Ranked as the number one travel points credit card with an annual fee in Canada, the Scotiabank Gold American Express Card is considered one of only three true "Points Earning Machines" cards. It was the first American Express card issued by a bank other than Amex Bank of Canada since CIBC tried the partnership in 2002.
The card underwent some massive changes in 2019 and the latest change to the card happened late in 2021 when the Scotia Rewards program was combined with Cineplex's SCENE to become Scene+ but don't worry, this review isn't that old, we do update it on a regular basis!
Key features of the Scotiabank Gold American Express Card:
- Earns up to 6 points per dollar spent (up to a 6% return on spending)
- No Foreign Transaction Fees
- Redeem points for any travel purchased on the card (up to 12 months after actual purchase)
- Receive Amex Offers to get statement credits from select merchants
The review of the Scotiabank Gold American Express Card is broken down into the following sections:
Overview
The Scotiabank Gold American Express Card is the middle of a suite of three American Express cards issued by Scotiabank and is by far the most popular version of the trio. When launched they took hints of their own Momentum Visa Infinite Cash Back card which has some very high category spend bonuses and applied them these suite of cards. Depending on how you use the card it can be give you a return of 1% to as high as 6% on travel rewards.
The card(s) fall into our Travel Points With Annual Fee category, which means points are earned into the credit card issuer's proprietary reward program, which has now become Scene+. It gets further categorized as a true Any Travel at Anytime card which means you don't have to book via Scene+ Travel if you don't want to. You can book any travel how you want when you want and when the charge shows up on your statement you can redeem points against the charge. The two other versions of the Scotiabank American Express cards are a no fee Standard version and a higher cost Platinum version.
Recommended reading: The new Scene+ program is now live, find all the details here!
Costs & Sign up Features
The Scotiabank Gold American Express Card comes with a $120 primary card annual fee which is nice to see Scotia hold onto as we are starting to see more of these premium cards bump up their annual fees from this exact amount that we have all become accustomed to. Supplementary cards are only $29 each which is also nice as most competing cards do charge $50 for each additional card. If you have a Scotiabank Ultimate Package bank account the annual fee is waived on the primary card!
Typically, the standard welcome bonus offer on this card is 20,000 Scotia Rewards points however right now the welcome bonus on the card offers up to 50,000 Scene+ points and no annual fee in the first year! You'll receive 30,000 points when you spend $2,000 on the card in the first three months. Then you can earn an additional 20,000 points if you spend at $7,500 on the card within the first year of having it. That's a pretty low threshold as well! Those 50,000 points are worth $500 towards any travel redemption.
The interest rate on the card is 20.99% on purchases. 22.99% on cash advances and balance transfers. These rates are equivalent to or below many cards at this level. The card has a very low minimum annual income requirements of only $12,000 personal but you should note that you'll need a good credit rating to be considered
The last big note in this section is Foreign Transaction fees and after this card's makeover in 2019 Scotia did away with charging that 2.5% fee on any non Canadian dollar purchases. That's a huge benefit for online shopping out of the country and of course when you travel outside the country. This card actually makes up the American Express portion of Rewards Canada's Ultimate No Foreign Transaction fee Credit Card portfolio
Earning Points
A big part of this card's makeover in 2019 came in the earn category and we can thank this card's biggest competitor, the American Express Cobalt Card for that. The team at Scotia took note of the Cobalt card and modified the card earn rates to the following:
- 6 Scene+ points for every $1 charged to your account on all eligible purchases1 at 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.
- 5 Scene+ points for every $1 you spend at eligible grocery stores, dining and entertainment *
- 3 Scene+ points for every $1 you spend at eligible gas stations, daily transit, and select streaming services
- 1 Scene+ point for every $1 you spend on all other eligible everyday purchases
The accelerated earn rates of 6, 5 and 3 points per dollar are capped at $50,000 spending annually. This is one of the higher caps in our market and is higher than the comparable Cobalt Card. Although the Cobalt Card's cap of $2,500/month ($30,000 annually) is only on eats & drinks - the latter's accelerated earn rate on gas, transit, ride sharing etc. is not capped.
