, good set of insurance packages as well - at least for the cashback versions. Need to find out if the car rental insurance is primary or secondary.
I would say it's competitive with the Scotia series; might actually be better but I have not taken a detailed look.
However, if your goal is a huge sign-up points bonus, you should look elsewhere for now. I don't think Meridian will likely give that.
2:47 pm
January 3, 2013
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Just wanted to update.
1. I cancelled my RBC Credit Card about 3 months ago.
2. I just applied for ScotiaBank Gold Amex Card.
Current offer looks good. 30,000 Scotia Rewards bonus points,with your first $750 in everyday purchases in first three months. Plus, first year annual fee waiver.
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