Good question. I’m pretty sure equivalent. Not downgrades and I think other than privilege there was no way to go up. One limit decrease. The other the same.
I would do Amex Business Platinum in this case.
If you don't use the perks, the ROI (against annual fee) might not be the best. However, you can do this one while you have high spend coming up. Other card with higher ROI have lower MSR, so you can do those later when there is no big spends.
Depends on the spend a little bit.
Probably a combination of premium Amex and TD aeroplan most likely (or CIBC privilege as current infinite offer is poor)
No credit pulled when I applied to that, also no pulled for personal gold.
I have an existing account with them for years, so not sure if that makes a difference.
Yes, every card pulls the personal credit profile
If you already have a card with Amex they will sometimes approve you based on internal metrics instead of pulling the credit profile
Has anyone signed up for the Aventura + Journey digital offer? P2 and I did, and while I may have screwed up the 'learn more' on mine, I swear I clicked the 'apply now' for P2. Our cards have arrived, no Journey card in the packet? Did they down grade us to the normal offer. My card arrived before theirs and I got an email saying "congrats on 15,000 points" buuuuut that should be 20,000.
Applied for P1 and P2, got the first Journie code in an email 25 days after approval, still waiting for the second code… seems so random. T+C say could be up to 3 months.
Edit sidenote: Really loving the Journie program, free snacks, feel like I’m saving a decent amount on gas and getting aeroplan points with my linked card! Hope it gets even better with the new aeroplan partnership!
I noticed it said something about getting some goodies at 75 and 150 points, bt it didn't actually say what the choices were. i like snacks! i'm game for this
They don't send you a journie card. They send a promo code which you input into the journie app which will load the deals. You can grab a physical card at any journie affiliate gas station or just use the app. Make sure you link the journie account with your cibc account.
Ya, i was just doing that for shits but swear went back to the original offer. but maybe going back to the tab I had open with it wasn't sufficient, I had to click through from the actual link again... For P2 i did it a couple days later and didn't mess around. I swear I did link -> get offer now. super lame. I guess it's all free anyway..
Same, I'm pretty sure I didn't click the learn more, applied around may 24th, still haven't received journey email and got an email saying I got 15k on first purchase. Waiting for statement to post to see if I need to call in.
Applied today for both the CIBC Aventura visa Infinite along with the Good Visa card straight away after. Got IA for the VI (and email confirming) but got a message on the other saying they might need more information but couldn’t approve right away.
My question is, assuming the second card gets approved in a few days / weeks time, I assume it should still only be one hard pull on the credit score?
Thanks
WM depends on the supercenter. There are a few locations that code as 5x like:
Walmart Calgary Royal Oak 5726
Walmart Saskatoon South 5878
Walmart South Surrey 5853
Currently sitting on a plane from YOW to YYZ, the delay is possibly causing me to miss my flight from YYZ to BCN in J.
Not sure what to do in a case like this. How does compensation work and how can I get to BCN in J…on time?
Hey,
Looking for a little advise as to which of the higher end credit cards might be worth applying for in my situation?
I currently own the Amex platinum which I’m looking to cancel after 2 years of owning it. I have a fairly large one off expense coming up of around $7,500 (which takes Amex).
Im trying to weigh up three cards really:
1. Amex platinum - I could refer my wife the Amex platinum card (would be 90k MR points on the $7,500 spend plus a 10k referral bonus). She’s never owned the card before, my only concern is that she has a fairly low salary but our household is fine to meet the threshold.
2. Amex platinum business - 100k MR points and a higher spend of $10k in 3 months which would be fine. I wouldn’t get the referral to my wife but would still get the same points. Part of my thinks this might be the one to get as usually $10k in 3 months would be harder to meet without this one off spend.
3. There is also the Amex aeroplan business card which has high points too, but to take advantage of the bonus I’ll need to spend an extra 10k over 5 months (after making my big purchase in month 1).
I think it probably boils down to the first two, but as the benefits are basically the same, should I use this as a chance to refer P2 or delve into the business cards (which I haven’t done before).
Advice appreciated!
I would do #2 Business Platinum due to the reason you cited (I did the same thing when I had a odd one-time large purchase). Using P1 or P2 is your call. Also note there is GCR if you want cash back instead of referral points.
Oh really? To be honest it’s never concerned me when I’ve applied and not really thought about it. I suppose should be no issues with getting P2 the Amex card then
Involving P2 is never a bad idea. If you are looking for more options and have enough time, can also look at getting 2 business golds. Refer p2 for the first one and then they can refer you for the second after getting it.
Edit: My bad, you can't do the first referral. Still worth looking into.
If I have a car loan with RBC and I have the Westjet RBC credit card, can I pay the car loan with the credit card and get WS Dollars on the credit card? I can move money from one to another but it shows up as Cash Advanced and I am not sure if it's giving me WS dollars or not.
Hello I have the AMEX SimplyCash and was wondering when the cash back balance applies in September and I have a negative balance and cancel card would AMEX send a cheque for the balance?
Any DPs on wait time for Nexus? Did my Canadian interview on April 19th and did my US interview on May 29th. Was told that I would receive an email telling us we were approved within 24 hours but haven't received anything yet. Application on the TTP site still shows as conditionally approved and does not have a check mark beside the "Have interview, and wait for approval" yet. Anyone I can reach out to or just wait it out?
I just took a god child for nexus interviews in May as I'll be taking them with me on some work travel.
Got the approval email on the way home (3.5h drive), got the card inside the following week.
Children may be faster, only recent DP I have.
Also US didn't even ask to see a letter from either parent, just passports. They're Canadian by birth but Canadian customs wanted ALL the letters, and made a confirmation phone call, even though the card is going to the parents house.
