Scotia Momentum Visa Infinite: Cash Back King In Canada
I’m always looking for ways to maximize my rewards and earn cash back for my everyday spending. Recently I’ve discovered that the best cash back credit card in Canada is the Scotia Momentum Visa Infinite. Here’s why:
Many of the top cash back credit cards try to entice you with a bonus offer – whether it’s bonus cash on your first purchase or an introductory period where you earn more cash back for a limited time.
The Scotia Momentum Visa Infinite is different because, while it doesn’t offer an incentives to sign-up, it pays the highest amount of cash back in the categories that matter – groceries, gas, drug store, and recurring bill payments.
When you look at the amount of cash back you can earn over two or three years, the Scotia Momentum Visa Infinite comes out ahead of other cash back credit cards.
- Apply now for the Scotia Momentum Visa Infinite card and get 4% cash back on grocery and gas purchases.
Scotia Momentum Visa Infinite
Fees are annoying, and yes, the Scotia Momentum Visa comes with a $99 annual fee. But it would be foolish to ignore this card simply because of the annual fee. When you do the math you’ll find that you can earn more net cash back with this card over the long term than you can earn with the best no-fee cash back credit cards.
Here are the card details:
- Earn 4% cash back on gas and grocery store purchases
- Earn 2% cash back on drug store purchases and recurring bill payments
- Earn 1% cash back on all other purchases
- $99 annual fee for primary card holder
- $30 annual fee for supplementary card holder
- 19.99% interest rate on purchases
- Minimum annual income of $60,000 or household income of $100,000 required
- Comes with Visa payWave technology
You’ll earn 4% cash back on the first $25,000 you spend annually at gas stations and grocery stores, and 2% cash back on the first $25,000 you spend annually on recurring payments and drug store purchases.
You’ll earn 1% cash back after you’ve reached the 4% and 2% $25,000 annual spend maximum and on all other eligible purchases made with the card.
Redeeming Your Cash Back Rewards
The Scotia Momentum VISA Infinite card cash back program is an annual program. Your reward accumulates each month, beginning each year with your December statement, and is awarded at the end of each 12 month period.
If you already bank with Scotia then your annual cash back reward will be deposited into your personal chequing or savings account. Otherwise, for non-Scotia customers, it will be credited to your credit card statement.
Your total cash back, year to date, will show on each monthly statement. After your cash back is deposited in your account in November or posted to your November credit card statement, the program will begin again with your December billing cycle.
How Much Cash Back Can I Earn?
If you want to maximize your rewards, it’s important to know how much you spend each month on your credit card, including the categories where you spend the most money. I looked at my monthly credit card statements from last year and found that I spent an average of $2,675 a month. Here’s the breakdown:
- Groceries – $625/month
- Gas – $155/month
- Recurring bill payments – $275/month
- Prescriptions – $50/month
- Dining out – $250/month
- Other – $1,320/month
With these numbers I’ve determined that I’ll earn $640.80 a year by using the Scotia Momentum Visa Infinite card. After subtracting the $99 annual fee, that leaves me with $541.80 in cash back rewards.
Related: How To Boost Your Credit Card Rewards
Let’s compare that with two other cash back credit cards:
| Cash Back Credit Card | Cash back in 1st year | Cash back after 3 years |
| Scotia Momentum Visa Infinite |
$541.80 |
$1,625.40 |
| Capital One Aspire Cash World* |
$581.50 |
$1,544.50 |
| MBNA Smart Cash World |
$441.00 |
$1,179.00 |
*$100 bonus with first purchase
Final Thoughts
I’ve been searching for a new cash back credit card after MBNA reduced the amount of cash back you can earn with their Smart Cash card. The Scotia Momentum Visa Infinite looks like the best fit for my spending habits. I’ll earn 22% more cash back with the Momentum Visa Infinite than I would with the Smart Cash card.
I definitely recommend getting the Scotia Momentum Visa Infinite if you spend more than $2,000 a month on your credit card. You’ll get more cash back over the long term with this card than with using any other cash back credit card.
- Sign up for the Scotia Momentum Visa Infinite card here – (link)
This credit card is definitely the cash back king in Canada!
I was using Smart Cash until MBNA changed the rewards program. This card looks good but what’s the deal with the $25000 annual spending limit? You’re spending more then that so won’t that limit your cash back?
@JohnC – I thought that too but I got the same results when I plug-in my spending in each category and calculate the rewards on the Scotia website.
I’m under the impression from the way it’s worded that the $25k limit just applies to each of the higher rebate categories. In other words, you can spend $25k annually on groceries and gas before you’re capped and drop down to 1%.
MBNA has a World Points World card that is 2% cash back on everything. It is $129 a year and using your spending would net $501 back a year. It is a bit less than you get from Scotia using your breakdown, but for myself I spend far less on groceries as a total of my spending so the 4% bump is wasted. 2% on everything is hard to beat though.
@Matt – Unfortunately the World Points card is not available to new applicants as I believe existing customers were grandfathered from the old SPG Rewards card.
2% back on all spending is really tough to beat, even with the annual fee. I’d keep it.
Robb, is it true that the capital one aspire cash back card lowered their total annual cash back to 1.25%?
@Dan – It looks like the Aspire Cash World MasterCard has been removed from Capital One’s website. I talked to an agent and he said the card is currently unavailable and that their offers change from time-to-time.
So, no change for current Aspire Cash World MasterCard customers, but it’s not open to new applicants right now.
They do offer an Aspire Cash Platinum card that pays 1.25% cash back (1% plus 0.25% bonus at your card anniversary).
I just started using this card and I really like it. It’s great for my family expenditures, especially with the 4% on groceries and gas, and 2% on recurring bills for TV cable, internet, and cellular bills etc.