Why you should avoid Scotia Rewards Points (for now)

The Scotia Rewards Points program leaves a lot to be desired when compared with other credit card rewards.

You have five choices in the Scotiabank family of credit cards.

Scotiabank Gold American Express Card

• $99 annual fee
• 19.99% interest rate on purchases
• 22.99% interest rate on balance transfers and cash advances
• 4 Scotia Rewards points per $1 spent with the card on the first $50,000 at grocery stores, gas stations, dining, and entertainment. 1 Scotia Rewards point per $1 spent on everything else.

Scotiabank American Express Card

• No annual fee
• 19.99% interest rate on purchases
• 22.99% interest rate on balance transfers and cash advances
• 1 Scotia Rewards point for every $1 spent with the card

Scotiabank American Express Platinum

• $399 annual fee
• 19.99% interest rate on purchases
• 22.99% interest rate on balance transfers and cash advances
• 4 Scotia Rewards points per $1 spent with the card on the first $100,000 at grocery stores, gas stations, dining, and entertainment. 1 Scotia Rewards point per $1 spent on everything else.

ScotiaGold Passport VISA

• $110 annual fee
• 19.99% interest rate on purchases
• 22.99% interest rate on balance transfers and cash advances
• 1 Scotia Rewards point for every $1 spent on purchases. 5% cash back on travel purchased through Scotia Rewards Travel Service.

Scotiabank Rewards Visa Card

• $0 annual fee
• 19.99% interest rate on purchases
• 22.99% interest rate on balance transfers and cash advances
• 1 Scotia Rewards point for every $2 spent on purchases with the card

How much are Scotia Rewards Points worth?

Scotia Rewards Travel Service

Points are worth one cent each when you book travel through the Scotia Rewards Travel service using your Scotia Rewards credit card. You can include fees, surcharges, and taxes in the points redemption. Your minimum redemption is 5,000 points, worth $50. You’ll get the most value for Scotia Rewards Points when you use Scotia Rewards to book travel at a rate of $.01 per point.

Statement credits for travel purchases within the past 12 months

When you redeem points for statement credits, you can get as much as $.008 per point if you use as at least 62,500 points for a $500 statement credit. At the lower end, if you have only 3,000 points to use as a travel redemption, you’ll get $20 or $.0067 per point.

PrePaid cards and gift cards

Your points are worth $.0074 each when you use them to buy a prepaid card or gift card with a value of $25 to $100. A $25 gift card will cost you 3,400 points.

Merchandise in Scotia Rewards catalogue

Here, you may find a great deal on points redemption. The offerings change occasionally. Point values vary widely.

You may get $.004 per point on the purchase of a board game, but a Fossil men’s watch costing 21,000 points makes your rewards points worth $.0121

Best Buy and Apple merchandise

You can do a partial points redemption for these items. A 32 Gb Apple iPad – wifi only, costs 54,410 points with a retail value of $1,354.87 (tax included). In this scenario, your points are worth $.0089 each.

Scotia Amex Gold is your best bet

The Scotiabank Gold American Express card has the best earning rate in the marketplace for many people who put most of their everyday spending on their credit card.

It has great earning rates, especially in restaurants category, and a host of travel insurance coverage. Redeeming rewards is very simple.

It is an American Express card, so before you apply, you should make sure that the merchants you frequent accept American Express.

Scotiabank Gold American Express

(the annual fee and sign-up bonuses change regularly. I apologize if these are out of date. Clicking the link above will show you the current promotion.)

Overview

The Scotiabank Gold American Express card is my favorite card in the Canadian credit card marketplace. When it came out, I noticed it gave by far the best benefits of any card in its class. The main strength of this card is its high earning ability at restaurants (which very few other cards give bonuses to), gas and groceries and its ease of point redemption.

I think this is the best card for most people who are responsible with their credit (don’t carry a balance) and put more than $500 of everyday type purchases (gas, grocery, restaurant) on their card each month.

Rewards

Scotiabank has classified this card as ‘travel’ rewards card, when it is really more of a cashback card. Purchases made with this card earn Scotia Rewards Points. Scotia Rewards Points can be redeemed as a statement credit against a travel purchase. They are redeemed at a rate of 1 Scotia Rewards Point = $0.01, with a minimum redemption of 5,000 pts ($50).