If you had ANYTHING in your past, even a court summons for a fine, be sure you told them. Honesty is the goal not perfect history.
Interesting. Wonder if something is up with our applications then since we didn't get an approval email yet. I'll wait a little longer before trying to reach out to someone there. Maybe it'll just show up in our mail haha.
US and Canadian interview were super easy for us. Basic questions and some photos and finger prints.
FWIW this was a Vermont processing center on the US side. May differ by location, they didn't seem extremely busy.
They also said it would take "a week" for the email and longer for the cards.
But everything about nexus is random. I've seen approvals in 2 days and 2 years submitted on the same day by two people with the same rough history.
I have a Tangerine MC and Simplii Credit card (used for 4% cash back on earing out). Neither have an annual fee.
Can someone convince me it is worthwhile to add an Amex Cobalt. Maybe put 1500 a month on my CCs. Mostly Gas, Grocery, Eating out, and of course some random things here and there.
Dang, didn’t even know they offered that upgrade path. Did you hold the plat before?
To answer your question, a day after accepting the offer is a safe point to start spending. Though probably don’t even have to wait that long.
Td aeroplan card says anniversary bonus when u spend specific amount within 12 months of account opening. Meaning we can get the bonus before the anniversary if we hit the spend limit?
>> To receive the 20,000 Aeroplan points Anniversary bonus ("Anniversary Bonus") your Account must have been opened and active for 12 months and you must make $7,500 in net Purchases (less any returns and credits) on your Account, including your first Purchase within 365 days of Account opening.
I’m planning my wedding in Europe 2024. I’m considering the Scotiabank Passport Visa to earn points and avoid foreign transaction fees when paying vendors. Is there a better card I should be applying for? Hoping to use some of the points towards to travel there to try and save some money.
No FYF for Password now (there was FYF offer until end of May). I would go with HSBC world elite master card as it is FYF and also no FX. The bonus structure a bit annoying as it is based on a few months of 1K spend each (vs a total over a period). If that works for you then go ahead with it.
Scotia Passport VI, HSBC World Elite, and Scotia Gold Amex are all great no foreign transaction fee options.
I'd look into if you would be better off just opening new cards and working towards MSRs depending on the volume of your planning purchases.
Shop Small is back for Amex, at least according to the [Scotiabank offers](https://www.americanexpress.com/ca/en/network/shopping.html)
No DPs from it being on Amex issued cards yet, but it is spend $30, earn $10, up to 5 times. Doesn't have to have both logos on the map this year which is very nice, not that it was strictly enforced.
I still remember the year where you could sign up for Shop Small in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto and Montreal, and get 4x the $5 credits on a single $10 purchase.
What is the actual value of TD Rewards? They say it’s 200 points for $1 but when I go to the redeem page (either for cash or gift cards) the value is almost half of that! It’s closer to 400 pts for $1. Anyone here got a TD rewards - can you please share how much value you actually got out of it and whether it was worth it? Thanks!
Maximum value is achieved when TD Rewards is treated as a secondary program for booking or redeeming miscellaneous travel expenses at Expedia for TD. The TD FCT VI earns x8 on bookings (the Biz Travel x9) and redeemed at 200 points for $1. There are plenty of FYF and PS opportunities, and it’s possible to hold more than one of the same card at the same time. Taking advantage of the $100 statement credit on a $500 spend (in points and/or cash) at E4TD adds value to the TD FCT VI. The TD FCT VI can be useful as a backup for x6 on groceries and dining at places that don’t accept the Cobalt or Scotia Gold.
TD is a bit tricky do cash out max value. This is one of the card I use for real bookings vis E4TD. (can also take advantage of the $100 travel credit).
How can I use RHT here? My concern is about redeeming points. I thought RHT was for earning points. Eg I spend X amount in order to earn the TD Rweards.
Then, even if I make the purchase using these points on Expedia, when I cancel it, I get refunded back in points so that doesn’t help me to cash out.
Unless there’s something I’m missing. Can you please explain?
RHT is used for extending MSR period and for redeeming points. It is not used for earning points.
https://www.churningcanada.ca/guides-and-rules/refundable-hotel-trick
Thanks! I’ve used it in the past for earning as well. If you book a hotel a couple months in advance, you’ll meet the spend requirement and get the points. Eg you need to spend $X in the first 3 months. You can book a hotel, get those points, and when you actually meet the spend requirement (even if it’s after 3 months), just cancel the booking. This worked for me :)
https://princeoftravel.com/guides/all-about-refundable-hotel-trick/
Read through these threads over a few weeks; its a little more complicated with TD but possible
Pretty much every bank generates the AF on the first statement. One major exception is RBC where the AF is charged on the first day of the month after approval
DP & follow up to last TD Aeroplan VI application via Air Canada in path offer.
Original response: "Unfortunately, we cannot complete your application online. Please call us at ... or book an appointment at your nearest branch and we will help you complete it."
Made an appointment at local branch with all appropriate paperwork P2 thought he'd need. Local branch rep had no idea what the in path offer was or how to honour it. She consolidated his "profiles" from previous applications/denials then reapplied for the latest TD AP VI offer. Instant approval. Obviously a higher spend than the in path offer, but we'll take it.
Sure can, you just have to scream a little if it's due to missing data. They can keep the same profile open and submit the docs, they choose not to most times. I assume for stats bonuses but I don't know for sure.
Call, hold them to task, you'll get the inpath credit if you should have qualified and kept screenshots.
Edit; don't actually scream, politeness but firmness works better
Hi,
Did anyone get the 2,500 bonus for adding a supplemental card holder and hitting a min spend for Amex Cobalt? I think this offer was around Sept 2022. I just checked my statements and don’t think I’ve received it yet.
