Home Trust Preferred Visa Review

Are you looking for a Home Trust Preferred Visa review? This card has become incredibly popular since Chase pulled out of Canada. It was one of the few cards that had no foreign transaction fees and no annual fee. A win-win situation for consumers. However, more no foreign transaction fee credit cards have come to Canada since then, so many people wonder if the Home Trust Preferred Visa is still worth it?

As a no fee card that gives you 1% cash back, there’s not much to complain about. That said, with so much competition out there, you should consider all of your options before applying. Read my Home Trust Preferred Visa review now for the full details.

Home Trust Preferred Visa Card

  • No annual fee
  • No foreign transaction fees
  • 1% cash back on Canadian purchases
  • Purchase protection

In case you didn’t know, most credit cards in Canada charge a fee of 2.5% when you make any purchase that’s not in Canadian dollars. The Home Trust Preferred Visa does not charge that fee at all so you’re always getting the lowest rate possible for your purchase. Plus, you earn 1% cash back on all your purchases made in Canada, so you’re coming out ahead.

Admittedly, the cash back earn rate isn’t that high at just 1% on all purchases. However, this is a no fee card, so you shouldn’t complain too much. It’s worth noting that the cash back earned only applied to purchases made in Canadian dollars. I wouldn’t worry about that too much as your goal for this card should be to avoid foreign transaction fees, not earning cash back.

When the card was first introduced, you could not go paperless or change your assigned PIN but that has now been changed. Going paperless is just a setting in your account, but if you want to change your PIN, you need to call 1-833-217-8090. Once it’s changed and you go use your card, you’ll still need to use your old PIN the first time, but all subsequent transactions will use your new PIN. 

If you want a no foreign transaction credit card with no annual fee, the Home Trust Preferred Visa is an excellent choice.

Home Trust Preferred Visa pros and cons

Honestly, as a no fee card that has no foreign transaction fees, having this card is not a bad thing. That said, not everyone wants to have multiple credit cards, so consider the Home Trust Preferred Visa pros and cons before you apply.

Home Trust Preferred Visa pros

  • No annual fee – Applying for this card is free.
  • No foreign transaction fees – You’ll save 2.5% on all purchases made that are not in Canadian dollars.

Home Trust Preferred Visa cons

  • Limited daily transactions – You have a limit of 10 transactions per day.
  • Not available to residents of Quebec – If you live in Quebec, you won’t be able to apply.
  • Limited customer service hours – Customer services hours are Monday to Friday, 8am – 8pm EST.
  • Inactivity fee – You’ll pay $12 for accounts with no activity in a 12-month period.

I personally held this card for about three years before I cancelled it. I decided to cancel my card for a few reasons. I personally prefer to use STACK now (see below). Plus, my Home Trust Preferred Visa was compromised twice in a year even though I had not used the card in quite some time. I was very concerned about the safety of my account.

How the Home Trust Preferred Visa compares to others

Comparing the Home Trust Preferred Visa to the best no foreign transaction fee credit cards in Canada really depends on what you’re looking for. The Rogers World Elite Mastercard is the closest comparison as it has no annual fee and gives you 3% cash back on purchases made in U.S. dollars. This effectively gives you a 0.5% return but that card also requires you to charge $15,000 a year to it and it has a high minimum income requirement ($85,000).

One card I like that has no forex fees and no annual fee is the STACK Mastercard. STACK is a prepaid credit card where you don’t earn any cash back, but their no forex fees also apply to ATM withdrawals which is handy if you need cash. I should mention that the ATM you use may still charge a one time fee, but STACK won’t charge you anything extra. There is one major catch with this card. Your FX fees are only reimbursed if you spend at least CAD $350 a month.

Another credit card I like that has no foreign transaction fees is the Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite Card. Although it has an annual fee of $139, you get a Priority Pass membership with six free annual passes and a pretty comprehensive travel insurance package. In my opinion, the Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite Card is perfect for people who want an all-in-one travel credit card. You earn Scotia Rewards with this card and the welcome bonus is usually pretty generous.

Final thoughts

Although it’s not one of the best travel credit cards in Canada, my Home Trust Preferred Visa review is positive. Some people will say that this card is not as good compared to other credit cards without foreign transaction fees, but if you want something with no annual fee and no foreign transaction fees, then this is a perfectly fine card to get. 

