Earning points with banking products and services beyond credit cards is gaining popularity in Canada and one of the latest such opportunities is opening a Direct Investing account with RBC.
RBC Direct Investing^ is offering a $300 cash bonus and up to 500,000 Avion points* (up to $10,000 in travel value1) when you open your first eligible account(s)
This offer which is available until March 3, 2025 also includes 50 commission-free trades to use within one year of account opening*4
To earn the $300 cash bonus and up to 500,000 Avion Points you must open your first RBC Direct Investing Account by March 3, 2025 transfer a minimum of $15,000 and make sure you are an Avion Rewards member by April 3, 2025.
You must maintain this minimum balance in your account(s) until October 3, 2025 to earn the cash bonus and the Avion points
Avion points will be awarded at a rate of 1 point for every $2 of net transferred assets up to 500,000 points. Here are some examples of the number of points you can earn on net transferred assets:
- $15,000 = 7,500 Avion Points
- $250,000 = 125,000 Avion Points
- $1,000,000 = 500,000 Avion Points
To earn the Avion Points portion of this limited time offer you must be an Avion Elite or Avion Premium member. To become a member in one of these two levels you must have an eligible RBC product.
These are the products that you can hold to be in these two levels of the Avion Rewards program:
Avion Elite:
- RBC Avion Visa Infinite Card
- RBC Avion Visa Infinite Privilege Card
- RBC Avion Visa Infinite Privilege Card for Private Banking
- RBC Avion Visa Platinum Card
- RBC Avion Visa Business Card
- RBC Avion Visa Infinite Business Card
Avion Premium:
- RBC ION+ Visa Card
- RBC ION Visa Card
- Other select RBC credit card products
- Select RBC Personal Deposit Accounts
- Select RBC Personal Investment Products
- Select RBC Instalment Loans, Lines of Credit & Home Equity Financing
If you do not have any of the listed products, RWRDS Canada highly recommends getting one of the RBC Avion Visa cards so that you will have Avion Elite membership. By doing so you will be able to take advantage of the best and most valuable redemption options in the Avion Rewards program. Some of the redemption options include the Avion Air Travel Redemption Schedule, a 100 to 1 redemption ratio for any travel and conversion options to programs like British Airways Club and Cathay.
Not only will you get access to the best redemption options with the Avion cards but you’ll also be able to score even more Avion points. Currently the suite of Avion credit cards have elevated welcome bonuses where you can earn up to an additional 70,000 points to your account not including the points you earn for the spending on the credit card. Remember if you don’t have an Avion account you need to apply and be approved for any of the credit cards below before funding or transferring your account(s) in RBC Direct Investing.
These are the current elevated Avion credit card welcome bonuses:
RBC Avion Visa Infinite Card (Most popular)
Get 35,000 Welcome Points on approval and 20,000 bonus points when you spend $5,000 in your first 6 months*. Apply by June 3, 2025. Apply online and get a response in as little as 60 seconds.
Click here to apply for the RBC Avion Visa Infinite Card.
RBC Avion Visa Infinite Privilege Card
Get up to 70,000 Avion points* (a travel value of up to $1,500†). 70,000 Avion points* is enough for two roundtrip tickets to almost anywhere in Canada & the US (Alaska and Hawaii require more points). Taxes and fees extra.†
Click here to apply for the RBC Avion Visa Infinite Privilege Card.
RBC Avion Visa Platinum Card
Get 35,000 Welcome Points on approval and 20,000 bonus points when you spend $5,000 in your first 6 months*. Apply by June 3, 2025. Apply online and get a response in as little as 60 seconds.
Click here to apply for the RBC Avion Visa Platinum Card.