One major note is the 5 and 3 point accelerated earn rates are only eligible for purchases in Canada. Should you be travelling outside of Canada you will strictly earn 1 point per dollar on any eligible purchases. But you do have to take into account that you aren't paying any foreign transactions fees on those purchases.
Recommended reading: A closer look at how a Winnipegger maximizes his Scotiabank Gold American Express Card purchases
Point Valuation Chart
| Spending Category | Points earned per dollar spent | Effective Rate of return (Travel) * |
|---|---|---|
| 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 | 6 | 6% |
| Grocery stores, dining and entertainment | 5 | 5% |
| Gas stations, daily transit, and select streaming services | 3 | 3% |
| All other spending | 1 | 1% |
Redeeming Points
Falling into the Rewards Canada "Travel Points" category in our annual credit card rankings means the points earned are part of the credit card's semi-proprietary reward program, in this case Scene+ and not a totally separate co-brand program like Aeroplan or AIR MILES.
For the vast majority of Canadians this is a good thing since you are not bound by the restrictions and limitations that frequent flyer programs and programs like AIR MILES put on flights and in fact you are not limited to only flights but any travel. This card falls into the book Any Travel at Anytime category of Travel Points cards which means you don't have to redeem via Scene+ Travel. All you have to do is book your travel whether it be aircanada.com, westjet.com, expedia.ca or anywhere else including your trusted travel agent and when that charge shows up on your statement you simply call up Scotia or go online and redeem points against the charge.
Recommended reading: Using the Scotiabank Gold American Express card to redeem for any travel - whale watches included!
Points are redeemed at a rate of 100 points for $1 and that is the beauty of this card and many like it, you don't have to have the full amount of points to begin to enjoy the rewards! If you buy an airline ticket for $600 and have 30,000 points you can choose to redeem those points for a $300 credit which means your flight only cost $300. You also get 12 months after the travel charge posts to your account to redeem points so you can continue to pay off that vacation with points up to a year after! There aren't too many card programs in Canada that give you that amount of time to redeem after the fact.
Another benefit of this' book travel on your own' is you can be on vacation and buy travel on the card (say a rail ticket) and then redeem points when you get home. It can't be done with cards that don't have this feature such as the RBC Avion Visa Infinite Card since you need to redeem the points ahead of time. Essentially the Scotiabank Gold American Express Card falls into the category of most flexible travel rewards cards.
There are also non-travel redemption options in the Scene+ program. Probably the second most popular after travel would be their Points for Credit option which is essentially a cash back option. This works in the same vain as the travel rewards option although with a different redemption rate. Basically you can apply points to receive a cash back credit on a non-travel charge. The redemption rates are as follows:
| Cash Back Credit | Points Required | Rate of Return |
|---|---|---|
| $20 | 3,000 | 0.667% |
| $30 | 4,500 | 0.667% |
| $50 | 7,500 | 0.667% |
| $75 | 11,000 | 0.681% |
| $100 | 14,500 | 0.689% |
| $150 | 21,500 | 0.697% |
| $300 | 43,000 | 0.698% |
| $500 | 71,500 | 0.699% |
Right away it doesn't look like those rates a great but you have to remember that you earning up to 6 points per dollar spent. Hypothetically speaking if all your points are earned only in the 6x category those cash back rate of returns come in just below 4.2%. That's a pretty good cash back return!
You can also redeem Scene+ points for merchandise directly from Apple and Best Buy or via their own merchandise catalog. The last redemption option is using points to redeem for gift cards for dozens of stores, restaurants and more. All these redemption options also come in at a lower value than redeeming for travel but it is nice to have them as an option!
Features and Benefits
Like other Points Earning Machines, the Scotiabank Gold American Express Card is a little light when it comes to extra features and benefits. That's usually the trade off with cards that provide the most value in their earn and burn proposition is that they don't come with a lot of bells and whistles whereas cards with a lot of bells and whistles don't have as great of earn and burn value.