About Barry Choi

Barry Choi is a Toronto-based personal finance and travel expert who frequently makes media appearances. His blog Money We Have is one of Canada’s most trusted sources when it comes to money and travel. You can find him on Twitter:@barrychoi

93 Comments

  1. Susan on March 26, 2018 at 10:38 AM

    About three weeks after I applied, I called to see if my application had been processed. They told me it would be another four weeks. As I was leaving for Morocco in one weeks time, they processed my application quickly so that I would have my card before I left. I thought that was great customer service!

    • Barry Choi on March 26, 2018 at 10:52 AM

      Susan,

      In this case, it is indeed good customer service. I have had heard from multiple people who called to ask about rushing their cards as they would be travelling soon and Home Trust couldn’t even confirm their applications yet. I’m glad that you had a positive experience.

  2. Freewheel307@gmail.com on March 29, 2018 at 8:43 AM

    It is exactly 8 weeks today since I applied . And nothing so far. I’d say the backup is 9 or 10 weeks now. Considering cancelling and getting the scotia passport instead.

    • Barry Choi on March 29, 2018 at 11:04 AM

      Freewheel,

      Honestly, that’s a great idea. I’ve already confirmed that Scotia will rush this card for anyone who is travelling soon. Even though the card has a $139 annual fee, you get $250 worth of points and lounge passes so it’s worth it for the first year. You could keep the Home Trust card when it finally arrives, and then decide later if you want to cancel it.

  3. boyWong on March 30, 2018 at 2:10 AM

    Just a side note for those of us who plan on using the card in the US for fuel. When asked for the ZIP code, the trick of using the numerical value of your postal code followed by 2 zeros did not seem to work. I called customer service (and waited 40 minutes before getting an agent) and asked if this was a known issue, they indicated that it’s not possible to pay at pump when asking for a ZIP code and that it is a security feature. 🙁

    • Barry Choi on March 30, 2018 at 8:48 AM

      boyWong,

      That’s a great reminder for everyone. I believe this issue still applies to ALL most Canadian credit cards. Whenever I get gas in the US, I just pay cash or with my card in person before filling up.

      • Barry Lundin on April 6, 2018 at 12:22 PM

        I’ve been going to Texas for the winter for many years. I have always used my TD US Dollar credit for gas purchases at the pump with no problem. The card is a Canadian card in US $ so the comment re: ALL Canadian credit cards not working at gas pumps is incorrect.

        • Barry Choi on April 6, 2018 at 12:23 PM

          Barry Lundin,

          Interesting, thanks for sharing.

    • Dave on August 26, 2018 at 12:01 PM

      Went through the same senecio at stations with Home Trust, which worked using my amazon card. A real pain in US as it’s 2 trips inside to get pump going.

    • Robert McConnachie on March 16, 2019 at 4:05 PM

      Just returned from travelling in the USA for a month, during which time the pumps consistently rejected the “standard” postal code to ZIP conversion.
      Phoned Home Trust today about the normal algorithm (your 3 postal code numbers plus 00) being rejected at the pumps. The CSR advised that I should be using the first 5 alpha/digits of my postal code, and converting the alpha to the number that is found on a telephone keypad. Eg. for Postal Code H0H0H0, you would enter 40404, and just ignore the last 0. I will try on my next trip to the USA.

      • Barry Choi on March 16, 2019 at 7:38 PM

        Robert,

        Home Trust seems to make everything difficult for no real reason.

        • Marg on March 20, 2019 at 8:54 AM

          Just came back from a trip in the US. I used my HT Visa consistently at gas pumps and had no problems whatsover. Used my postal code numbers with3 zeros! Sometimes didn’t even need to enter postal code at all.
          We often stop and fill up at truck stops-Love, Pilot because we love their coffee and clean facilties. Maybe that’s the key?

          • JRS on July 17, 2019 at 8:33 PM

            Yes, we just got back from a two week trip with a lot of driving. Pilot does not ask for a Zip at all. Other stations did ask and we would have to go inside to pay.



    • Kev on April 13, 2020 at 10:23 AM

      Paying with a Canadian cc in the usa requires a zip code so you need to use the 3 numerical digits in your postal code followed by 00 when paying at the pump. Hope it works!

  4. Liz on March 30, 2018 at 10:52 AM

    Hi Barry,
    I can’t find the limit for the Home Trust card, do you happen to know?

    • Barry Choi on March 30, 2018 at 11:03 AM

      Liz,

      I’m not sure if there’s a default limit, but I was approved for $4K

  5. Liz on March 30, 2018 at 11:35 AM

    Thanks Barry!

