Next up in Scotia’s updates for today is a new increased welcome bonus offer for the Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite Card. This new offer sees the welcome bonus boosted by 10,000 points. You will now earn 30,000 bonus Scotia Rewards points when you spend $1,000 on the card in the first three months of having the card. They do advertise the offer as up to 40,000 points as that includes the annual bonus of 10,000 points if you spend $40,000 on the card annually.
The card also features no Foreign Transaction fees and earns 2 Scotia Rewards points on every $1 you spend
on eligible grocery stores, dining, entertainment purchases and daily
transit purchases (including buses, subways, taxis and more). All other purchases earn 1 point per dollar spent. The key thing to note here with this card over the Scotiabank Gold American Express card is the 2x points can be earned outside of the country whereas the Gold Amex’s accelerated bonuses are only available for purchases in Canada.
The redemption rate for this card is the same at 1,000 points to $10
with a minimum redemption of 5,000 points. That equates to 1 cent per
point meaning the earn rates on this card net you a 1% to 2% return.
The Passport Visa Infinite Card also provides complimentary Priority Pass airport lounge access with six free lounge visits per year. Alone this benefit is worth US$291 which makes paying the $139 annual fee on the card more than worth it.
Those
points can then be redeemed for any travel that you book with any
travel provider. That’s right you don’t have to book via Scotia Rewards.
Book directly with a hotel chain (to make sure you earn that hotel
chain’s points and elite status benefits) or book directly with an
airline, car rental or other travel supplier and you can redeem the
points against the charge. The redemption rate is 1,000 points to $10
with a minimum redemption of 5,000 points. That equates to 1 cent per
point meaning the earn rates on this card net you a 1% to 5% return.