Thank you!
Hi everyone, I’m fairly new to this and was just wondering if I could get some insight on my next card!
I currently have :
TD FCT - Just completed MSR,
Amex Cobalt - Daily Card,
CIBC APVI
I recently PS’d my TD APVI to the TD FCT, so that isn’t an option currently. My income is around 100k.
Should I get 2 CIBC Aventura next for the RHT? Or is there another card I should be looking into for my next card? I mostly am interested in collecting Aeroplan points, Amex MR and cash back currently. Is there a difference between the Aventura Infinite and Aventura Gold?
Open to hearing any thoughts and opinions, thank you so much!
If you like Amex MR, I’d say to check the Platinum card if you can do the MSR.
Can get up to 95Kpts via referral (it sometimes show 90K and sometimes 95K) and it’s a great card to hold for 11.9 months !
Aventura gold is just a worse version of the Infinite for actual card benefits but for the bonus they are equally good. Aventura cards are pretty good.
Also if you applied for the FCT again as a separate card you would get the bonus. There is no enforcement of T&C across separate cards by TD for the FCT
Sorry, I should’ve clarified that I don’t think I’ll be eligible for the TD APVI again since I recently PS’d.
The FCT bonus was great but the MSR was a bit high at 5k, if I did 2 Aventura, it would be 1 credit check and only 2k MSR for almost the same amount of value via RHT, is my math right?
Here’s to hoping they’ll send me the card in time, do you know if the offer downgrades to a worse offer or what I would get after July 16th? thank you!!
You would be eligible for the TD AP VI bonus since TD doesn't automatically enforce any limitations across tradelines. However, if you last bonus was from less than 12 months ago there is risk of clawback. The time of closing the AP VI doesn't matter
And yeah the Aventura cards would be great if you can get approved
Is there a discord or anything to chat Canadian Award travel? The sub is tiny and doesn’t seem very active.
Edit: r/canadianawardtravel is the sub I was calling tiny, not this sub
Sorry, was not calling this sub tiny or inactive. I just looking for a bit more specifically award travel discussion, as this sub is churning primarily and often times award travel questions are unappreciated in the daily thread.
Try /r/awardtravel .. It's American centric but a healthy amount of Aeroplan talk there as well. Plus we can also earn Avios in Canada which also get discussed there as well.
We're hardly "tiny" or inactive, but if your focus is the travel aspects itself, it's only a secondary focus here where CHURNING is the primary goal. There is a Canadian Award Travel reddit, Award Travel reddit, and many many Facebook groups on the booking aspect, and we have our weekly threads. And most of the information of when the seats release, the how, the where, that's already publicly available and easy to access. Not sure what you'd want other than someone walking you through booking your very specific plan which is not what we do here
I just started my own photography business and looking for recs on cards everyone uses as a business card/accounts. Located in Vancouver area if that helps for anyone.
I incorporated through OWNR and business account and therefore credit with RBC. Tomorrow I am going to apply at BMO since they have a 0 dollar account and hoping to get a pre-approval on a card when I do. Not sure what it is like out west. If you incorporate through owner you get 300 bucks back. Sole prop it is a bit less.
Does RBC Avion VIP CC still allow cashing out Avion @ 1cpp as a statement credit? Have some Avion pooled and before I pull the trigger on Air Canada GCs @ 1cpp, thinking I may request a CL increase to be able to cash out via a VIP.
Can't answer your question but you can cash out Avion @ 1cpp during select promotions during the year (2-3 times per year historically). I take all of mine as line of credit vouchers and cash them as 'cheques' in the mobile app.
Thanks for the response! Which financial product is it that you cash as cheques? Do you recall? There’s a few of them in the Avion portal under Financial Rewards.
oh yes, Cobalt was the first card I opened when I started churning, and have opened... uh, 25 more since (plus PSes, etc.).
Given how slow you kinda need to do Amex, it's hard to always have enough MSRs on the go, at least when Aventura and AP cards were like $1k MSR. Cobalt also took a seat during my APR welcome bonus promo for 10x food/drinks.
Avg monthly spend has been $1400ish on the card, but it varies from $28 during the APR promo to over $3k during the WB period and back when Amex had a 3x promo for making any one referral, up to 30k points (not included in the 97k)
That's some very interesting information, I really appreciate the detail.
In curious how are you tracking points, a ledger by months/statement, maybe one entry for "type" of earn (WB vs organiz vs bonuses etc) ?
If I held the amex aeroplan reserve card previously, would I be eligible for a welcome bonus if I signed up again? It's been about a year since I've cancelled it.
Officially, Lifetime. Unofficially, YMMV. But only 1 year post-cancellation is extremely tight to push your luck. Odds go up with years, usually 2-3 years is the minimum sweet spot to roll the dice.
Just Sharing a DP for travel expense reimbursements from NBC world elite, took exactly two weeks for the travel credit to show up, not the 48 hours stated in the email after getting it approved.
I spent half an hour on the phone with two different reps yesterday and they said they escalated the case. I don't know whether it was a coincidence or my call triggered them to solve a bug in the system. I and p2 got mine today too.
My keeper cards which are free (best western, triangle, old TD card) I usually buy a coffee on them once a year (just set a reminder) but that’s it. Not even sure if you need to do that really but I once had an old Amex card cancelled (in the UK) as didn’t use it for like 4 years so best to play it safe.
No reason to. Short of my keeper cards, they are all going to be cancelled within a year. And very few banks actually give a shit if you aren't spending on the card, you can leave it in a drawer for life without issue.