    • George on April 18, 2018 at 12:49 PM

      In the welcome package the letter where your card is attached to, the back page has the disclosure statement with your credit limit.

      That’s where mine is.

  6. Barry Lundin on April 6, 2018 at 12:27 PM

    Got my Home Trust VISA credit cards the other day. Tried to activate them using the phone number provided. Response was “Cannot verify your location. please use your home phone.” I was using my home phone. I also tried three other phones (my cell, my wife’s cell and a cell phone we use in the U.S). None of them worked either. I have now been on hold waiting fro customer service rep for 37 1/2 minutes, and still waiting.

  7. Ava on April 7, 2018 at 3:43 PM

    Just received mine this week; took about seven weeks. CC companies usually can’t wait to get the plastic to you so you can commence charging, so this was quite a surprise. The inability to change the Pin is ridiculous. I had never even heard of this company before but when amazon Visa pulled out there was no choice for a no-annual-fee card with 0 foreign transaction fee. Such as it is 🙂

    • Barry Choi on April 7, 2018 at 3:44 PM

      Ava,

      Thanks for the update! Hang onto the card until something better comes along. At least that’s what I’m doing.

  8. Tim on April 11, 2018 at 9:07 AM

    I also applied for this card in January right after I was informed my Chase Amazon card would be closed in March. I got the Home Trust VISA in late March, so about 9 weeks of processing time. Fortunately, I did not have a trip coming up in this time.

    The comment about a 10 transaction per day limit does not appear in any fine print for the card agreement. I just did a check on both terms documents that cover the card’s characteristics. Are you sure this correct?

    • Barry Choi on April 11, 2018 at 10:27 AM

      Hi Tim,

      I’ve confirmed the 10 transactions per day limit from customer service myself.

  9. Lydia on April 12, 2018 at 8:17 PM

    I applied in February and just got mine this week. In the interim, I was very put off by the details I read on this website (in the comments on that other post.) My husband and I decided to apply for the CIBC Infinite Dividend Visa instead. The fee is waived for the first year, and you get 4% cash back on gas and groceries, which helps to offset the foreign exchange fee. We received our cards within a week of applying. So far we’re very happy (with the CIBC Visa.)

    • Barry Choi on April 12, 2018 at 8:38 PM

      Lydia,

      I don’t blame you for the frustration. I was a big fan of the Home Trust Card, but they simply can’t meet the demand.

  10. John Crookshank on April 14, 2018 at 10:19 AM

    I have the card. I applied in January and got it quite quickly. Credit limit was too low but has been increased without any request on my part. Getting through by telephone if you have a problem is ridiculously slow. If you use Quicken to track your accounts, at least in my version (2016 Cash Manager), Home Trust’s system and Quicken do not play well together. The account defaults to US currency and Quicken will not allow you to change it so transfers from 1 account to another are a PITA. Also, your PIN is assigned and according the the rep I l talked to, cannot be changed. I used the card for a recent trip to the US and it worked as advertised but some of issues I mentioned above make it a poor choice for use in Canada IMO.

    • Barry Choi on April 14, 2018 at 12:53 PM

      John,

      I tried to call Home Trust today (Saturday) and found out they’re closed on weekends. Thank goodness I wasn’t travelling and needed immediate assistance. Home Trust is making things more difficult for customers than it needs to be. That being said, the card serves my purposes for now.

  11. NGS on April 15, 2018 at 8:19 AM

    Months of waiting for a response, an hours wait for the call center, emails that are not replied to and voice-mail boxes that are full. Then almost four months later i was declined with a credit score of 849? The credit score is too high i guess, they want those who will have outstanding balanced at the end of the month. And checking my credit report they never made an inquiry. Fraud??

  12. MM on April 15, 2018 at 5:42 PM

    I think that ten transactions / day is a ridiculous feature. It should be okay on an normal day, unless I’m shopping (and I go to US quite often for that purpose), in which case I might be SOL pretty early during my trip.

  13. Corinna on April 19, 2018 at 4:48 PM

    Hi there

    me and my husband applied for HOME TRUST VISA card two months now, they didn’t approve yet and now asked us to send them a copy of our Driver licence or passport. We are quite concern to give out our so personal information. Anyone can advise us , is it their standard procedure? Have you all been asked for that info other than proof of other docs such as utility bill or cell phone statement etc/

    • Barry Choi on April 19, 2018 at 4:54 PM

      Hi Corinna,

      It’s for verification purposes, I also had to do the same. However, I was able to provide a recent credit card statement. Was that not an option for you?

