TD Rewards Guide | How to maximize your points

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TD Rewards is obviously Toronto-Dominion Bank’s travel loyalty points program, but not many people are familiar since it’s overshadowed by Aeroplan. It seems odd that Aeroplan would get more attention, but the TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite Card is one of the most popular travel credit cards, so it shouldn’t be a huge surprise.

As far as TD Rewards is concerned, I think it’s one of the most underrated loyalty programs. For casual travellers, it’ll be appealing since it uses Expedia for all travel bookings. Basically, you can book just about anything you want via Expedia for TD and you’ll get a strong rate of return if you use one of the co-branded credit cards. That said, each redemption has a different value which is why you need to know how to maximize your TD Rewards points.

TD Rewards points value

Most people will use their TD Rewards points on bookings through Expedia for TD. Since it’ll cost you 200 TD Rewards points to redeem $1 in travel, one TD Rewards point is woth .50 cents. TD Rewards gives you a solid number of options to use your points, but not all of them will give you a decent value.

Redemption typeRedemption value
Expedia for TD.50 cents per point
Any travel.40 - .50 cents per point
Higher education.40 cents per point
Gift cards.25 cents per point
Statement credit.25 cents per point
Merchandise.15 - .30 cents per point

As you can see, the best value for your points is to book travel through the Expedia for TD portal. If you were to book travel on your own and then redeem points later, you’d be getting less value. Gift cards, statement credits, and merchandise aren’t worth it at all so don’t waste your TD Rewards points on them. Redeeming for education is a decent value, but there are some conditions that I’ve highlighted below. For any redemption, you need to go through the TD Rewards website.

How to redeem TD Rewards on Expedia for TD

TD Rewards has a partnership with Expedia which acts as their travel portal. It’s important to note that you have to use Expedia for TD, not the regular Expedia site. Since almost everyone is already familiar with Expedia.ca, the booking experience is relatively simple which makes TD Rewards arguably the easiest travel booking portal to navigate from all the major banks in Canada.

Similar to all other bank travel portals, you can book flights, hotels and car rentals, but TD Rewards shines by having access to Expedia’s inventory which is larger than most other bank programs. For example, Expedia for TD also offers vacation packages, cruises, vacation rentals, rail trips and attractions.

There is no minimum amount of TD Rewards points required to make a redemption on Expedia for TD, but you do need 200 TD Rewards points to get $1 off your Expedia for TD booking. Expedia for TD will automatically suggest you redeem points at check-out so there are no extra steps required if you want to use your points. Your points are essentially worth 0.5 cents each.

Make sure to opt-in for the TD Rewards e-mails since they often have good promotions. For example, they recently had $100 off a $400+ hotel booking made on Expedia for TD which gives you even more value for your points.

How to redeem TD Rewards for any type of travel

TD Rewards also allows you to redeem travel expenses charged on your credit card even if these expenses aren’t booked through Expedia for TD. While the redemption value for Book Any Way Travel can be 20% lower than Expedia for TD, I like having this option. Hotel chains usually only give points and elite status perks when you book directly with them. If you have status, it’s often worth booking directly to take advantage of your benefits even though you’re not getting as much value had you booked through Expedia for TD. Book Any Way travel also allows you to use points to offset travel expenses you can’t find on Expedia for TD, like AirBnB bookings or RV rentals.

The exact redemption ratio is 250 points will allow you to redeem $1 in travel purchases, so your points are worth 0.4 cents each. This ratio applies to the first $1,200 of a single travel purchase. Any travel purchases over $1,200 will only cost you 200 TD points to claim $1. To be clear, the first $1,200 would cost you 250 TD points for $1. From $1201+, it would be 200 TD Rewards points to redeem $1 in travel.

What’s interesting is that TD Book Any Way Travel is pretty generous when it comes to valid travel expenses. In addition to usual travel expenses like flights and hotels, TD accepts out-of-province restaurants, gas, attractions and even parking expenses. These redemption options can be useful since many other programs already cover flights and hotel expenses.

There are no blackout dates when you redeem your TD points via Expedia for TD and Book Any Way Travel. Your TD Rewards points can also be used for fees and taxes.

How to redeem TD points for higher education

A few different bank rewards programs allow you to use points on investments, but TD gives you the option to use your points on higher education. It can be a bit complicated since you have to buy HigherEdPoints Education Credits with your points first. HigherEdPoints is an organization that has agreements with loyalty programs and education institutions and manages to convert loyalty points into education credits. You can see the list of all participating institutions on their website.

The redemption value of these credits is decent since 250 points get you $1. That works out to the same rate as Any Way Travel, but you need to take into consideration that you can only redeem by $250 increments which work to be 62,500 points. This option is also available for outstanding student loans too, so you could get more value out of your points if you factor in the interest you’ll save by paying off your loan earlier.

How to redeem TD Rewards for gift cards

The TD Rewards site has a tab dedicated to gift cards. The number of points required to make a redemption differs depending on the merchant, but in most cases, it’s a rate of 400 points for $1. That’s half the value of what you get when redeeming on Expedia for TD or .25 cents per point.

Clearly using your points for gift cards is not a good value, but TD Rewards does occasionally have promos where gift cards cost 25% less in points to make a redemption. Even then, it would still cost you 300 points for $1, so that’s .33 cents per point. It’s a better value than the regular rate, but it’s still lower than travel redemptions.

How to redeem TD Rewards for merchandise

Similar to almost all other loyalty programs, TD Rewards has a merchandise catalogue with hundreds of items that you can purchase with your points. Some things that have been available in the past include:

  • Hair clippers
  • Car seats
  • iPads
  • Laptops
  • Beds
  • Small and major appliances
  • Gaming consoles
  • Bikes
  • iPhones

Admittedly, TD Rewards has one of the better merchandise that’s available from some of your favourite retailers. They seem to have more categories and products available compared to other programs. That said, the redemption rate is still not the best since the dollar value of your points would fall between .15 – .30 cents each. That said, TD Rewards does run quite a few promos where it takes fewer points to make a redemption, so your point value could get as high as .40 cents, which is not bad.

How to redeem TD Rewards for cash

When logged into TD Rewards, you’ll see a tab to redeem your points for cash. While it’s always appealing to have your bill reduced by simply redeeming your points, this is arguably the lowest value possible. It’ll cost you 200 points for $ 1 off, which is a value of .25 cents per point. Although this is the same rate as gift cards, there are never any promos for cash redemptions. You’re basically stuck at .25 cents per point which is terrible. Unless you’re experiencing financial distress, avoid cash redemptions.

Do TD Rewards points expire?

No, TD Rewards points do not expire as long as you have an active account in good standing. If you choose to close or switch your account, you’ll lose your points immediately, so use up your points before making any changes. In the past, when you switched from the TD First Class Travel Visa Infinite to the TD Aeroplan Aeroplan Visa Infinite, you could transfer your points, but that’s no longer allowed.

How TD Rewards compare to others

TD Rewards is a solid loyalty travel program that will appeal to people who want something simple. Since you can book on Expedia for TD or book on your own, there are no blackout dates or award redemption charts to worry about. The only real “negative” aspect of TD Rewards is a lack of fixed point flight redemption chart like American Express Membership Rewards has. That means the value of TD Rewards points is limited to 0.5 cents per point. In addition, with American Express Membership Rewards, there’s no devaluation to your points when you book any type of travel.

Although the TD credit cards that are offered are decent, many of the best travel credit cards in Canada have better sign up bonuses. That said, TD Rewards is near the bottom end of my rankings of Canada’s bank travel programs. Those who don’t want to think about maximizing value will rank TD Rewards higher, but I think the program is lacking.

It’s also worth mentioning that Aeroplan points are arguably better than TD Rewards since they can have a higher value, and there are multiple TD Aeroplan credit cards. For example, if you opted for the top-tier TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite Privilege Card, not only would you earn TD Aeroplan points, but you would also get benefits such as a Priority Pass membership, extended warranty protection, discounts at Avis rent-a-car, trip cancellation coverage, purchase security, and trip interruption insurance.

How to earn TD Rewards points

You can earn TD Rewards points via TD credit cards. The quickest way to earn TD Rewards points is from the various sign up bonuses, but you’ll obviously also earn points on all of your eligible purchases. TD has 3 personal credit cards that earn you TD Rewards points: TD Rewards Visa, TD Platinum Travel Visa Card, and the TD First Class Travel Visa Infinite Card. There’s also a TD Business Travel Visa that earns you TD Rewards I’ve highlighted their TD First Class Travel Visa Infinite Card below as it’s easily the most popular one.