No Foreign Transaction Fees
The primary benefit of the Scotiabank Gold American Express Card is charging No Foreign Transaction Fees which means you save the 1.5% to 3% charged on most other cards in Canada for non-Canadian dollar purchases.
Amex Experiences
As with all American Express Cards the card comes with Amex ExperiencesTM which includes Front Of The Line® Advance Access, Front Of The Line® Reserved Tickets, Front Of The Line® E-Updates, Special Offers & Experiences for all Cardmembers and Social Access for all Cardmembers.
Amex offers
As with all American Express Cards the American Express Cobalt Card receives Amex Offers. These exclusive limited time offers sent out to cardmembers to receive statement credits or bonus points for using their card at select merchants.
Depending on your shopping habits these offers alone can provide enough savings in a year to cover the annual fee on the card if not more! You can learn more about this feature in Rewards Canada's Guide to American Express Canada 'Amex Offers'
Priority Pass Discount
The one last benefit on the card is a 35% discount for purchasing an annual Priority Pass Business Class lounge membership. When the card first launched in 2012 they used to cover the entire $99 fee for Priority Pass but alas that is no longer the case.
Recommended Reading: Rewards Canada's Guide to Business Class Lounge Access
Insurance
The Scotiabank Gold American Express Card comes with a wide range of coverage including:
- Travel Medical Insurance - 25 days up 64 years old, 3 days for 65+
- Common Carrier Travel Accident Insurance
- Flight Delay Insurance - 4 hours $500 in total
- Baggage Delay Insurance - 4 hours $1,000 in total
- Lost or Stolen Baggage Insurance - $1,000 in total
- Trip Interruption - $1,500 per person (up to $10,000 per trip)
- Trip Cancellation - $1,500 per person (up to $10,000 per trip)
- Car Rental Theft and Damage Insurance - 48 days; up to $65,000 MSRP
- Hotel Burglary Insurance - Up to $1,000
- Purchase Security - 90 Days Up to $60,000 lifetime
- Extended warranty - Up to 1 extra year
What is good about this card
The current limited time welcome bonus of up to 50,000 points and no annual fee in the first year! If you meet all the spend requirements you'll have $500 towards any travel and that doesn't include the value from the points earned on your spending!
The best thing about this card is its amazing 5x and 6xpoints earn rate on so many categories that many Canadians use every single day. And, it is actually one of the few cards that has an accelerated earn rate for entertainment purchases. For a lot of people that means 5x points when buying a season ticket membership for NHL, NBA or CFL teams! The 3x earn rates are also a great thing about this card especially for a category like streaming services - again not many cards have this. Continuing on the good with the earn side is the annual $50,000 cap, this is one of the higher caps out there and makes for earning the 3x, 5x and 6x points all year long quite easy for most cardholders.
No Foreign Transaction fees! Need we say more about this one?
The annual fees are another good thing as we have seen many issuers bump up equivalent cards to $139 and even $150 per year. This card remains $120 and the comparatively low additional card fee of $29 is also a good thing.
The insurance package that comes with the card is also very strong and carries some better options than its competitors like the 25 day out of province medical insurance.
The Amex related benefits, mainly Amex Offers also add to the list of good things about this card as that can provide some much appreciated savings for cardholders.
What is not so good about this card
There isn't too much that is bad about this card. Probably the biggest sticking point will be that it is an American Express card which means lower acceptance over Visa or Mastercard. While American Express keeps closing the gap on the two big issuers there are still some notable merchants you can't use your American Express card like Loblaw's family of grocery stores and Costco.
The next not so good thing is the lower earn rate on out of country purchases. Even though it is negated somewhat by having No Foreign Transaction fees there are other cards in the market that also have No Foreign Transaction Fees and earn more points. Those included this card's sibling the Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite card. So if you make a lot of purchases outside of Canada you may want to consider another card or have the Scotia Gold American Express Card for your purchases in Canada and another for outside of Canada. And yes you can combine points if you choose to have the Gold American Express and the Passport Visa Infinite Card in your wallet.
