Temporary Deal Alert – for a limited time you can get a FREE $100 Gift Card from RateSupermarket.ca with a no-annual fee card: either 0% balance transfer for 12 months OR up to 5% cash-back on gas and groceries.
- The MBNA Platinum Plus MasterCard – 0% balance transfer for 12 months! If you have credit card debt, get this card NOW. Consolidate your debt for a year for 0%!
- The MBNA Smart Cash MasterCard – 5% cash-back on gas and groceries for the first 6 months. Yes, TD ruined this card when they bought out MBNA. It’s no longer the best cash-back card in Canada — that title goes to the Scotia Momentum Infinite VISA. Even still, get this MBNA card for 6 months, enjoy 5% cash-back on some gas and groceries and a $100 gift card!
And here’s the banner; check it out today because the deal ends April 30th, 2013!
What’s the best credit card deal in Canada for 2012?
The Scotia Momentum® VISA Infinite is the best credit card deal in Canada because it offers:
- 4% cash-back on gas and groceries.
- 2% cash-back on drugstore purchases. Shoppers Drug Mart is on this list.
- 2% cash-back on recurring payments.
- 1% on everything else — for these purchases, to maximize cash-back, I recommend having a secondary credit card which I discuss later in this article.
Cash is king. That’s why I prefer a cash back credit card. Rewards credit cards are great. Cash-back rewards credit cards are even better. That’s why the insane cash-back levels on the Scotia Momentum Infinite really take the cake.
The former best credit card deal in Canada for 2012 was the Smart Cash MasterCard® credit card. I got many $50 cheques from MBNA while using this rewards credit card and I never paid any fees or interest. Sadly, they’ve reduced their payouts and thresholds. Even still, the card offers 5% cash-back on gas and groceries for the first six months so it is worth checking out.
Now, that’s not to say this is the best credit card for every Canadian. If I could only pick ONE card, it would be the Scotia Momentum® VISA Infinite. It’s the best credit card for me. “Best for me” doesn’t necessarily equate to the credit card that’s “best for you”. It’s critical that you do the math because there is a $99 annual fee. If you use the card enough, the return is huge despite the fee.
I am strongly considering adding a secondary card to my line-up, for all my non-groceries/gas credit card purchases: the Capital One Aspire Cash™ World MasterCard®. Why? It offers a 1% cash-back on purchases plus a 50% anniversary bonus on points earned — essentially the cash-back is 1.5%. This rate, of course, doesn’t beat the Scotia card’s cash-back on gas, groceries, recurring payments, or drugstore purchases.
Also, while this is subject to change, as of November 21st 2012, new cardholders get $100 cashback when they make the first purchase on their new Capital One Aspire Cash™ World MasterCard®!
Let’s look at other great card offers that could meet your needs — whether you’re a student, or you want a 0% balance transfer, or you need a low fixed rate.
The Quick Table
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Best Cash-Back Card |
 Best 0% Balance Transfer |
 Best Low, Fixed Rate |
Best Student Rewards |
The Best Low Interest Rate Credit Card (and the Best Fixed-Rate Credit Card)
I don’t recommend carrying a balance on a credit card — there are cheaper forms of credit and I don’t think you should be in debt anyway! But, if you do carry a balance, at least pay less interest. Get the TrueLine MasterCard® credit card, with a fixed 9.99% AIR! Also, be sure to pay it off as fast as possible.
Credit Card Payoff Calculator
The Best Balance Transfer Credit Card Deal
Canada’s best Credit Card balance-transfer deal, that I’m aware of, is the MBNA Platinum Plus®. This deal is subject to change without notice, but when I wrote this, they were offering 0% interest for 10 months (before fees). Again, I don’t recommend having debt let alone credit card debt. But if you’re going to pay to use somebody else’s money, a 0% balance transfer sounds a lot better than 20%, even after accounting for fees.
The Best Student Rewards Credit Card
I haven’t been a student since 2009, so I don’t exactly “keep up” on the latest and greatest credit card promotions for students. When you have a brand new credit history or very little income it’s hard to qualify for a card. Therefore you need to pick the right card and only apply once. The difficulty in finding the right card is compounded for students because there’s not a lot of good rewards credit cards out there for young people. Here’s a great credit card offer if you’re still in school: MBNA Rewards StudentAwards.