  14. Corinna on April 19, 2018 at 5:12 PM

    yes, we are asked for the recent credit card statement too. We need to provide three things: credit card is one of them, and driver licence or passport is another one, and gas bill or cell phone bill is the third thing. Is there anyway we don’t have to provide our ID (driver licence)?

  15. Corinna on April 19, 2018 at 5:32 PM

    ok thanks for your feedback and verifying. as long as it is legit and they won’t sell our personal info. I am fine with it.

  16. Anna on April 19, 2018 at 10:30 PM

    Does anyone know the actual wait time now? It says on their website that “If approved, you will receive your new Preferred Visa in 2 – 4 weeks.” I’m reading above that recent applicants took up to 8 weeks to get their card. Any changes recently to their wait times? Leaving to Europe in 4 weeks so not sure if I should chance applying for the card at this point.

    • Barry Choi on April 20, 2018 at 7:30 AM

      Hi Anna,

      It’s highly unlikely that you’ll get the card in time. I would advise getting the Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite card instead. It does have a $139 annual fee, but you can get $250 in points as a sign up bonus and it comes with yearly lounge access. Read my review at the link below and please use my affiliate link if you think it’s a good fit for you.

      https://www.moneywehave.com/scotiabank-passport-visa-infinite-card-review/

  17. Justin W on April 23, 2018 at 12:37 PM

    Hometrust’s customer service is utter garbage.

    I don’t suspect they’ll fix that since they have no incentive to, but it’s just trash. I wrote this while sitting on hold waiting to talk to someone for help. 31 minutes.

    And god help you if you need to use that giant pile of crap website to manage your card, too. Oh boy.

  18. Nickie on April 24, 2018 at 8:40 AM

    I applied for the Home Trust Preferred Visa on January 31st and as of today, April 24th – have not heard anything from them (11+ weeks wait time). Totally unacceptable!

    As I have an upcoming oversees trip in the middle of May fearing I will be left without a replacement card for the Chase no forex trx fee card, 10 days ago I applied for the new Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite card, and have been approved and am expecting the card any day now.

    If you have an upcoming trip and need a card .. forget about Home Trust… and go for the alternative.

    • Barry Choi on April 25, 2018 at 11:49 AM

      Nickie,

      I totally agree with this statement. That being said, I’m in Rome now and have had no issues using my Home Trust Card.

    • Henry on May 26, 2018 at 1:21 PM

      Wonder if applications are first-in-first-out … I applied on Jan 25th, contacted HT multiple times and as of Thursday May 24th still received no meaningful status updates. I don’t know for sure if it is just queuing issues or something wrong with my specific application. Even their CSR do not know.

      • Barry Choi on May 26, 2018 at 1:25 PM

        Henry,

        Weird, you would think it would be first come, first served. I applied in January and got my card in March. What did the CSR say about your application?

        • Henry on May 26, 2018 at 2:19 PM

          The front line CSR took my status inquiry, called back after several days and say the update was “no update” ! I suspect there may be communication break down between their front line and back-office team. Just sharing my experience and vent my dissapointment, that’s all, Barry.

          • Barry Choi on May 26, 2018 at 2:44 PM

            Henry,

            TBH, it’s been a complete gong show with them. You might be better off applying for the Scotiabank Passport Infinite Card. It has an annual fee of $139, but it comes with a signup bonus worth $250 when you spend $1,000 in the first 3 months. You also get 6 free airport lounge passes each year.

            This would allow you test out the card for a year and then decide later if you want to cancel it before you have to pay the annual fee. Maybe by then, Home Trust card would have arrived or maybe a better card would have been released.

            https://www.moneywehave.com/scotiabank-passport-visa-infinite-card-review/



  19. Sheldon on April 25, 2018 at 10:07 AM

    Give Home Trust a chance. I am sure they did not plan for Chase to desert their customers. I agree that there have been a lot of startup problems and things have been slow, but it is nice to not have a card from one of the big banks. Problems with the other cards too. The big banks have all of these sign up bonuses for people who have never been a customer. AMX offers 4 times points at restaurant. One of my favorite restaurant is in an hotel and it is coded as a hotel and not a restaurant. Unless you spend your points on travel, the rebate is less than 1%. and you pay an annual fee.
    I use this card for foreign currency outside of the US. For US it is best to get a US dollar either from a Canadian bank, some US banks will issue cards to Canadians. The problem with a card in Canadian dollars is refunds or hotels that process your deposit rather than as a pending charge. You then buy US dollars for the deposit at the buy rate and then get the refund at the sell rate.

