The Scotia Rewards program is a points-based system where members are awarded one Scotia Rewards point for every $1 in purchases charged to your ScotiaGold Passport Visa account or ScotiaGold Passport for business Visa account.
Scotia Rewards
The Scotia Rewards Program offers the following benefits to members:
- Complimentary full-service travel centre
- Redeem points for flights, hotels, holiday packages, cruises, rail tickets and car rentals
- Fly anywhere with no blackouts or seating restrictions
- Book with “points only” or “points plus cash”
- Use points to cover taxes and surcharges
- Points do not expire
When using the Scotia Rewards Travel Service, the portion charged to your card earns you 5% cash back on flights, cruises and holiday packages. This is a unique feature that’s not found in other travel programs like TD Travel Rewards or RBC Rewards.
Redeeming Scotia Rewards Points
Members can redeem Scotia Rewards online in the Rewards Shop. There are a wide variety of items available, including merchandise, gift cards, and travel. Scotia Rewards also offers a way to redeem points for investment dollars.
Related: Scotia Momentum Visa Infinite Is The Best Cash Back Card
Each Scotia Rewards point is worth less than 1 cent upon redemption. Here are a few examples of redeeming points for gift cards:
- $50 Apple iTunes gift card – 7,000 points
- $100 Scotia Rewards investment dollars – 12,500 points
- $100 Visa prepaid gift card – 13,500 points
Members can redeem points for gift cards at merchants like Esso, Starbucks, HBC, The Home Depot, Future Shop, Cineplex, Winners and Shoppers Drug Mart.
Scotia Rewards Visa cards
There are two Scotia Rewards Visa cards available to members. Each card provides all the regular advantages of a VISA card, plus the exclusive benefits of the Scotia Rewards program.
ScotiaGold Passport Visa
- Earn Scotia Rewards Points. One point for every $1 you spend
- Travel anywhere, any time with no restrictions.
- Earn 30,000 Scotia Rewards bonus points worth $300 in travel
- Comprehensive Travel Insurance
- 5% cash back on travel purchased through Scotia Rewards Travel Service
- $99 annual fee
Based on $2,600 in monthly spending, ScotiaGold Passport Visa card holders will receive $513 worth of travel rewards in the first year, after subtracting the annual fee. Members will earn $213 each subsequent year.
ScotiaGold Passport for business Visa
- Free Scotia VISA Cheques for balance transfers, or to pay insurance premiums, medical/dental bills and utility bills.
- Credit limit of up to $500,000 for secured and $50,000 unsecured.
- 5% cash back on travel purchased through Scotia Rewards Travel Service
- $120 annual fee
- $50 annual fee per additional card
- 50% off the annual fee on your personal ScotiaGold Passport Visa card
Final Thoughts
Scotia Rewards has some unique features in their travel program, including the 5% cash back rebate on travel purchased through the Scotia Rewards Travel Service. I also like the variety of rewards available in the Rewards Shop, including the investment dollars option.
When comparing Scotia Rewards with other travel rewards programs, the credit cards don’t match-up very well.
The ScotiaGold Passport Visa doesn’t have the earning power of some of the best travel rewards credit cards in Canada, like the Capital One Aspire World MasterCard, and even most of the CIBC Visa cards.
For small business credit cards, the ScotiaGold Passport for business Visa lacks the punch that a card like the TD Business Travel Visa delivers.
RBC and Shoppers Drug Mart recently announced the launch of a nation-wide program that makes it more convenient for Canadians to bank and earn rewards at Shoppers Drug Mart locations across Canada.
RBC Shoppers Optimum Banking
The new program will take effect on March 17, 2012, and will feature a co-branded RBC Shoppers Optimum banking account and debit card with enhanced Shoppers Optimum rewards.
Other benefits include unlimited debit transactions, access to Canada’s largest combined network of ATM’s and branches (including more than 300 new RBC ATM’s in Shoppers Drug Mart locations) and the ability to convert RBC Rewards points to Shoppers Optimum points.
In addition to the banking account and debit card, RBC and Shoppers Drug Mart will introduce a series of co-branded products.
“With one of the largest and most popular loyalty card programs in Canada, we are continually focused on developing innovative, high-quality products to offer our Shoppers Optimum program members,” said Domenic Pilla, president and CEO, Shoppers Drug Mart. “Aligning with RBC, a trusted leader in banking, allows us to expand upon our current financial services offering, providing our customers with even greater convenience and enhanced rewards.”
Key features of this program:
- Clients can use their RBC Shoppers Optimum banking account and debit card to collect Shoppers Optimum points.
- Collect 50,000 Shoppers Optimum bonus points for setting up a payroll or pension deposit to the new account and completing two online bill payments
- Earn 10 additional Shoppers Optimum points for every $1 spent at Shoppers Drug Mart using the RBC Shoppers Optimum Banking Account (this is in addition to the points earned using the Shoppers Optimum card)
- Earn one Shoppers Optimum point for every $1 spent outside Shoppers Drug Mart using the RBC Shoppers Optimum Banking Account
More Debit Rewards
Scotiabank pioneered the debit rewards card in Canada last summer with their Scotia Moneyback Account, which comes with a monthly fee of $14.95 and pays you 1% cash back on all purchases.
Since then, other Canadian banks have launched their own special debit card promotions. Three months ago, BMO Bank of Montreal partnered with Sobeys to launch a co-branded debit card.
However, the BMO Club Sobeys card is a discount banking product, like those offered by ING or PC Financial, featuring a no fee chequing account and high interest savings account.
In comparison, the RBC Shoppers Optimum card will be a full service product that’s comparable to the RBC’s no-limit chequing account, which has a monthly fee of $10.95 but includes unlimited debit transactions.
Shoppers’ Optimum loyalty program members currently earn 10 points for every $1 spent in the store. With an RBC Optimum card, they can earn an additional 10 points in Shoppers and 1 point for every $1 spent at other locations.
As an added bonus, holders of other RBC rewards cards, like the Visa Avion credit card, will be able to transfer their points to the Optimum program and redeem them for cosmetics, groceries and merchandise instead of travel rewards.