Meridian

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Ranking the Credit Card Portfolios of Each Canadian Financial Institutions (updated April 1, 2020)

ByMatt

It has been almost a year since we last updated this post, so no question this was due for an update. The reason why I waited so long is because there are very few changes to the rankings since then. However, there was a sufficient amount of changes to the industry to warrant an update. Most of the ranking movement occurred in the bottom third of the list. Furthermore, another common theme on this list is that the gap widen between some of the positions.

Every time I update the rankings, I have an overall theme throughout the post. For today’s post, the focus was on internal changes made by each financial institution which justify their position in the rankings.

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Best Current First Year Fee Waived Cards for March 2020

ByMatt

Quite a few promotions ended at the beginning of the month, but have been extended for the most part. The list is actually quite extensive relatively speaking. So if there are cards that you have been considering, now is the time to go for it. 

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.

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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.

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Best Current First Year Fee Waived Cards for January 2020

ByMatt

For this month, all BMO offers ended last month, but all ended up being extended until May. So if you missed out, you have another opportunity to sign up for those cards. 

The card that I would pay close attention to is the Scotia Momentum Visa Infinite Card, which relaunched its 10% cash back (first the first 3 months up to $2,000 in spending) and first year fee waived promotion. Historically, this has been the best offer with this card.

Otherwise, for the rest of the list, all offers run until at least early March 2020. 

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Best Current First Year Fee Waived Cards for December 2019

ByMatt

The most significant change this month is that all the TD offers expired from last month’s list, but they have new offers in place now. The one card that you might want to give a deeper look at is the Scotia Momentum Visa Infinite Card which is currently waiving its first year annual fee. This offer is coming to an end in a few days. 

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Best Current First Year Fee Waived Cards for November 2019

ByMatt

Quite a few offers ended last month, but most offers got extended for this month. Ongoing Offers The reason I left this list (ongoing offers) up is that there are so few (just 2 really) permanent first year fee waived…

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Best Current First Year Fee Waived Cards for October 2019

ByMatt

Quite a few offers are ending at month end, so if you are still thinking about it, now is your last chance to jump on the current offers. I am excited to see what is going to be offered in November. I expect some offers to be extended, but others to surface. If not, this list could be real short next month. 

Ongoing 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. Granted, the terms and conditions do say that the offers are limited time, but with no specific end date.

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Best Current First Year Fee Waived Cards for September 2019

ByMatt

First year fee waived offers are amazing, because it allows you to try a card for one year (less one day) without incurring an annual fee. Once you get used to it, you can decide whether you want to continue with the card the subsequent years. Often times, cards offer enough additional benefits to justify paying the annual fee year after year. Other times, not so much.

For this month, I am going with the featured card theme, as there is a card that I did not ever expect to waive its annual fee. 

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Best Current First Year Fee Waived Cards for August 2019

ByMatt

Not a whole lot of changes this month, except for an updated version of the Scotia Momentum Visa Infinite Card. The most significant change was to its multiplier bonuses, which might be more attractive to some people. The downside is that the annual fee has increased, but there is still a first year fee waived offer. If you want to give the new card a try, but is as good as time as ever.

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Best Current First Year Fee Waived Cards for July 2019

ByMatt

Many promotions ended in June, but new promotions are being offered in July. So the list has trimmed down quite a bit for this month.One card that I would pay closer attention to is the Scotia Momentum Visa Infinite Card, which currently has a $99 annual fee (first year fee waived if you apply before October 31, 2019). However, the annual fee goes up to $120 on August 1, 2019. I am going to assume that Scotiabank is going to honour the October 31st promotional period. But if you want to be safe, I would apply for this card before August 1 to take advantage of the current offer. See the other two monthly lists on how we highlighted the featured card: