Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite – Changes Coming To The Insurance Package

For a combination of flexible rewards, insurance, perks, and no foreign exchange fees, the Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite Card is one of the few cards that checks all 4 boxes.

But some unfortunate changes are coming for 1 of these 4 areas, which take effect July 1, 2021.

Insurance changes for the Scotia Passport Visa Infinite

Yes, changes are coming to the insurance package the Scotia Passport Visa Infinite provides.

And it covers a few areas. Here’s the summary of the major changes coming, and you can see the full details for yourself here.

1. Emergency medical coverage

The biggest change is to the emergency medical coverage. There’s some good and bad news here.

First, the maximum benefit is increasing to $2,000,000, from the current $1,000,000.

But the big downside is the changes coming to the coverage for those over the age of 65. It currently provides 10 days of coverage. But starting July 1st, it’s going down to 3 days.

That’s unfortunate news – there aren’t many credit cards that provide this length of coverage for those over 65.

2. Trip cancellation and interruption

Both travel insurance coverages are seeing a reduced benefit – from $2,500 to $1,500 in coverage.

There are a few other things being changed as well, the biggest point being dependent children will be covered even if they are not travelling with the cardholder.

3. Price protection insurance

The last big change is with price protection. This valuable insurance is being removed entirely.

Some alternatives to look into

If you have the Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite for the insurance, you may try and seek some replacements, especially for the medical insurance and price protection.

Here are some options you can look into for either.

Emergency medical replacements

Truth be told, emergency medical coverage that extends to anyone over the age of 65 for 10 days or longer is rare.

There are only a few cards that offer something similar, but they have high annual fees, and/or income requirements.

They are:

• Scotiabank American Express^® Platinum Card
• RBC Avion Visa Infinite Privilege
• CIBC Aeroplan Visa Infinite Privilege Card

Some cards do offer medical coverage over 65, but then end it when someone reaches 75.

One issuer that does this is National Bank, and it’s provided on their 3 travel credit cards:

• National Bank World Elite Mastercard
• National Bank World Mastercard
• National Bank Platinum Mastercard

These cards provide between 10 to 15 days of coverage for those aged 65 to 74.

Price protection

Price protection insurance is also a rare insurance coverage. If this insurance is valuable to you, here are some options.

The best replacement are MBNA World or World Elite Mastercards. These are their cards that provide price protection coverage:

• MBNA Rewards World Elite^® Mastercard^®
• MBNA Smart Cash^® World Mastercard^®

Outside of MBNA, here are a few other cards that also include it:

• Scotiabank American Express^® Card
• Scotiabank American Express^® Platinum Card

Your turn

These changes aren’t great, and for the right person can be a big devaluation in what this card provides.

If you have the Scotia Passport Visa Infinite Card, what are your thoughts?

Will you be looking for a different credit card?

Let us know in the comments below.