Comments on: Scotia Momentum Cash Back Visa Review

By: Haslum

Haslum — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 03:34:05 +0000

With our spending habits, it has taken us about 6 years to earn 1 ticket overseas from Vancouver with BMO’s free Airmiles card flying at peak periods. It does not include taxes and fuel surcharges!! The card is not worth it unless you are a heavy spender in my view. I looked through all our credit card transactions for a year and was going to go with the Scotia Momentum card but didn’t like the $54 annual fee (39 + 15 for spouse). Just before pulling the trigger, a mbna letter arrived for the Smart Cash Platinum Card. I usually junk this stuff but “free” and the 5% for 6 months cash back caught my eye. So I’ve read the fine print and, the catch is during the bonus months, you can only earn a maximum of $30 @ 5% (on first $600) then its 1% for the rest of the month. But, after the 6 months bonus, it’s 3% for gas and groceries and 1% for everything else with no restrictions. Unless, of course they are not telling me everything. I figure the Scotia card would pay for the above mentioned ticket including taxes etc in little over half the time with AirMiles and now even less with the no fee mbna card. I’m into “free” so I’m not interested in buying up to a faster collector card by paying a fee.

By: MDorion

MDorion — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 23:08:44 +0000

How and when is the cash-back paid with this card?

Thanks

By: K. Depoe

K. Depoe — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 03:19:13 +0000

Dear Fellow Canadians…looks like some of you have been a little too exposed to U.S. writing / publications. FAVOURITE and FAVOUR are the correct Canadian spellings…favorite and favor are not. At least we are still spelling ‘cheque’ correctly. Thanks (Yes, it IS important)

By: Briefcases

Briefcases — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 22:31:28 +0000

Jean I disagree. It is quite easy to spend $3900 in one year. It is especially good if you can use a credit card for all of your monthly bills. Even just using it for gas & groceries adds up to a lot.

By: used tires

used tires — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 20:17:02 +0000

I don’t think it is worth it… you would have to spend alot to get get any value out of this card in a year’s time … and considering all the risk that you would be taking on by getting this card.. I just don’t see how it can be worth it.

Till then,

Jean

By: Briefcases

Briefcases — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 23:05:52 +0000

Thanks for this credit card review. I currently have the TD cash back card, but it only gets me 1% cash back. I will have to look over my spending habits to see if the $39 fee can be offset by the extra percent of cash back. At the time I thought I had done sufficient research to find the best cash back card for me.

By: Blacklabel

Blacklabel — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 17:33:11 +0000

Elbyron no that was my first post. But the ATB Financial Platinum Cashback card is good for people who would be doing a home renovation or for conractors who buy alot from Hardware stores Like Home Depot or Rona. If you spent $50,000 a year i would consider you a big spender. If the average personal income is $50k monysense says its less then your spending 100% of your income. I know people that spend 200k on there Aerogold Visa but not many people are like that.

By: Canada Deals

Canada Deals — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 16:47:09 +0000

Okay so what *is* the best credit card then? Is this it or is there a site that lists them all?

By: Elbyron

Elbyron — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 15:40:15 +0000

Blacklabel, are you the same user as “Shayne” on CanadianMoneyForum? It’s funny you should mention that card because I had not heard of it until just yesterday when somebody mentioned on the forum. As I said in my response there, this ATB card would be even better than the MBNA Smart Cash card for those who spend over $13200 per year on gas, groceries, drugs, and hardware stores. But in order to beat the Capital One 2% cashback card (for spending up to $50000) you would have to be spending $21000 per year at those kinds of stores – that’s 42% of your expenses!
I’m not sure what your definition of “big spenders” is, but anyone spending over $86,000/year is always going to be better off with the Capital One card no matter how much gas & groceries they buy. That’s because the ATB card maxes out at $1500 reward.

By: Blacklabel

Blacklabel — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 14:13:58 +0000

Elbyron have you considered the ATB Financial Platinum Cashback card. You earn 3% cash rebate for all purchases made at supermarkets, drugstores, gas stations, and home improvement stores. 1% cash rebate for all other purchases not included in the everyday category above.

Annual Fee $120.00 maximum rebate of $1500.00

This is the best card for big spenders

By: Canada Deals

Canada Deals — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 02:13:06 +0000

Does it offer Air Miles though? That’s a biggie for me. I agree with @John Deflumeri Jr re: the membership fees too. Their services would have to be *extremely* beneficial to me if I were to pay a membership fee.

