Author: Matt

Matt has been an avid points collector since 1992 (an elementary school student), when his dad signed up for the new (at the time) Air Miles program. Since then, Matt took a keen interest in learning how the miles and points world works. He quickly found out that there is a lot of value in leveraging miles and points to fund his passion for travelling.

My Miles and Points Strategy Going Forward

ByMatt

With so much negativity out there about the coronavirus, I will try my best to keep things positive. When things are down, I can tell you that one thing I do right away is to plan a strategy to anticipate the changes that can occur. 

With travel coming almost to a halt for at least the short term, the question of what my strategy should be going forward has been on my mind non-stop over the past few weeks. I touched on this topic a couple of day ago when I tried to answer the question about whether it makes more sense to switch to a cash back portfolio when it comes to earning rewards. I would like to dig a little deeper into this topic.

| | | |

Top Cash Back Credit Card Offers for March 2020

ByMatt

Amid all the travel bans, yesterday we wrote a post about whether it makes sense to switch over to cash back credit cards instead of continuing to earn miles and points, which is a great seaway into today’s post. 

All the CIBC and National Bank offers came to an end last month and they did not extend, so the list really trimmed down significantly this time around. TD switched around its offer but the next significant offer coming to an end this month is the Tangerine Money-Back Credit Card with its no annual fee, $250 sign up cash back bonus. So if you are still thinking about this card, I would go for it now. The BMO offers are also coming to an end this month. 

With Travel Grounded, Time to Switch to Cash Back?

ByMatt

It’s been a while since I last posted, part of it was because of my busy schedule, but a bigger part of it is that I have had trouble finding a topic to write about. The reason I had trouble finding a topic to write about is because I am personally re-thinking my travel strategy. Which brought me back to when Pointshogger was founded. I have always said that Pointshogger is about “maximising rewards for Canadians”. What does that really mean?

| | | | |

Top Credit Card Higher than Normal Sign Up Bonuses for March 2020

ByMatt

Quite a few offers ended at the beginning of March, but were expended, namely cards from BMO, CIBC and TD. There were some minor tweaks to the offers for TD, but for CIBC and BMO, they were mostly extended.

Top Higher than Normal Sign Up Bonuses for March 2020

For the rest of the credit cards, I ranked the credit cards by the price of the annual fees (lowest to highest):

| | |

What are Grandfathered Credit Cards? (Thoughts on Rogers World Elite Devaluation)

ByMatt

This post was inspired by the upcoming devaluation of the Rogers World Elite credit card, which I will further elaborate on below.

What is the concept of “grandfathered credit cards”? This is a concept that is thrown around a lot, but let’s further clarify what it entails. Most people who are highly active in the miles and points industry are quite familiar with this topic, so this post may not be relevant to you. But if you want to learn about the different variations of grandfathering a card, then keep reading!

This post breaks down the various ways that a credit card company can grandfather a card.

| | | |

Best Current First Year Fee Waived Cards for February 2020

ByMatt

Quite a few promotions are ending at the beginning of March, so they will not make it to my next monthly list. So if you have been eyeing a promotion for a while now, this is your chance to go for it as there is no guarantee that the offer will be extended next month. 

Ongoing First Year Fee Waived Offers

The reason I left this list (ongoing offers) up is that there are so few (just 2 really) permanent first year fee waived offers. So they are worthy of being highlighted. Meridian Bank is the only company willing to do this at the moment. Every other company has first year fee waived offers during a specific promotion period.

Air Miles Team Up with Samsung

ByMatt

AIR MILES is expanding its partnership with Samsung Canada. You can now earn miles on Samsung mobile technology, including the new Samsung Galaxy S20 5G series. This is an addition to the existing method of earning miles through the Samsung Pay app and on Samsung products through the Air Miles merchandise catalogue

You now earn 1 mile for every $20 spent on mobile devices including smartphones, tablets, wearables and accessories purchased online.

VIA Rail Layoffs Nearly 1,000 Employees Due to Blockades

ByMatt

It has been reported that VIA Rail is going to be laying off almost 1,000 workers due to the continued blockades in several part across the country, which has interrupted service.

Hundreds of regularly scheduled passenger trains have been cancelled due to the protests. VIA Rail’s website has provided continuous updates on its service.

Getting Paid in Scene Points? Unlimited Movie Passes at Cineplex Theatres?

ByMatt

You may have read about this recently but Cineplex (who runs loyalty program Scene Rewards) was bought out by a British media group, Cineworld. Shareholders approved this deal this month. As a result, Tanner Zipchen (pre-show host when you are waiting for your movie to start), was let go from his position. Turns out that he was being paid in Scene points?

Ok… the story is not that far fretched. Basically he was paid in Scene points when he first started working for Cineplex, before converting into a salary.

That being said, I was wondering how the Scene Rewards program would play out Cineworld taking over. I have so many questions. I held out writing this post until I got more details. So this is more of a preview post before I eventually write a full blown post when the things become more clear.