The Best Small Business Rewards Credit Card
| I need to get a credit card for my business. I’m strongly leaning toward the American Express® Gold Rewards Card for Small Business Owners. |  |
The Best Groceries Credit Card
The PC Financial MasterCard is often cited as the best for heavy spenders on groceries, but it’s simply not true. I got this card for the bonus groceries — by the time I signed up for electronic billing and a referral bonus or two, I got about $60 in free groceries. Yes, the annual fee is $0. But as a reward credit card, it sucks. It only gives you about 1% of your purchases in free groceries. Sure, there are other chances to earn PC Points, but the ongoing rewards from this credit card aren’t good enough to justify my effort. In short: it’s not the best credit card deal in Canada. Therefore I don’t recommend it to everybody. Instead, if you use the Scotia Momentum® VISA Infinite to buy groceries, you’ll get way more cash back!
The Best Travel Rewards Card
- I don’t invest any of my self-worth in the branding of my credit card. But if I did, I’d get the American Express® Gold Rewards Card. There’s no doubt – this is a premium credit card. There’s also some awesome introductory offers, depending on when you sign up.
- The TD First Class Travel Visa Infinite Card is another popular rewards credit card in Canada as of late. They ran a promotion where you could get $200 in travel. The problem is, this rewards card has a huge annual fee! I did use this credit card offer because I was able to get the fee waived. Check out my TD First Class Travel Visa Infinite Card review – I got $100 in free gas from this credit card! If you’re going to pay a large fee, I’d go with a more premium card like the American Express® Gold Rewards Card.
So, yes, there are other credit card promotions available, but I still think the Scotia Momentum® VISA Infinite is the best cash back credit card for the average Canadian. I consider it the “main course” credit card, after which a person can pick and choose from the buffet of other credit card promotions to maximize their return.
In Summary
What is the best credit card deal in Canada? The Scotia Momentum® VISA Infinite is the best credit card deal in Canada for 2012 — so far. That’s not to say something else won’t come along. If you find something, let me know if you hear about any better credit card deals, credit card promotions, or credit card offers from superior cash back credit cards or rewards credit cards. And here’s a convenient summary of this page’s content:
- Canada’s best Credit Card deal: Scotia Momentum® VISA Infinite
- Canada’s best low, fixed-rate Credit Card: TrueLine MasterCard® credit card – Fixed 9.99% AIR
- Canada’s best Credit Card balance-transfer deal: Platinum Plus® - 0% interest for 10 months before fees (this deal is subject to change! Get it before it ends!!)
- Canada’s best student rewards Credit Card: MBNA Rewards StudentAwards
- Canada’s best small business rewards Credit Card: American Express® Gold Rewards Card
- Canada’s best groceries rewards Credit Card: Scotia Momentum® VISA Infinite
- Canada’s best non-groceries/gas/drugstore/bill cash-back Credit Card: Capital One Aspire Cash™ World MasterCard®
- Canada’s best no-fee cash-back bonus Credit Card: Capital One Aspire Cash™ World MasterCard®
- Canada’s best premium rewards / travel rewards Credit Card: American Express® Gold Rewards Card
Stuff I Haven’t Figured Out Yet: Credit Card Arbitrage Schemes
One cool (but potentially risky and dangerous) strategy for building wealth with a no-fee rewards credit card is to do “credit card arbitrage” — that is, use a low-interest balance transfer to earn interest in a savings account. I personally haven’t done credit card arbitrage because I haven’t found a safe, profitable way to go about it. But if I do, I’ll let you know.
Stuff I Haven’t Figured Out Yet: US Dollar Credit Cards for Canadians
There are some great US dollar credit cards available to Canadians. A US dollar credit card is extremely convenient for cross-border shopping, or even for buying things online. My US dollar credit card makes travel a dream. But this post is about the “best credit card deal” in Canada, which I take to mean “cash back”, “offers”, “promotions”, etc. Well, I don’t know of any US dollar rewards credit cards issued by a Canadian financial institution. That doesn’t mean there isn’t such a card out there, I just haven’t seen it.
