CIBC Visa Cards: Comparing The Options

CIBC Visa cards offer a wide range of benefits and services including rewards, cash-back and competitive interest rates.  Depending on what you’re looking for in a rewards card, from everyday shopping convenience to travel to buying online, one of these CIBC Visa card options should suit your needs.

CIBC Visa Options:

CIBC Aerogold Visa Card

This CIBC Visa card was recently rated one of the best travel rewards credit cards in Canada by MoneySense magazine.  As the name indicates, this card belongs to the Aeroplan rewards program.  The major benefits of using the CIBC Aerogold Visa Card are:

CIBC Dividend Card

With the CIBC Dividend Card, you can earn 1% cash back on all net purchases.  This CIBC Visa Card belongs to its own Dividend Dollar rewards program.  One interesting thing to note about this program is that your cash back won’t exactly equal 1%.  According to the term and conditions:

Dividend dollars are calculated as follows: on the first $1,500 in net annual card purchases, your CIBC Dividend Card account rebate is 0.25%; on your next $1,500 in net annual purchases your rebate is 0.5%; on the remainder of net annual purchases your rebate would be 1%.

With a $20,000 annual spend you would earn $181.25, or 0.9%.  There are much better cash back credit cards on the market that pay 2% or more with no annual fee.

Other general information about this card includes:

• No annual fee
• 19.99% interest rate
• Free additional cards (limit of 3)
• $15,000 minimum annual household income

CIBC Select Visa Card

The CIBC Select Visa Card is marketed as a low interest rate credit card for smart money managers.  I think that someone who is smart with their money wouldn’t care about credit card interest rates because they should pay off their balance each month, but what do I know?

Other general information about this CIBC Visa card:

• Low annual fee of $29
• 11.99% interest rate
• Free additional cards (limit of 3)
• $15,000 minimum annual household income

CIBC Platinum Visa Card

The CIBC Platinum Visa Card does not offer rewards, but is marketed as a credit card with premium benefits.  Customers with this CIBC Visa card will also receive the following credit card advantages:

• Auto Rental Collision/Loss Damage Insurance
• $500,000 Common Carrier Accident Insurance
• Purchase Security and Extended Protection Insurance
• AVIS car rental discounts up to 20% at participating locations
• Free personalized CIBC Convenience Cheques
• Guaranteed Hotel Reservations
• Cash advances of up to $1,000 a day
• Emergency card replacement

CIBC Visa cards include a travel rewards, cash back, low interest, and platinum option.  The Aerogold Visa Card is a great option for travel rewards junkies who collect Aeroplan points.  I wish CIBC had a better cash back option than the Dividend Dollars program, which pays less than the PC MasterCard at less than 1%.

In addition to the cards mentioned above, it would be nice to see CIBC Visa offer a small business credit card option for business owners.  Overall, I think I would pass on CIBC Visa cards in favour of some of the better options available elsewhere.