American Express is a great bank to accumulate points with because of its vast array of transfer partners available through American Express Membership Rewards . It also has co-branded cards with Air Canada, making it easy to accumulate Aeroplan points , a major player in our Canadian landscape.
Unfortunately, not all retailers accept Amex, given that it tends to levy higher merchant processing fees. Undoubtedly there’ll be times you’ll have to pull out a Mastercard or Visa, so in Part 2 of this series, we’ll now look at category earning multipliers on cards issued by other banks.
For simplicity’s sake, we’ll only focus on Canadian cards that earn airline points currencies or their equivalent, as opposed to cash back cards or other fixed-value points currencies.
Canadian Banks with Airline Partners
American Express has the most flexibility when it comes to transfer partners, with a total of six airline partners and two hotel partners. However, there are still some good Visa and Mastercard options.
In Canada, RBC , HSBC, CIBC , and TD all have credit cards with which you can earn airline points.
RBC
RBC offers a few credit cards that can earn airline currencies directly:
RBC British Airways Visa Infinite Card , which earns British Airways Avios
RBC Cathay Pacific Visa Platinum Card , which earns Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
WestJet RBC World Elite Mastercard , which earns WestJet Dollars
RBC also has its own line of Avion credit cards that earn RBC Avion points, which can be transferred to four airline partners.
The transfer ratios from RBC Avion to the airline currencies are as follows:
RBC Avion Transfer Partner Transfer Ratio WestJet Dollars 100:1 British Airways Executive Club 1:1 Cathay Pacific Asia Miles 1:1 American Airlines AAdvantage 1:0.7
Keeping these partners and ratios in mind, let’s look at what the credit card multipliers are, if any:
Credit Card Points Currency Category Multiplier Annual Fee RBC Avion Platinum RBC Avion No multipliers 1x $120 RBC Avion Visa Infinite RBC Avion Travel 1.25x $120 RBC Avion Visa Business RBC Avion No multipliers 1x $120 RBC Avion Visa Infinite Privilege RBC Avion Base earning rate 1.25x $399 RBC Avion Visa Infinite Business RBC Avion Base earning rate 1.25x $175 RBC British Airways Visa Infinite Avios British Airways spend 2x $165 RBC Cathay Pacific Visa Platinum Asia Miles Cathay Pacific spend 2x $120 WestJet RBC World Elite Mastercard WestJet Dollars WestJet spend 2% back $119
RBC earning rates are pretty easy to remember. Other than the premium cards and money spent on airlines, you’ll earn 1 point per dollar spent. The exceptions would be the WestJet RBC World Elite Mastercard which earns 1.5% WestJet Dollars on regular spending, and the RBC Avion Visa Infinite Card, which earns 1.25 points per dollar spent on travel.
For a higher base earning rate of 1.25 points per dollar spent, grab a premium card, but be sure you can justify the higher annual fee (perhaps by redeeming for business class flights at 2 cents per point ).
HSBC
HSBC offers their own group of Mastercards that earn HSBC Rewards points, which can transferred to three airline partners at the following ratios. Note that there is a minimum transfer amount of 25,000 HSBC Rewards points.
25,000 HSBC Rewards points = 10,000 British Airways Avios
25,000 HSBC Rewards points = 9,000 Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer miles
25,000 HSBC Rewards points = 8,000 Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
With these partners and ratios in mind, let’s look at what the credit card multipliers are.
Credit Card Points Currency Category Multiplier Annual Fee HSBC +Rewards Mastercard HSBC Rewards Dining & Entertainment 2x $25 HSBC Travel Rewards Mastercard HSBC Rewards Travel 3x $0 Gas & Transit 2x HSBC World Elite Mastercard HSBC Rewards Base earn rate 2x $149 Gas, groceries, drugstores 4x Travel 6x
Sometimes just looking at the multipliers can be misleading. You also have to take into consideration the transfer ratios.
Let’s take an example to illustrate this. Imagine you have to spend $15,000 (CAD) on a two-week Mediterranean cruise.
If you put that spend on a HSBC Travel Rewards Card , you’d earn 3x points on travel, thus netting 45,000 HSBC Rewards points. If transferred to a British Airways Executive Club account, you’d get 18,000 Avios, for an effective earn rate of 1.2 Avios per dollar . Not bad for a card that has no annual fee.