By: FlookiiDuke

FlookiiDuke — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 01:56:27 +0000

Scotia also has a ‘No-Fee Scotia Moneyback VISA card’ giving 1% cashback.

By: John DeFlumeri Jr

John DeFlumeri Jr — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 01:25:02 +0000

I’m against all membership fees for credit cards!

By: Robert

Robert — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 21:36:00 +0000

I currently have the CapitalOne 2% card ($59 fee) and am very, very pleased with it. I knew this year was going to be a big one (4 trips) and after 8 months I have already accumulated $1000 in cash back.

One feature I really like is the ability to download my transactions as a CSV file so I can easily run my own reports. So pulling out the recurring/gas/groceries aspect to look at Scotia is simple.

I used to have an Aerogold Visa and redeemed the points late last year for one of our trips (to Paris). I was shocked at the fees that Aeroplan had in order to redeem my “free” flight. I expected to pay taxes etc. but the booking fee was horrible! I still collect Aeroplan but am convinced the cash back card offers better value for me. As it turns out, that was the first (and last) reward flight for me.

By: Elbyron

Elbyron — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 19:48:08 +0000

cannon_fodder, I think it’s the other way around. Your Costco membership covers the annual fee for the credit card (technically, it’s simply that you must have a membership in order to get the card). I had originally thought that only executive members can get this card, but apparently the only benefit that executive members get is a 2% reward (seperate from the credit card) on purchases made at Costco. Thus only those who spend $2500+ per year at Costco would get any benefit.
In my charts, it’s not quite incorrect to apply a $50 fee to the Costco Amex card, since that is the cheapest membership option – but if you’re going to have a membership anyway then it doesn’t cost you anything to get this card. It still sucks though. I mean, it’s tiered up to 1.5% and has a max of $500/year reward. The only reason to have one is because Costco doesn’t accept Visa or Mastercard, so the Amex at least gives you some cash back.

By: cannon_fodder

cannon_fodder — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 14:09:00 +0000

Elbyron,

Does the Costco Amex card cover the fee if you are an executive member or is the use of this card make being an executive member irrelevant? My wife and I are exec members only because we spend enough to pay for the extra $50 in fees.

All – also take those high annual fees with a grain of salt. I successfully renegotiated my CIBC Aeroplan annual fee to $45 after I suggested a change would be in my best interest.

By: Genius Boy

Genius Boy — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 13:20:10 +0000

I don’t know if my card is available any more, but it’s the AMEX 2% Gold Cash Back card, which provides 0.5% on the first $2500, 1% on the next $2500, and 2% thereafter, all with no fee.

I think it’s far better return that anything here FT, especially at your $30,000 spending — it works out to a $537.50 rebate.

I have the Dividend Visa card for all the other purchase that don’t quite qualify.

If AMEX closes my card as an option, I’m going to the Costco AMEX card, but I much prefer cash than Costco dollars.

In the US, the cash back cards are infinitely better, with 5% returns on groceries, gas, and drug store purchases. In fact, I still use my US credit cards and get cash rewards when I go to the US, and they put the money straight back into my credit card.

By: David@DINKS Finance

David@DINKS Finance — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 05:04:17 +0000

I have a Discover card and get 1% cash back, no annual fee. Plus every couple months they have a new products (such as groceries, gas, etc.) that you get 5% back. It’s great in my opinion!

By: The Rat

The Rat — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 00:42:10 +0000

Elbyron is right when he says, “The Infinite version of the Avion card gets you 25% more points on travel expenses, also $120 fee but harder to qualify for”.

One of my relatives applied for the Avion and it was a nightmare on wheels trying to redeem the points for flights; he basically told me that it could be worth it if you live in a major centre, but if you reside in a rural or less populated area, it could be a b*tch of a time getting out.

I find that if you keep your eye out for promotions regarding the Aerogold Visa/Aeroplan, there are many ways you can accumulate points rather quickly. For example, I stayed at Best Western a couple of nights this past summer (separate stays) and not only did I receive 250 points for each stay, they deposited 2000 summer bonus points into my Aeroplan account because of the promotion they had.

You can also get 250 points for free just for signing up for Aeromove. There’s also another way of getting another 1,000 points and that will be on my website for tomorrow’s blog post.

Cheers

By: Justin

Justin — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 00:03:59 +0000

I just applied to Schwab 2% visa card – 2% on everything with no limits or annual fee. Don’t know if it is available for Canadians though (sorry if not). Seems like it’s better than any of the cards mentioned here.