American Express (AMEX)

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Ranking the Credit Card Portfolios of Each Canadian Financial Institutions (updated May 1, 2017)

ByMatt

It has been exactly 6 months since the last time I updated this list. The reason is because there has been very little movement until the past two months, where there were quite a few changes in the credit card industry that warrants an update to the rankings. Last year was a strong year for credit cards, so I assumed that 2017 would be a slow down year anyway. Unfortunately, most of the changes so far to the industry have been negative. Companies that moved down the list is because of a negative change. The ones that moved up is due to the downfall of the other companies.

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Best Current First Year Fee Waived Cards for April 2017

ByMatt

Another month, another Best Current First Year Fee Waived Cards list. The first list was popular enough that I will continue with this monthly trend.

Permanent Offers

These are credit cards that do not have an expiry date on their first year fee waived offer. Note that it also means that they can end the offer at any time without

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Top Credit Card Higher than Normal Sign Up Bonuses for March 2017

ByMatt

I decided to provide my list a few days earlier than normal (either 5th or 7th of the month) because the TD promotion is expiring on the 5th, so I thought I’d give a few more days heads up.

Keep in mind that the list I provide are offers that are higher than the normal sign up bonuses only. I will be coming out with other types of lists, like first year fee waived promotions, and maybe other lists recommended by my readers (please provide in the comment section below).

American Express Increased Spending Requirements Across the Board

ByMatt

As you probably already know, American Express has been increasing its minimum spend requirement to fully qualify for sign up bonus for several of its charged and credit cards.

Below is a quick rundown of the changes. I ranked the credit cards card on the annual fees from lowest to highest.

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Best Current First Year Fee Waived Cards (updated February 26, 2017)

ByMatt

As per some feedback, I think that I continue with monthly post listing out the best current first year fee waived offers. Granted, maybe I may need another list to cover other offers that do not fall under these two categories.

Either way, you can always stay up to date on the best credit card offers in my top credit cards page on the menu bar.

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Comparing Canadian and U.S. SPG American Express

ByMatt

The U.S. based Starwood Preferred Guest American Express personal and business cards have increased their sign up bonus from 25,000 to 35,000. The last time was about a year ago. My question is, when is it going to be Canada’s turn? Also, what about waiving the first year fee? Let’s take a quick look at the highlights of the four cards in question.

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Credit Cards that Offer a Free Checked Bag (updated February 11, 2017)

ByMatt

Bringing luggage onto the plane, whether checked-in or carry-on, has become such a complicated issue since the introduction of the pay-per use for the past few years. It seems like it will only get more problematic when costs are attached to carry-ons. As a result, the free checked bag offer from credit cards is only going to become more valuable.

Below is an updated list of credit cards that offer a free checked bag, ranked by annual fees:

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The Cash Back War is On!

ByMatt

There are a handful of credit card companies that are really upping their game when it comes to cash back credit cards. Some promotions are permanent or indefinite, others are temporary.

For the past 2 years, I really felt that the Canadian credit card companies are putting more and more emphasis on cash back credit cards. Maybe they are capitalizing on people’s frustration with mile and points programs. Maybe it is more profitable, considering that there is no real lucrative sign up bonuses that are offered. Whatever the reason is, I really do believe that the current competitive in the cash back market is the best I’ve ever seen.