American Express Personal Platinum

The American Express Personal Platinum card is the main credit card I use. Yes, it comes with a high annual fee of $699, but I fully utilize all the benefits that it offers. I travel a lot, so the lounge access comes in handy and the hotel status upgrades have given me a lot of free additional perks over the years. Another reason I love the American Express Personal Platinum card is the flexibility of the American Express Membership Rewards points that I earn with the card. Membership Rewards points are worth a minimum of 1% in travel but they can be transferred to Aeroplan at a 1:1 ratio or Marriott at a 1:1.2 ratio which can offer even better value depending on what I’m booking. 

American Express Platinum Business

The American Express Platinum Business is very similar to the American Express Personal Platinum but it comes with a lower annual fee and some reduced benefits. As the name implies, it’s a business card so I only use this card for my business expenses. Interestingly enough, if you’re looking to ride the Amex train where you can earn enough points for a free flight around the world, the Amex Platinum Business card is the one you would start with since it comes with a monster 60,000 point sign up bonus when you spend $5,000 in the first three months. However, if you use my referral link, you get 75,000 points on a $7,000 spend.

WestJet RBC World Elite Mastercard

As stated above, I was originally going to product switch to this card but once I decided to keep my Avion card, I applied for the WestJet RBC World Elite Mastercard. I’ve been flying WestJet on a pretty regular basis for a while now so the included companion voucher and free checked baggage were very appealing. I also have gold status with WestJet so when I use this card on WestJet flights, I’m earning an incredible 10% cash back in WestJet dollars.

PC Financial World Elite MasterCard

I do the majority of my shopping at No Frills which is owned by Loblaws and with the President’s Choice Financial MasterCard, I basically earn triple the PC Optimum points or 3% in cash back equivalent. Another advantage of this credit card is that it’s a Mastercard. Some of the merchants I shop at don’t accept American Express so I use this card instead. Although I don’t shop much at Shopper’s Drug Mart, you earn 45 PC Optimum points per $1 spent there which is essentially a 4.5% return. Shoppers Drug Mart often has some great promotions e.g. spend $75 and get 25,000 PC Optimum points so having this card is essential to fully maximize your return. Here’s my full PC Financial World Elite Mastercard review.

Home Trust Preferred Visa

Last year, CHASE decided to pull all of their cards out of Canada which meant I needed a replacement credit card without foreign exchange fees. At the time, the Home Trust Preferred Visa was a natural choice since it had no annual fee and had no forex fees. To be honest, I don’t love this card and I’m hoping a better card comes along. I have considered switching my no forex card to the Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite card or the Rogers World Elite Mastercard, but I don’t see a real need to make the switch yet. Read my Home Trust Preferred Visa card review now to find why this card is great if you’re looking for something simple.

Marriott Bonvoy American Express

Previously know as the Starwood Preferred Guest from American Express, the card has now been rebranded to Marriott Bonvoy to lineup with the reward program’s new name. With the Marriott Bonvoy American Express, you earn 5 points per $1 spend at Marriott properties which is an incredible earn rate. The sign up bonus 50,000 points is good enough for 5 free nights at a category 4 property when you take advantage of their book 4, get the 5th-night free promotion. I also love how this card gives you an annual free night certificate that can be used for a room worth up to 35,000 points. You get a sign up bonus of 51,000 points when using my referral link as long as you charge $3,000 to your card in the first three months of cardmembership.  The regular offer is 50,000 points on a $1,500 spend.

KOHO credit card

With KOHO, you preload your funds which essentially makes it a prepaid card that uses the Visa network for transactions. It’s a handy card if you’re looking to manage your spending while earning cash-back rewards on your purchases. Now you’re probably wondering why I’m carrying a pre-paid card when I have so many credit cards, well it’s mainly because of the referrals. When you sign up for KOHO using my KOHO referral code CASHMONEY, you get an extra 1% in cash back and I get a $20 commission. Want to learn more about KOHO? Read my KOHO review now and find out how you can earn up to $60 for free.

STACK Mastercard

When STACK Mastercard was first launched, I didn’t pay much attention to it since I already had a no foreign transaction fee credit card. However, once I started reading the benefits of the card, I realized that it’s the best credit card for travel. Not only do you not pay any foreign exchange fees on purchases, but you also don’t pay any exchange fees when using local ATMs. The ATM may charge you a one time use fee, but in the end, there is no cheaper way to get cash when you’re travelling. I basically try to use this card exclusively whenever I travel outside of Canada as it’s more convenient than a US credit card.

RBC Visa Infinite Avion

I originally signed up for the RBC Visa Infinite Avion Card because it had a nice 25,000 points sign up bonus and the annual fee was free for the first year. My intention to transfer those points over to WestJet Rewards later and then product switch from this card to the WestJet RBC World Elite Mastercard, but then I realized that RBC Rewards is pretty flexible since they have multiple transfer partners such as British Airways Avios and a fixed travel program. I ended up keeping this card just to diversify my points.

TD First Class Travel Visa Infinite Card

This credit card is a joint card that my wife and I use. In the last year, we’ve barely used this card since I prefer to maximize our points individually on one of our American Express cards. My wife and I communicate on a regular basis about our finances so there’s no real need to have a joint card anymore, but we’ll keep this card active since we a TD All-inclusive banking plan which waives the annual fee for this card.

MBNA Smart Cash Platinum Plus MasterCard

I used this cash back MasterCard before picking up my PC Financial card but since then I’ve stopped using this card completely. Although I don’t charge anything to this card anymore, I decided to keep this card active since it’s my oldest credit card. My keeping this credit card active, it helps increase my credit score.

Best Credit Cards Canada