In the future, I also want to discuss the best credit card deals in America — a country where the credit card rewards, cash back rates, offers, and promotions are incredibly awesome.
You should do the math on a few other credit cards to see if they beat the Smart Cash card based on your spending levels:
Capital One Aspire Cash is a no-fee cash back card where you earn 1% back on everything, plus a 50% bonus on your rewards each year…so you basically earn 1.5% back on all spending. Plus they throw in $100 on your first purchase, not bad.
Then there’s the annual fee cards, like Capital One Aspire Travel, which gives you 2 points per $1 spent, plus 10k points on your anniversary, plus 35k points with your first purchase. The points can be converted to cash at 75% of the value.
MoneySense ranked the Scotia Momentum Visa Infinite as the best cash back card on the market for high spenders. You get 4% back on gas and groceries, 2% back on prescriptions and recurring bill payments, and 1% back on all other spending. The annual fee is $99, which is less than most premium cards ($120).
Also worth noting is that PC Financial has a PC World MasterCard for loyal shoppers, where they can earn 2% back on their in-store spending.
Another Student card worth mentioning is BMO’s SPC MasterCard, where you can earn some rewards, but it’s also tied into the SPC discount program.
Thanks very much for your input.
Capital One Aspire has a $120 annual fee. The $100 on the first purchase and 1.5% cash-back would make it a reasonable compliment if I spent enough on NON cash/groceries. BUT (1) besides on gas and groceries, I spend at best a two grand a year on my credit card (after the first $100 bonus year it definitely wouldn’t pay for itself, it’d just be a really expensive pocket noose) and (2) perhaps I should add “no-fee” to the title for why MBNA Smart Cash is the best card, but I consider “no fee” to be part of the equation. Not just for math purposes — I morally object to credit card fees, unless somebody is an ‘aspirational’ spender who puts value on the prestige of a card (and therefore is making an emotional decision to have the card). Not that I recommend this, it’s not money smart, but if people want to spend their discretionary income on a little piece of plastic rather than Five Guys hamburgers, whatever, matter of personal taste. If I were an aspirational card holder, I really would go with American Express, since everybody knows their cards are way cooler than Cap One.
Capital One Aspire Travel Platinum MasterCard (correct me if I’m looking at the wrong one) which is fee free only appears to give one point (did I mention CASH is KING in my books — they can’t change the value of cash. They CAN and they DO change the value of their proprietary “points” systems all the time) plus a 25% annual bonus, and the “first purchase” bonus is a pretty measly 10K points. Did I mention I really hate when they use obscure formulas? e.g. “points can be converted to 75% cash”. It just stinks of typical Canadian Oligopolist financial institution greed.
When I worked for BMO, I signed up for the SPC MasterCard and they refused to switch me over because I was using BMO’s unbranded 0.5% cashback card. That’s when I bailed on their B.S. permanently and I don’t bother with BMO’s offerings which are, from all I can tell, still garbage (same goes for National Bank).
Scotia Momentum sounds like a very good card for — as you note — high spenders. I will consider including a new “high spend” category sometime in the future. The extra percent on gas and groceries wouldn’t make it worthwhile to me; recurring bill payments would be great, except that most socialist utilities here in Ontario charge an obscene “convenience fee” if you pay your bill with a credit card, so I’d be getting $25 back a year on the cell phone bills for my GF and I. I also have a drug plan and *knock on wood* haven’t gotten sick, so I’m not even paying dispensing fees. Nevertheless, this offering definitely has potential for high spenders, thanks for pointing it out!
I had no idea about the PC World MasterCard. Of course, it still fails to stack up to MBNA SmartCash’s 3% for groceries (which can be used at an array of stores, not just Loblaws — I shop at Food Basics which is Metro-owned and FreshCo which is Sobey’s owned every week), not to mention the 3% for gas or the first-six-months 5% rate.