I say this is really a cash back card since the value of the rewards points is fixed and will come back to you as a statement credit. You only need a travel purchase to release those rewards from your bank of points.

You’ll get four Scotia Rewards points per dollar spent at grocery stores and gas stations as well as on entertainment and dining. All other purchases earn one point per dollar spent with the card.

There’s a $99 annual fee, which cancels out your first 9,990 reward points. Rewards on your first $249.78 worth of spending in bonus categories or on your first $9,990 of spending in non-bonus categories each year are worth $99. 

How to redeem Scotia Rewards Points for travel

Even though this is one of the most widely-used rewards programs in Canada, you can do better.

You’ll need to accumulate 5,000 Scotia Rewards Points to get a $50 to book travel with Scotiabank full-service travel agency. This is the minimum redemption amount.

To get a statement credit, log into your Scotia Rewards account and click on “Travel.” Choose “Apply Points to Travel” and look through your last 12 months of travel charges. Check the box next to the ones you want to use points against.

Your rewards rate plummets to 1% if you can’t use it in the promotional categories earning 4 points per $1 spent with the card. Scotia Rewards Points, in general, have a low worth at $.01 per point. It’s not difficult to find a better-performing rewards network.

Two cards with better rewards than Scotia Rewards Points

SimplyCash Preferred Card from American Express

A viable alternative with a great introductory rewards program and no minimum income requirement is the SimplyCash Preferred Card from American Express.

The basics:

• New cardholders get 5% cashback during their first six months of owning the card.
• Rewards have a $300 maximum, which you’d achieve after spending $6,000 with the card.
• After the introductory offer, cardholders get unlimited 2% cashback on all purchases.
• There’s a $99 annual fee for the primary cardholder. Adding an additional card for an authorized user is free.

If you carry a balance on a high-interest card, you can transfer it to the SimplyCash Preferred Amex without incurring transfer fees in an amount equal to half of your total SimplyCash Amex credit limit. The 6-month introductory rate on balance transfers is 1.99% providing you make all monthly minimum card payments on time.

How to redeem cash back rewards from AMEX SimplyCash Preferred Card

Cardholders can redeem their cash back rewards once each year as a statement credit. So, if you’ve spent an average of $1,500 per month with the card, you’ll get a $540 statement credit after using the card for one year.

• $1,500 per month x 4 months @ 5% cash back with a maximum of $300 in rewards = $300
• $1,500 per month x 8 months @ 2% cash back with no maximum = $240

Rogers World Elite Mastercard

If you use Rogers or Fido cell service but you haven’t taken a close look at the Rogers World Elite Mastercard, now may be the time.

The basics:

• This card may not be as easy to get as the others. There’s a minimum $150,000 household income for families and $80,000 minimum personal income requirement.
• It doesn’t have an annual fee and additional cards are free.
• Cardholders get 4% unlimited cash back on eligible purchases made in foreign currency, 2% unlimited cash back rewards on Rogers products and services, and 1.75% on all other eligible purchases.

How to redeem Rogers World Elite Mastercard rewards

Here are your options for how you can spend your cashback rewards:

• any purchases made at Fido, Rogers, and chatr retail stores
• reduce your monthly bill from these companies
• Today’s Shopping Choice
• merchandise at Jays Shop in the store or online
• Rogers Centre concessions
• Toronto Blue Jays tickets

For Canadians already using Fido or Rogers cell service, this card is a great way to reduce those bills with everyday spending. Otherwise, you’ll be better off choosing the SimplyCash Preferred Card from American Express

Why the MBNA World Elite Card is no longer a great choice

A former contender for the best rewards card, the MBNA World Elite Card with 2% cash back is no longer available to new cardholders. The company made some significant changes for current cardholders, as well. This is worth mentioning simply because there are still many old reviews and promotional articles floating around featuring this card as an excellent cash back option.

The basics:

• As of September 1, 2018, MBNA raised the $89 annual fee to $120.
• The 5,000-point redemption minimum is now 6,000 points.
• Cardholders must give up 120 points to get a $1 reward effective February 1, 2019.
• Previously, 100 points were worth $1.

As a result of these changes, there are now even fewer choices for Canadians searching for a credit card with long-term cashback and rewards potential for everyday spending.