[PROMOTION] 20,000 CIBC Aventura Points and First Year Fee Waived (expired on March 31, 2014)

CIBC decided to waived its annual fee and raise the sign up bonus. Previously, CIBC had the 30,000 sign up bonus Aventura points promotion, but no annual fee waived. Now they reduced the sign up bonus to 20,000 points, but waived the first year annual fee, which I think is the better deal.

You can sign up for either the Infinite or the Gold version of the credit card. The Infinite one is the better version if you can qualify for it. You can refer to my previous post to review the analysis on the Infinite version.

To get the full 20,000 points, you need to apply for the credit card between January 1, 2014 and March 31, 2014. You will earn 15,000 points after your first purchase and the additional 5,000 points when you spend $500 during the first three months of having this credit card, which is essentially the recommendation that I generally have credit card companies. It is a good idea to implement a minimum spend requirement before customers qualify for the full sign up bonus. This approach will get customers using the credit card more routinely, which always benefits the credit card company anyway.

Conclusion: CIBC deserves a big THUMBS UP for this promotion. If you did not take advantage of the previous 30,000 sign up bonus points, then I recommend that you go for this one instead. Waiving the annual fee makes this credit card a no-brainer.

Now my hope is that other credit card companies follow CIBC’s lead. Otherwise, CIBC is the one who will be taking the market share.