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For anyone looking to save a bit of cash on their next trip abroad or even just on their next trip to the grocery store, the right credit card can make a big difference.
Both CIBC and Scotiabank offer flexible travel-focused Visa Infinite cards, giving you different ways to save on your next trip and on expenses closer to home:
The CIBC Aventura® Visa Infinite* Card and the Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite* Card offer cardholders the opportunity to earn points on every purchase they make.
Both cards are a great choice for someone looking to accumulate points that can not only be used for travel but that also have the flexibility to save you money on day-to-day expenses.
To see how these two cards compare, let’s check out their stats in the following six categories:
The first category that we’ll compare for these two cards is their welcome bonuses since both cards typically offer a helpful stack of points to give your account a head-start.
Since the offers tend to fluctuate a few times a year, we’ll compare the current welcome bonuses with each card.
The CIBC Aventura® Visa Infinite* Card is currently offering new card members a welcome bonus of up to 60,000 Aventura Points, broken down as follows:
Comparatively, the Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite* Card is offering new cardholders up to 60,000 Scene+ points through it’s welcome bonus, earned in the following tiers:
After consideration, we’re giving this category to the CIBC Aventura® Visa Infinite* Card since it offers 60,000 Aventura Points for a total spend of only $5,000, and it offers 45,000 of those points for only $3,000 in spend.
Comparatively, the Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite* Card does offer 40,000 Scene+ points as its first tier for only $2,000 (which is excellent!), but the next tiers are immediately less accessible, requiring a spend of $10,000 and $40,000 respectively.
Ultimately, we’re choosing CIBC here for the more easily accessible welcome bonus structure.
The CIBC Aventura® Visa Infinite* Card has a minimum income requirement of $60,000 personal or $100,000 household income.
The Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite* Card has a basically identical minimum income requirement at:
Since both of the cards are Visa Infinite cards, it’s no surprise that they come with the same minimum income requirements, making this category a tie.
The annual fee for the CIBC Aventura® Visa Infinite* Card is $139; however, this is often waived for the first year.
The Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite* Card has an annual fee of $150, which can be waived if you hold an eligible Scotiabank bank account, such as Ultimate Package chequing account or the Preferred Package chequing account.
We’re giving this second category to the CIBC Aventura® Visa* Card since it’s annual fee is lower than the Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite* Card and it’s often waived for the first year without the need to be a CIBC customer first.
The CIBC Aventura® Visa Infinite* Card and the Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite* Card each earn a different type of flexible, travel-focused points.
With the CIBC card, you can earn Aventura Points, and with the Scotiabank card, you can earn Scene+ points.
With the CIBC Aventura® Visa Infinite* Card, you can earn 1 to 2 Aventura Points per $1 spent depending on the category:
With the Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite* Card, you can earn up to 4 Scene+ points per $1 spent:
It’s also worth noting that you can actually earn Scene+ points without a credit card. This is because Scene+ is also the loyalty program for Sobeys, IGA, Foodland, Rachelle Béry, and other partnered grocery stores, and you can earn points on your purchases at participating stores by simply having a free-to-get membership card.
The winner here is the Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite* Card thanks to its notably higher earning rates across many popular categories.
We also love that even people without a co-branded credit card have the opportunity to join Scene+ and earn points when they shop at Sobeys, IGA, Foodland, Freshco, Rachelle Béry, Les Marchés Tradition, and more.
As we mentioned above, each of the two cards represent a different rewards program, so they each offer slightly different ways to redeem their associated points.
The CIBC Aventura® Visa Infinite* Card offers the following redemption options and values:
On the other side of this comparison, the Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite* Card lets you redeem your Scene+ points as follows:
After consideration, we decided to call this category a tie since both the CIBC Aventura® Visa Infinite* Card and the Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite* Card offer unique and valuable redemption opportunities.
On the one hand, the CIBC card offers the highest redemption value of either card (up to 2.3 cents per point) when you redeem your points for a flight through the Aventura Flight Rewards Chart. On the other hand, the Scotiabank card provides incredible convenience by letting you use your points (at 1 cent per point) to instantly save at eligible grocery stores.
Given these options, choosing the best card in this category really depends on how you prefer to use your points and where you want to save. If you’re saving up for a flight, the CIBC Aventura® Visa Infinite* Card offers the best value, but if you prefer to save on day-to-day expenses, the Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite* Card might be the better choice.
CIBC Aventura® Visa Infinite* Card comes with the following benefits:
Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite* Card offer cardholders the following perks:
The Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite* Card takes this category thanks to its 6 (!) complimentary airport lounge passes and its ability to save you 2.5% on foreign transaction fees.
There are very few credit cards in the Canadian market that offer zero foreign transaction fees, so this perk is quite unique and has the ability to save you a good amount of money when you travel and whenever you purchase something online in a foreign currency.
Now that we’ve explored all the important categories, we’re left to decide: which card is the best?
Comparing both the CIBC Aventura® Visa Infinite* Card and the Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite* Card, we found that each card stands out in its own way, so choosing a singular winner wouldn’t really be fair.
If you can only get one new credit card and you’re looking to save money on a flight, you may want to focus your attention on the CIBC Aventura® Visa Infinite* Card, which offers the highest redemption value, free airport lounge access, excellent travel insurance, and more.
Alternatively, if you’re looking to save on travel and international credit card purchases, the Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite* Card offers no FX fees, easy travel redemptions (though for a lower value than the CIBC card), complimentary airport lounge access and travel insurance. This card also offers convenient redemption options for cardholders staying close to home, with its ability to exchange points for free groceries, dining, and entertainment.
Ultimately, the best card is the one that suits your spending and redemption preferences, whether that’s saving on flights around the world or keeping your grocery bill under control.
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