Business Platinum Card from American Express
130,000 MR points
Upcoming Changes to the Scotia Gold Amex
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Scotiabank Gold American Express® Card
- Earn 20,000 Scene+ points upon spending $2,000 in the first three months
- Plus, earn an additional 20,000 Scene+ points upon spending $7,500 in the first year
- Earn 6x Scene+ points at Sobeys, IGA, Safeway, FreshCo, and more
- Plus, earn 5x Scene+ points on groceries, dining, and entertainment
- Also, earn 3x Scene+ points on gas, transit, and select streaming services
- Redeem points for a statement credit for any travel expense
- No foreign transaction fees
- Enjoy the exclusive benefits of being an American Express cardholder
- Annual fee: $120
11 Comments
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I got this card a year ago because I spend significant amounts on fuel every year so I am disappointed by the lowering of the points for fuel. Does anyone know if buying pre paid credit cards would be a possible work around to getting the 5x points instead of settling for the new lower 3x rate?
I know one of the suggested work around is buying fuel gift cards but the problem with that is that the largest GCs I can find are still only $100 and I don’t feel like carrying around 15 or 20 of those.
The biggest problem with Scotia American Express is the entertainment category has changed a lot. I had 4X points with Ripley’s Aquarium Toronto, CN tower, Marineland and Skylon tower in Niagara Falls last year, now they become 1X point only. The entertainment category is now very limited to few places.
I cancelled my Scotia Gold Amex more than 9 months ago, will I get the bonus if I re-apply today?
The Scotiabank current offers have the following wording:
"Former or current Scotiabank credit cardholders of any kind in the past 2 years, including those that transfer from an existing Scotiabank credit card account or re-open a closed Scotiabank credit card account, are excluded from this Offer."
Ricky has written a bit about the topic of Churning, I’d start by looking at those articles and working from there to see if anyone’s had recent experiences with Sotiabank.
https://princeoftravel.com/churning-credit-cards-in-canada
No FX fee is great, however all bonus category purchases made in currencies other than CAD will only earn 1 point. Therefore it would still make sense to use the Passport Visa when travelling.
I don’t think it would be worth having foreign merchants charging you in CAD so that you may earn your bonus points, given the rates they will use.
There are a few data points of non-CAD spending counting for the category bonuses as well. I’ve only read about this happening on purchases made in the US, but it might be worth a try on a few purchases along your travels to see if the category bonuses do indeed come through for you.
Having the merchant charge you in your card’s currency is a common "scam" since the payment terminal adds a nice commission for the merchant / payment processor (typically ~5%). You’re much better off using the credit card issuer’s exchange rate, be it with a 2.5% FX fee or 0% if you use a card like the Scotiabank Visa Infinite Passport.
True, but Amex doesn’t allow the foreign merchant to offer the option to charge in one’s home currency (Visa and MasterCard do allow it). Not sure if Scotia Amex allows it, but cards issued by Amex themselves do not. To see this in practice, complete checkout on Amazon.com – if paying with a Canadian Visa or MC, it will ask if you want to be billed in your card’s currency – CDN$ at Amazon’s conversion rate, or in US$ (where your card issuer will convert the currency for you); if paying with an Amex card, Amazon does not offer the choice and just uses US$.
Interesting, thanks for sharing. I’ve always said no to having the merchant convert the charge for me so it hasn’t really been a concern to me.
Any datapoints for repeat bonuses with this card if held previously?
I think most of the data points have been positive so far.