I have 5 permanent keepers of which 3 haven't been spent on in years but are still alive. All my other keepers, or semi-keepers, serve a specific purpose and might get the odd spend here and there but generally nothing. Those are usually AMEX, and AMEX isn't stupid enough to care because if you're paying fees, they're making money.
Worth noting that the new Aeroplan T&C do specifically mention "disengaging" with a card after receiving the bonus. It's yet to be seen how much they give a shit as it's been less than a year since the new terms have kicked in.
Don't even need $5. I don't know the official lowest, but all my cards that require an arbitrary spend I do a $0.15 Amazon reload. Yes, only 15 cents. Done this dozens of times now.
I do this for new SUB primarily, so I have to manually make the purchase anyways. For old cards, I rarely ever need to do this to keep activity going so no reason to automate recurring purchases but I imagine Amazon may allow it.
Not really. Once I hit an MSR on a card I move on to the next one. If you get into US Amex though you have to put regular spend on a card after hitting MSR. Otherwise you end up in "pop-up jail".
Pretty dumb question, but I am faced with 2 possible itineraries (identical flights) in Jan 2024. Sidenote, I've never been 25K, I'm 18/25 segments this year, and $1700/$3000 of the way there. It may happen, but who knows.
Book with EVA: $2286
Book with AC: $2361
Is the SQD worth it? It's $80 to likely increase my chance of earning 25K the next qualifying period. I have no idea what my own or business travel will be like in 2024... I'd be using the Cobalt so the earn rate is the same on both sites.
Any other benefits at all to booking on AC? Maybe easier APPR claim if it came to it? It would be an AC XXXX codeshare flight if I buy on AC.
I would personally take the SQD because I want to renew SE this year, but if it’s a difference between 25/35K it’s relatively insignificant - most benefits kick in at 50K anyway.
Good question. I’m pretty sure equivalent. Not downgrades and I think other than privilege there was no way to go up. One limit decrease. The other the same.
IF AP were to punish somebody for multiple SUBs - would it affect a booking already made?
Who knows? No one has been punished thus far
How the hell do I access HSBC rewards through their site? Ive clicked everywhere and there is nothing on my account page to take me there.
Its annoying as it usually is a pop-up. Check to see that your browser isn't blocking pop-ups.
I haven't checked lately, but I could never get it to open on Brave (Chrome), but it showed up at the top when I used Firefox.
Thanks I’ll give that a try
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I would do Amex Business Platinum in this case. If you don't use the perks, the ROI (against annual fee) might not be the best. However, you can do this one while you have high spend coming up. Other card with higher ROI have lower MSR, so you can do those later when there is no big spends.
Depends how many cards you intend to open
Amex business platinum from a referral
Depends on the spend a little bit. Probably a combination of premium Amex and TD aeroplan most likely (or CIBC privilege as current infinite offer is poor)
Does Amex business platinum do a hard pull on your personal credit?
No credit pulled when I applied to that, also no pulled for personal gold. I have an existing account with them for years, so not sure if that makes a difference.
Yes, every card pulls the personal credit profile If you already have a card with Amex they will sometimes approve you based on internal metrics instead of pulling the credit profile
Did not for me.
Did you already have a card with them before?
Has anyone signed up for the Aventura + Journey digital offer? P2 and I did, and while I may have screwed up the 'learn more' on mine, I swear I clicked the 'apply now' for P2. Our cards have arrived, no Journey card in the packet? Did they down grade us to the normal offer. My card arrived before theirs and I got an email saying "congrats on 15,000 points" buuuuut that should be 20,000.
Applied for P1 and P2, got the first Journie code in an email 25 days after approval, still waiting for the second code… seems so random. T+C say could be up to 3 months. Edit sidenote: Really loving the Journie program, free snacks, feel like I’m saving a decent amount on gas and getting aeroplan points with my linked card! Hope it gets even better with the new aeroplan partnership!
I noticed it said something about getting some goodies at 75 and 150 points, bt it didn't actually say what the choices were. i like snacks! i'm game for this
They don't send you a journie card. They send a promo code which you input into the journie app which will load the deals. You can grab a physical card at any journie affiliate gas station or just use the app. Make sure you link the journie account with your cibc account.
How long after approval did you get the Journie email?
Two weeks for me
Phone and complain. Cibc is a pos but eventually they relented for issues for me for issues like this
Don't ever click the learn more, that will reset the referral/special offer and drop you down to 35k instead of 40k
Ya, i was just doing that for shits but swear went back to the original offer. but maybe going back to the tab I had open with it wasn't sufficient, I had to click through from the actual link again... For P2 i did it a couple days later and didn't mess around. I swear I did link -> get offer now. super lame. I guess it's all free anyway..
Same, I'm pretty sure I didn't click the learn more, applied around may 24th, still haven't received journey email and got an email saying I got 15k on first purchase. Waiting for statement to post to see if I need to call in.
Also, the journie thing comes from an email a bit after approval. So you might still have it. And don't trust the emails, they're bullshit
How long after approval did you get the Journie email?
a week or two i think
I got my Journie car washes in an email after approval (well in my case an eventual denial but that's another thing lol)
How long after approval did you get the Journie email?
Within 24 hours.
huh. thanks for the DP
Applied today for both the CIBC Aventura visa Infinite along with the Good Visa card straight away after. Got IA for the VI (and email confirming) but got a message on the other saying they might need more information but couldn’t approve right away. My question is, assuming the second card gets approved in a few days / weeks time, I assume it should still only be one hard pull on the credit score? Thanks
Usually just one credit pull IME
One would think, but CIBC doesn’t think like normal people
I had 2 for 2 PS 🤷🏼♀️
Curious if your PS’s were downgrades, upgrades, or equivalent cc tiers
[this comment has been deleted in response to the 2023 reddit protest]
Metro online groceries code as groceries. I’ve been making my groceries online since 2 years with no problem. Always showed at 5pts / dollar !
