Advertisers are not responsible for the content of this site, including any editorials or reviews that may appear on this site. For complete and current information about any information on any advertiser product, please visit their website. We receive compensation from some financial institutions listed on this site. Although we are compensated for each approved financial product through our website’s affiliate links, our research and content are based on an objective analysis. †Terms and conditions apply.
Finding a credit card with high income requirements can be a challenge. Fortunately, within the three major networks, many cards require no minimum income or an income of $15,000 per year. What’s more, they also come with great welcome offers!
Here’s our selection of the best options to help you make an informed choice.
The American Express network provides credit cards to two institutions in Canada: American Express Canada and Scotiabank.
At Scotiabank, a minimum income of $12,000 is required to subscribe to American Express cards, including the Scotiabank Gold American Express® Card.
On the other hand, on the American Express Canada side, no minimum income is required to sign up for an American Express credit card. Even for high-end cards like the American ExpressMD Gold Rewards Card or the American ExpressMD Platinum Card®.
Plus, the credit score may be lower than the one required by Mastercard or Visa credit card issuers.
The most popular cards require no minimum income, and can earn you cash back, Aeroplan points, Marriott Bonvoy points, AIR MILES miles or Membership Rewards points.
And these cards are accepted in more places than you might think!
Here is a selection of 7 American Express credit cards that require no minimum income:
The Mastercard and Visa networks supply credit cards to many institutions in Canada, including BMO, NBC, Capital One, Desjardins, MBNA, RBC and Scotia.
Your best chance of finding a credit card with no minimum income required from these institutions will be to look :
For example, the BMO Student Discount Mastercard has no minimum income requirement.
Here is a selection of Mastercard and Visa credit cards that require no minimum income:
If you have an income of $15,000 or more, there are many credit cards to choose from. Here is our selection of travel credit cards:
And our selection of cash back credit cards:
It’s a well-known fact: a tempting welcome offer for a credit card appears, but when you apply, you realize that you don’t meet the minimum income requirement.
You should be aware that each credit card network(American Express, Mastercard, Visa) imposes a certain number of criteria on its partner institutions(American Express Canada, BMO, NBC, Scotia, etc.) in order to issue credit cards to their customers.
For example, a World Elite Mastercard will require a personal income of $80,000 or a family income of $150,000, regardless of the issuing institution.
This is the case with these popular credit cards:
For example, a Visa Infinite credit card will require a personal income of $60,000 or a family income of $100,000, regardless of the issuing institution.
To summarize quickly, these income criteria are requested by merchants. Every time you make a purchase from a merchant using your credit card, an interchange fee is deducted. You don’t see this fee, but the merchant does (and has already factored it into his selling price)!
And the more high-end the credit card, the higher the interchange fee. So, by asking for a minimum income, the merchant wants to ensure that purchases are made by customers who are more likely to bring them a higher volume of purchases. This offsets the higher interchange fee for these customers.
While some institutions are more particular about this income criterion, others are less so. Or will offer high-end cards to their long-standing customers or those with other products(chequing account, mortgage, etc.).
However, there are credit cards for which no minimum income is required.
To find your next credit card, you could use our credit card comparator, which has a filter for income criteria.
As you can see, you don’t need a minimum income to start earning Reward Points.
Savings are here (if you don’t see the sign-up form, please click here):
You can change your preferences or opt out at any time by clicking on one of the hyperlinks available at the bottom of each newsletter.
If you are already a subscriber and would like to unsubscribe, you can click on the link at the bottom of any of our e-mails.