    • Barry Choi on April 25, 2018 at 11:51 AM

      Hi Sheldon,

      This is 100% accurate. I spoke to Home Trust and they told me that there was no way they could have known that Chase was pulling out of Canada so quickly. It’s not exactly easy for a company to add staff when this increased interest is likely temporary. I’ve been using the card in Rome now for a week and have had no issues.

  20. Will on May 1, 2018 at 7:17 PM

    Hey guys they must have more people working on applications because I applied about 3 weeks ago and I have mine and my wife’s cards in my hand . Does anyone know how they calculate their exchange rates because it states it’s set by Visa international,which is what the current rate is or ??

    • Barry Choi on May 2, 2018 at 12:09 AM

      Will,

      It’s possible that they have increased their manpower so cards are getting delivered much quicker now. As for the Visa rate, I don’t believe it’s published anywhere but it’s pretty close to the actual exchange rate at any given time as far as I know.

  21. Louise on May 9, 2018 at 12:59 PM

    Does anyone know how if you get charged for cash advances when using the Home Trust preferred visa card? We plan on withdrawing money from an ATM when in Europe. Is that possible and do you know if there will be fees for doing so?

    thanks

    • Barry Choi on May 9, 2018 at 2:29 PM

      Louise,

      NEVER use your credit card to withdraw from ATMs as you’ll be charged a cash advance fee of 22% + interest. You’re better off using your regular debit card at one of your bank’s partners.

    • d on September 17, 2018 at 3:05 PM

      FYI got a cash advance in Thailand and paid C$ 7.37 cash advance fee from home trust visa. also paid B 220 = C 8.80 at Bangkok bank’s ATM total a whopping $16 to withdraw about C$ 500 in Thai baht! exchange rate was worse than I was getting on credit card purchases. I avoided credit card interest charges by immediately paying online all outstanding balance on my card but definitely a terrible way to access funds.

      • Barry Choi on September 17, 2018 at 3:08 PM

        D,

        Credit cards charge crazy fees for cash advances. Your best bet is to use debit when you can to get cash.

        • d on September 17, 2018 at 3:40 PM

          thanks but your answer is not necessarily correct. FYI international ATM fees are similar whether you use credit or debit. the trick using a credit card is to avoid the interest charges by paying off all pending balance on the card. the overseas bank also charges a bank fee depending on the country same for any transaction regardless of credit or debit. I would advise never to take your debit card to any 3rd world country as your home account is exposed to elevated risk of theft and could take months or years or never to rectify. using a credit card allows you to dispute any fraudulent charge and while waiting resolution you don’t pay anything. its cheap free insurance

          • Barry Choi on September 17, 2018 at 3:43 PM

            D,

            Fair points. My bank does not charge me for foreign ATM withdrawals since I have a premium account with them. I never considered potential fraud if my account was accessed as a result of me using a foreign ATM.



  22. Bobby on May 22, 2018 at 1:37 AM

    Worst credit card ever, for travel and customer service. Why have a transaction limit per day, especially when you are travelling. I didn’t know about this until my transaction limit was reached and my purchases were declined, not very good when you are traveling aboard.

  23. johnny on August 1, 2018 at 3:31 PM

    Applied in March, asked for more info in May,nothing happened….. asked for more info today.. ha..I almost forgot about it.. ask them to drop my application.

  24. vikds on August 3, 2018 at 1:24 PM

    There is an off-hours & weekend bare service out of the US for automated info, and human service for, I believe, for emergency like lost card. This is the case with Home Secured cards.

  25. Malcan on September 1, 2018 at 6:16 AM

    After waiting over a month after my online application for the card, I finally received an email from Home Trust that my application was approved. A week later, two cards arrived, one in my name and the other in my wife’s name. I found it unusual that they knew my wife’s name and that a card was automatically made up for her without my asking for it in the application. Not that I was displeased that she received a card because we both had the Chase cards. It is just perplexing that Home Trust would automatically send two cards to one spouse’s application for a credit card. What if the spouses are separated and are not in good terms?