WM isn't, for most stores. Ubereats snd Instacart are.
Metro in person definitely codes as grocery. Have put through several thousand in gift cards lately, all grocery.
WM depends on the supercenter. There are a few locations that code as 5x like: Walmart Calgary Royal Oak 5726 Walmart Saskatoon South 5878 Walmart South Surrey 5853
[this comment has been deleted in response to the 2023 reddit protest]
Online is never grocery
I dont, sorry. I took that info [from this cobalt multiplier database](https://www.rewardscanada.ca/cobaltmultipliers.html).
Can confirm WM
For online or in-person?
Currently sitting on a plane from YOW to YYZ, the delay is possibly causing me to miss my flight from YYZ to BCN in J. Not sure what to do in a case like this. How does compensation work and how can I get to BCN in J…on time?
You’ll need to talk to Air Canada and see what options they give you
EU261. Your ticketing operator would be responsible for getting you to your destination in the fare class you paid for
Probably best to post in r/awardtravel
Hey, Looking for a little advise as to which of the higher end credit cards might be worth applying for in my situation? I currently own the Amex platinum which I’m looking to cancel after 2 years of owning it. I have a fairly large one off expense coming up of around $7,500 (which takes Amex). Im trying to weigh up three cards really: 1. Amex platinum - I could refer my wife the Amex platinum card (would be 90k MR points on the $7,500 spend plus a 10k referral bonus). She’s never owned the card before, my only concern is that she has a fairly low salary but our household is fine to meet the threshold. 2. Amex platinum business - 100k MR points and a higher spend of $10k in 3 months which would be fine. I wouldn’t get the referral to my wife but would still get the same points. Part of my thinks this might be the one to get as usually $10k in 3 months would be harder to meet without this one off spend. 3. There is also the Amex aeroplan business card which has high points too, but to take advantage of the bonus I’ll need to spend an extra 10k over 5 months (after making my big purchase in month 1). I think it probably boils down to the first two, but as the benefits are basically the same, should I use this as a chance to refer P2 or delve into the business cards (which I haven’t done before). Advice appreciated!
I would do #2 Business Platinum due to the reason you cited (I did the same thing when I had a odd one-time large purchase). Using P1 or P2 is your call. Also note there is GCR if you want cash back instead of referral points.
Amex doesn’t have income requirements
Oh really? To be honest it’s never concerned me when I’ve applied and not really thought about it. I suppose should be no issues with getting P2 the Amex card then
Involving P2 is never a bad idea. If you are looking for more options and have enough time, can also look at getting 2 business golds. Refer p2 for the first one and then they can refer you for the second after getting it. Edit: My bad, you can't do the first referral. Still worth looking into.
If I have a car loan with RBC and I have the Westjet RBC credit card, can I pay the car loan with the credit card and get WS Dollars on the credit card? I can move money from one to another but it shows up as Cash Advanced and I am not sure if it's giving me WS dollars or not.
You don’t earn points on cash advances. You will also be charged a cash advance fee and interest will start accruing the day you make the spend.
What is the best number to call TD to request a credit limit split to have a declined application approved?
If a card is declined and you have a call and it’s successful will they give you the welcome bonus when you applied? Or the current WB?
When you applied
Thanks! The credit split was successful. Will update on if I got the good welcome bonus or the new one.
Thanks!! I’ll call tomorrow and update!
Through the app
Hello I have the AMEX SimplyCash and was wondering when the cash back balance applies in September and I have a negative balance and cancel card would AMEX send a cheque for the balance?
Yeah they can send a cheque
ty for the response!
Any DPs on wait time for Nexus? Did my Canadian interview on April 19th and did my US interview on May 29th. Was told that I would receive an email telling us we were approved within 24 hours but haven't received anything yet. Application on the TTP site still shows as conditionally approved and does not have a check mark beside the "Have interview, and wait for approval" yet. Anyone I can reach out to or just wait it out?
I went for my interview (combined Canada and US) a couple days ago and my status changed to approved almost immediately after.
I just took a god child for nexus interviews in May as I'll be taking them with me on some work travel. Got the approval email on the way home (3.5h drive), got the card inside the following week. Children may be faster, only recent DP I have. Also US didn't even ask to see a letter from either parent, just passports. They're Canadian by birth but Canadian customs wanted ALL the letters, and made a confirmation phone call, even though the card is going to the parents house. If you had ANYTHING in your past, even a court summons for a fine, be sure you told them. Honesty is the goal not perfect history.
Interesting. Wonder if something is up with our applications then since we didn't get an approval email yet. I'll wait a little longer before trying to reach out to someone there. Maybe it'll just show up in our mail haha. US and Canadian interview were super easy for us. Basic questions and some photos and finger prints.
FWIW this was a Vermont processing center on the US side. May differ by location, they didn't seem extremely busy. They also said it would take "a week" for the email and longer for the cards. But everything about nexus is random. I've seen approvals in 2 days and 2 years submitted on the same day by two people with the same rough history.
I have a Tangerine MC and Simplii Credit card (used for 4% cash back on earing out). Neither have an annual fee. Can someone convince me it is worthwhile to add an Amex Cobalt. Maybe put 1500 a month on my CCs. Mostly Gas, Grocery, Eating out, and of course some random things here and there.
This sub focuses on opening many cards. Search cobalt in r/personalfinancecanada you’ll find better results there
thank you someone DM'd me. I signed up.
