What Credit Card(s) do you use? | Page 2 | Credit card reward programs | Discussion forum

I don't think there has been anything new since Tangerine.

Funny you should ask. Only last night I went through all our credit card billings for 2015 and totalled up spending in the major categories. I decided to stay right where we were. The advantage to us of going with Tangerine was well under $100/yr. I don't want to add another card to the wallet, and have to worry about meeting another deadline with costly penalties, unless it's more worthwhile than that, as we will not be giving up our existing primary card.

I know most people on this forum seem to go for cards with no fee, but my calculations show that it depends on how much you use the card. The fee is fixed, but the "reward" increases with volume. The more money you spend on the card, the more likely a fee card is going to be worth your while. Also, cash-back is certainly the most flexible, but doesn't always pay the best return.
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We might still go for the Costco card at some point though, as a secondary. For our spending habits, it worked out to better advantage than Tangerine, which was a surprise to me, and better in its limited categories than our primary card.

EDITED, and added:

If you are a "big spender" on credit card, then the MBNA card may be worth your while even with the fee. Personally, I prefer to deal with cards from the big Canadian banks. I just find them easier to deal with, more courteous, more likely to speak English that I am able to understand.

Last week, had to call both BMO and RBC re: credit cards, asking the same question of each. RBC won by a mile in terms of professionalism, language, and knowing what they were talking about. When I am travelling or stuck somewhere where I really need my credit card, I am under some stress, and the last thing I want is to have to speak to someone I can't understand or who doesn't understand the issue. Frankly, I didn't expect such a big difference between these two banks. That's only one instance, but it has stuck with me.

I've just been reading this topic's posts. What jumped out at me (not which card to use), but the idea of buying gift cards, getting a reward for doing so, and then using the card and getting another reward! Have I got this right? If I have, please let me know and I'll go buy gift cards before my 4% at Tangerine runs out on July 10th. I wonder how many other ways of saving I'm unaware of! I'll have fun searching for answers.....

Loonie...big banks are moving call centres to India and possibly other countries. No issues for me with BMO. My wife's cousin lost her job at TD a few years ago. Her last assignment was training in India.

Loonie said

kanaka said

Loonie...big banks are moving call centres to India and possibly other countries. No issues for me with BMO. My wife's cousin lost her job at TD a few years ago. Her last assignment was training in India.

I know they are doing this and RBC among them, but the person I spoke to at RBC had a local accent, responded appropriately, understood the question. Negative on all three at BMO on this occasion.

I hear you! BMO and iTrade/BNS seem to have young folks that are in fear of using common sense (or just don't have any) and stick to the rules or make up their own from their lack of interpretation. So while a lot of senior folks have been retired off, with payroll savings, and given golden handshakes and the such. We are left with the new and sometimes untrained ones going us an incompetent level of service. So do we move on, just roll our eyes or get demanding???

How about CIBC Aventura Visa Infinite card? They have a 15000 points signing up bonus plus waived first year fee.

5% , presumably on everything?, is a great deal for the correct 3 months. If you can match it up with major expenses like home renos or major vacation etc., and have a big enough credit limit to enjoy it, I'd go for it for sure.
It has been reported, however, that some credit cards give you a lowish limit to make sure you don't get too much advantage, although I'm not sure if that applies to Scotia. I think I heard about this in regards to CapitalOne.

$360 is what you'd get for a difference in interest rate of .36 on 100K. And it would probably take about the same amount of effort to get it. I think you'd probably pursue that, wouldn't you?

Personally, though, I prefer the cards which give the same rate on everything. I've done the math, and we don't spend enough on their various categories to make it come out better for us. Don't drive a lot. Go to farmers' markets where they don't take credit cards much of the year etc etc. Our biggest category by far is "other", which is never well rewarded by the category system. If you get the "category" cards, you have to be constantly paying attention to which card you are using. I would find that a nuisance.

Still, if it was worth $360 to me, I'd probably take it.

I'd recommend having a MasterCard as well as the Visa, but I would only be willing to pay for one of them.
MC is good for Costco if you belong to them. Also, sometimes one system is down and you need the other. Always good to have a back-up, even if you rarely use it.
I have a store-branded MC. The return on it is terrible, but I like the extended return policy that it gives me - have saved a bundle on that! I essentially only use it for shopping at that particular store, and I don't even do a lot of that, but I like to have time to consider returns. However, they recently sent me a deal where, if I buy gas on it five times (no minimum) within six weeks, they'll give me $25.

According to their homepage, hubert financial is introducing a credit card. No details yet.

MMontreal said
Im a big believer in travel card welcome bonuses. Not sure you can consider me a churner, but I like to get 1 or 2 new cards a year, focusing on the welcome bonus....

I wouldn't go crazy and get like 4 cards at once, or you'll blow your credit, but you could definitely get a few a year without a problem. Just out of curiosity, what's the most amount of cards anyone here has gotten in a year?  

Agreed. IMO the real value in credit card rewards is the ability to generate near 100K miles within 6 months for little to no spend required. These points plus your spend will generate 4 "long" haul flights, for example, Toronto to California or Toronto to Ireland, return (i.e. 25,000 to 26,000 miles return) plus taxes of approx. $200 per trip. Watch the taxes as these can be significantly higher depending on the airline and route.

If you collect referral points and wait for bonus transfers then this base 100k can be turned into 120k to 150k miles over the course of the year. These miles can be accumulated with 5 credit cards which I always blitz within one month. The impact to your credit rating is immaterial (and actually improves over several months because you have significant credit available with little use). Wait a few bit (6 months to years depending on the card) and repeat. If your spouse does the blitz at the same time then double the above. Happy travels.

SavingIsGood said
How can you generate 100K (100,000) Airmiles within 6 months????????
1mile=spent $20. 100K miles = $2,000,000? Am I missing something?  

I think you missed the welcome bonus part of the discussion. i.e. Amex 25,000 miles welcome bonus, TD Areoplan 25,000 miles welcome bonus, etc, etc.