10% Cash Back Credit Cards in Canada

As I’ve mentioned before, I recently started getting into applying for credit cards not for the purpose of travel hacking, but for the purpose of cash back hacking, on big, expected purchases. I applied for my first 10% cash back credit cards in Canada (the 10% cash back is a welcome bonus, usually for the first “X” dollars spent in purchases for a limited time) and then became enthralled and applied for another 10% cash back credit card in Canada.

Last updated: October 2023

10% Cash Back Credit Cards in Canada

Even though 10% cash back sounds insanely high, these 10% cash back credit cards in Canada don’t add up to very much.

This is because there is a cap limit of how much promotional cash back you can get, for example, you can get 10% cash back on a $2000 spend in the first number of months after card opening.

To be honest, it’s really like $100 or $200 cash in the grand scheme of things, but psychologically, it makes paying for a big non-negotiable expense that you would normally have to pay for less… well, painful.

For example, car insurance, other big ticket items that you would normally have to pay.

Best Cash Back Credit card in Canada for 2023?

I might venture to say that most of these credit cards could take the top spot as the best cash back credit card in Canada for 2023, especially if you use it for the main bit ticket payment and cancel once you receive your reward.

It takes a bit of forward planning- you have to apply in advance and make sure to account for delayed credit card approval process, delayed Canada Post sending your credit card out, and all other things that could potentially go wrong…. but the reward is pretty good.

If you always pay off your credit card bills, why not save $160 on your car insurance payment, thanks to your cash back credit card welcome bonus?

Highest Cash Back Credit Card in Canada

Here are the highest cash back credit cards in Canada (well promotionally anyway). After the promotion ends most of these cards are just average cash back.

Here are four 10% cash back credit cards in Canada for your next big ticket item (for example, a $1600 ICBC annual car insurance payment).

Most of these do not have any fees for the first year or don’t have any credit card annual fees period.

This makes them one of the best no fee cash back credit cards in Canada.

Scotiabank MOmentum Visa Infinite

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The Scotiabank Momentum Visa Infinite gives you 10% cash back on your first $2000 spent in the first 3 months.

This offer expires October 31, 2024.

Also, they are providing first year free (FYF, music to my ears) which is normally $120 per year. They are also providing the first year’s supplementary card for free too, which is normally $50/year.

I might continue to use the Scotiabank Momentum Visa Infinite as you can get it for free annually if you have a Scotiabank Ultimate Package (no monthly fee is you keep a certain account minimum or have a certain amount in their Savings^PLUS account).

Here’s my Scotiabank Ultimate Package review.

You can get the Momentum Visa card free for the first year if you have a Scotiabank Preferred Package account.

Even after the 3 month welcome bonus offer period is over, the Scotiabank Momentum Visa is still a decent card.

Here are the cash back rates after the promotional bonus rate.

• There’s 4% cash back on groceries and recurring bills.
• 2% cash back on gas and daily transit
• and 1% cash back on everything else.

The downside to this card is that the regular cash back is only awarded once a year, in November.

However, for the 10% bonus cash back portion of it, you get a statement credit quite soon after you meet the $2000 spend and you don’t have to wait until November, which is awesome because who likes delayed gratification of 10% cash back anyway?

Tangerine Money-Back Credit card

The Tangerine Money-Back credit card has a new promotion of 10% cash back.

If you apply before January 31, 2024 you can get 10% cash back on all your purchases, up to a $1000 spend on the first 2 months of your card.

This makes it $100 cash back.

After that, you get 2% cash back in two categories of your choice, and 0.5% cash back on all other purchases. If you get your money deposited into a Tangerine Savings Account, you can get third 2% cash back category added.

You have to activate your Tangerine Money Back credit card within 45 days of approval and this 10% promotional cash back is only for new credit card applicants. The cash back is applied about 60 days (or two billing cycles) after you qualify for the 15% cash back.

The positive thing about the Tangerine Money Back credit card is that the income requirement is only $12,000- compared to the other cards for Tangerine. this is much much lower.

Also, it is $0 annual fee, so you don’t have to worry about cancelling before the first year is up.

This is great for university students who might be working a part-time job, a free $100 for just applying for the card…much better than my first credit card, the BMO Mosiak I had in university where the only thing it had going for it was pretty beach scenery on the card.

In addition, if your credit score is not excellent, you can still apply even if your credit is ‘fair’.

The $100 gets credited to your statement within about 1-2 statements after the 60 day period after activation, however, I got mine pretty quickly, closer to the 1 statement mark.

Tangerine World Mastercard

Another 10% cash back credit card in Canada is the Tangerine World Mastercard. The Tangerine World Mastercard is offering the same promotion until January 31, 2024 which is 10% cash back.

If you apply for a Tangerine World Mastercard before the aforementioned date, you can get 15% cash back on the first $1000 spend within the first 60 days of card activation.

This also makes it $100 cash back if you spend $1000.

The cash back after the promotional period is the same as the Tangerine Money Back credit card, which is 2% cash back in two categories of your choice, and 0.5% cash back on all other purchases. If you get your money deposited into a Tangerine Savings Account, you can get third 2% cash back category added.

The minimum income you need to have the Tangerine World Mastercard is $60,000.

The minimum credit score you need to apply for the Tangerine World Mastercard is 600, this has been lowered recently from 700 (good to excellent).

The benefits of the “World” status includes some perks such as Mobile Device Insurance and Rental Car Collison/ Loss Damage Insurance.

There is a $0 annual fee for this card.

Unfortunately you can’t have BOTH the Money-Back and the World card (at least for me, I tried), it’s either one or the other.

CIBC Dividend Visa Infinite

The CIBC Dividend Visa Infinite also has a 10% cash back welcome bonus promotion on the first $2000 spent in the first four months, which makes it essentially $200 cash back. The counter for number of months left to utilize your cash back starts after your application is approved, and does not start when you receive the card and use the CIBC Dividend Visa for the first time.

I don’t see a deadline to apply for this card by and couldn’t find it in the Terms and Conditions either.

The great thing about the CIBC Dividend Visa Infinite is that the cash back is in the accounts pretty much immediately and can be redeemed in increments of $25.00.

After that, the cash back is pretty much comparable to the Scotiabank Momentum Visa Infinite where you get cash back on:

• 4% cash back for groceries and groceries
• 2% cash back on transportation, dining, and recurring payments
• 1% on everything else

There’s also Mobile Device Insurance but you have to have purchased your device on the phone, or have recurring cell phone payments charged onto the phone if your phone payment is part of a ‘buy it over time’ contract.

The CIBC Dividend Cash Back card is also First Year Free. Just remember to cancel them before the first year is up otherwise you will get charged the annual fee which is $120 a year.

CIBC Dividend Platinum Visa Card

The CIBC Dividend Platinum Visa Card also gives you 10% back on the first 4 statements, up to a total of $2000 spend.

This is essentially $200 cash back on a $2000 spend in the first four statement periods.

The annual fee is waived for the first year as well.

This is normally $120.

BMO CashBack World Elite Mastercard

With the BMO Cashback World Elite Mastercard, you can get 10% cash back on your first 3 months after you are approved, up to a total of $2000 spend, which means you can get $200 cash back.

After the welcome cash back is exhausted, you can get:

• 5% cash back on groceries (this is very high, even higher than the 4% for Scotiabank Momentum Visa though there is a cap of $500 a month)
• 4% cash back on transit with max of $300 a month
• 3% cash back on gasoline and electric vehicle charging fees with a cap of $300 a month
• 2% cash back on payments that are recurring (for example, subscriptions, Internet charges) and there is a cap of $500 per month
• After the cap is met in the above categories, it is 1% cash back
• 1% cash back on all other purchases

The annual fee is $120 but this is also FYF, and waived for the first year.

There’s also free roadside assistance with this card, a $69/year value.

The minimum income requirement for this card is high though, $80,000 a year for personal or $150,000 for household.

10% Cash Back Credit Card in Canada Recap

The highest cash back credit cards in Canada all have 10% in cash back rewards, at least for a promotional duration of time.

To summarize there are a few 10% cash back credit cards in Canada right now.

These are the:

• Scotiabank Momentum Visa Infinite
• CIBC Visa Dividend Cashback
• Tangerine World Elite
• Tangerine Money-Back credit card
• BMO Cash Back World Elite Mastercard

Personally, I find applying for 10% cash back credit cards in Canada easier to do for cash back compared to the bank account promotions earning similar amounts ($300 or $350 in cash) except for the credit cards, you don’t have to try and arrange for your employer to update paperwork for direct deposits.

There are some credit cards like TD Bank that offer 6% cash back, but personally to me, that’s not worth it for the hassle.

I have seen the TD Bank Cash Back card at 10% though previously.

The TD credit cards of First Class Visa (you can even get cash back on CAMPING reservations- our favourite Canadian ‘vacation’ option these days) and the TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite are great though.

Go big or go home!

Don’t get me wrong, I am still hoarding Aeroplan points and travel points for future travel, just also taking advantage of some cash back offers too- all at the same time making sure I don’t apply for too many at one time otherwise my credit score will decrease from Excellent and I’ll get rejected for the cards!

There’s something very satisfying knowing you’ll get 10% cash back on something that you need to pay for anyway (or maybe want to pay for, this might be a good ‘hack’ if you’ve been wanting to reward yourself with a luxury wallet or a Louis Vuitton handbag or something like that).

Or even more satisfying might be getting 10% back when you pay your CRA taxes with a credit card (minus the credit card convenience payment fees of course).

I’m sure there will be more to add to this list of 10% cash back credit cards in Canada, I have noticed that it is getting more popular now to have better cash back welcome bonuses compared to travel rewards.

You might also be interested in:

• Best No Fee US Dollar Credit Card in Canada
• Best Travel credit cards for seniors in Canada
• Tangerine Promotions and Referral

Have you applied for a 10% cash back credit card in Canada to save $100 or $200?