If you put the spend on a HSBC World Elite Mastercard , you’d earn 6x points on travel, netting you 90,000 HSBC Rewards points. By converting these into 36,000 Avios, you’d have a superior effective earning rate of 2.4 Avios per dollar for a card that has a $149 annual fee, whose annual $100 travel credit brings it down to effectively $49.
Looking into the other benefits of this card, it also charges no foreign transaction fees , making it my top choice when travelling abroad.
TD and CIBC
I’ve grouped TD and CIBC together because they both only have one airline partner, Aeroplan , although keep in mind that any Aeroplan points earned can be redeemed on any one of Aeroplan’s many airline partners .
Redeem Aeroplan points for ANA First Class
Both banks offer several different tiered Visa cards that will earn Aeroplan points directly:
TD Aeroplan Visa Platinum Card
TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite Card
TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite Privilege Card
TD Aeroplan Visa Business Card
CIBC Aeroplan Visa Card
CIBC Aeroplan Visa Infinite Card
CIBC Aeroplan Visa Infinite Privilege Card
CIBC Aeroplan Visa Business Card
Now let’s take a look at how their earning rates compare:
Credit Card Points Currency Category Multiplier Annual Fee CIBC Aeroplan Visa Card Aeroplan Base earn rate 0.67x $0 Air Canada, gas, & groceries 1x TD Aeroplan Visa Platinum Card Aeroplan Base earn rate 0.67x $89 Air Canada, gas, & groceries 1x Starbucks 1.5x CIBC Aeroplan Visa for Students Aeroplan Base earn rate 0.67x $0 Air Canada, EV charging, gas, & groceries 1x TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite Card Aeroplan Air Canada, gas, groceries, & Starbucks 1.5x $139 CIBC Aeroplan Visa Infinite Card Aeroplan Air Canada, gas, & groceries 1.5x $139 TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite Privilege Card Aeroplan Base earn rate 1.25x $599 Air Canada 2x Gas, groceries, travel, dining, & Starbucks 1.5x CIBC Aeroplan Visa Infinite Privilege Card Aeroplan Base earn rate 1.25x $599 Air Canada 2x Gas, groceries, travel, & dining 1.5x TD Aeroplan Visa Business Card Aeroplan Air Canada 2x $149 Shipping, communications, travel, dining, & Starbucks 1.5x CIBC Aeroplan Visa Business Card Aeroplan Air Canada 2x $180 Shipping, communications, travel, & dining 1.5x
Note that for the TD cards with a Starbucks multiplier, you must link your TD credit card to your Starbucks account to earn the multiplier.
The earn rates between different tiers of TD and CIBC cards are rather similar, so when deciding between a TD or CIBC card, it may come down to other factors such as welcome bonuses and other credit card benefits.
Read More
How Do the 11 Aeroplan Credit Cards Compare?
If you’re looking for a no-fee entry-level keeper card, then the CIBC Aeroplan Visa Card is a good option compared to the TD Aeroplan Visa Platinum Card, which charges an $89 annual fee.
Keep in mind that TD and CIBC often offer a first year free benefit on their Visa Infinite cards, so with the higher earn rate, you may be better off choosing one of these cards for at least the first year.
Which Non-Amex Credit Card Should You Use?
To determine which card will best maximize your earn, you’ll have to do a personal analysis to see what your spending and travel patterns are.
Your spending patterns will determine which multipliers pertain the most to you. Your travel patterns will determine which airline program you’ll want to invest in, how many points you may need, and whether you can justify the higher annual fee of a card in exchange for the other benefits that may come with it.
Below is a chart summarizing the different spend categories and the credit card with the best multiplier based on what airline currency you want to accumulate.
Spend Category Aeroplan Avios Asia Miles KrisFlyer Miles Air Canada 2 points/$ TD or CIBC Aeroplan Visa Business TD or CIBC Aeroplan Visa Infinite Privilege 2.4 points/$ HSBC World Elite Mastercard 1.92 miles/$ HSBC World Elite Mastercard 2.16 miles/$ HSBC World Elite Mastercard British Airways 1.5 points/$ TD or CIBC Aeroplan Visa Business TD or CIBC Aeroplan Visa Infinite Privilege 2.4 points/$ HSBC World Elite Mastercard 1.92 miles/$ HSBC World Elite Mastercard 2.16 miles/$ HSBC World Elite Mastercard Cathay Pacific 1.5 points/$
