The best Scotiabank credit cards in Canada for 2023

As Canada’s third most profitable bank, Scotiabank offers a long list of credit card products to serve the needs of Canadians. Scotiabank’s three most popular cards are the: Scotiabank Gold American Express Card, Scotia Momentum Visa Infinite Card, and the Scotia SCENE Visa Card.

Travel credit cards

The Scotiabank Gold American Express is one of Canada's best travel credit cards and lets you earn between 5x to 3x the Scotia Rewards points per $1 spent on a range of bonus categories including groceries, dining, entertainment, gas, and daily transit (including taxis and rideshares). The Scotiabank Gold American Express also comes with excellent travel insurance benefits and waives its foreign transaction fees. In addition, there's also their welcome bonus of 50,000 points (a $500 cash value) provided you open an account by November 21, 2021.

If you don’t want to pay the $120 annual fee associated with the card above, you can opt for the Scotiabank American Express Card (non-Gold) which has no annual and earns a flat 1 Scotia point per dollar on everything you buy.

The Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite ($139 annual fee) is another travel card alternative from Scotia that offers the added benefit of airport lounge access along with wider acceptance at merchants/stores (due to the fact it's a Visa credit card), as well as no foreign transaction fees and comprehensive travel insurance. It's worth noting though, the Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite doesn't offer as many points per dollar on everyday purchases as the aforementioned Scotiabank Gold American Express.

The Scotia Rewards program (which all three cards above are associated with) is extremely flexible, with points that can be redeemed for a range of travel-related expenses in flat increments of 5,000 for $50 - or 1 cent per point. The kicker: you can pay for a travel expense on your Scotia Rewards credit card directly from an airline or hotel provider and offset the cost retroactively using points at a later date, so you're not forced to rely on the bank's in-house travel agency. 

Cash back credit cards

If you’d rather earn cash back over rewards points, the Scotia Momentum Visa Cards come in three tiers: they offer a no annual fee card that earns up to 1% cash back, a $39 annual fee card that earns up to 2% cash back, and the Scotia Momentum Visa Infinite Card, one of Canada's top cash back cards which earns up to 4% cash back on eligible purchases (including groceries and recurring bills). The card has an annual fee of $120 (plus $50 for any supplementary cards) which is waived for the first year if you apply by November 21, 2021.

Scene credit card

If you’re a movie lover, the Scotia SCENE Visa Card is their third most popular credit card. The card comes with a sign-up bonus of 1,240 SCENE points (equal to 1 free movie) if you sign up before November 21, 2021, and lets you earn 5 SCENE points per $1 spent at Cineplex and 1 SCENE point per $1 spent everywhere else. This card is a great option for students, as it has no annual fee and points can be redeemed for entertainment or merchandise – which is great if you’re on a tight budget!

Beyond their most popular credit cards, Scotiabank offers a number of other no annual fee credit cards, travel rewards credit cards, low interest, and business credit cards. You can compare them all above.

Value Visa credit card

For those interested in paying down an existing credit card debt (or simply enjoying low interest on purchases), Scotiabank's Value Visa card is a perfect fit.

With a standard, across-the-board low interest rate of 12.99% on purchases, cash advances, and balance transfers, the card also boasts an extra-low introductory rate of 0.99% on balance transfers for the first six months. Providing you've got a solid repayment plan, you could take advantage of this offer to eliminate your debt much faster.

Typical to most balance transfer or low-interest credit cards, the Value Visa doesn't offer much in terms of perks and benefits, but cardholders can still get up to 25% off base rates at participating AVIS and Budget car rental locations in Canada and the U.S. They also offer two comprehensive insurance packages as optional add-ons for customers.

Scotia SelectPay

For those who plan to use their Scotiabank credit card for larger-scale transactions, Scotia SelectPay allows you to pay for purchases of $100 or more in no-interest, fixed monthly installments of three, six, or 12 months.

Simply find an eligible credit card purchase on your Scotiabank app, choose the SelectPay option, then pick a plan that works for you. While there is a small monthly fee for this service, there is no application process or credit check involved, meaning your credit score won't be harmed as a result.

Scotiabank credit card partnerships

Other than their partnership with Cineplex + SCENE, Scotiabank’s only other credit card partnership is with the NHL. You can choose your favourite team card, then earn 1 ScotiaHockey Rewards point per $1 spent on your card. The card also comes with a 5,000 point bonus and gives you 20% off all purchases at the NHL’s official online store.

More on Scotiabank

Scotiabank is Canada's international bank and a leading financial services provider in the Americas that is dedicated to helping its more than 25 million customers become better off through a broad range of advice, products and services, including personal and commercial banking, wealth management and private banking, corporate and investment banking, and capital markets. With a team of more than 97,000 employees and assets of $1.2 trillion (as at April 30, 2020), Scotiabank trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: BNS) and New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: BNS).