[REVIEW] Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite Card

Scotiabank has decided to jump into the foreign transaction fee competition that seems to be heating up in Canada.

Last month, the new Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite Card was launching. Below are the highlights of the credit card:

• $139 annual fee
• $50 annual fee for each supplementary card (first supplementary card free)
• Earn 25,000 Scotia Rewards (worth $250) sign up bonus points after spending $1,000 in the first 3 months (if you apply before June 30, 2018)
• Earn 2 points for every $1 spent on grocery, dining, entertainment and daily transit
• Earn 1 point for every $1 spent on all other purchases
• Receive 6 Priority Pass lounge passes
• No foreign transaction fees
• Receive access to Visa Infinite Luxury Hotel Collection, Visa Infinite Dining Series and Wine Country Program
• Have at least $60,000 in personal annual income, $100,000 in annual household income or $250,000 in assets under management

Annual Fee

I would have liked to see the first year annual fee waived, or at least 50% offer the first year fee as a promotional offer to launch this card. The $139 may seem a little higher than the $99 or $120 you may see with other Visa Infinite cards. The small bump probably has to do with offering more lounge passes and waiving foreign transaction fees.

So at the very least, even if you pay the annual fee the second year, you will make up most of the fee with the 6 lounge passes and having the foreign transaction fees waived.

Sign Up Bonus

I believe the 25,000 sign up bonus is right on par if it is the standard offer, but this offer expires on June 30, 2018. I hope that the expectation is that in the future, we will see higher sign up bonus offers rather than a reduction in the sign up bonus. I would be fairly disappointed to see this sign up bonus go down to 15,000 like what they are doing with the Scotiabank Gold American Express Card. Granted that probably has more to do with putting more emphasis on this Passport Infinite Card.

The hope is that the sign up bonus should cover at least 2 year’s worth of annual fees. So I would hope to see the sign up bonus fluctuate between 25,000 or 30,000 points as a base offer.

Earning Ratios

Grocery, dining and entertainment has been fairly standard multiplier bonus offers by Scotiabank. What is significant to see is the daily transit bonus, which includes uncommon items like buses, subways and taxis. This is a nice move!

Lounge Access

The 6 lounge passes are only offered to the primary cardholder, nothing for the supplementary cardholder.

Conclusion

Overall, this is a very competitive offer by Scotiabank bank and I am very excited to see it added to the market. This should put some pressure on other credit card companies to step up their game! I just hope that Scotiabank continues to make this card even more competitive the current bonus offer (i.e. after June 30, 2018).