If you choose to have an RBC product at the Elite Level, which means an Avion card, here are some of the rewards you could redeem the Avion points for:
Flights to anywhere with the RBC Avion Air Travel Redemption Schedule. The RBC Avion Air Travel Redemption schedule is the program’s fixed points travel redemption option where you redeem a flat rate of points for flights based on regions:
As an example with this redemption if you were to transfer $100,000 to your new RBC Direct Investing account and get the RBC Avion Visa Infinite Card you could have no less than 110,000 Avion Rewards points from the combined bonus offers and the points earned on the credit card to meet the minimum spending requirement.
Breakdown of earning the 110,000 points
-
- 50,000 Avion points from the Direct Investing Offer
- 35,000 Avion points from the RBC Avion Visa Infinite welcome bonus
- 5,000 Avion points from spending $5,000 in 6 months
- 20,000 Avion points bonus for reaching the $5,000 spend requirement in 6 months
- 50,000 Avion points from the Direct Investing Offer
Those 110,000 points could be redeemed for seven round trip flights within a province or a neighbouring province with a value of up to $350 per ticket (before taxes & fees).
It’s also enough points for three round trip flights anywhere in Canada or the lower 48 U.S. states with a value of up to $750 per ticket (before taxes & fees) or even two round trips flights to sunny destinations like the Caribbean, Mexico and Hawaii with a value of up to $1,100 per ticket (before taxes & fees).
Fancy other travel like hotels, car rentals or cruises? Those 110,000 points are worth $1,100 towards any travel booked via Avion Rewards.
You can also choose to convert the Avion Points to their partner programs like WestJet Rewards, British Airways Club, Cathay or American AAdvantage.
With those programs you can look at potentially redeeming for rewards with outsized value which tend to be business or first class tickets but they also provide really good economy class option.
If we take the same example earning you 110,000 Avion points, those can be converted 1:1 to British Airways Club Avios. With 110,000 Avios you can redeem them for four round trip economy class tickets between Toronto and Dublin (26,000 Avios per round trip ticket + taxes/fees).
Or you can convert them 1:1 to Asia Miles which is the currency of Cathay Pacific’s Cathay program and redeem them for two economy class tickets between Vancouver and Hong Con (54,000 Asia Miles per round trip ticket + taxes/fees)
If you decide to go for the RBC Avion Visa Infinite Privilege Card there is one final redemption option to let you know about and that is the card’s elevated redemption rate for business class and first class flights. Holders of this card can redeem 100 points for $2 towards any premium cabin flight booked via Avion Rewards. This is double the standard value for this redemption option!
All in all, there are a bevy of options that you can utilize Avion points for and by combining an Avion credit card with the RBC Direct Investing account offer you could have a lot of points to take advantage of those options.
Savvy points & miles collectors are always looking for ways to be able to earn points beyond credit card spending especially with programs such as Avion Rewards that provide flexibility and valuable redemption options. This RBC Direct Investing offer is one such promotion that can be used to boost your Avion Rewards balance and before you know it you can be redeeming for some pretty amazing travel rewards.
All you have to do to be on your way to is open your account by March 3, 2025, complete the additional tasks by April 3, 2025, and by this fall you could have a lot of Avion points to take advantage of the bevy options outlined above.
Click here to learn more and to open your RBC Direct Investing account
This post was sponsored by RBC. The views and opinions expressed in this article, however, are purely those of Rewards Canada.
Images via RBC
1. RBC^ Direct Investing Inc. and Royal Bank of Canada are separate corporate entities which are affiliated. RBC Direct Investing Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Royal Bank of Canada and is a Member of the Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization and the Canadian Investor Protection Fund. Royal Bank of Canada and certain of its issuers are related to RBC Direct Investing Inc. RBC Direct Investing Inc. does not provide investment advice or recommendations regarding the purchase or sale of any securities. Investors are responsible for their own investment decisions. RBC Direct Investing is a business name used by RBC Direct Investing Inc. ® / ™ Trademark(s) of Royal Bank of Canada. RBC and Royal Bank are registered trademarks of Royal Bank of Canada. Used under licence. © Royal Bank of Canada 2025.