Here are the Rewards Canada Top 5 Credit Card Sign Up offers for the month of October! This is not a ‘best’ credit card
list like our Top Travel Rewards Credit Card rankings but instead a look at cards that have very good acquisition offers. As always when choosing a card
you should always take other factors into account other than the sign
up bonus, but when most of these cards are first year free, they can and
do pay off even when not taking into account insurance packages and
other non-reward benefits. In fact 4 of 5 cards on this list for October
are first year free so you can try them out at no cost and
decide later on if the card is right for you. All the while earning the
sign up bonus which can be used to subsidize your travels! The
only card
that isn’t first year free or discounted is the Starwood Preferred
Guest Credit Card
from American Express. It has an annual of $120 but the sign up
bonus of 20,000 Starpoints is worth no less than $400 depending on what
you value Starpoints at.
The only change this month from September is pulling the TD Aeroplan Infinite card and replacing it with the National Bank of Canada offer. While the TD card has a decent bonus with the first year fee cut in half we feel it is eclipsed by the NBC offer and kept Starwood up since its 20,000 point sign up bonus is equal to the TD offer in terms of Aeroplan miles.
So here are our top 5 credit card sign up offers for October (in alphabetical order)
American Express Gold Rewards Card – 25,000 Points (Apply here)
A mainstay offer here on Rewards Canada, the American Express Gold
Rewards card has its first year fee of $150 waived and will award you
25,000 Membership Rewards points when you complete $500 in spending in
the first three months. That 25,000 points is worth a $250 travel credit
via Amex’s TripFlex feature or can be converted to 25,000 Aeroplan
Miles (1 Round trip Economy Award ticket within North America) or 25,000
British Airways Executive Club Avios (as much a 5 one way Economy Award
tickets in North America, see this post for details.)
American Express Air Miles Platinum Credit Card – 2,000 Reward Miles (Apply here)
A newcomer to our monthly Top 5 sign up offers, the American Express Air Miles Platinum card comes first year free and
comes with a 2,000 Reward Miles sign up bonus when you complete $500 in
spending in
the first three months. That 2,000 Miles is worth anywhere from $220 to
$300 in flight value when you get around to redeeming them.
Chase Marriott Rewards Premier Visa – 30,000 Points (Apply here)
The best no foreign transaction fee card in Canada makes it to this list
due to a very strong acquisition offer. I mean who can complain with
30,000 points awarded on approval and a certificate for a free night
stay at a Category 1-4 hotel for a potential of 5 free nights, all at no
cost as the card has the annual fee waived in the first year! They also
give you a 15 night credit into the mix which automatically provides
you with Marriott Rewards Silver Elite status. There
is also a 50,000 Point offer meant only for Marriott Elite members
which many non-elites have had success with when they apply for it. (You may or may not get the full 50k and if they find out you are not Elite you may only receive the 30k)
National Bank of Canada World Elite MasterCard- up to 30,000 Point (Apply here)
A newcomer to the list for this month! The NBC World Elite MasterCard has its $150 primary card and $50 supplementary card annual fees waived in the first year! It comes with 20,000 points when you activate the card which is worth up to $200 in travel and if you keep the card past 1 year (then you’ll pay fees) you’ll get 10,000 more points. The card also offers up to $250 in reimbursements for airport parking, airline baggage and seat fees.
Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card from American Express – 20,000 Starpoints (Apply here)
Still offering 20,000 Starpoints as its sign up bonus, this is the only card in this list
that doesn’t have the first year fee waived. That doesn’t matter. This
is by far the best hotel points card in Canada and Starpoints have huge
value. The 20,000 Starpoint bonus when you spend $500 on the card is
worth at least $400 when redeeming them for Starwood Hotel stays or you
can convert them to airline miles in over 30+ programs and Starwood will
kick in an additional 5,000 miles when you transfer 20,000 Starpoints
at a time.
If you went for all these cards you ultimately could end up with over
$1000 in travel credits and hotel free nights but even if you only take on
one or two you are helping your travel budget significantly at no cost
other than regular credit card spend.