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.
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Best Current First Year Fee Waived Cards for November 2017

ByMatt

We are back again with our monthly update on the first year fee waived credit cards list. Note that we also have two other types of monthly lists going on:

Top Cash Back Credit Card Offers
Top Higher than Normal Sign Up Bonus Offers
Please let us know in the comment section below if you would like to see other lists as well!

Shoppers Optimum Bonus Redemption Event

ByMatt

Even though the Shoppers Optimum program is coming to an end, we still have until February 1, 2018 for business as usual. This weekend, Shoppers Optimum is once again offering its bonus redemption. This is the promotion I usually wait for before redeeming my points, so that I can get even more value from them. The promotion is as follows:

Spend 50,000 points and get $85 off + $20 worth of points back (or 16,000 points)
Spend 95,000 points and get $170 off + $40 worth of points back (or 30,000 points)

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Marriott’s Cyber Monday Sale

ByMatt

Marriott’s is jumping on the Cyber Monday Sale ahead of time. Between November 23, 2017 and November 27, 2017, you will be able to book exclusive low rates at over 3,500 Marriott hotels across the Americas, which includes Canada, Caribbean, Latin America and the United States.

You will be able to find member rates starting at $89 at:

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Pointshogger on CBC Talking about new PC Subscription Program

ByMatt

Loblaws is launching a fee-based subscription program for either $9.99 a month or $99 a year, which is suppose to give you more perks with the PC Plus program. I was asked to speak about this matter on CBC’s On the Money, which is now available online to watch.

I will also write down what was discussed and add a few nuggets that I did not have time to speak about.

Comparing American Express EveryDay Preferred (USA) and Cobalt (Canada) Cards

ByMatt

There was a lot of excitement when the Canadian American Express Cobalt Card was released back in September 2017. I think that I am long overdue to write a post. However, both PointsNerd and Canadian Kilometers already wrote some very comprehensive posts regarding the features of the credit card.

What I am going to do is continue a theme that I started in 2017, which is to compare it to the closet US version of the card, the American Express EveryDay Preferred Credit Card.

As usual, let’s start with the features of both credit cards to get the ball rolling. Note that both cards allow you to earn American Express Membership Reward points.

MBNA Smart Cash Adds Annual Fee

ByMatt

The popular MBNA Smart Cash has added an annual fee. It may still say MasterCard on the MBNA website, but most people should have been converted to a Visa by now. 

This is an unfortunate turn of events and it will probably discourage new applicants from signing up. As a result, I will also be taking this card off my top cash back cards list. 

As for existing cardholders, if you did not receive a letter in the mail stating that an annual fee is being implemented, then you should be grandfathered. 

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[DISCONTINUED] Capital One Aspire Travel World Elite MasterCard

ByMatt

The last time we had a brutal year on credit card discontinuations was in 2014. I guess at some point, we were due for another one this year. It saddens me today to write about the Capital One Aspire Travel World Elite MasterCard has been discontinued, especially since I am a cardholder myself. 

Accordingly to my contacts at Capital One, they provided me with the following: 

As a result of changing market conditions, we will no longer be offering the Aspire Travel World Elite MasterCard to new customers. The evolving interchange environment has made this product unsustainable. There is no impact to existing customers at this time.

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30% Transfer Bonus from RBC Rewards to British Airways Executive Club

ByMatt

Not quite the 50% that I was hoping for, but still glad to see some transfer bonus still alive. RBC Rewards is currently offering a 30% transfer bonus to British Airways Executive Club.

This offer, which runs between November 15, 2017 to December 31, 2017, is only valid to RBC Avion cardholders, not just any RBC Rewards credit card. Valid credit cards are as follow