I confirmed this with their customer support.

1. Only earn cash on purchases up to $50,000.

Also have Costco Amex but i) amex isn’t accepted everywhere ii) has a $500 rebate cap, so I use the Capital One 2% as my primary (only really use amex at costco)

FYI: The Capital One 2% doesn’t have a rewards cap or limit. The $50,000 limit above is on the CIBC Dividend card.

I found the CIBC Dividend Platinum was better for me since it comes with credit monitoring (you get an e-mail if anything changes). Actually the e-mail notifications are great for going over-limit, etc.

PLUS you get 15 day travel insurance which is worth around $50-$100.

PS. I spend ~50k/yr on mine.

Have you had a chance to look at the new Scotiabank Momentum Visa? I would be interested in your opinion. Here are some highlights I got from their website:

$39 Annual Fee
2% on first $25,000 at Gas/Grocery/DrugStore or Recurring Payments
1% at other locations or the above locations over $25000
No maximum on 1% rebate.
20% AVIS Discount
Purchase Protection – 90 Days
Extended Warranty – doubles up to 1 year

The difficult part in calculating the benefit would be determining what percentage of your money you spend at qualifying stores and what you could switch to a recurring payment on visa. Some changes in shopping habits might be necessary to get the best benefit.

List of Merchants at 2%:
http://www.scotiabank.com/images/en/filespersonal/19993.pdf
There is also a thread on RedFlagDeals about this one: http://www.redflagdeals.com/forums/showthread.php?t=709223
Apparently some people have had success getting the fee waived at their branch, and there may be a no-fee version coming without the warranty/protection perks.

Probably the best card out there right now: I have been using the Canadian Tire Vacation Advantage MasterCard for quite some time now. Accepted pretty much everywhere, which the Amex card is not. It gives you 1.5% on all purchases as long as you spend $2000 or more monthly which I do. You get the rebate right after you purchase anything vacation related (trip, flight, book hotel, etc). I don’t have to wait a whole year to receive the rebate. I can even you use the rebate if I bought the vacation related product a few months ago. Basically you can use the rebate pretty much any time.

For gas purchases: I think that the Canadian Tire Gas Advantage MasterCard is still the best one for me. I have cards on the same account for me, my wife, my father-in-law and my brother-in-law. We get 8 cents off every month because we have a monthly purchase balance of at least $1000 (about $700 gas and $300 for other purchases). This represents about 9% OF AN INSTANT REBATE. It used to be 10 cents off not too long ago. The only issue is that I have to call customer service every month and calculate how much users used – it takes me about 15 minutes every month to do so.

RE: http://www.capitalone.ca/canada/cards/cashback-plus-platinum-mastercard/index.php

In my opinion, this is not a good deal – their terms are pretty high because you would only earn 2% on your charges from the $20, 000 mark onwards. My Amex 2% (which I believe is not being offered anymore), starts awarding 2% at $2500 and I know that other cash back cards do the same.

For gas, I like the Shell Cashback Mastercard .. I got it with a 3% cashback on purchases at Shell but I’m not very sure but it seems like their latest offer is as much as 5%!! (1% on other purchases, i think) – I have made a post on the details of this card above .. but keep in mind I believe their latest offering is slightly different.

For those too lazy to go to the site, here are the details of the Captial One cashback card from:
[http://www.capitalone.ca/canada/cards/cashback-plus-platinum-mastercard/index.php]
* 1% cash back annually on total purchases up to $10,000
* 1.5% cash back annually on total purchases between $10,000.01 and $20,000
* 2% cash back annually on total purchases above $20,000

Happy deal hunting everyone!

Elliot

PS: In response to oOKitijimaOo’s post, I do respect your decision to boycott Shell.
I have been watching the difference in price between Shell and the others after your post but I have not seen any in my area of the GTA. Even if there is a cent or two difference I’m still ahead with 3% cashback.

http://www.capitalone.ca/canada/cards/cashback-plus-platinum-mastercard/index.php

I also include a free excel file which will allow the reader to input their own variables into the model: readers will be able to put in their own values for purchases, gas, groceries, cashback rate on the card, annual fee etc. It is necessary that our readers download and use the free excel model, because it may change which card is best for them.

For example, the AMEX costco card that was so good for your purchasing habits came in dead last of 7 cards for my habits!

Thanks for the inspiration!

Apparently, it’s a 1% card with no tiers and no fee like you mentioned along with platinum benefits like car rental insurance.

http://www.redflagdeals.com/forums/showthread.php?t=577763&highlight=mbna+1%25

[...] written about top cash back credit cards in Canada before, and even modified my top pick. However, there are an abundance of other rewards based credit cards out there that deserve a look. [...]