Clash of the Credit Cards!
Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite Card
vs.
TD First Class Visa Infinite Card

Welcome to another Rewards Canada Clash! This time in our Clash of the Credit Cards we see the flagship rewards credit cards from two banks go head to head! Those cards are the Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite Card and the TD First Class Visa Infinite Card

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In this match up we look at over half a dozen criteria to compare the cards against one another along with a head to head detailed table comparison.

Annual Fees

The Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite Card and the TD First Class Visa Infinite Card have very similar annual fees. For the primary card the Scotia Passport runs $150 per year while the TD First Class card is $139 per year.

For additional (supplementary) cards the Scotia Passport offers the first one at no charge and then $50 annually for any cards after that. TD's additional cards all run $50 each per year.

At the time of first posting this clash the TD card comes with a first year annual waiver. As the annual fee waiver on the TD card is something we don't consider as part of the standard fees but rather the welcome bonus, we don't give it weight in this round.

Both banks also offer waivers on these cards with select bank account offerings such as Scotia's Ultimate or TD's All Inclusive.

With that said this category ends up being a tie and the winner will depend on whether you only get a primary card or add more cards. The TD card is $11 cheaper per year for the primary card so if you aren't adding additional users it is better however if you add in an additional card the Scotia Passport ends up being cheaper thanks to having the first one free.

Welcome Bonus

For the standard sign up bonus both cards provide up to $200 in value from the welcome points however there are frequently increased welcome bonuses on these cards as you'll see below.

The standard welcome bonus on the Scotia Passport Visa Infinite Card is 20,000 Scene+ points while the standard bonus on the TD First Class Visa Infinite Card is 40,000 points

Currently the Scotia card has an increased welcome bonus offer that provides 25,000 Scene+ points when you spend $1,000 on the card in the first 3 months of account opening. Those 25,000 points are worth up to $250 in value. The marketing of the card promotes this as up to 35,000 points but that includes the card's 10,000 points bonus when you spend $40,000 on the card annually. As this is an annual benefit on the card we do not consider it part of the welcome bonus.

The TD card has an increased welcome bonus of up to 115,000 TD Rewards and an annual fee waiver in the first year. The bonus is awarded as 20,000 points when you make your first purchase with the card and then you can earn 95,000 TD Rewards Points when you spend $5,000 or more dollars in the first 180 days of account opening. Those points are worth anywhere from $460 to $575 when redeemed for travel.

With a much more valuable increased welcome bonus and no annual fee in the first year this category easily goes to the TD First Class Visa Infinite Card

Rates

The cards are identical in the interest rate department with both cards charging 20.99% on purchases and 22.99% for cash advance interest rates.

The Scotia Passport Visa Infinite Card also features no foreign transaction fees. That's the pesky 2.5% rate that most cards in Canada charge you for conducting transactions in currencies outside of the Canadian dollar including the TD First Class Visa. If you have a lot of purchases outside of Canada (whether travelling, online shopping, importing goods for your business) being able to save 2.5% can be a big deal.

This category easily goes to Scotia for having no foreign transaction fees.

Features & Benefits

Both these cards don't offer a lot of extra features and benefits but one card stands out over the other in what they do offer.

The Scotia Passport Visa Infinite's primary benefit is airport lounge access via the Visa Airport Companion program (powered by DragonPass). This benefit covers the annual fee of the lounge access membership program which typically costs US$99 per year. Entering the actual lounges typically requires a per guest fee but the card also provides six annual free lounge passes to cover the entry fee. These fees were recently increased to US$35 per person so the membership plus six passes can provide up to US$309 in value each and every year.

The TD First Class Visa Infinite's primary benefit is an annual travel credit. This is a $100 travel credit that can be used on an eligible purchase made with Expedia For TD. Eligible purchases include

• A Hotel, Motel, Lodging, or Vacation Rental Purchase of $500.00 CAD or more made with Expedia For TD; or
• A Vacation Package Purchase of $500.00 CAD or more made with Expedia For TD, that includes a Hotel, Motel, Lodging or Vacation Rental booking packaged with a transportation booking.

While a credit like this is nice benefit to have it is somewhat limiting due to the minimum purchase amount and the types of travel it can be applied to.