    It is now two weeks since the arrival Home Trust Visa cards and we still have not received the pins in the mail. I phoned Home Trust and the representative asked me a “secret” question in order to verify my identity. I gave him the correct answer, but what is perplexing is that I have never answered that “secret question” with Home Trust. I have had answered that “secret” question with other financial institutions, but never with Home Trust or the Home Capital Group. So they must have had access to my past dealings with other financial institutions.

    Still waiting for the arrival of the pins in the mail. But the above unusual experiences with them are putting me on guard with them. .

    • Barry Choi on September 1, 2018 at 8:14 AM

      Hi Malcan,

      Financial institutions do not share information so it’s not possible that they would have a secret question and answer with them unless you provided it somewhere.

      Why the PIN is taking so long to arrive is another question.

  26. Andreas on September 5, 2018 at 11:39 AM

    I got the Home Trust Preferred Visa for a trip to Iceland. I discovered while there that there are two machines merchants use to read your card (Verifone and Ingenico). The Home Trust Preferred Visa did not work in the Verifone machines. “Pin Accepted – Transaction Declined”. Unfortunately, 90% of the machines in Iceland are Verifone, so 90% of your purchases will not work. I contacted them during and after the holiday and they said they were aware of the issue and have opened a ticket with VISA but have no other info.

    • Barry Choi on September 5, 2018 at 1:16 PM

      Andreas,

      Thanks for sharing, I had no idea about those issues in Iceland

      • jr on February 7, 2019 at 3:51 AM

        have only had issues in iceland twice with this card otherwise been working fine so far! no issue with the machines or automated gas machine payments even in the middle of nowhere in iceland.

        • Barry Choi on February 7, 2019 at 7:40 AM

          JR,

          Good to hear as people had reported that Iceland is one country where the card had issues.

  27. Tommy Jones on September 23, 2018 at 2:56 PM

    exactly the same thing happened to me in Iceland this month. Same answer from HomeTrust. Lost out onthe 2.5% exchange fee.

  28. Sarah on October 12, 2018 at 1:31 AM

    So now we have two Canadian cards that have no FX conversion fees and no annual fees . HomeTrust visa and Brim financial mastercard. I have both cards but I just received my Brim MC this week. it’s a great card with lots of features.

  29. Katy on October 23, 2018 at 10:05 PM

    Wow, I am so unimpressed with this card and company. On paper it sounds great, but in reality they’re a) super slow to provide the card, b) still won’t let customers change their PINs, and c) aren’t tappable cards. For the last two reasons I just called to cancel my card because I never use it since the assigned PIN isn’t memorable. After answering all the security questions, they told me they’d cancel my account but I needed to send the cut up card back to them “to confirm that it was me who requested the cancellation.” I told them to ask me whatever security questions they wanted to make themselves comfortable that it’s me requesting it, but that I wouldn’t be sending the pieces of the card back to them, and thought it was a strange request. She went ahead and cancelled anyway. Very confused with this company.

    • Barry Choi on October 24, 2018 at 8:55 AM

      Katy,

      ALl your points are valid. I think not being able to change your PIN is ridiculous. I saved it in my phone since I’ll never remember it myself. That being said, I still use the card since it doesn’t charge me any forex fees.

      • Katy on October 24, 2018 at 9:48 AM

        Yes, I was happy to see the comment above about the Brim MasterCard. I’ve applied for that one now instead and will hopefully have better luck!

        • Barry Choi on October 24, 2018 at 4:22 PM

          Katy,

          I’m not a fan of BRIM but that’s been mainly due to their lack of communication before their launch.

  30. Katherine Williams on December 9, 2018 at 2:23 AM

    STEER CLEAR! Not a positive experience.
    Friendly enough customer reps on phone, but took like over four months to hear back. Then, for the first time ever, I was asked for more info because they couldn’t confirm some stuff and told me I had two weeks to respond. Yeah, I agree two weeks is a long time, but seriously, if the company took over 16 weeks to make first contact?!?! And the email I received was akin to phishing asking me to submit personal info online. So, I phoned in and was told not to submit online and that the person would look into whether the request for info was valid and get back to me. It’s been about three months now. And I don’t think anyone’s getting back.

    Regardless of the potential cost savings this credit card purports to offer, I would caution those considering this card that the administrative errors I encountered during my application were a good warning to have BEFORE entering into a relationship with this company.

