You enter your categorical spending profile and it calculates your reward with various Canadian cards. It also find the best combinations of cards for you:

http://www.creditcardtuneup.com/?country_cd=CA

Westin has the Heavenly Bed ( they started the whole hotel bed craze!)
Sheraton with their Sleeper Bed

Great hotels to stay:
Sheraton Niagra Falls
Westin Harbour Castle Toronto – awesome views
Sheraton Towers Chicago – great location
Sheraton Dolphin – Disney – truly a great vacation spot

All free and don’t pay taxes or fees….
Trainman

Airmiles BMO Mastercard will now follow the ratio of 1 air mile for every $20 spent (previously it was 1 for $40 spent). This is for their no annual fee card.

Looks like they’ve lost quite a bit of the market since other cards (ie. like my AMEX air miles, 1:20, no annual fee) offer better rewards for no annual fee.

Just wondering if anyone else received this notice by mail?

For free, they offer either a 1% cashback card (only 0.5% on first $3000), or a travel points card that gives you 1% but can only be redeemed on travel and hotels. They call this the “no hassle” rewards card because there’s no blackout dates or any other restrictions: any travel you charge to your card is eligible for redemtion. However, to get the full 1% return value, your ticket purchase (can include multiple tickets) must cost exactly $150, $350, or be over $600. So it’s not quite hassle-free.

If you typically spend over $10000 per year on your credit card, then it’s better to get the Miles Plus card that gives you 2% back on travel – even though there’s a $99 annual fee. Just do the math – it’s easy.

The cashback “Plus” card is tiered as: 1% for first $10,000, 1.5% between 10 and 20K, and 2% over 20K. But because of the $59 annual fee, you’d have to spend over $18,800 to make this card better than the free version. This makes a good math problem if your kid is taking Grade 9 algebra.

I’d also like to mention something about the Citibank cards: they are the only card (that I’ve found so far) that allows you to have your photo on it – thus making it very hard for a theif to use it. Also, a lot of stores have started asking to see ID when you use a credit card, so this card would save you some hassle. They also offer 90-day theft/loss insurance, extended warranty, car rental insurance, travel accident insurance, and the price protection (up to $100) as mentioned in card #2.

The “Desjardins” Money – can be used for any loan you have there or for RSP contributions at that bank. Close to real cash in my case because I have my home mortgage there.

Every year, I get 1100$-1200$ of cash back… Pays the fee multiple times!

One other thing to consider: when you get “points”, you redeem them using their “deals” on items and services (like flights)… but if you evaluate the cost of what they charge… it’s most of the time way more than you would have paid if you had purchased a real ticket or the item at your local store… when on rebate.

I have had cards with points… GM card at the time it was cumulating 5% (and feel forced to buy a GM car), Ovation, with points and a catalog, President Choice Mastercard… they were good, but not as good as this program.

I travel a little for work and when I do, I get 3% cash back (I spend way more than 20 000$ each year and use my credit card all the time). When at home, I get 2% cash back.

If you pay up the card every month (use you credit line at the bank, not the one on the card…), then you really get something back from it. If you forget only once to pay it… you are screwed for the entire year of return… Never do that.

About where that money comes from…. Well, it comes from merchands (50%) and it comes from people who do not pay their full credit card account every month (50%).

No I didn’t know about that. Do you know why they are discontinuing it…?

Maybe I’ll just jump ship and switch to a better (non-CIBC) card. I don’t like the Dividend card…

I recently read a presentation (couldn’t attend in person) that provided a plethora of statistics showing that the amount of money in circulation, even in countries like Canada, is actually increasing faster than inflation. I was quite surprised since I knew Canadians are world leaders in terms of debit/credit card use and we don’t use cheques on a per capita basis like Americans do. In fact we are seeing more use of credit cards for low dollar value transactions (without requiring a signature) and fobs (such as at gas stations, coffee shops, etc.).

Once we can work out a secure payment system between private individuals (possibly using our cellphones) then we should be at the beginning of eliminating cash in my opinion.

Sarlock, I went through the same ordeal with the Ford Visa with CIBC. Fortunately for me though, it was my first credit card while in University so I didn’t have too many points accumulated. The “drivers edge” though isn’t tied to any specific automobile company which mitigates the risk somewhat. The “points” can be used towards ATV’s, cars, trucks, RV’s etc.

Makes me remember my “CIBC Ford Visa” card many years ago that allowed me to rack up dollars to spend on a new Ford in the future.

Then, one day, a letter arrived that stated that they were discontinuing the reward program and that I had up to 18 months to buy a new Ford and use my accumulated points, which I believe at that point were around $1,800, off a new Ford. After that, the dollars vanished. Pardon? 10 years may have passed, but I still have a bitter taste in my mouth.

You know that CIBC id dropping the Shoppers Optimum VISA. You have to choose either an Aeroplan card or a Dividend one.

- no fee
- 1% cashback
- double warranty on purchases up to 1 year extra
- 60 day price protection (refund if cost of item drops)
- travel accident insurance
- car rental collision/loss/damage coverage

For my two cents, this offers a much better value than either PCF Mastercard or Amex Airmiles, and probably more than Amex Blue Sky.

Nonetheless it does seem that debit would be the optimal situation, nothing to count, and low fees.

Maybe Canada should do away with cash money all together, and only have electronic transactions, it’d be hard to cheat on your taxes, and good luck buying drugs with your debit card, not to mention printing/maintaining the money supply costs money…

Just food for thought..
-mikeG

At the end of the day, who pays for the 30min that a cashier takes to close her register ? All buyers (including those who paid with a CC).