My recommendations, opinions, and reviews are solely mine and have not been endorsed or reviewed by the entities mentioned in this blog post.
If you’re an avid traveler and jetsetter like me and would like to get travel rewards or reduce the amount you need to spend when traveling, I highly recommend getting a travel credit card that fits your needs. Credit cards can be a great thing if you use them wisely and I also never encourage spending if you don’t have the funds for it, so in this blog post, I will be assuming that if you get a credit card, you will pay off your bills in full every month as I do and therefore I will also not worry too much about interest rates here. Using a credit card helps build your credit score and you get travel benefits – so why not use a credit card that will reward you rather than using cash or debit if you’re going to spend the money anyway? Ever since getting my first credit card in university, I was always aware of the perks that it can offer me and I never spent what I didn’t have. And as I built up my credit and increased my income, I was able to be qualified for better credit cards that allowed for generous travel and/or cashback incentives. This in turn has permitted me to redeem for a lot of cashback, free travel, and other rewards. And if you are looking for the perks too (and I am all about getting great deals and saving in areas where it’s unnecessary to spend), here’s what to look for in travel credit cards and my recommendations for the best Canadian travel credits (mostly with no annual fee).
Which Benefits In A Travel Credit Card Is Most Important To You?
Credit cards come with a variety of rewards, incentives, and perks to entice you to choose them. But when it comes to a travel credit card, there are certain benefits you want to look at to decide if it’s the best one for your needs. I don’t necessarily look at whether it’s a Visa or Mastercard, but I definitely stay away from American Express because so many merchants don’t accept this type of credit card, making it a lot harder to collect your rewards. However, if this does matter to you, maybe this small tidbit will help you decide: Mastercard exchange rates are usually lower than Visa – and that’s something you might want to take into consideration when traveling internationally.
There are so many different benefits that credit card companies offer you and below are some that you may want to check off your list of what is necessary for you:
1 – Do They Give A Big Sign-On Bonus?
Some credit cards will give you enough cashback or points that make up for at least a one-way ticket somewhere after spending a minimum threshold within a given amount of time.
2 – Do They Have An Annual Fee?
For the most part, I will only get a no-annual fee credit card. But sometimes there are credit cards that offer the first year’s annual fee waived and only start charging in the second year. By then, you can get all the perks in the first year and cancel it when they start charging.
3 – What Kind Of Rewards Do They Offer?
Credit cards usually offer rewards in the form of points or cashback. Both are good, but it also depends on your redemption rate. Sometimes it’s 0.5:1, 1:1, 2:1, or more (usually if you pay an annual fee). You may want to do a little calculation to see which is worth it for you.
4 – Does the credit card offer no foreign transaction fees?
This is one of the most important perks for me when looking for any credit card in general – our Canadian dollar isn’t exactly great and a 2.5% foreign transaction fee for every international purchase you make will start to add up!
5 – Does Travel Protection Come With Your Credit Card?
Trip cancellation and interruption, travel insurance coverage, auto rental coverage, hotel burglary, lost luggage and baggage delay insurance are some of the travel protections a travel credit card can offer you. You can have extensive coverage (usually with an annual fee card) or several of them depending on which credit card you go with. I like to cross-check with other credit cards I have and see if I’m missing any specific coverage on either one to help me decide if I can’t get all of them on one travel credit card.
6 – Do Other Travel Perks Matter To You?
With travel credit cards, there may be great perks like priority check-in and boarding, free check-in bags, free airport lounge passes, free NEXUS applications, access to Boingo Wi-Fi, automatic elite statuses at hotels, and much more.
7 – Is There A Brand You’re Loyal To?
There are general travel credit cards or co-branded travel credit cards, such as Air Canada Aeroplan with TD Bank’s Visa credit card or Marriott Bonvoy with American Express. If you’re already a member of a specific loyalty program, it may be worth it to choose a travel credit card that is already partnered with that brand to add on to your current rewards.
My Recommendations For (Mostly No-Fee) Canadian Travel Credit Cards
I want to start by saying that compared to the US, Canada’s travel credit cards aren’t as good and we don’t have as many options. That’s why I’m always keeping an eye on whether new credit cards come out here as a couple of the travel credit cards I have used before either lessened the points I can gain from each purchase or the institution just cancelled that type of card completely. After much comparison and research, here are my preferred travel credit cards:
Brim Financial – Brim or Brim World Elite
I’ve been using Brim Financial’s travel credit card for almost a year now and although it’s a pretty new institution, the travel benefits are great, rewards can be easily redeemed, very friendly and quick customer service, and you can easily control everything by logging into your account on their website. This has come especially useful when I was in Miami and forgot my pin number when trying to make a purchase and I was easily able to update this online without having to call customer service (although I didn’t realize this until after I called and they told me this). They are also constantly adding new perks and partnering with popular brands for additional cashback. So far, everything about this travel credit card has performed better than other popular financial institutions I’ve used. Brim is also modern and user-friendly in all aspects of its website, email notifications, and app capabilities.