  31. Leonard on January 3, 2019 at 1:07 PM

    i signed up for the Home Trust Preferred visa card for use in international travel due to no FX charges. The card generally works as advertised and can save roughly 2% over other credit cards on FX alone.
    I was in the far east recently and used the card extensively until a transaction was denied. When I looked at my email, they had sent an email inquiring whether recent charges were legitimate – the email offered me a simple click to accept that these charges were OK and all worked after that (much better than the experience with some other credit cards who you have to call for this purpose).
    Then I found some subsequent charges were being denied making each payment attempt a bit of a lottery (it seemed that i could only use it twice a day for meal purchases). Upon my return, I tried calling their customer service ((877) 727-6883) to inquire about this – however, each time the phone line went dead when i tried to talk to anyone or even if I wanted to register my card as lost or stolen.
    Given there is no electronic way to contact these people, i would think they’d make sure their one mode of customer service would work as currently, to put it mildly, it leaves much to be desired !!

    • Leonard on January 3, 2019 at 1:47 PM

      An update after getting in contact –
      If calling, use the 1-888-281-7793 number which they seem to answer, not the 1 877 727 6883 on the Visa statement.
      Also, there appears to be a daily limit of 10 in the number of transactions but no daily $$$ limit.
      Finally, my decline issues seem to have been the result of merchants trying to swipe the card when there was a pin option which results in the transaction being declined.

  32. Gary on February 1, 2019 at 8:36 PM

    Received the card about 1 month before our annual 3 week trip to Hawaii. I have an A+ credit rating. The low $3500 credit limit (which I tried to increase before our trip, but they would not) was maxed out after 2nd week. We have had numerous declines on transactions before maxing out, which was really annoying! Maybe next year will be better. If a better card comes along between now and then, I will be jumping
    ship!

    • Barry Choi on February 2, 2019 at 7:58 AM

      Gary,

      That’s pretty much how I view the card. As soon as something comes along that’s better, I’ll use that instead. I like the Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite card since it has a sign-up bonus worth $250 and an annual fee of $139. STACK is an interesting choice too as a prepaid card.

  33. Jason on February 7, 2019 at 12:57 PM

    Do you have to call Visa before traveling to USA (or any other international destination) to make sure you can use the card there?

    • Barry Choi on February 7, 2019 at 12:58 PM

      Jason,

      Yes you should call Home Trust before you travel to let them know.

  34. Ashley on March 12, 2019 at 3:46 PM

    Finally… you can change your PIN. The process is a bit convoluted but eventually it can be done. Just received my e-mail today.

  35. Sagar on April 30, 2019 at 8:53 AM

    What is the latest ETA for this card? They say on their website that “Should your application be approved, you will be notified by email within 2-4 weeks”. But there isn’t any inquiry yet on the credit report!

    • Barry Choi on April 30, 2019 at 9:06 AM

      Sagar,

      I haven’t checked in some time, but the fact that no one has complained about delivery times in the comments here in some time is somewhat promising.

  36. Techie on May 3, 2019 at 11:54 AM

    Here is my experience with this HomeTrust Visa card as a client for 1 year.

    When the amazon Canada card was cancelled, I signed up for this HomeTrust Preferred card and let me tell you, it’s been the worst piece of garage card I have in my cards. From the beginning, it took 3-4 months for them to process the application. Their online portal is absolutely horrid and looks like a 1st year graphic design student has created with limited features. I have not been able to modify my PIN number until recently. They do not answer the support calls when needed and long holds and rude poor customer service. Yesterday I had an incident where they locked me out for a small purchase and I called them and they said they are closed until tomorrow; this was absurd, I have never had this experience with any other credit card company. I called them today and they said they can only offer card service help M-F between 8am-8pm; all other companies are 24-hours! I called and cancelled this card today and even then, the lady was rude. To add insult to injury, she said I lose all of my cash-back rewards for the entire 2019.

  37. Carla on August 9, 2019 at 9:14 PM

    I applied online June 25, pin arrived Aug 6, card arrived Aug 9. I have had several different cards over years – Home Trust was the first to give me grief activating its card. I called several times from my home phone number, each time getting the “To activate your card, call from your home phone number.” Argh! So I called on my cell. Guess what, it only asked for the last four digits, and said all cards ending with these number are now activated. This doesn’t sound very secure to me! I then called again on my home phone, had to enter all 16 digits, and it said the card is activated. At least changing the PIN was easy, but its stupid really to have to use the pin I received for my first purchase before I can use my new pin. I hope to use the card in the next couple days to see if the card is indeed activated and my new pin accepted. If not, this card will go in the trash.