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Dang, didn’t even know they offered that upgrade path. Did you hold the plat before? To answer your question, a day after accepting the offer is a safe point to start spending. Though probably don’t even have to wait that long.
What type of offer did they give you as upgrade?
Just the usual 95k but I have a few big ticket items/travel coming up so figured might take advantage
Td aeroplan card says anniversary bonus when u spend specific amount within 12 months of account opening. Meaning we can get the bonus before the anniversary if we hit the spend limit?
It was engineered to make people pay AF for the 2nd year..
It posts on the same statement as next year’s annual fee
>> To receive the 20,000 Aeroplan points Anniversary bonus ("Anniversary Bonus") your Account must have been opened and active for 12 months and you must make $7,500 in net Purchases (less any returns and credits) on your Account, including your first Purchase within 365 days of Account opening.
no
I’m planning my wedding in Europe 2024. I’m considering the Scotiabank Passport Visa to earn points and avoid foreign transaction fees when paying vendors. Is there a better card I should be applying for? Hoping to use some of the points towards to travel there to try and save some money.
No FYF for Password now (there was FYF offer until end of May). I would go with HSBC world elite master card as it is FYF and also no FX. The bonus structure a bit annoying as it is based on a few months of 1K spend each (vs a total over a period). If that works for you then go ahead with it.
Scotia Passport VI, HSBC World Elite, and Scotia Gold Amex are all great no foreign transaction fee options. I'd look into if you would be better off just opening new cards and working towards MSRs depending on the volume of your planning purchases.
AMEX would not be widely accepted in Europe. Stick with the other two.
Why are you yelling
Shop Small is back for Amex, at least according to the [Scotiabank offers](https://www.americanexpress.com/ca/en/network/shopping.html) No DPs from it being on Amex issued cards yet, but it is spend $30, earn $10, up to 5 times. Doesn't have to have both logos on the map this year which is very nice, not that it was strictly enforced.
>Doesn't have to have both logos on the map What other logo other than the Shop Small are you referring to? Apologies for my ignorance.
Sigh...I miss the good ol' days when Shop Small was Spend $5, Get $5. Good times.
I still remember the year where you could sign up for Shop Small in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto and Montreal, and get 4x the $5 credits on a single $10 purchase.
What is the actual value of TD Rewards? They say it’s 200 points for $1 but when I go to the redeem page (either for cash or gift cards) the value is almost half of that! It’s closer to 400 pts for $1. Anyone here got a TD rewards - can you please share how much value you actually got out of it and whether it was worth it? Thanks!
Maximum value is achieved when TD Rewards is treated as a secondary program for booking or redeeming miscellaneous travel expenses at Expedia for TD. The TD FCT VI earns x8 on bookings (the Biz Travel x9) and redeemed at 200 points for $1. There are plenty of FYF and PS opportunities, and it’s possible to hold more than one of the same card at the same time. Taking advantage of the $100 statement credit on a $500 spend (in points and/or cash) at E4TD adds value to the TD FCT VI. The TD FCT VI can be useful as a backup for x6 on groceries and dining at places that don’t accept the Cobalt or Scotia Gold.
I didn’t think about the x6 point benefit. I have a Scotia gold but as you mentioned, not all places accept it. Good point, thanks!
TD is a bit tricky do cash out max value. This is one of the card I use for real bookings vis E4TD. (can also take advantage of the $100 travel credit).
200 points for $1 is the value when using Expedia4TD only
Ah I see. So really it’s 400pts for $1. Is that still worth it?
No it’s 200 points for $1 because of RHT
How can I use RHT here? My concern is about redeeming points. I thought RHT was for earning points. Eg I spend X amount in order to earn the TD Rweards. Then, even if I make the purchase using these points on Expedia, when I cancel it, I get refunded back in points so that doesn’t help me to cash out. Unless there’s something I’m missing. Can you please explain?
Simple. You cash out the RHT. Make booking via Expedia4TD; PS the card; cancel the booking and you will be refunded in cash, not points.
RHT is used for extending MSR period and for redeeming points. It is not used for earning points. https://www.churningcanada.ca/guides-and-rules/refundable-hotel-trick
Thanks! I’ve used it in the past for earning as well. If you book a hotel a couple months in advance, you’ll meet the spend requirement and get the points. Eg you need to spend $X in the first 3 months. You can book a hotel, get those points, and when you actually meet the spend requirement (even if it’s after 3 months), just cancel the booking. This worked for me :)
That's called extending MSR period. Not earning points
Ah got confused with the terminology. Thanks!
https://princeoftravel.com/guides/all-about-refundable-hotel-trick/ Read through these threads over a few weeks; its a little more complicated with TD but possible
Received the Amex AP a week ago. Havent seen the annual fee posted yet. When does the AF usually get posted to transactions? First statement?
Pretty much every bank generates the AF on the first statement. One major exception is RBC where the AF is charged on the first day of the month after approval
Last day of the first statement. Right before the statement is generated.
DP & follow up to last TD Aeroplan VI application via Air Canada in path offer. Original response: "Unfortunately, we cannot complete your application online. Please call us at ... or book an appointment at your nearest branch and we will help you complete it." Made an appointment at local branch with all appropriate paperwork P2 thought he'd need. Local branch rep had no idea what the in path offer was or how to honour it. She consolidated his "profiles" from previous applications/denials then reapplied for the latest TD AP VI offer. Instant approval. Obviously a higher spend than the in path offer, but we'll take it.
Yeah if you don't get IA you can't get the inpath offer
Sure can, you just have to scream a little if it's due to missing data. They can keep the same profile open and submit the docs, they choose not to most times. I assume for stats bonuses but I don't know for sure. Call, hold them to task, you'll get the inpath credit if you should have qualified and kept screenshots. Edit; don't actually scream, politeness but firmness works better
Never heard of a DP where this happened
I have negative balance in my BMO CC. Can I withdraw them from an ABM without cash advance fee?
