Here are the Rewards Canada Top 5 Credit Card Sign Up offers for the month of December! 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 (welcome/sign up) offers. As always when choosing a card
you should always take other factors into account other than the
just sign
up bonus, but when some of these cards are first year free, they
can and
do pay off even when you grab them strictly for the sign up rewards. This month we actually only see one first year free card on the list! A
A big change this month as we look at overall value – not just if a card is first year free. We also rank the cards based on minimum travel value. That being said there are 3 of the same cards from November, the TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite Card, the Marriott Bonvoy American Express Card and the National Bank of Canada World Elite Mastercard. The two newcomers are the American Express AIR MILES World Elite Mastercard as it had a new welcome offer brought to it in November and also the Alaska Airlines World Elite Mastercard as we updated the value on that card.
Remember as well that you will find this list right on the Rewards Canada homepage for
easy reference!
Here are our top 5 credit card sign up offers for December (in order of welcome bonus value, calculated as mile/points minus annual fee)
American Express AIR MILES Platinum Card – 3,500 Miles (Apply here)
New to the list the American Express AIR MILES Platinum Card recently underwent some changes and to mark those changes they came out with this big offer on the card. The bonus is split, 1,700 on spending $1,500 on the card in the first three months and then an additional 1,800 miles when you spend $1,000 on the card in each of the first six months of having the card. Those 3,500 miles are worth no less than $385 in our latest valuations. This card just underwent some changes that make it the best card for earning AIR MILES in Canada which you can learn more about that here: Earn up to 3,500 Bonus AIR MILES Reward Miles with the newly enhanced American Express AIR MILES Platinum Credit Card
Minimum Income: N/A
Marriott Bonvoy American Express Card – 50,000 Points (Apply here)
No changes to this card means it stays put on the list The 50,000 points, awarded after
spending $1,500 on the card in three months are worth at least $500 in
our minds which means after subtracting the annual fee you are coming
out ahead by $380. In reality you can pull even more value out of the card (into four figures) as we outlined in our post A look at how The Marriott Bonvoy American Express Card provides huge value!
Minimum Income: N/A
TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite Card – 30,000 Miles (Apply here)
The new offer on this card is somewhat lower than the last offering but it is actually a lot easier to obtain and you only come out 5,000 to 10,000 miles below. The
bonus is awarded as follows: 15,000 Aeroplan Miles when you make your
first Purchase with your Card + 5x Aeroplan Miles on all purchases per $1,000 in the first three months (up to 15,000 miles) Depending on how you redeem those Aeroplan miles should be
worth no less than $360 but more likely closer to $800 or more! In fact
if you take the per mile value from our post from late July this welcome bonus would be worth $1,800 or more.
Minimum
Income: $60,000
Personal or $100,000 Household
Alaska Airlines World Elite Mastercard – 30,000 Miles (Apply here)
This card offers a welcome bonus of 30,000 miles when you spend $1,000 on the card in the first three months of having it. This is one of the easiest bonuses to achieve and this card is one of the most churnable in Canada. There are really no problems in getting it 2-4 times in one year alone! Those 30,000 miles are worth no less than $330 when redeeming for economy class flights and just go up from there like the TD Aeroplan card.
Minimum
Income: $80,000
Personal or $150,000 Household
National Bank of Canada World Elite Mastercard – $480 Cash Back (Apply here)
This
card’s offer hasn’t changed in a few months so it retains its spot in the list. You will get $40 cash back for each
month you spend $500 on the card in the first 12 months. This will give
you $480 in rewards but then subtracting the annual fee of $150 you are
coming
out ahead by $330.
Minimum
Income: $80,000
Personal or $150,000 Household
If you went for all these cards you ultimately could end up with
anywhere from $1,700 to over $3,000 in travel value. However 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. We don’t really recommend getting
all five in one month unless you know you can meet the minimum spend for
them all at once, rather you’d want to pick one or two right now,
perhaps another next month and so on.
Disclaimers:
American Express is not responsible for maintaining or monitoring the
accuracy of information on this website. For full details and current
product information click the Apply now link.
Sponsored advertising. The Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD) is not responsible
for the contents of this site including any editorials or reviews that
may appear on this site. For complete and current information on any TD
product, please visit the TD site.