  38. Ashley on August 14, 2019 at 10:51 AM

    Made a call to them and as noted, customer service seems quite untrained, and it was difficult to accomplish my goals. The bright side was that the wait time was 5 minutes on hold and I did eventually get everything accomplished I needed to.

    Changed my PIN and did the annoying two transaction thing, it worked.

    Let them know of my travelling in a few weeks to Europe, glad I noticed in the comments here about it otherwise I wouldn’t have done that.

  39. Tom on August 29, 2019 at 9:39 AM

    Has anyone had cause to use their ‘road-side assistance’ benefit? If responsive, this benefit would be a huge plus for the card.

    • Anne on September 7, 2019 at 10:03 AM

      Yes. I had a tire go flat and I needed to call them for a tow. I had to call the phone number on the card to get the correct phone number to call for roadside assistance. It took a long time it seemed before I was able to speak to an agent operating out of a call center but once my call was placed, a driver was at my location in 15 minutes and he towed my car to the Costco tire center which luckily was within 5 km. If it had been farther away, I would have had to pay additional (don’t know how much). All things considered, I was quite happy with this service which didn’t cost me anything.

  40. 0rphen on December 21, 2020 at 9:27 PM

    Very disappointed with the card, just find out you would lose all your reward for the whole year if you were late for 1 of your payment, and that is exactly what happen to me that I was away during xmas hoilday last year and was late for a payment when I came back home. My WHOLE YEAR of your cashback reward has be cancel and I am sure most of us wouldn’t know it, what a scam!!! Also all my other credit cards with TD, CIBC and even small company like Tangerine would waive the interest for late payment once a year and with Home trust they said is only once in a LIFE TIME….what a joke. I think I will let everyone I had recommend in the past to stop using this credit card as you would be scam if you didn’t know.

  41. Howard on July 8, 2021 at 7:17 PM

    I called and asked Home Trust Visa 5 times in a span of 6 months (almost 1 time every month), to send me a confirmation letter of my account closure. Each time I called, I asked again and nothing happened. I ended up giving up and printing the online statement for my records. Other more reputable credit card providers: ex: banks, Rogers, etc, automatically provide an account closure letter within 5 business days after any account closures. I will not be using HomeTrust again. No response to customer requests.

  42. bn880 on February 22, 2022 at 10:42 AM

    This Visa is trash. They don’t have your back. They always send the statements late, so you can often miss a payment. (You have literally a week or less before you need to pay)

    I opened a single chargeback case on this VISA after years of use and at least 80k of transactions, and they failed to send me the first notice for evidence that they need, which then gave me 24h to FAX or Snail mail evidence for a legitimate case. You can’t even EMAIL anything to them 😀 In 2022! In the end they didn’t approve the legitimate chargeback request of mine, even though I did provide faxed evidence with photos!

    When a car broke down in the middle of winter and my mother had to use the towing feature at the side of the road, they refused to tow the car to a place of her choosing and to add payment to cover additional costs!

    Very bad card, violating consumer protection laws.

    • Barry Choi on February 22, 2022 at 4:03 PM

      Admittedly, I’ve had issue with this card too which is why I’ve dropped it.

  43. bn880 on February 22, 2022 at 4:05 PM

    Yes, this is why we are dropping it today, for business use as well.

    • Barry Choi on February 22, 2022 at 4:17 PM

      The sad part is it had a real opportunity to be a winner since they were one of the first cards to have NO FX and no annual fee. Unfortunately, they keep getting rid of benefits and their customer service has always been questionable.

  44. Dark Force on April 3, 2022 at 4:24 AM

    hi, i was wondering if home trust preferred visa credit card offers rental insurance to cover for Loss Damage Waiver LDW or CDW in 2022……..i checked in the card holder agreement and there is no mention of this feature. i checked on the insurance certificate link and again there is nothing about it. in the credit card features they dont mention this cover. i m not sure if home trust offer it or not, or may be use to offer previously? if someone can update on it. thanks.

    • Barry Choi on April 3, 2022 at 6:58 AM

      Dark Force,

      Home Trust dropped their rental car insurance a while back.

  45. Jomel on October 24, 2023 at 12:19 AM

    This still a good card going in 2024 or no?

    • Barry Choi on October 24, 2023 at 10:04 AM

      It’s basic, but gets the job done.

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