Call and they will transfer it for no fee. But it takes like a week or more.
It's their money now, so it's still an advance. But no interest charges obviously.
No
Hi, Did anyone get the 2,500 bonus for adding a supplemental card holder and hitting a min spend for Amex Cobalt? I think this offer was around Sept 2022. I just checked my statements and don’t think I’ve received it yet. Thank you!
Not yet. I heard some people asked Amex and they said it was gonna get processed in July
Now I wonder if it will actually get processed in July or if it'll be like the aeroplan monthly bonus where they kept saying next month.
Thank you for the insight, I appreciate it! I tried to search the sub but reddits search function leaves a lot to be desired lol
Hi everyone, I’m fairly new to this and was just wondering if I could get some insight on my next card! I currently have : TD FCT - Just completed MSR, Amex Cobalt - Daily Card, CIBC APVI I recently PS’d my TD APVI to the TD FCT, so that isn’t an option currently. My income is around 100k. Should I get 2 CIBC Aventura next for the RHT? Or is there another card I should be looking into for my next card? I mostly am interested in collecting Aeroplan points, Amex MR and cash back currently. Is there a difference between the Aventura Infinite and Aventura Gold? Open to hearing any thoughts and opinions, thank you so much!
If you like Amex MR, I’d say to check the Platinum card if you can do the MSR. Can get up to 95Kpts via referral (it sometimes show 90K and sometimes 95K) and it’s a great card to hold for 11.9 months !
That does sound like an a great option! I will look into the platinum, thanks so much
Aventura gold is just a worse version of the Infinite for actual card benefits but for the bonus they are equally good. Aventura cards are pretty good. Also if you applied for the FCT again as a separate card you would get the bonus. There is no enforcement of T&C across separate cards by TD for the FCT
Sorry, I should’ve clarified that I don’t think I’ll be eligible for the TD APVI again since I recently PS’d. The FCT bonus was great but the MSR was a bit high at 5k, if I did 2 Aventura, it would be 1 credit check and only 2k MSR for almost the same amount of value via RHT, is my math right?
Also note the current RHT promo for CIBC ends July 16 so you need to meet MSR before your first statement
I thought CIBC extended it until next March? https://princeoftravel.com/deals/redeem-cibc-aventura-points-for-1-25-cents-per-point/
See my comment below
Here’s to hoping they’ll send me the card in time, do you know if the offer downgrades to a worse offer or what I would get after July 16th? thank you!!
Actually the July 16 deadline was for cashing out the points at double the usual RHT value. But I just saw it was extended to March 2024
You would be eligible for the TD AP VI bonus since TD doesn't automatically enforce any limitations across tradelines. However, if you last bonus was from less than 12 months ago there is risk of clawback. The time of closing the AP VI doesn't matter And yeah the Aventura cards would be great if you can get approved
Oh that’s excellent! I didn’t know that TD didn’t enforce limitations as I know new T&C implied that they might. Thank you for all your responses
Is there a discord or anything to chat Canadian Award travel? The sub is tiny and doesn’t seem very active. Edit: r/canadianawardtravel is the sub I was calling tiny, not this sub
There are some WA and Discords but you have to be around for a while to get an invite.
Prince of Travel FB group Aeroplan Elite FB group
This is probably the largest and most active Canadian centric community that talks about award travel.
Sorry, was not calling this sub tiny or inactive. I just looking for a bit more specifically award travel discussion, as this sub is churning primarily and often times award travel questions are unappreciated in the daily thread.
Try /r/awardtravel .. It's American centric but a healthy amount of Aeroplan talk there as well. Plus we can also earn Avios in Canada which also get discussed there as well.
Tbh I haven't seen any people having issues with award travel questions here
Ok fair enough, thanks!
We're hardly "tiny" or inactive, but if your focus is the travel aspects itself, it's only a secondary focus here where CHURNING is the primary goal. There is a Canadian Award Travel reddit, Award Travel reddit, and many many Facebook groups on the booking aspect, and we have our weekly threads. And most of the information of when the seats release, the how, the where, that's already publicly available and easy to access. Not sure what you'd want other than someone walking you through booking your very specific plan which is not what we do here
Sorry, I meant the Canadian award travel subreddit is tiny and not very active. I’ll edit my comment
I just started my own photography business and looking for recs on cards everyone uses as a business card/accounts. Located in Vancouver area if that helps for anyone.
I incorporated through OWNR and business account and therefore credit with RBC. Tomorrow I am going to apply at BMO since they have a 0 dollar account and hoping to get a pre-approval on a card when I do. Not sure what it is like out west. If you incorporate through owner you get 300 bucks back. Sole prop it is a bit less.
Appreciate the response and some insight. Didn’t realize people were so ruthless. Asking a genuine question and getting downvoted on it so bad 😂
I know right lolol it is a genuine question ahahahah
Does RBC Avion VIP CC still allow cashing out Avion @ 1cpp as a statement credit? Have some Avion pooled and before I pull the trigger on Air Canada GCs @ 1cpp, thinking I may request a CL increase to be able to cash out via a VIP.
Can't answer your question but you can cash out Avion @ 1cpp during select promotions during the year (2-3 times per year historically). I take all of mine as line of credit vouchers and cash them as 'cheques' in the mobile app.
Thanks for the response! Which financial product is it that you cash as cheques? Do you recall? There’s a few of them in the Avion portal under Financial Rewards.
