Good Credit Card to apply for?

[toyobaru]

I am in the midst of applying for a credit card probably with BMO to grab myself some airmiles. I am looking for some recommendations or if anyone has seen any deals while signing up (Ie: get 500 airmiles with signing up now etc.

[Recon604]

if ur a student, you can get the bmo SPC credit card for free. Gives you cash rebates too but its little. And discounts at stores, however the SPC card has an expiry date, they only help you pay for it once. You have to buy the spc card if you want it again.

[Nvasion]

i got the rbc mastercard 2% cash back and the rbc avion platnium for my travelling

[Drow]

Bmo spc mastercard good for students. If u wanna get one let me know!

[Santofu]

Can someone educate me how does getting airmiles help you to get flight tickets?

I'm in debate to pick rebate rewards or travel cc

[dachinesedude]

MBNA SmartCash Platinum Plus

3% cash back for groceries and gas, 1% for everything else

they send you a cheque for $50 everytime you hit that cash back amount

[GLOW]

Originally Posted by dachinesedude

MBNA SmartCash Platinum Plus

3% cash back for groceries and gas, 1% for everything else

they send you a cheque for $50 everytime you hit that cash back amount

using this right now and it's great.
it's the current advert on RS at the top too
first 6 months I believe it's 5% & 3% but I could be wrong

[Santofu]

For people who have TD and thinking of applying for MBNA since TD Bank bought it out...
TD Canada Trust - TD Bank Group completes MBNA asset purchase

[ScizzMoney]

Visa Black Card - buhuh!

[blum2001]

Originally Posted by Santofu

Can someone educate me how does getting airmiles help you to get flight tickets?

I'm in debate to pick rebate rewards or travel cc

travel cards just get you points towards getting a free flight. I have the RBC Avion Infinite card and for every $1 i spend i get 1 point. What I've been doing is transferring my points to BA since it requires less redemption points for a flight, but there's less flexibility. My last trip from YVR to HKG, HKG to JFK to YVR was all on points (including business class from HKG to JFK and all I had to pay was $300ish for tax.

Each card has its own benefit, which one is the best for you, I have no clue.

[Gumby]

Originally Posted by GLOW

using this right now and it's great.
it's the current advert on RS at the top too
first 6 months I believe it's 5% & 3% but I could be wrong

Yep, first 6 months it's 5% & 3%.

Also, the card has no annual fee. I don't think there is any other cash back card that has no annual fee.

[Santofu]

Originally Posted by blum2001

travel cards just get you points towards getting a free flight. I have the RBC Avion Infinite card and for every $1 i spend i get 1 point. What I've been doing is transferring my points to BA since it requires less redemption points for a flight, but there's less flexibility. My last trip from YVR to HKG, HKG to JFK to YVR was all on points (including business class from HKG to JFK and all I had to pay was $300ish for tax.

Each card has its own benefit, which one is the best for you, I have no clue.

I'm just curious... How many points did you need in order to get a trip? I'm assuming it requires a lot...

Originally Posted by Gumby

Yep, first 6 months it's 5% & 3%.

Also, the card has no annual fee. I don't think there is any other cash back card that has no annual fee.

Actually most of the banks does offer cash back card that has no annual fees...
However RBC is probably the 2nd top for having 2% cash back for grocery and 1% for others.

[hotjoint]

Originally Posted by dachinesedude

MBNA SmartCash Platinum Plus

3% cash back for groceries and gas, 1% for everything else

they send you a cheque for $50 everytime you hit that cash back amount

Originally Posted by GLOW

using this right now and it's great.
it's the current advert on RS at the top too
first 6 months I believe it's 5% & 3% but I could be wrong

Originally Posted by Gumby

Yep, first 6 months it's 5% & 3%.

Also, the card has no annual fee. I don't think there is any other cash back card that has no annual fee.

+1 for the MBNA smartcash. I've had mine for rougly over a year and love it. 5% for gas and groceries for the first 6 months. 3% after that, everything else is 1%. If you sign up through greatcanadianrebates.com, you'll get $60 from the site once you're approved. That's what I did. A nice little incentive to sign up

[highfive]

Keep in mind a lot of those "points" travel have expiry dates to it. I know AsiaMiles have it for sure. I believe Aeroplan points do too.

I'm using TD First Class. 3 pts for every $1. Every 10,000 points is $50 to spend towards travelling. Never expires. And you can apply the money to expedia or any travel agency that's cheap. It does have annual fee of $120. But if you open a select service chqing account and have $5000 in there. ALL fees will be waived. Free Chqing, free CC, free safe deposit box, free us visa, free money drafts.

[blum2001]

Originally Posted by Santofu

I'm just curious... How many points did you need in order to get a trip? I'm assuming it requires a lot...

The actual flight was booked via British Airway's Avios program which offers 1.5, which was about 112000 avios points give or take which include business class for 1 leg of the trip. So actual AvioN points it cost me 74000 points.

Sounds like a lot of points but I literally throw everything on my credit card, plus I'm able to expense things for work using my credit card.

[Santofu]

Originally Posted by blum2001

The actual flight was booked via British Airway's Avios program which offers 1.5, which was about 112000 avios points give or take which include business class for 1 leg of the trip. So actual AvioN points it cost me 74000 points.

Sounds like a lot of points but I literally throw everything on my credit card, plus I'm able to expense things for work using my credit card.

Wow that's a lot... Does it expire like highfive mentioned? How long did it take you to reach that amount? And I'm wondering how much do you spent...

