Scotiabank Gold American Express^® Card

• Your Scotia Rewards points
• Scotia Gold Amex insurance
• More delicious perks
• COMING SOON

True, Amex cards aren't accepted quite as often as Visa and Mastercard, and makes people pause ‒ but the Scotia Gold Amex cuts through the noise and makes that easy to overlook.

Let’s start with rewards. You get 4 reward points on every dollar spent in 4 spending categories ‒ so, 4 points on:

• gas,
• groceries,
• restaurants, and
• entertainment…

4 categories that earn 4 points is more than any other flexible rewards card. And if these are categories where you do most of your spending, your rewards will add up quickly.

Even better … as long as you use your card for $1,000 worth of purchases in the first 3 months, you get a sign up bonus of 15,000 points ‒ that’s worth $150 in travel rewards.

And because it's an American Express card, it has low personal income requirements of $12,000, where as other premium Visa and Mastercards start at $60,000, making this card more accessible.

Using your Scotia Rewards points

So, what can you use your rewards for?

The best value you will get is by redeeming your points for travel. You can either use the Scotia Rewards travel service or book from any provider. Both options provide the same great value – 1 cent per point. Just note if you want to do a partial points redemption you can only do so through Scotia Rewards.

And if you need help with any bookings, the card comes with 24/7 concierge service.

More options to redeem your rewards ‒ your way

But it's not the only way you can use your points. You can redeem them for ay merchandise, merchandise through the Best Buy & Apple catalogues, gift cards and even statement credits. You can see what each of these items will give you for rewards above, just note they won't be quite as good as redeeming for travel.

There's also the option to transfer your points to Cineplex SCENE. 1,000 Scotia Rewards points becomes 770 SCENE points. We value a SCENE point at 1.05 cents when redeemed for movies, giving an average value of 0.81 cents per point.

You can also transfer your SCENE points to Scotia Reward as well. 1,000 SCENE points will give you 950 Scotia Rewards points.

For more details on how to use your Scotia rewards points, our guide has everything you need to know about the Scotia Rewards Program.

Scotia Gold Amex insurance

What about included insurance benefits? You betcha…

There’s 9 different types of travel insurance. And shop worry-free because your purchases are covered with:

• extended warranty,
• purchase protection, and
• price protection.

That’s 12 types of insurance in total -- check out the tab above for the complete list. One coverage that is hard to find is emergency medical for those aged over 65, with a coverage length of 10 days. Even if a card does offer it, it is usually only for 3 days.

More delicious perks and benefits

Another perk is that you get discounts on many items through the Scotia Rewards program:

• airport lounge access,
• hotels,
• car rentals,
• vacation packages, and
• cruises.

And even though it's not issued by American Express, you still get access to Amex Invites and get access to reserved tickets for Amex cardholders.

For a fully flexible travel rewards credit card where you’re not locked into flights to get the best value, this card is stacked. No other fully flexible card comes close.

Exciting changes coming soon

But that's not everything. Starting on August 1, 2019 exciting changes are coming to this card.

No foreign transaction fees

The biggest change? This card will no longer be charging foreign exchange fees. If you ever find yourself making purchases in a foreign currency, which always happens when travelling out of country, you will save the 2.5% fee almost all other credit cards charge.

This change will make it one of the top no foreign exchange fee credit cards in Canada.

Earning rewards

How you earn points will also be undergoing some changes. Here's the new earn rates:

• 5 points per $1 spent on groceries, restaurants & entertainment,
• 3 points per $1 spent on gas, transit & select streaming services, and
• 1 point per $1 spent on everything else.

So, unless you're a big gas spender, you'll probably come out ahead in terms of earning points.

Earning 5 points per $1 spent on 3 categories will be unmatched in the Canadian credit card market.

The streaming services category will include many popular services such as Netflix, Spotify and Apple Music. You'll be able to enjoy extra earnings on many things you already use.

And for the urban dweller, getting 3 points per $1 spent on your transit purchases is also unmatched right now.

Insurance changes

One of the negative changes coming is to the insurance package.

And while minor, it will no longer offer price protection, and the trip cancellation and insurance amounts are going to be reduced from $2,500 to $1,500.

Annual fee

The last change is to the annual fee. It will be going up from $99 to $120. However, the extra annual rewards will at the very least offset the annual fee change.

Will the annual fee hike pay for itself?

For most people, the answer is yes. Most of us will see an increase in total rewards. And no foreign transaction fees will save you money on all purchases made in a foreign currency.

If you don't have the card, now is a good time to apply, and here's why:

You'll only be charged the current annual fee of $99, saving yourself $21 in your first year. Which means that you won't have to worry about the increased annual fee until year 2.

And if you have this card already in your wallet? Leave your review below and tell us what you think.