My spending is getting out of control | Page 4 | Credit card reward programs | Discussion forum

crediphile said

It's points, not cash although you can redeem on gift cards. And the income requirement is too high for some people. And it's a mastercard, accepted in less places than VISA. And the annual fee, once the interest rate goes down, it would be indifferent to keep the $6K as the dead balance fee waiver whereas you can't get annual fee waived at all on MBNA. What I look for in a credit card is flexibility. To me, CIBC Infinite is more flexible.  

I have not come across a place which accepts Visa but not Mastercard.

$6K will always earn me money, regardless of interest rates. Not a big deal, but expected annual return will always exceed $120.

And by the way, MBNA World Elite has far better insurance.

mordko said

Why limit yourself to big bank brokerages? And even if you do, mobility has benefits. TDDI just bribed me $2K on every $100K moved to them. Beats $120 saving in MBNA cc fee which isn’t even a saving in the first place.

By getting around $500 in inducements up front I covered 4 years’ worth of MBNA fees AND I get higher cash back rate on more categories than CIBC’s Visa.

There is no way maths would benefit CIBC’s card over MBNA’s in my case but could work out differently for others.  

TDDI offering u 2% per $100k ?! Where’s that offer ? Find that hard to believe….

mordko said

I have not come across a place which accepts Visa but not Mastercard.

$6K will always earn me money, regardless of interest rates. Not a big deal, but expected annual return will always exceed $120.

And by the way, MBNA World Elite has far better insurance.  

The Olympics supposedly only takes VISA. And some merchants may only take VISA and not Mastercard.

But if 6K is earning less than $120 ($170 actually if you need to add an authorized user) due to a drop in interest rate, then you might as well deposit it there to avoid the annual fee. $120/6000 = 2%. Once the interest rate on GIC's or savings account drops below 2% which was the norm before Covid, you might as well use that $6K to get rid of the annual fee. With CIBC Dividend Infinite, you can but with MBNA, you just can't have that option.

CIBC's insurance is comparable, from how I see it. How is the insurance on MBNA's World Elite better?

VISA-sponsored events often refuse MasterCard. I know the Vancouver International Film Festival has done this for years, though I haven't checked lately. Word there was that VISA originally demanded that ALL tickets be purchased but VIFF refused.

And the burn is that if you DO use Visa, there's a "handling fee" of at least $2! Greedy, Visa, greedy!

(One may aruge it's VIFF recouping the transaction fee charged by VISA, but it IS VISA charging the fee!)

mordko said

Fair enough to Olympics. I won’t be going.

There is no reason to have an authorized user. Two of us use the same card (thats what cellphones and watches are for).

I understand your point re interest rates but return on investments does not equal HISA rate for people who invest in other things. The year of Covid had double digit returns.

MBNA World Elite has far superior insurance. Including price protection, which is kinda cool even if I won’t use it:

https://www.mbna.ca/content/dam/mbna/document/pdf/credit-cards/1215n-mbna-rewards-world-elite-mastercard-en.pdf

Compare to Cibc’s infinite dividend visa:

https://www.cibc.com/content/dam/personal_banking/credit_cards/agreements_and_insurance/1932-dividend-infinite-cert-en.pdf  

Yes for investing the $6K, since the amount is so small, the only way to invest it is in cash savings products, there is no any other investment vehicles that you can invest $6K in besides may be stocks. But even with stocks, how many shares can you buy with $6K and the profit that you earn, would it reach $120?

For the authorized users, yes this is what we do as well but there would be a time when both of you need to use the card physically to buy stuff from different stores at the same time or one of you is shopping and the other is dining with his/her friends at the same time? With CIBC, for $6K, you can get annual fee waived for the primary cardholder plus up to 3 authorized users. It's $30 per authorized users so in total that $6K just saved $120 + 30 X 3 = $210 in annual fee potentially. So by just dumping $6K that you can't do anything with once the interest rate drops, you can give that CIBC dividend Infinite card to your spouse, your in-laws or parents or children and they can all help you earn cashback annual fee-free!!!

The insurance I tell you is pretty much the same between MBNA and CIBC because they all come from the same underwriters and with similar cost structure, it won't be much different. I have used the purchase protection of CIBC before and it was pretty good. I got the whole purchase price reimbursed. The most generous and best purchase protection though is by AMEX. What used to set CIBC apart and even better than any cashback card is its travel insurance that allows total trip cancellation. That was the best! But they cancelled it in 2021 or 2022 I can't remember exactly. It was just too good to be true. But as a small consolation prize, they added restaurant to its 2% cashback category and allowed for more frequent cash redemption instead of having to wait by the end of the year like many cashback cards.

If one has $100k at CIBC IE, the prem chequring acct is free, the Visa infinite card is free as well. Pretty no brainer deal for me.

Oh safety deposit box is free too but who uses one these days lol

savemoresaveoften said

Thanks for the link. Says by invitation only, I don’t bank with TD, too bad.  

I didn’t either but for a 2% bribe I opened TDDI account and filled in the linked form. Then they sent me an invitation email. Then I initiated the transfers.

Pretty sure this deal is over though. TD is offering 1% now, I think, but you have to google. Alternatively Wealthsimple is offering 1% and make the transfer process much easier than TDDI. Also free trading, airport lounge visits, easier/faster money transfers, pseudo chequing accounts with up to 5% interest and better design.

For someone who has to keep $100K in CIBC IE the cost of their free credit card with inferior cash back is only $1,000 based on current brokerage offers but it was. $2,000 based on TDDI’s crazy offer from May.