[dachinesedude]

Originally Posted by Santofu

For people who have TD and thinking of applying for MBNA since TD Bank bought it out...
TD Canada Trust - TD Bank Group completes MBNA asset purchase

cant wait till they integrate the card information into EasyWeb, i hate having to go to MBNA's site to look at the balance

imo travel reward cards are a waste of money if you dont spend alot (students, normal consumers), but if you own a business and buy inventory with the card, cha-ching $$

[rageguy]

I've had the MBNA Smart Cash for 3 years now. Never looked back. No annual fees. 3%/1% cash back. This wins. I now have the World version of the card. It's even better with lots of features. Price protection, concierge, etc.

[blum2001]

Originally Posted by Santofu

Wow that's a lot... Does it expire like highfive mentioned? How long did it take you to reach that amount? And I'm wondering how much do you spent...

I'll be honest, I have no clue when/if my avion points expire. I always book flights frequently so I never really thought about that.

For the 74000 point I think it probably took me just over a year? Keep in mind I expense a LOT of things for work so it goes on the card and I get a check back for it. Out of that I'd say 30,000 points is from work, and the rest are just everyday spending, bills, etc... I also own Canucks Season tickets so every year it's an automatic $8+k for the season + $4500ish for playoffs, so right there it's an easy 12500 points right there. What helps is putting on large items like insurance, Internet/cable bills, large dinners etc on your card instead of paying cash.

For me getting flights are more important then cash back or other types of rewards, I think you just have to decide what's more important to you.

[Gumby]

Originally Posted by Santofu

Actually most of the banks does offer cash back card that has no annual fees...
However RBC is probably the 2nd top for having 2% cash back for grocery and 1% for others.

The unique thing (I could be wrong) about the MBNA card is that they will mail you a check for $50, and you can do whatever you want with that money.

RBC's cash back card, for example, will only give you your "cash" back in the form of a credit on your cc statement.

[tiger_handheld]

RBC Rewards

cash , travel , merchandise
$1 = 1point
$39 annual fee

when you need to travel , ugprade to avion ($120 fee - less what you paid for original) to get better point redemption rates and you can downgrade after 8 mo's

can redeem 36,000 points for RBC line of credit "credit" - thats $300 free cash provided you have a RBC LOC.

[highfive]

Originally Posted by blum2001

I'll be honest, I have no clue when/if my avion points expire. I always book flights frequently so I never really thought about that.

For the 74000 point I think it probably took me just over a year? Keep in mind I expense a LOT of things for work so it goes on the card and I get a check back for it. Out of that I'd say 30,000 points is from work, and the rest are just everyday spending, bills, etc... I also own Canucks Season tickets so every year it's an automatic $8+k for the season + $4500ish for playoffs, so right there it's an easy 12500 points right there. What helps is putting on large items like insurance, Internet/cable bills, large dinners etc on your card instead of paying cash.

For me getting flights are more important then cash back or other types of rewards, I think you just have to decide what's more important to you.

I don't believe Avion points expire. Only airlines reward points do I think.

Like you have to do comparisons of what type of travel you prefer.

Using blum's figure of 74,000 points. I assume it costs you $74,000 to get it. I don't know where did you go?

Compare it to the TD first class, that would be equivalent to $1,100.00 ($74,000 x 3 points / 10,000 x $50) for you to spend on travel, hotel, car rentals.

So it really depends...I personally notice my TD one is better suited for domestic traveling like Canada or the US. It's not that as competitive if I were to travel to Hong Kong and i have to use Asia Miles.

Speaking of Asia Miles, you have to do your booking really early or their "asia miles" seats are sold out.

[blum2001]

Originally Posted by highfive

I don't believe Avion points expire. Only airlines reward points do I think.

Like you have to do comparisons of what type of travel you prefer.

Using blum's figure of 74,000 points. I assume it costs you $74,000 to get it. I don't know where did you go?

Compare it to the TD first class, that would be equivalent to $1,100.00 ($74,000 x 3 points / 10,000 x $50) for you to spend on travel, hotel, car rentals.

So it really depends...I personally notice my TD one is better suited for domestic traveling like Canada or the US. It's not that as competitive if I were to travel to Hong Kong and i have to use Asia Miles.

Speaking of Asia Miles, you have to do your booking really early or their "asia miles" seats are sold out.

yep, approx $74000. My trip I went from YVR to HKG Economy, HKG to JFK Business Class, JFK to YVR Economy. This is only possible with the RBC to BA conversion program. It used to be a lot better before but now it costs me more Avion points to convert to BA (BA is a partner with Cathay).

Originally Posted by highfive

Speaking of Asia Miles, you have to do your booking really early or their "asia miles" seats are sold out.

I book through British Airways Executive Club. The seats are limited and so are the dates, my last trip I got lucky I was able to book within 1 week. BA Exec club has gone to crap since changing to Avios. Last year I booked a trip to HK which cost me 50,000 BA points which is 33334 RBC Avion points. With the Avios, it increased to something like 50,000 RBC Avion points for me to use BA and it seems harder to find flights these days.

[Nightwalker]

Originally Posted by dachinesedude

MBNA SmartCash Platinum Plus

3% cash back for groceries and gas, 1% for everything else

they send you a cheque for $50 everytime you hit that cash back amount

I'm using this too, plus got cash for joining by applying through Great Canadian Rebates - Cash Back Rebates & Online Coupons

Never carrying a balance and receiving checks in the mail from my credit card company feels REAL good

[StaxBundlez]