The features and benefits category goes to the Scotia Passport Visa Infinite Card as the lounge membership and passes provide quite a bit more value dollar wise when compared to TD's travel credit, not to mention the limitations that are also put in place on that credit.

Points Earning & Redemption

This is the category that holds the most weight in our Clashes and is the round that most people care about. The cards are pretty equal in all around terms of earning points and the value of the points when redeeming them (the earn to burn ratio)

Earning points

Looking at earning first, both cards offer several accelerated earn rates over and above their base earn rates. Numerically, it may look like TD is the far better card however you must not only look at earn rate but also take into account the points redemption rates. That's why we point out the actual rate of return as it provides for a proper comparison.

The Scotia card awards 3 points per dollar spent on groceries at Scene+ Grocery partners (Sobeys, Safeway, IGA etc.) and 2 points per dollar on all other grocery store purchases. That works out to a 2 to 3% return for most redemption options including travel. The card also award 2 points per dollar spent on dining, entertainment and daily transit which also work out to a 2% return on those purchases. For all other spending, the card's base earn rate is 1 point per dollar or up to a 1% return.

The TD card awards 8 points per dollar spent on travel booked through Expedia For TD. That works out to a return of up to 4%. If you book other travel on the card outside of Expedia For TD you'll only earn the 2 base points per dollar or up to a 1% return. It also earns 6 points per dollar on groceries and dining which works out to up to a 3% return. The next accelerated rate it provides is 4 points per dollar on recurring bills which works out to up to a 2% return. All other spending earns the base rate of 2 points per dollar which provides up to a 1% return.

The TD First Class card has one extra benefit in the earn rate department and that is an annual birthday bonus, This bonus is equal to 10% of the total number of TD Rewards Points earned over the 12 months preceding the Primary Cardholder’s birthday, to a maximum Birthday Bonus of 10,000 TD Rewards Points.

Point Valuation Chart (Earn to Burn ratio)

Scotia Passport Visa Infinite Card

Spending Category	Points earned per dollar spent	Rate of return when booking via Scene+ Travel	Rate of return when booking any travel on your own	Rate of return Cash Back (at Scene+ partners)	Rate of return Cash Back
Sobeys, IGA, Safeway, Foodland, FreshCo, Voilà by Sobeys, Voilà by IGA, Voilà by Safeway, Chalo! FreshCo, Thrifty Foods, IGA West, Les Marchés Tradition, Rachelle Béry and Co-Op.	3	3%	3%	3%	2% to 2.1%
Other grocery stores, dining, entertainment, daily transit	2	2%	2%	2%	1.34% to 1.4%
All other spending	1	1%	1%	1%	0.67% to 0.7%

 

TD First Class Visa Infinite Card

Spending Category	Points earned per dollar spent	Rate of return when booking via Expedia for TD	Rate of return when booking any travel on your own	Rate of return Cash Back
Expedia for TD	8	4%	3.2%	2%
Groceries & Restaurants	6	3%	2.4%	1.5%
Recurring Bills	4	2%	1.6%	1%
All other spending	2	1%	0.8%	0.5%

 

TD First Class Visa Infinite Card with Birthday Bonus

Spending Category	Points earned per dollar spent	Rate of return when booking via Expedia for TD	Rate of return when booking any travel on your own	Rate of return Cash Back
Expedia for TD	8.8	4.4%	3.52%	2.2%
Groceries & Restaurants	6.6	3.3%	2.64%	1.65%
Recurring Bills	4.4	2.2%	1.76%	1.1%
All other spending	2.2	1.1%	0.88%	0.55%

 

Redeeming points

Now we have to look at the redemption side of things to see how those earn rates really compare to one another. From the charts above you can see the cards are actually closely matched!

For the TD card the strongest redemption option are for travel rewards booked via Expedia For TD but it does also provide the option to redeem for travel you book on your own while the Scotia card's strongest redemption options are for any travel bookings as well as any redemptions made at a Scene+ partner.