TD First Class Travel Visa Infinite Card

  • $139 annual fee – First year free
  • Earn 20,000 TD Rewards points after your first purchase
  • 115,000 additional points when you spend $5,000 in the first 180 days
  • Annual $100 travel credit (accommodations & vacation packages)
  • Birthday bonus of up to 10,000 points
  • Earn 8 points per $1 spent when you book on Expedia for TD
  • Earn 6 points per $1 spent on groceries and dining
  • Earn 4 points per $1 spent on recurring bills
  • Earn 3 per $1 spent on all other purchases

The TD First Class Travel Visa Infinite is TD’s flagship credit card. It doesn’t earn you as many TD Rewards points as the TD Platinum Travel Visa card, but it’s arguably more popular. I suspect the reason it’s such a popular card is that you can get the annual fee waived every year if you have a TD All-inclusive plan. Even if you don’t have that plan, the annual fee for the first year is usually free.

The standard welcome bonus for cardholders is typically worth 20,000 points, but TD often runs promotions where you can earn an additional 40,000 – 80,000 TD Rewards points as long as you meet their minimum spend requirement. Since one TD Reward point is worth 0.5 cents each, that’s $500 in value you’re getting if the welcome bonus is worth up to 100,000 points. It’s definitely worth monitoring the current TD First Class Travel Visa Infinite offer as they can sometimes be incredibly valuable.

It’s worth mentioning that the TD First Class Travel Visa Infinite Card is one of the eligible TD credit cards that can earn you Starbucks Rewards partnership. All you need to do is login to your TD app, tap My TD Rewards, the select Starbucks from the partners list.

If you prefer a card with no annual fee, there’s the TD Rewards Visa Card. It earns you 2 TD Rewards Points for every $1 in grocery purchases, restaurant & fast food purchases.

Final thoughts 

Despite the lack of redemption options with your points, TD Rewards is still a decent travel loyalty program. Points are easy to accumulate and are easy to use with no blackout dates. Without any transfer partners, TD will always be one of the less popular bank loyalty programs. Many consumers want options. Being partnered with Expedia is great, but giving consumers less value when they book their own travel is a bit ridiculous. Oddly enough, the TD mobile app doesn’t connect you right to Expedia for TD.

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

8 Comments

  1. GYM on September 20, 2019 at 2:54 PM

    We redeemed ours for Home Depot gift cards and got $175 off a Weber BBQ and now husband just got the card and we will book our interisland Hawaii flights with the bonus points. Straightforward program and easy to use.

    • Barry Choi on September 20, 2019 at 3:16 PM

      GYM,

      Gift cards are such a low value, I’m surprised you guys used your points for that.

  2. Mike on December 2, 2019 at 10:44 AM

    Great review Barry. However, I consider the combination of the Scotia Passport Visa Infinite and Scotia’s rewards program far superior because of the absence of foreign transaction fees. I think that’s paramount when selecting a travel rewards card (and its associated rewards program) because you are obviously interested in travel and presumably some portion of your travel is outside of Canada. If you’re retired like we are and spend a good portion of your year outside the country, those 2.5% (or higher) fees add up quickly and can dwarf the $100-$200 in annual card fees. The bottom line is everyone should run the numbers based on their own spending patterns to determine which card and rewards program will deliver the best value. In our case, it wasn’t even close.

    • Barry Choi on December 2, 2019 at 10:57 AM

      Hey Mike,

      In my ranking of all the programs, I have TD at #6 and Scotia at #3 so I agree with your assessment. Although TD doesn’t have a card with no forex fees, there are many cards without an annual fee and with no froex fees so I don’t consider that a major deal-breaker.

      • Mike on December 2, 2019 at 12:04 PM

        Hi Barry,
        I agree that it shouldn’t be a must-have “deal-breaker.” But I do believe forex fees is something people should definitely be taking into account when estimating total return value and comparing travel cards and travel rewards programs. For some who only spend two weeks outside Canada every year, it won’t make a big difference, but they shouldn’t ignore it.

  3. Kim on January 28, 2020 at 3:49 PM

    I really love your articles.

    Like Mike said, there are programs out there that are better than this for a lot of people. Really read the small print before choosing. I completely agree on that foreign exchange thing. It’s got me really looking at the Amazon credit card for Canada right now because TD is really biting me on that.

    I’d love to see you write a piece comparing the travel dollar values of these ‘point collection programs’ (for example: td versus scotia versus pc).

    Although maybe you have and I just haven’t found that article yet.

    K 🙂

  4. […] TD Rewards is a good program and I recommend it to anyone who wants an easy program to understand. However, TD Rewards still ranks low compared to others for a few reasons. Although you can redeem 200 points for $1 off ExpediaForTD, you need 250 points for $1 when using the Book Any Way feature which decreases the value of your points. […]

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