It has been nearly five years since we last saw GM partner with a Canadian bank to offer a co-branded credit card that earns rewards to be used towards the purchase of a GM car. With that said we are excited to announce that GM is back and with a new banking partner, Scotiabank. The two companies announced today the launch of their Scotiabank GM VISA Suite of Credit Cards that allow holders of the cards to earn up to 5% on their purchases in GM earnings. If you don’t want to read the whole post all we can say is that the cards have a very strong reward offering for those looking to buy GM vehicles! Simply jump down the article to our ‘Verdict’ to see why.
The co-brand suite consists of two cards, the no fee Scotiabank® GM®* VISA* Card and the Scotiabank® GM®* VISA Infinite* Card.
Scotiabank® GM®* VISA* Card
– No Annual Fee
– Annual Fee – $0
– Co-Borrower Fee – $0
– Supplementary Card Fee – $0
– 19.99% annual interest rates for card purchases
– 22.99% annual interest rate on cash advances and balance transfers
– Minimum Credit Limit – $500
GM Earnings
– 5% in GM Earnings on the first $5,000 in Net Purchases*
– 2% in GM Earnings on all Net Purchases* thereafter
– No limits on GM Earnings
Redemption
– $1 in GM Earnings = $1 towards the total purchase price or lease down payment of any eligible new Chevrolet, Buick, GMC or Cadillac.
– Customers can start redeeming points at $1 and can combine GM Earnings with any in-market offers.
– No caps on redemption
Insurance coverage:
Sample rewards earning:
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Scotiabank® GM®* VISA Infinite* Card
– Annual Fee – $79
– Co-Borrower Fee – $39
– Supplementary Card Fee – $39
– 19.99% annual interest rates for card purchases
– 22.99% annual interest rate on cash advances and balance transfers
– Minimum Credit Limit – $5,000
– Minimum Income – $60,000 or Household Income of $100,000
GM Earnings
– 5% in GM Earnings on the first $10,000 in Net Purchases*
– 2% in GM Earnings on all Net Purchases* thereafter
– No limits on GM Earnings
Redemption
– $1 in GM Earnings = $1 towards the total purchase price or lease down payment of any eligible new Chevrolet, Buick, GMC or Cadillac
– Customers can start redeeming points at $1 and can combine GM Earnings with any in-market offers.
– No caps on redemption
Insurance coverage:
Sample rewards earning:
The Verdict
With the release of these cards and with most cards in Canada not changing their reward offering over the past 6 months, I can hopefully say that I was wrong when I predicted that Credit Card Rewards will suffer with the new interchange rate agreement that went into effect this past April. Both of these cards provide extremely strong earn potential! 5% on your first $5,000 or $10,000 in spending each year depending on which card you get and then 2% back on all other eligible spending. That 2% is even available on the no-fee card! There are very few and I mean very few cards that will cost you nothing and essentially earn you 2% cash back. Spend $30,000 a year on the no fee card and after three years you’ll have $2,250 towards a GM vehicle or $2,700 towards that same car with the Infinite version. Unlike most cash back cards where you have to wait until your card anniversary to get the cash back, the GM Earnings are similar to many travel rewards credit cards whereby the points or in this case GM Earnings $ are essentially available for use as they post
Of course with that being said, you are limited as to where you can use your rewards. You have one option only and that is using the rewards towards a new car and that new car has to be a GM vehicle. So if you meet these two criteria for rewards, that is, you are eyeing a new car and you are likely to go GM then getting either one of these cards makes great sense. Don’t travel much and hate annual fees, the no annual fee card makes great sense. On the other hand if you travel at least once per year (road trip, flying etc.) and don’t have another card in your credit card portfolio that offers insurance benefits like out of province medical, trip interruption or flight delay then paying that $79 per year for the Infinite card is well worth it.
The only thing we here at Rewards Canada that we see missing with these cards is a sign up bonus. I believe Scotiabank addressed this with the 5% earn each year on the first $5,000 or $10,000 in spending but by offering even a small sign up bonus incentive like $25 on the no fee card and $50 for the Infinite could easily push a few more people to the cards and since those are one time costs they could be recouped relatively quickly in terms of fees collected from merchants when those members swipe their cards.
Here are some terms and conditions of the GM Earnings:
– Earnings may be applied toward the Total Purchase Price or lease down payment of any eligible new Chevrolet, Buick, GMC, or Cadillac. The “Total Purchase Price” consists of the vehicle price (up to the Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price), freight and PDI, air tax, and applicable sales taxes.
– The “Total Purchase Price” excludes costs associated with licensing, registration, insurance, dealer fees (where allowed), accessories, additional options, extended warranties, maintenance or service plans and other services such as OnStar and SiriusXM. 2
– If you cancel your credit card, your credit privileges are revoked or your account is closed, your GM Earnings must be redeemed within 90 days or they will be forfeited. If your account is not in good standing, GM Earnings are not eligible for redemption. Please refer to the GM Card Earnings Program Terms and Conditions for details
Redemption Details:
– To redeem the Earnings accumulated with a GM Card, customers can visit www.gmcard.ca and select “My Earnings” or contact the GM Card Reward Centre at 1-888-446-6232 to verify their total Earnings available.
– Once verified, customers can visit any authorized GM dealer and choose their eligible new vehicle. After they have discussed the purchase price of the vehicle, but before signing the contract, they tell the sales representative that they want to redeem their Earnings.
– The customer and the sales representative will then call the GM Card Reward Centre to confirm the total amount of eligible Earnings. During the call, the GM Card Reward Centre will ask for the Primary or Secondary Cardholder’s information for authentication purposes and also obtain certain vehicle sale information from the sales representative and then provide the representative with an authorization number to complete the transaction.
– Once the authorization number is issued, the Earnings amount will be deducted from the total purchase price or lease down payment of their new Chevrolet, Buick, GMC or Cadillac.
We’d love to hear what you think about these new cards from Scotiabank! Is the offering big enough for you that you move from a travel rewards card to one of these two cards? Or are they good enough to be added to your portfolio of cards so that you are carrying travel rewards, cash back and/or GM Earnings cards? Let us know what you think by commenting below.