Scotiabank Passport® Visa Infinite* Card

The Scotiabank Passport® Visa Infinite* Card is one of the best all-around travel credit cards in Canada, and one that we recommend for every Canadian traveller. It’s also an excellent option for earning fixed-value points, due to the sheer ease of redeeming Scene+ points.

Throw in its popular no foreign transaction fees feature, and this card is a clear winner, with a relatively low annual fee to boot.

Bonuses & Fees

The Scotiabank Passport® Visa Infinite* Card offers up to 40,000 Scene+ points as a signup offer.

The bulk of the bonus, 30,000 Scene+ points, are awarded upon spending $2,000 in the first three months. 30,000 Scene+ points is worth up to $300 when redeemed for a statement credit against travel purchases.

You can also earn an additional 10,000 Scene+ points every year upon spending $40,000 every year.

The annual fee is $150 and in addition you’ll get one free supplementary card, and then it’ll cost $50 per card thereafter.

How Much Is This Offer Worth?

Here’s a breakdown of what the welcome bonus for the Scotiabank Passport® Visa Infinite* Card is worth. Keep in mind that this doesn’t take into consideration the potential value of other card benefits, which we’ll outline in detail below.

We value Scene+ points at 1 cent per point, and using that value, we’d peg a value of $300 on the welcome bonus of 30,000 Scene+ points alone.

Plus, assuming the card’s baseline earning rate of 1 Scene+ point per dollar spent, you’d earn an additional 2,000 Scene+ points for meeting the $2,000 total minimum spending requirement. We’d value these points at an additional $20.

However, once you factor in the card’s $150 annual fee, you wind up with a net return of $170 just for fulfilling the welcome offer.

Of course, you can certainly squeeze more value out of the card by leveraging the category earning rates and the card’s many other benefits; however, this is unique to each cardholder, and our valuation assumes a minimum amount of value rather than a maximum amount of value.

Earning Rewards

The Scotiabank Passport® Visa Infinite* Card offers 2 Scene+ points per dollar spent on groceries, dining, entertainment purchases, and daily transit. Entertainment includes movies, theatre, and live performances, while transit covers railroads, local transit, taxis, and ride-sharing services like Uber and Lyft.

As part of a partnership with Empire grocery stores, you can earn 3 Scene+ points per dollar spent on Empire grocery stores such as Sobeys, IGA, Safeway, Foodland, and FreshCo. Purchases made at other grocery stores will continue earning 2 points per dollar.

While this is a decent return, you’ll note that the Scotiabank Gold American Express® Card actually offers a higher 5% return on groceries, dining, and entertainment, so that’d be a better card to use for spending on these categories. Of course, Visa is more widely accepted than Amex, so that’s another thing to take into account.

On all other spending, you’ll earn a standard 1 Scene+ point per dollar spent.

It’s worth noting that the category earning rates also apply to purchases made outside of Canada!

Moreover, it’s important to note that the accelerated earning rates are capped at $50,000 per calendar year, and not per category. You’ll earn 1 Scene+ point per dollar spent thereafter.

Redeeming Rewards

Scene+ is one of the most flexible fixed-value points programs in Canada. Points have a value of 1 cent per point, and can be easily credited towards any travel expense up to 12 months after the date of purchase.

This is far superior to fixed-value points programs from Canada’s other major banks, as most of them force you to book your travel through their in-house travel agencies. With those programs, you’re effectively limited to using your points for flights, hotels, car rentals, and vacations at the rates set in the online travel agencies.

On the other hand, with Scene+ points, you can apply your points to things like vacation rentals, plane tickets, train tickets, hotel stays, award booking taxes and fees, and much more. Simply charge the travel expense to your credit card, and then redeem points to “offset” the charge.

The best part of this is that since you can book directly with travel vendors, you’ll get the full entitlement to earning elite benefits, and you’ll also be covered by the card’s insurance coverage (outlined below).

Perks & Benefits

One of the main features of this card it that it has no foreign transaction fees – indeed, it’s the first credit card offered by the Big 5 banks in Canada to include such a benefit. While most other credit cards charge a 2.5% markup on foreign transactions, the Scotiabank Passport® Visa Infinite* Card uses the Visa mid-market rate.

This is therefore an excellent card to use when you’re travelling abroad. In fact, if you were to make more than $6,000 in foreign purchases in one year, then you’d have saved enough to cover the card’s annual fee.

This is because most other cards that charge foreign transaction fees would have levied $150 in fees after spending $6,000, with a 2.5% foreign exchange fee.

$6,000 a year isn’t a lot of money to spend on foreign purchases if you’re a regular traveller. Throw in six complimentary Visa Airport Companion Program lounge visits, and the Scotiabank Passport® Visa Infinite* Card would be a great addition to your wallet.

Insurance Coverage

The Scotiabank Passport® Visa Infinite* Card is a premium travel credit card, and so comes with very strong insurance benefits. Coverage includes:

• Emergency medical insurance of up to $1 million for you, your spouse, and dependent children on unexpected medical illness or injury when travelling out-of-province for up to 25 days (3 days for age 65 and up)

• Trip cancellation and interruption insurance of up to $1,500 and $2,000 per person, respectively

• Flight delay insurance for delays of more than four hours, up to $500 per person

• Delayed and lost baggage insurance of up to $1,000

• Rental car collision or damage insurance, which can help you save on the insurance fees usually charged by car rental companies for vehicles with a MSRP of up to $65,000

• Hotel burglary insurance of up to $1,000 in the event of theft

Plus, on the purchase protection side, you’ll get a 90-day protection period against damage, loss, or theft for most new items. In addition, you also get extended warranty of up to one year.

Historical Offers

Legal Disclaimers