Who should get this card
- People who want the utmost in flexibility when it comes to redeeming points for travel and still get great value on their spending
- People who spend a lot of money on Entertainment not to mention all the other accelerated spend categories
- People who have had their eye on the American Express Cobalt Card but know they won't need the Cobalt's conversion feature to airlines & hotels or higher earn rate on travel purchases
- People who bank with Scotia and have the Ultimate banking plan as that will pay for the annual fee on the card
Conclusion
It's no wonder the Scotiabank Gold American Express Card has been crowned as the Top Travel Points Credit Card with an annual fee for several years now. When you take the high earn rates on very popular spend categories and couple them with high annual caps, totally flexible travel rewards redemptions and no foreign transaction fees this card is a winner. If you know you'll never need to earn or convert points to other airline or hotel programs (i.e. cards in our Hybrid Credit Card category like the Cobalt Card) then this card is for you. It will rack up points super fast and provide you with some amazing value for your future travels!
Latest card details:
Scotiabank Gold American Express Card
2025 Top Travel Points Credit Card with an annual fee
Earn up to $1,050 in welcome offers, first year rewards and savings value, including no annual fee in your first year, and up to 50,000 bonus Scene+ points
Offer ends Oct 31, 2025
Annual Fee: $120 | Additional Cards: $29 | Minimum Income $12,000
- Bonus offer broken down as follows:
- Earn 30,000 bonus Scene+ Rewards points by making at least $2,000 in everyday eligible purchases in your first 3 months.
- Earn 20,000 bonus Scene+ Rewards points when you spend $7,500 within your first 12 months
- Ppay no annual fee in your first year. - You will not pay 2.5% foreign transaction fees on any foreign currency purchases, including online shopping and when travelling abroad. Only the exchange rate applies
- Earn 6x Scene+ points¹ on every $1 you spend at Sobeys, Safeway, Freshco, Foodland and more
- Earn 5x Scene+ points¹ for every $1 you spend on dining, food delivery and other eligible grocery stores. Includes popular food delivery and food subscriptions.
- Earn 5x Scene+ points¹ for every $1 you spend in Canada eligible entertainment purposes.Includes movies, theatre and ticket agencies stores.
- Earn 3x Scene+ points¹ for every $1 CAD you spend in Canada on eligible gas and daily transit options.Includes rideshares, buses, subway, taxis and more
- Earn 3x Scene+ points¹ for every $1 CAD you spend in Canada on eligible select streaming sevices
- Plus earn 1 Scene+ point for every $1 spent on all other eligible everyday purchases
- Earn additional benefits + up to 4X Scene+ points for every dollar you spend on hotel bookings, car rentals, and things to do with Scene+ Travel, Powered by Expedia
- No Foreign Transaction Fee
- Comprehensive Travel Insurance coverage
- AMEX Offers
- AMEX Front of the Line
- American Express Invites
- Complimentary Concierge Services
- Rates, fees and other information are effective as of July 2, 2025. Subject to change.
- Click here to apply for Scotiabank Gold American Express Card
*See Card Provider's website and Card Application for complete card details, terms and current offers. Reasonable efforts are made to maintain accuracy of information
Other cards to consider if you are looking at this card:
- American Express Cobalt™ Card
- American Express® Gold Rewards Card
- MBNA Rewards World Elite® Mastercard®
- National Bank World Elite Mastercard
- RBC Avion Visa Infinite Card
- Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite card
- TD® First Class Travel® Visa Infinite* Card
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This review was first posted on January 19, 2015 and is updated frequently
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About the author
Patrick Sojka
Patrick is one of Canada's foremost leading experts on loyalty programs and credit cards. Having founded Rewards Canada in 2001 he brings nearly 24 years of experience to the forefront of helping Canadians make the most of their rewards. He has also provided consulting to credit card companies, airlines, hotels and is regularly featured in the media for his expertise on loyalty programs and credit cards.