With the no-fee Brim travel credit card, you receive:
- Earn $200+ in first-time bonuses
- 1 point for every $1 spent
- Unlimited rewards, no cap on how much you can earn/redeem
- No foreign transaction fee
- Free global Wi-Fi with Boingo
- Additional members/family cards are $0
- Common carrier accident insurance
- Mobile device insurance
- Event ticket protector insurance
- Extended warranty
- Purchase security insurance
With the $199 annual fee Brim World Elite credit card, the difference is:
- Your first year’s annual fee is waived
- Earn $500+ in first-time bonuses
- 2 points for every $1 spent
- Out-of-province emergency travel medical insurance
- Flight delay insurance
- Baggage delay insurance
- Lost or stolen baggage insurance
- Hotel burglary insurance
- Car/rental collision / loss damage insurance
- Travel assistance
- Trip cancellation insurance
- Trip interruption insurance
TD Aeroplan Credit Cards
I’ve been using TD Aeroplan credit cards on and off throughout the years depending on when they have a special offer in waiving the first year of the annual fee. After several years of canceling your card, you basically re-qualify to apply again and get the sign-on bonus, so why not? The annual fees range from $89 to $599 CAD depending on which tier you get and that’s not a small amount especially if you are new to collecting points or you aren’t a big traveler.
I like using the TD Aeroplan credit card because I’ve been collecting Aeroplan miles for years and have already redeemed over 6 flights. Flights can be redeemed for as little as 6,000 – 8,000 points from what I’ve seen and they seem pretty easy to collect and with the sign-on bonus that these TD Aeroplan travel credit cards provide and you can easily get a free flight without doing much. I’ve gotten both the Platinum and Infinite cards and you can get between $525 to about $1500 CAD in benefits including the bonus points. By getting the Infinite card this time around, it is quite a step up from the Platinum cards I’ve had before and I was also able to also get a Buddy Pass that allows my travel companion to only have to pay the taxes on a flight that they take with me. Because they also partnered with Uber, I was able to 6 months free of the Uber Eats Pass. I also get my first checked bag free for up to 9 people traveling on the same Air Canada reservation as me and enroll for the NEXUS card up with an application fee rebate of up to $100 CAD.
The great thing about the TD Aeroplan credit cards, you get travel insurance coverage even at the lowest tier and as you move up, you get 2 additional coverages. And at minimum, you’ll always get 1 point per every $1 you spend. Overall, the higher you move up with the credit card tiers, the better benefit you get. But even at the lowest tier, the perks are pretty decent and the sign-on bonus alone makes getting this credit card worth it since you’re technically already guaranteed at least 1 free flight within North America.
CIBC Aeroplan Visa Infinite Card
Once my first year with the TD Aeroplan travel credit card is up and I will have to start paying an annual fee, I plan to switch to the CIBC Aeroplan Visa Infinite Card. It’s very similar and the first year’s annual fee is also waived. You can get up to 45,000 bonus Aeroplan points and even get your first checked bag free. You get 1.5 points for every $1 you spend on gas, groceries, and Air Canada directly and 1 point for every $1 you spend on everything else. In addition, you get important insurance coverages such as out-of-province emergency travel medical insurance, trip cancellation and trip interruption insurance, flight delay and baggage insurance, hotel burglary insurance, auto rental collision and loss damage insurance, purchase security and extended protection insurance, mobile device insurance, and common carrier accident insurance.
You can also opt for the CIBC Aeroplan Visa Card with no annual fees and take advantage of the bonus 10,000 Aeroplan points you get with your first purchase. You get 1 point for every $1 you spend on gas, groceries, and Air Canada directly. For all other purchases, you get 1 point for every $1.50 you spend. So this may be good to have along with other credit cards with better benefits that give you par or more in terms of points or cashback for every dollar you spend.
Overall, do your research – special offers and new updates happen all the time. Just keep your eye on a few good travel credit cards every couple years and take advantage of the awesome bonuses you get for signing on. You can get to traveling for free much faster with additional perks!
Want more travel tips? Here are other Travel Quick Tips blog posts.