There’s now only a week left to apply for the best-ever Scotiabank credit card offers. This includes the Scotiabank Passport™ Visa Infinite Card with a welcome bonus of 40,000 Scotia Rewards points and the Scotiabank Gold American Express card with a welcome bonus of 50,000 Scotia Rewards points (worth $500 towards travel purchases).
Plus, both cards have no foreign transaction fees & the annual fee is waived for the first year! But hurry, these amazing offers are only valid until November 21, 2021.
Plus, you can easily redeem your Scotia Rewards points against any eligible travel purchases charged to your card. With a bonus of 40,000 to 50,000 Scotia points, you can save $400-$500 on travel purchases during your next vacation.
Now, let’s go through the details of each card.
Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite Card
The Scotiabank Passport™ Visa Infinite card lets you earn Scotia Rewards points on every purchase.
There’s also currently a very generous welcome bonus of 40,000 Scotia points (worth $400 towards travel purchases) for new cardholders in their first year. To unlock the full welcome bonus, complete the following 2 criteria:
- Earn 30,000 Scotia Rewards points after spending $1,000 in in everyday eligible purchases within the first 3 months.
- Earn an additional 10,000 Scotia Rewards points after spending $40,000 in eligible purchases annually.
- Also, earn 5x Scotia Rewards points on travel purchases for the first 3 months (up to a max of $2,500 so 12,500 points).
Breaking it down, you could easily unlock the 30,000 Scotia points bonus with spending $1,000 in the first 3 months of having the card. Plus, if you spend the max of $2,500 on travel purchases in those first 3 months, you’d also get an extra 12,500 points for a total of 42,500 points! That’s a savings of $425 right there against any travel purchase charged to your card.
Also, this card does have an annual fee of $139 but it’s waived for the first year! Plus, the $50 fee for the first supplementary card is also waived for the first year only.
Scotiabank Passport Visa earning rates
In regards to daily spending, here are the Scotia Passport Visa Infinite card’s earning rates:
- PROMO: 5x Scotia points for every $1 CAD spent on eligible travel purchases (such as flights, hotels, travel agencies, tour operators and car rentals) for the first 3 months up to a maximum of $2,500. Note that bonus travel points could take 60 days to post to your account.
- 2 Scotia points for every $1 spent on eligible grocery stores, restaurants, fast food, entertainment and transit purchases in Canada.
- 1 Scotia point for every $1 spent on other purchases.
The combination offers of 40,000 bonus Scotia points, 5x points on travel plus no annual fee in the first year have never been seen before on the Scotiabank Passport™ Visa Infinite card. So, now is definitely the best time to apply for this card before this offer ends on November 21, 2021.
Read more about this offer and details for the Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite card.
Scotiabank Gold American Express® Card
The Scotiabank Gold American Express card lets you earn Scotia Rewards points on every purchase.
There’s also currently a very generous welcome bonus of 50,000 Scotia points (worth $500 towards travel purchases) for new cardholders in their first year. To unlock the full welcome bonus, complete the following 2 criteria:
- Earn 30,000 Scotia Rewards points after spending $1,000 in in everyday eligible purchases within the first 3 months.
- Earn an additional 20,000 Scotia Rewards points after spending $7,500 in eligible purchases in the first year.
Breaking it down, you could unlock the full welcome bonus of 50,000 Scotia points if you spend a minimum of $625/month on your card for an entire year. You would earn 30,000 points on your second month of spend and then the additional 20,000 points after 12 months of spend (or less).
Also, this card does have an annual fee of $120 but it’s waived for the first year! Plus, the $29 fee for each supplementary card is also waived for the first year only.
Scotiabank Gold Amex earning rates
In regards to daily spending, here are the Scotia Gold American Express card’s earning rates:
- 5 Scotia points for every $1 spent on eligible grocery stores, restaurants, fast food, drinking establishments & entertainment purchases in Canada. This also includes popular food delivery services.
- 3 Scotia points for every $1 spent on eligible transit, rideshare, gasoline purchases & select streaming services (like Netflix) in Canada.
- 1 Scotia point for every $1 spent on other purchases.
The combination offers of 50,000 bonus Scotia points plus no annual fee in the first year have never been seen before on the Scotiabank Gold American Express card. So, now is definitely the best time to apply for this card before this offer ends on November 21, 2021.
Read more about this offer and details for the Scotiabank Gold American Express card.
Best option to redeem your Scotiabank Rewards points
Scotia Rewards points can be used for a variety of items (gift cards, merchandise, statement credit) but redeeming points for travel purchases provides the best option for your points.
Apply points against any travel purchase
Your best bet for redeeming your Scotia Rewards points is with the “Apply Points to Travel” option. It allows you to redeem your Scotia Rewards points to offset any type of travel purchase charged to your card within the past 12 months! This includes flights, hotels, cruises, car rentals but also train tickets, Airbnb’s and more.
The flexibility of this option allows you to redeem 100 Scotia points for $1 off any travel purchase on your card.
Note that you must redeem a minimum of 5,000 points (worth $50) against a travel purchase to use this feature.
Here are the steps to use the Apply Points to Travel option:
- Make a qualifying travel booking with your Scotia Passport Visa Infinite card or Scotia Gold Amex card
- Wait for the travel purchase to appear on your credit card account or statement
- Log into the Scotia Rewards website.
- Click on the “Apply Points to Travel” option to redeem your points against any eligible travel purchases at a rate of 100 points = $1
- A statement credit will be displayed in your account upon redeeming your points. Generally, this takes 2-3 business days but sometimes it may take longer.
Finally, remember that the full amount of points has to be applied (only once) towards each unique travel transaction as there are no partial redemptions.
No Foreign Transaction fees
Most credit cards and banks will charge a 2.5% foreign transaction fee on purchases not in Canadian dollars.
But, the Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite & Scotia Gold Amex cards have no foreign transaction fees! This means you will not pay the pesky 2.5% foreign transaction fee on any foreign currency purchases, including online shopping and when travelling abroad. Only the exchange rate applies.
Summary
Overall, the Scotiabank Passport™ Visa Infinite card & Scotiabank Gold American Express card are offering record high welcome bonuses of 40,000 & 50,000 Rewards points respectively.
Without a doubt, the best use of your Scotia Rewards points is offsetting the cost of any travel purchase with the “Apply Points to Travel” option. With these Scotiabank welcomes bonus offers, you can save $400 to $500 on travel purchases during your next vacation.
Lastly, both cards are FREE for the first year if you apply before November 21, 2021 so don’t delay to apply today!
Do you plan on applying for either one of these Scotiabank cards? Let me know in the comments below.
Disclosure: Scotiabank is not responsible for maintaining or monitoring the accuracy of information on this website. For full details and current product information, please visit the Scotiabank website.
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