I am really liking my MBNA Smartcash card because like you Joe I spend mainly on groceries and gas. But my favourite part is that my Walmart (because it is a supercenter with the huge grocery section) counts as groceries no matter what I buy there! I have bought random stuff like from Tylenol to bedsheets to mascara there and my entire purchase gets the 3% cash back on it. Which by the way is way better than the stupid Walmart Mastercard they keep pushing me to sign up for when I checkout.
At some point, I am going to get the Wal-Mart MasterCard for the $20 bonus or whatever — but there are too many large bonuses that are “ahead in line”.
Thanks for pointing out this other benefit, even though it’s not necessarily guaranteed to work. When I bought my flatscreen TV at a Wal-Mart supercentre last year, I got 5% cashback!! lol
@Joe – Capital One Aspire Cash World MasterCard used to have a $120 fee, but it is now a no-fee card – http://www.boomerandecho.com/capital-one-aspire-cash-world-mastercard-review/
This is not to be confused with the Capital One Aspire Travel World MasterCard, which has a $120 fee, but comes with a juicy sign-up and anniversary bonus.
Nevertheless, with your spending levels and the extra bonus for gas/groceries, the Smart Cash card is obviously the right choice for you. I use it myself, but just wanted to point out the other options.
Not sure if you’re aware, but there’s also an MBNA Smart Cash World MasterCard. It’s still a no-fee card, but it gives you another 6 months of 5% back on gas/groceries plus some extra insurance protection.
They offered it to me after I had my Smart Cash card for a year. Log in to your account, click the rewards tab, and then see if there’s an “exclusive offers” banner. That’s where I found the upgrade offer.
I’d never heard of the MBNA Smart Cash WORLD MasterCard. Thanks for pointing it out. I checked my account online and the offer isn’t available to me, but I’m definitely going to watch for it from now on. Thanks as always for your useful input!
Check out the Amazon.ca visa by Chase bank for doing foreign transactions. They do not charge the 2.5% foreign exchange fee that all the other cards do. It is a no fee card that you also earn 1% cash back on all purchases and 2% on purchases from Amazon.ca
Great find, thanks for pointing it out Anthony.
To be clear, the bonus points are only received for Amazon.ca purchases, not .com. But if a Cdn does a lot of US shopping, but doesn’t use US cash or a USD card, then this could be a winner!
I thought Walmart supercentre wasn’t an eligible grocery store for the MBNA Smartcash card. Do they have a list of eligible stores? If it is eligible I would consider this card…
I was disappointed with the Scotia Momentum as there are a lot of “discount” grocery stores not eligible for the 4% (Walmart, Freshco, No Frills) which means you have to shop at more expensive places. Is it really worth spending the extra money on the cost of items to get $4 back on my $100 grocery bill.. I could save more on items shopping at Walmart or Freshco.
If that’s the case I’m disappointed; I, too, love/shop at No Frills, FreshCo etc. I definitely used the MBNA SmartCash at a Wal-Mart Supercentre and got 5% cash-back. That doesn’t mean it hasn’t changed. In the world of good credit card offers, there are no constants.
Interesting, Danielle and Joe. I do get the 4% Scotiabank bonus at Real Canadian Superstore, but not at Walmart. However, just checked, and do get the bonus at the Walmart Supercentre by using the MBNA SmartCash, feeble as it is these days. Guess I’ll have to use both cards.
This does seem more complicated than it should be.
Why can’t these cards — and, more importantly, their issuers — just be simple and honest? Welcome to the Bankster Oligopoly.
Royal Bank issues a USD credit card, rewards one RBC point for every USD spent on the card.
I’ve been using Amex Gold rewards and today just realized that when I redeem the points, it’s 1% to the cash value – leaving the question why I’m paying $150 annual fee instead of getting free cash back cards. I work for a local bank and would get 1.5% cash back on every purchase, maybe it’s the time to switch? Or am I missing some great features on the Amex?
I got the AMEX Gold for a short period of time to get a bunch of rewards (one-time bonuses). I ended up getting $400 in stuff and cancelled. The first year fee was free for me. I cancelled when I got the stuff, never paid a dime. I agree, if you’re paying a massive fee, why are you staying?