The Scotia Momentum® Visa Infinite* Card is a mid-tier card from Scotiabank that offers cardholders the ability to earn straightforward cash back on all their purchases.
The card comes with elevated cash back rates, particularly in a couple of notable categories, and it also boasts some solid travel insurance.
In this review, we’ll review the features of this card to help you decide if it may be a useful addition to your wallet.
At a Glance
- Annual Fee: $120
- Supplementary cardholders: $50
- Minimum annual income: $60,000 personal or $100,000 household
- Estimated credit score: Good to Excellent
- Rating: 3.7
What we love: high cash back earning rates and strong travel insurance
What we’d change: add more perks and benefits, add partnerships with other merchants (e.g., discounts at gas stations)
Bonus Cash Back Rate Welcome Bonus
In terms of a welcome bonus, the Scotia Momentum® Visa Infinite* Card typically offers a bonus cash back rate for a set period of time (usually around three months) and for a maximum amount of cash back earned.
For example, we’ve recently seen the card with a welcome bonus offer of 10% cash back on all purchases for the first three months, on up to $2,000 (all figures in CAD) in total purchases. This means that you could effectively enjoy a 10% discount on everything you buy by earning up to $200 in cash back.
One of the nice things about cash back cards is that this style of welcome bonus is easy to access and enjoy, and you don’t need to worry about meeting a minimum spending requirement.
Even if you only spend a portion of the $2,000 maximum, you’ll still be able to take advantage of this limited-time cash back rate and enjoy some extra rewards.
The card also often typically waives its $120 first-year annual fee, which puts the welcome bonus earnings back in your wallet immediately.
Boosted Cash Back Earning Rates
The Scotia Momentum® Visa Infinite* Card earns cash back on all purchases based on a tiered earning structure.
The card earns cash back at the following rates:
- Earn 4% cash back on groceries and recurring bill payments†
- Earn 2% cash back on gas and transit†
- Earn 1% cash back on all other purchases†
Keep in mind, however, that both the 4% and the 2% earning rate tiers are capped at $25,000 in spending per year, after which the earning rate drops to 1%†.
The 4% cash back earning rate is one of the highest in the market, and it’s great to see it offered on lucrative categories such as groceries and recurring bill payments.
If, for example, you paid for $500 in groceries each month, you would earn $20 in cash back. Over the course of the year, your cash back on groceries alone would be $240, or enough for half a month’s grocery bill.
Additionally, earning cash back on recurring bill payments is a great way to save a little money on your automatic payment bills, such as your phone bill, streaming services, and even on your rent, thanks to services like Chexy.
Chexy is a bill payment service that lets you use your credit card to pay your bills. By setting up your rent payment through them, you can earn 4% back in the recurring bill payment category.
This means that even with Chexy’s fee of 1.75%, you’ll still get a 2.25% discount on your rent that you wouldn’t otherwise have received.
Straightforward Cash Back
The Scotia Momentum® Visa Infinite* earns cash back, making its rewards structure simple and easy to understand.
The card’s cash back program is an annual program, which means that your cash back rewards accumulate each month (with the year beginning with your December statement), and the total accumulated cash back is awarded once a year, at the end of each 12-month period.
You can choose to receive your cash back each year as a statement credit on your Scotia Momentum® Visa Infinite* Card, or, if you have an eligible bank account with Scotiabank, the total cash back will be deposited into your account†.
This cash back rewards structure makes the whole process incredibly simple; however, for some people, it can be frustrating to not receive your rewards each month and to instead have to wait an entire year to truly reap the benefits of the card.
When weighing the pros and cons of this card, you’ll definitely want to consider whether this annual structure works for you.
Perks & Benefits
As a cash back card, the Scotia Momentum® Visa Infinite* doesn’t offer a ton in terms of its perks and benefits.
As a Visa Infinite, the card provides you with access to the concierge service, the Luxury Hotel Collection, and the Dining and Wine Country program, which can help make your travels smoother and a bit more luxurious†.
The card also offers discounts on car rentals at participating AVIS and Budget in Canada and the US, plus solid travel insurance, including trip cancellation and trip interruption insurance (up to $1,500 per person),† flight delay insurance (up to $500 per person on delays of four hours or more),† and emergency medical coverage (up to $1 million in coverage for up to 15 consecutive days for eligible persons under 65 years old)†.
Additionally, the card provides solid mobile device insurance, covering up to $1,000 if your new device gets lost, stolen, or damaged†.
Other Cards to Consider
While the Scotia Momentum® Visa Infinite* Card is a solid choice if you’re looking to earn a high rate of cash back on your groceries and recurring bills, there are also other cash back cards worth considering if you’re looking for decent earning rates across other categories or if you’d prefer a lower annual fee.
TD Cash Back Visa Infinite* Card
Another solid cash back credit card option to consider, especially if you do a lot of driving, is the TD Cash Back Visa Infinite* Card.
This card earns 3% cash back on groceries, gas, and recurring bill payments†, giving you the ability to earn solid rewards on another big spend category.
Though this earning rate is 1% lower than the Scotia Momentum® Visa Infinite* Card for groceries and recurring bill payments, the ability to earn 3% cash back on gas purchases may make it more appealing if you’re a commuter or if you often travel by car.
That said, the 3% cash back earning rate is capped at $15,000 in spending per category, after which your earning rate goes down to 1%†. This limits the ability to save on recurring bill payments, such as rent through services like Chexy (with its fee of 1.75%), as you’re more likely to hit the cap before the end of the year.
The card also adds to its vehicle-focused features with discounts on car rentals through AVIS and Budget, and through its most notable feature of free Deluxe TD Auto Club Membership, which provides 24/7 roadside assistance.
Often offering a first-year annual fee waiver on its $139 annual fee, this card is an overall solid cash back option and is particularly interesting if you drive often and would like some vehicle-focused rewards and perks.
Tangerine World Mastercard®
If you’d prefer to earn cash back without incurring an annual fee, you could look at the Tangerine World Mastercard®.
This card is unique in that you get to choose two or three categories that earn unlimited 2% cash back†. This means that you can actually customize your card’s earning categories to suit your spending habits.
You can choose to earn 2% cash back on groceries, furniture, restaurants, hotel/motel, gas, drug store, home improvement, entertainment, public transportation/parking, and recurring bill payments†.
Some of these categories are quite niche and can make for some unique savings opportunities.
For example, if you were to select the home improvement and furniture categories, you could earn unlimited 2% cash back on a big home renovation and refurnish†.
You’ll also want to keep in mind that while a cash back rate of 2% is pretty decent for a card of this tier, the downside to the card is that it only earns 0.5% cash back outside of the two or three categories of your choosing. Given this, you’ll likely want to use this card exclusively for your chosen categories and then supplement it with another card that earns complementary rewards.
The card also comes with a handful of perks and benefits, including mobile device insurance and rental car insurance coverage, plus a DragonPass membership for airport lounges (though you’ll still have to pay the per-visit preferential rate of $32 (USD))†.
Conclusion
The Scotia Momentum® Visa Infinite* Card is a great card for cash back thanks to its generous earning rates in key categories.
Earning cash back at strong rates makes this card a straightforward way to earn rewards on all your purchases, especially on groceries and recurring bills.
Plus, the opportunity to enjoy solid travel insurance and discounts at eligible car rental locations can help you save money when you travel.
We hope that this review has helped you determine whether or not the Scotia Momentum® Visa Infinite* Card could be a valuable addition to your rewards portfolio.
† Terms and conditions apply. Please refer to the financial institution’s website for the most up-to-date product information. Reasonable efforts are made to maintain accuracy of information.