We'll first compare the most popular option and that is the book travel via any provider (IE Air Canada, WestJet, Hilton, Travel Agency etc.) and then redeem points against the charge. With the Scotia Passport Visa the any travel redemption option requires 100 points for a $1 credit, or the equivalent of a 1 cent credit for each point redeemed. That makes the 3x points earned with Scene+ grocery partner purchases worth 3 cents each, the 2x points earning worth 2 cents and 1x points earning worth 1 cent.

For the same redemption option on the TD Card you redeem points at a rate of 250 points to $1 or a 0.4 cents credit per point. That makes the 8 points per dollar earned from Expedia For TD purchases worth 3.2 cents each, the 6x points worth 2.4 cents, 4x points are worth 1.6 cents and the remainder of spending at 2 points per dollar worth 0.8 cents each. These values do not include the 10% birthday bonus points.

Comparing the two, the TD card has the highest return possible but also the lowest return possible. Given the limited use of the 8x points for Expedia for TD purchases it is best the compare the rest of the earn rates between the two. Scotia does better for groceries at Scene+ participating stores but then the TD card ends up being better for all other grocery store and dining by 0.4 cents. Same thing for recurring bills where the TD card is better but then Scotia comes out ahead on entertainment and transit. Ending with the base earn rates Scotia comes out on top with its 1% return versus TD's 0.8%.

TD has one more option that can fall into any travel and that's option to book and redeem points via Expedia For TD. With this option you can book any travel through Expedia For TD and redeem 200 points for $1 credit. That gives a value of 0.5 cents per point making the 8 points per dollar earned worth 4 cents, the 6x points worth 3 cents, 4x points are worth 2 cents and the remainder of spending at 2 points per dollar worth 1 cent each. Once again these values do not take into account the birthday bonus points. With this redemption option the TD card moves even further ahead of the Scotia card except on the base earn rate or Scene+ grocery partners where it matches the Scotia card.

Both cards also offer cash back redemption options. The Scotia card's statement credit option lets you redeem points at various levels where the rate of return is 0.67% to 2.1%. The TD card allows you to redeem 400 points for $1 statement credit which works out to a 0.5% to 2% return on your spending not including the birthday bonus.

The Scotia Passport Visa Infinite Card has one more cash back option that is very important to it and that is redeeming points when shopping at Scene+ partners. When you redeem points at Cineplex, Home Hardware, Scene+ grocery stores and their dining partners like Harvey's you redeem at a rate of 1,000 points to $10 which works out to 1% to 3% return for the spending made on the card (the same return as travel).

For the first time ever in this the most important round of all, the earn and burn round, we have a tie. We can't pick a clear winner as they are so closely matched in terms of value. Each card has their categories where they do better and where they do worse and in the grand scheme of things if we were to look at spending over the course of a year, the value of the points between the two cards would be very similar.

Insurance

Both cards offer a variety of travel insurance and other insurance coverage benefits that are very similar. Where there are differences, one card does better for one type of coverage while the other card does better for another type of coverage. The biggest differentiator here is out of province emergency medical coverage for those under 65 with TD's 21 days coming up short against Scotia's 25 days.

Really that 4 day difference in medical coverage isn't big enough for us to give this category to Scotia and in the end we have to call this one a draw as well.

Conclusion

This is one of most tightly contested Clashes we've had to date and it paints a great picture of just how closely matched many of the cards in Canada are. Here you have the Scotia Passport Visa Infinite Card which is ranked as the number three in our Top Travel Points Credit Card with an annual fee category and the TD First Class Visa Infinite Card which is ranked number five. Both cards have their strengths and weaknesses which can make either one the better card based on an individual's requirements and preferences.

However, when taking into account all of the factors and picking a card that is better across the entire population of Canadians, the win goes to the Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite Card thanks to its No Foreign Transaction fees, business class lounge access and the slightly more value in the card's base earn rate.

The winner of this clash is: Scotiabank Passport® Visa Infinite* Card

Key factors in Scotiabank's win:

• No foreign transaction fees
• Business Class lounge access membership with six visits annually
• More non-travel redemption options where the value is the same as travel (the basis of the Scene+ program)

If you would like to see any cards go head to head against each please do not hesitate to reach out to us in the comments, on social media or via email.

Here is a direct side by side comparison of the two cards in this clash!