Rewards Canada Twitter follower iLive2Eat alerted us to some changes coming to the insurance benefits on their Scotia Passsport Visa Infinite Card so we went to Scotia’s site to check out if there are any details about the changes and there are. These changes actually affect more cards than just the Visa Infinite Card and are effective as of July 1, 2021.
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| Screenshot from Scotia’s site announcing the changes |
It appears the changes are primarily taking place as Scotia is switching to Manulife as their insurance provider and are listed out by Scotia as follows:
These are the changes affecting most of the cards:
1. We are changing insurance providers to The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company and First North American Insurance Company, members of the Manulife group of companies (“Manulife”);
2. For Travel Emergency Medical Insurance, we are making the following changes: (a) Expanding the definition of Insured Person to include all Cardmembers (Cardmember includes the Primary Cardmember and, any supplemental Cardmember who is a natural person resident in Canada);(b) Extending coverage to Dependent Children while they are not traveling with a Cardmember or their Spouse.
3. For Trip Cancellation and Trip Interruption Insurance, we are making the following changes: (a) Eliminating coverage as an Insured Person for a Travelling Companion;(b) Extending coverage to Dependent Children while they are not traveling with a Cardmember or their Spouse;(c) Limiting the number of Travelling Companions to a maximum of three persons.
4. For Hotel/Motel Burglary Insurance, we are eliminating coverage as an Insured Person for parents residing witha Cardmember.
5. For Lost Luggage and Delayed Luggage Insurance, we are eliminating coverage as an Insured Person for parents residing with a Cardmember.6. We are removing the Price Protection Service.
However on the Scotia Passport Visa Infinite Card these are the changes:
1. We are changing insurance providers to The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company and First North American Insurance Company, members of the Manulife group of companies (“Manulife”);
2. For Travel Emergency Medical Insurance, we are making the following changes:(a) Increasing the maximum benefit to $2,000,000 CDN;(b) Reducing the coverage period from 10 days to 3 days for Insured Persons age 65 or older;(c) Expanding the definition of Insured Person to include all Cardmembers (Cardmember includes the Primary Cardmember and, any supplemental Cardmember who is a natural person resident in Canada);(d) Extending coverage to Dependent Children while they are not traveling with a Cardmember or their Spouse.
3. For Trip Cancellation and Trip Interruption Insurance, we are making the following changes:(a) Reducing the maximum benefit per Insured Person per Trip for Trip Cancellation benefits to $1,500;(b) Eliminating coverage as an Insured Person for a Travelling Companion;(c) Extending coverage to Dependent Children while they are not traveling with a Cardmember or their Spouse;(d) Limiting the number of Travelling Companions to a maximum of three persons.
4. For Hotel/Motel Burglary Insurance, we are:(a) Expanding coverage for Hotel/Motel rooms to be available Worldwide;(b) Eliminating coverage as an Insured Person for parents residing with a Cardmember.
5. For Lost Luggage and Delayed Luggage Insurance, we are eliminating coverage as an Insured Person for parents residing with a Cardmember.
6. We are removing the Price Protection Service.
The big thing you’ll notice right away is that all cards that had Price Protection Service will lose that benefit. This is one benefit that not a lot of cards in Canada and in fact seems to be really dwindling away as a feature on cards.
For the Scotia Passport Visa Infinite Card it gets worse. The Travel Medical Insurance benefit for those aged 65 and over drops from 10 days to 3 days. This is inline with most other cards however if you fall into the 65-75 age category there are cards out there that offer up to 15 days of coverage. The Trip Cancellation insurance is also affected as it is being lowered to $1,500 per person from $2,500 per person.
Wrapping it up
It’s unfortunate to see price protection being removed from all the Scotia cards and really unfortunate to see some insurance benefits on the Passport Visa Infinite card being reduced. When that card launched we called it a well rounded card as it provided a nice variety of rewards and benefits – it may not have been the best in each category but it is really good across the board. These changes while negative I feel don’t affect the card immensely and I will continue to say that the is card is one of Canada’s most well rounded travel rewards cards.
Learn more about Scotia’s credit cards here.
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