Van Life and Reward Points

Van Life : Posts

Van Life is a unique way to travel, to discover the world around us.

In the milesopedia community, there are many vanlifers who have combined the art of Van travel with the savings that credit card rewards and benefits can bring:

for the grocery store
for gas
for activities
for stopover hotels
for cash back
for travel insurance
to pay no conversion fees on foreign currency expenses

Discover below our series of articles dedicated to the Van Life, and below the different credit cards appreciated by vanlifers.

Van Life : Credit Cards

Here are the different credit cards that milesopedia recommends to vanlifers.

Click on the type of card that best suits your needs. If you would like to search for a card by yourself among all our criteria, click here to check out our credit card search tool.

Grocery

Here are the different credit cards milesopedia recommends to vanlifers for groceries:

5 points per dollar with the American Express Cobalt™ Card
5 points per dollar with the Scotiabank Gold American Express^® Card
5% cash back with the BMO^® CashBack^® World Elite^®* Mastercard^®*.
3% cash back with the no-annual-fee BMO^® CashBack^® Mastercard^®*.

Gas

Here are the different credit cards milesopedia recommends to vanlifers for gas:

3 points per dollar with the Scotiabank Gold American Express^® Card
2 points per dollar with the American Express^® Gold Rewards Card
2% cash back with the Tangerine Money-Back Credit Card no annual fee

Restaurants and bars

Here are the different credit cards milesopedia recommends to vanlifers for restaurants and bars:

5 points per dollar with the American Express Cobalt™ Card
5 points per dollar with the Scotiabank Gold American Express^® Card
3 points per dollar with the BMO Ascend World Elite Mastercard^®*.

Cash Back

Here are the different credit cards milesopedia recommends to vanlifers for cash back:

Up to 4% with Scotia Momentum^® VISA Infinite* card
2% everywhere with the SimplyCash™ Preferred from American Express
Between 1 and 5% with the BMO^® CashBack^® World Elite^®* Mastercard^®*.

Travel insurance

Here are the different credit cards that milesopedia recommends to vanlifers for insurance:

Up to 60 days of out-of-province medical coverage with the National Bank’s World Elite Mastercard^®.
Up to 60 days of out-of-province medical coverage with the National Bank World Mastercard

Stopover hotels

Here are the different credit cards milesopedia recommends to vanlifers for hotels:

5 points per dollar with the Marriott Bonvoy™ American Express^® Card for bookings at Marriott’s hotels, with a nice welcome bonus
5 points per dollar with the Marriott Bonvoy Business American Express^MD Card for bookings at Marriott’s hotels, with a nice welcome bonus

Airbnb

Some vanlifers rent out homes on Airbnb, or even just lots so they can park! You can save money on Airbnb with several credit cards outlined in this strategy.

No conversion fees

Here are the different credit cards that milesopedia recommends to vanlifers to avoid paying any conversion fees for purchases made in foreign currencies (a saving of 2.5% on each transaction)!

Activities

Here are the different credit cards milesopedia recommends for vanlifers to save on activities like theme parks:

The BMO AIR MILES World Elite^®* Mastercard allows you to collect AIR MILES miles for Disney gift cards.
The Scotiabank Gold American Express^® Card is the only card that earns 5 points per dollar for the following activities
The Scotiabank Passport™ Visa Infinite* Card allows you to apply points towards park admission or other entertainment activities.