Credit Card Rewards

[Ray-Ban]

Looking to see what everyone is using for credit cards that provide the best rewards.

I spend of upwards of $30,000+ on my credit card. Everything is put through my card just to get stupid air miles that are impossible to redeem.

I looking for a new card with decent interest rates and a good reward incentive.

Thanks

[Ralliart]

Flyertalk has a plethora of info related to credit cards and frequent traveller bonus, but the majority of it is only obtainable by those with a US address and social secuity number.

In Canada we get shafted when it comes to cards and bonuses. The annual fee (around $120) is rarely waived, and the sign-up bonuses are weak (10,000 miles/points).

Contrast that to the USA, where 50-75k bonus on no-first-year fee cards seem to be the norm.

Check out flyertalk if you haven't already, there's a little info that's useful to Canadians, but not a lot.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/credit-c ... -fees.html

For what it's worth, I use the SPG Amex (Canadian) because the points transfer into a number of airlines, and if you transfer 20k at a time, they give you a 5k points bonus. I rarely use a card ties to one one points program (like an Aeroplan card) because you're options are severely limited. I used to have the Gold Amex as well which was good because those points also transfer to numerous airline and hotel programs. Both cards I got during a promotional period where the annual fee was waived for the first year.

[TA/RA]

Check out the VISA Avion Infinite. It is great! I expense 10K+/Month and 1$=1point. International travel is between 55k-75k points domestic 35k. There is a $120/yr fee but the service benefits (concierge, insurance etc...) are exceptional. also you can use the points on any airline period.

[FlyGy]

I'm not sure if you're looking for travel rewards only or rewards in general. I have a Canadian Tire M/C that gets me Canadian Tire Money....I'm up to 1300 bucks already.

[AuxBatOn]

Check out the VISA Avion Infinite. It is great! I expense 10K+/Month and 1$=1point. International travel is between 55k-75k points domestic 35k. There is a $120/yr fee but the service benefits (concierge, insurance etc...) are exceptional. also you can use the points on any airline period.

That's what I have. Fully concur!

[Beefitarian]

Check out the VISA Avion Infinite. It is great! I expense 10K+/Month and 1$=1point. International travel is between 55k-75k points domestic 35k. There is a $120/yr fee but the service benefits (concierge, insurance etc...) are exceptional. also you can use the points on any airline period.

That's what I have. Fully concur!

I have one but don't spend enough on it to stay ahead.

I managed to go to London on points from my CIBC aeroplane card back in 2000 but later they changed aeroplan and I lost points I legitimately earned because my account was dormant for a year.

I swapped that card for a no fee CIBC cash back and seem to be doing ok saving the fee plus getting a couple hundred back per year. flyguy's card sounds pretty good, I don't know if I put enough on one though.

[FlyGy]

RBC tried to foist an Avion card on me a couple of years ago, but with the annual fee and the amount that I'd have used it, I'd be further ahead just paying for the airfare by the time I saved up enough points.

[Beefitarian]

I suspect I'd have been way better off putting the $120 per year in a jar.

[CpnCrunch]

Best I have found is Capital One Aspire World mastercard. It works out at up to 2% rewards, which is better than any other credit card I have seen, and you can spend it on any travel (hotel rooms, car hire, flights, etc). I got 50k rewards when I signed up (which is worth up to $500!) Now the sign-up bonus is 35k, but that's still pretty good. There is a $120 annual fee, but you get 10k bonus rewards/year, so you end up getting most of the fee back if you use the rewards.

Also, if you travel abroad, get an amazon visa card. Currently you get a $15 amazon giftcard, but more importantly there is 0% forex fee (every other card in canada charges you a 2.5% fee on any foreign transactions).

[Elessar_44]

If the annual fee for the RBC Avion is to much you can do the RBC Rewards card. It is $45 a year and $1=1 point, and the fee is waived if you have stuff like an online bank account plus some sort of investment.

I have an Avion now but only until the year is up. I switched because they had a promo where you could switch to the Avion and receive something like 10,000 bonus points, which equals $100. And with my preexisting RBC services the annual fee is reduced to $85 I think? So I made a couple bucks, nothing major but I do like the shiny silver card hehe.

[RenegadeAV8R]

I do not know if there is any reward associated, but it is cool anyway:

[KAG]

I used to have a CIBC Aeroplan card and lover it. Aside for sending my mother first class AC YHZ-YYC a few years later I saved up enough points to by $1300 in home hardware gift cards and built a Deck with it. Now I'm rocking the Avion and about to switch to our RBC WJ MasterCard as I want free all inclusives.
The card that gives the best gift cards wins IMHO

[Old fella]

I use a CIBC infinite Aerogold and collect Aeroplan points at full value. However I always have difficulty with Aeroplan getting time/destination rewards, for some effing reason, nothing works when I want it...

[Canadian Skyhawk]

I've been with the CIBC Aeroglod Visa since it started. Several years ago, I evaluated other options and decided that CIBC had the best overall offering. Though there is a $120 fee that's never waived and the card is tied only to Aeroplan, the rewards now include everything from gasoline cards to prepaid cards at virtually every major retailer.

I agree that it's sometimes difficult to get a free ticket with Aeroplan for a specific date/time, and in such cases I opt to pay cash for a cheapie ticket on a seat sale, collect more points, and exchange them for free gas cards. Booking on Aeroplan is great for longer legs in business class, where the difference in points is a fraction of the difference in dollar terms, and where I would not be able to afford the cash price. That's where you get the biggest bang for the buck at Aeroplan - business class travel on lengthy flights.

[sanjet]

I recently signed up at the airport during one of my deadheads on another carrier. You can sign up and usually get 15,000 free miles after you purchase around 500$ on the card within 90 days. No yearly fee for the first year, after its 120$/year. I have the AMEX gold, so far not really impressed. Doesn't work well during my world travels, seems to get rejected anywhere but mexico and North America. Well worth the 15,000 aeroplan miles but Im definitely going to dump the card if it doesn't work anywhere. My no annual fee mastercard that I used since high school seems to work fine, however, in any corner of the globe, weird.

[bubba070]

Had the CIBC Aventura Infinite Visa card but have since switched to the CIBC Aventura World MasterCard cause it has a few more benifits. With both cards you can redeem points on hundreds of airlines worldwide with no blackout periods.

[Liquid Charlie]

Any bank has a vip (royal) or or something similar -- these accounts are flat rate/month with various perks - one of them being a free gold card - if you do a lot of credit card/client card transactions it is the only way to go -- royal rewards has some good stuff plus you can roll the points over towards travel if you wish --