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I’ve written a few times about the Scotiabank Gold American Express, which allows you to earn 4x points on Gas, Groceries, Dining, and Entertainment. This is one of the best returns on those categories available in Canada, with the other card being the American Express Cobalt Card.
Scotiabank Gold American Express Card
Scotiabank American Express Gold Card Offer
With this card, you earn an increased bonus of 30,000 Scotia Rewards points after $750 spend in three months. This offer is the best it’s ever been, and ends October 31, 2017. The bonus will be decreasing after this date. There is also a first year annual fee waiver on this card, making the card bonus worth $300 in travel.
This card does not contain any language restricting cardholders to one bonus, so you should be able to get the bonus again even if you’ve had this card before. This one of the easiest cards to get, with just a $12,000 minimum annual income, so even students are eligible. I finally had a chance to apply for the card a few days ago. My application is currently pending.
Pending Status
One of the best benefits of the card are the 4x bonus points on Gas, Groceries, Dining, and Entertainment. There is a $50,000 cap per calendar year, which means you could earn up to 400,000 points in your first year as a cardmember. With manufactured spending, you can also get up to 4% back on all purchases by leveraging the category bonus.
Redeeming Scotia Rewards are simple. While you can go through their travel center, the best way to use your points are as a credit for travel purchases on the card. This works well with taxes and fees on award tickets, since many post as an airline transaction.
Scotiabank AMEX Gold – Award Tickets
One other benefit is that this card offers Emergency Travel Insurance for up to 25 days per trip. This is even better than the coverage on the American Express Platinum or Business Platinum Cards.
Scotiabank Gold or AMEX Cobalt?
I strongly recommend folks either having the Scotiabank Gold American Express or the American Express Cobalt Card because of their category bonuses. Even if you only spend several thousand dollars in these, having 4x or 5x rewards pretty much justifies the cost of the card. Deciding which card to get depends on what purchases you make.
The cap on the bonus with the Scotiabank Gold American Express is $50,000 per calendar year. This means that in your first year having the card, you can earn up to 400,000 bonus points in these categories. The American Express Cobalt Card has no cap on the 5x, although there is no bonus for entertainment and only 2x for gas. If you spend a lot in the latter categories, the Scotiabank card makes sense. If you plan on exceeding $50,000 in groceries or dining, the Cobalt Card is the better option.
In either case, it’s worth applying for the Scotiabank Gold American Express because it’s free the first year. You can always cancel the card if it isn’t working for you.
Apply for the Scotiabank Gold American Express today! Improved offer ends October 31, 2017.
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This is a fantastic card. It’s my go-to card on all dining spend (unless I’m in churn mode). It’s really unusual to get both a huge signup bonus, huge reward for spend, and first year free.
I’ve held this card since spring. I’m trying to decide if I should try to apply for a second card before October 31.
When you applied the card in spring, did you have to fax income verification, ID and etc to them?
Did you need to get the card in a Scotia branch?
I want to apply for a family member before promo ends but he will be traveling for the next three weeks.
Make sure to use a VPN with location in Canada – I’ve heard there are problems if you apply outside.
Yes, I needed to pick up the card in-branch.
Scotiabank sent the card to the nearest branch to my home.
I certainly needed to present ID. I recall one of the banks wanting me to bring income verification… but I’ve applied for cards with all 5 big banks this year, so I can’t recall if Scotiabank was the one who asked.