Canada, we asked you to come out and vote for your favourite credit cards and loyalty programs in late September and early October for our Canada’s Choice awards. The results are in and we are pleased to present them to you here. For some categories there are no surprises while we were definitely surprised by some others! We want to give a big thank you to our regulars readers who cast their votes and also a big thank you to a lot of newcomers who came to our site to vote!
This post is split into two sections – the first shows just the winner in each of the 10 categories and is followed by a list of the top 5 cards in each those categories and their respective percentage of the votes received.
Here are the winners in each category:
Top Overall Travel Rewards Credit Card
TD® Aeroplan® Visa Infinite* Card
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Top No Annual Fee Travel Rewards Credit Card
BMO AIR MILES®† MasterCard®*
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Top Airline Credit Card
TD® Aeroplan® Visa Infinite* Card
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Top No Foreign Transaction Fee Credit Card
HSBC World Elite® Mastercard®
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Top Cash Back Credit Card
Neo Mastercard
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Top Ultra Premium Card
The
Platinum Card® from American Express
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Top Credit Card Reward Program
American Express Membership Rewards
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Top Airline Loyalty program
Air Canada Aeroplan
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Top Hotel Loyalty Program
Marriott Bonvoy
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Top Shopping Loyalty Program
PC Optimum
Wrapping it up
As mentioned at the start of this post we weren’t surprised by some of the results – namely the TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite Card being so popular, American Express Membership Rewards being the best overall credit card program and then Aeroplan and Marriott Bonvoy taking top airline and hotel programs respectively. No surprises there. Where did the surprises come? Firstly, the American Express Cobalt Card not taking top spot in any of the categories it was nominated in. This tells us there is still work to do on Amex’s part in getting the word out on what is hands down the best overall travel rewards and cash back card in Canada. Secondly was Neo Financial – they did a great job in reaching out to people to vote so this newcomer took the Cash Back credit card category by storm and fared very well in the credit card reward program category as well!
In general the results do show the prowess that the large loyalty programs and credit card issuers have. Outside of Neo Financial it was all the big players who had great showings. Aeroplan, AIR MILES, BMO, TD, Marriott, PC Optimum – all of which are some of the most popular programs and credit card issuers in Canada and this reflects in the votes.
Once again we want to give a big thank you to all of you who came out to vote in Canada’s Choice 2021! It was a lot of fun to bring it back after six years of the feature being in retirement and be sure to watch for it again in 2022!
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The results in further detail:
Here are the top 5 in each category and their respective percentage of the votes they received:
Top Overall Travel Rewards Credit Card
1. TD® Aeroplan® Visa Infinite* Card 19.55%
2. BMO AIR MILES®† World Elite®* MasterCard®* 18.44%
3. American Express Cobalt® Card 13.13%
4. WestJet RBC World Elite Mastercard 12.71%
5. The
Platinum Card® from American Express 8.66%
Top No Annual Fee Travel Rewards Credit Card
1. BMO AIR MILES®† MasterCard®* 34.22%
2. TD Rewards Visa Card 12.70%
3. American Express® Green Card 12.30%
4. RBC Rewards+ Visa 11.07%
5. CIBC Aventura® Visa* Card 9.22%
Top Airline Credit Card
1. TD® Aeroplan® Visa Infinite* Card 35.66%
2. WestJet RBC World Elite Mastercard 27.24%
3. American Express® Aeroplan®* Card 16.85%
4. CIBC Aeroplan Visa Infinite Card 14.16%
5. MBNA Alaska Airlines World Elite® Mastercard® 2.33%
Top No Foreign Transaction Fee Credit Card
1. HSBC World Elite® Mastercard® 32.11%
2. Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite Card 31.80%
3. Scotiabank Gold American Express Card 18.04%
4. Brim World Elite MasterCard11.01%
5. Home Trust Preferred Visa Card 6.73%
Top Cash Back Credit Card
1. Neo Financial Mastercard 32.85%
2. American Express Cobalt® Card 11.38%
3. TD® Cash Back Visa Infinite* Card 8.21%
4. BMO CashBack® World Elite®* MasterCard®* 6.34%
4. PC Mastercard World Elite 6.34%
Top Ultra Premium Card
1. The
Platinum Card® from American Express 31.42%
2. TD® Aeroplan® Visa Infinite Privilege* Card 17.25%
3. American Express® AIR MILES®* Reserve Credit Card 17.04%
4. American Express® Aeroplan®* Reserve Card 13.55%
5. RBC Avion Visa Infinite Privilege Card 6.98%
Top Credit Card Reward Program
1. American Express Membership Rewards 26.78%
2. Neo Rewards 26.40%
3. PC Optimum 12.56%
4. BMO Rewards 6.85%
5. TD Rewards 6.35%
Top Airline Loyalty program
1. Air Canada Aeroplan 63.51%
2. WestJet Rewards 23.92%
3. Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan 2.58%
4. American AAdvantage 1.38%
4. British Airways Executive Club 1.38%
4. Delta SkyMiles 1.38%
Top Hotel Loyalty Program
1. Marriott Bonvoy 55.73%
2. Hilton Honors 11.66%
3. IHG Rewards 6.92%
4. Best Western Rewards 6.52%
5. ALL Accor Live Limitless 4.94%
Top Shopping Loyalty Program
1. PC Optimum 38.70%
2. AIR MILES 37.71%
3. Hudson’s Bay Rewards 8.19%
4. Triangle Rewards 4.24%
5. SCENE 3.53%