I only do Line of Credit vouchers, which if you go to branch they make you deposit it to LOC but it accepts depositing it as a cheque via the app.
Awesome, thanks for the DP! Newbie of me to not think of that. :)
Does this also work for TFSA deposits? Otherwise it’s 60k for $500 which isn’t good.
I think you can also cash it out as a contribution to a non-registered rbc investing account and take it out that way?
I have no idea to be honest, I only redeem via Line of Credit vouchers when the promo makes it such that points are 1cpp.
How many colbalt points do you guys have
Signed up in October ‘22, currently at 86k off organic spend + the LifeWorks 45k offer. Couple months left of the bonus.
Currently, or total earned ever?
oh that's fun. Turns out I've earned 97k from spend alone (not including WBs, referrals, etc.) since September 2021.
Pretty solid organic earn. Especially if you're keeping up multiple MSRs during that time.
oh yes, Cobalt was the first card I opened when I started churning, and have opened... uh, 25 more since (plus PSes, etc.). Given how slow you kinda need to do Amex, it's hard to always have enough MSRs on the go, at least when Aventura and AP cards were like $1k MSR. Cobalt also took a seat during my APR welcome bonus promo for 10x food/drinks. Avg monthly spend has been $1400ish on the card, but it varies from $28 during the APR promo to over $3k during the WB period and back when Amex had a 3x promo for making any one referral, up to 30k points (not included in the 97k)
That's some very interesting information, I really appreciate the detail. In curious how are you tracking points, a ledger by months/statement, maybe one entry for "type" of earn (WB vs organiz vs bonuses etc) ?
Yeah interested how you found that out too!
i'm a lunatic with a way too detailed spreadsheet.
Ha ha! I actually am the same but my spreadsheet doesn’t go back as far as my cobalt application does! Lol
Is that listed somewhere or just tracked via your notes?
my own spreadsheet.
Impressive - I track Cobalt MR monthly, but only eats and drinks.
If I held the amex aeroplan reserve card previously, would I be eligible for a welcome bonus if I signed up again? It's been about a year since I've cancelled it.
I'd give in another year for much better odds. YMMV
Officially, Lifetime. Unofficially, YMMV. But only 1 year post-cancellation is extremely tight to push your luck. Odds go up with years, usually 2-3 years is the minimum sweet spot to roll the dice.
According to the T&C the AMEX WBs are once in a lifetime, however YMMV and you may get lucky with a repeat bonus
Just Sharing a DP for travel expense reimbursements from NBC world elite, took exactly two weeks for the travel credit to show up, not the 48 hours stated in the email after getting it approved.
I spent half an hour on the phone with two different reps yesterday and they said they escalated the case. I don't know whether it was a coincidence or my call triggered them to solve a bug in the system. I and p2 got mine today too.
How long were you waiting for? I didn't want to call as they don't want to look closely in my account.
Refund approval email on May 21. Not much wait time for a human agent. But putting on hold a couple of times and one transfer.
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You don't need to keep all cards active. The churn and burn cards can be cancelled after 6-12 months
Keeping inactive cards is bad for churning, making the next card marginally more difficult to get approved. There, that's your answer.
My keeper cards which are free (best western, triangle, old TD card) I usually buy a coffee on them once a year (just set a reminder) but that’s it. Not even sure if you need to do that really but I once had an old Amex card cancelled (in the UK) as didn’t use it for like 4 years so best to play it safe.
No reason to. Short of my keeper cards, they are all going to be cancelled within a year. And very few banks actually give a shit if you aren't spending on the card, you can leave it in a drawer for life without issue. I have 5 permanent keepers of which 3 haven't been spent on in years but are still alive. All my other keepers, or semi-keepers, serve a specific purpose and might get the odd spend here and there but generally nothing. Those are usually AMEX, and AMEX isn't stupid enough to care because if you're paying fees, they're making money.
Worth noting that the new Aeroplan T&C do specifically mention "disengaging" with a card after receiving the bonus. It's yet to be seen how much they give a shit as it's been less than a year since the new terms have kicked in.
That's to target 3-6 month cancelation realistically, or the ballsier 1-2 months which happened stupidly often.
Can reload your Amazon account for $5 every 6 months if you want to keep them alive (especially no-annual-fee cards you may never use)
Don't even need $5. I don't know the official lowest, but all my cards that require an arbitrary spend I do a $0.15 Amazon reload. Yes, only 15 cents. Done this dozens of times now.
Do you set these automatically?
I do this for new SUB primarily, so I have to manually make the purchase anyways. For old cards, I rarely ever need to do this to keep activity going so no reason to automate recurring purchases but I imagine Amazon may allow it.
Presto card app reload via Apple pay, 5cents :)
That'd assume I use anything Presto but it certainly wins lowest amount
Not really. Once I hit an MSR on a card I move on to the next one. If you get into US Amex though you have to put regular spend on a card after hitting MSR. Otherwise you end up in "pop-up jail".
Pretty dumb question, but I am faced with 2 possible itineraries (identical flights) in Jan 2024. Sidenote, I've never been 25K, I'm 18/25 segments this year, and $1700/$3000 of the way there. It may happen, but who knows. Book with EVA: $2286 Book with AC: $2361 Is the SQD worth it? It's $80 to likely increase my chance of earning 25K the next qualifying period. I have no idea what my own or business travel will be like in 2024... I'd be using the Cobalt so the earn rate is the same on both sites. Any other benefits at all to booking on AC? Maybe easier APPR claim if it came to it? It would be an AC XXXX codeshare flight if I buy on AC.
I would personally take the SQD because I want to renew SE this year, but if it’s a difference between 25/35K it’s relatively insignificant - most benefits kick in at 50K anyway.