Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite Card Review

We recently signed up for this card so I thought it would be nice to share my Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite card review.

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Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite Card Review

There is a generous welcome bonus right now.

The welcome bonus is 25,000 bonus Scene+ points when you make at least $1,000 in eligible purchases in the first 3 months.

If you spent $40,000 annually, you can get another 10,000 Scene+ points.

Aside from the welcome bonus, this is how you typically earn Scene+ points with the Passport Visa Infinite.

• You earn 1 Scene+ point for every $1 spent on all purchases.
• You earn 3 Scene+ points for every $1 spent at grocery stores such as Freshco, Sobeys, Safeway, Thrifty Foods
• 2 Scene+ points per $1 spent are awarded at other grocery stores
• 2 Scene+ points for every $1 at restaurants, fast food, and drinking establishments
• 2 Scene+ points for every $1 spent for entertainment
• 2 Scene+ points for every $1 spent for daily transit

Scotiabank Passport Visa Benefits

No foreign transaction fees. When you are in a different country using your credit card, normally you pay a 2.5% foreign transaction fee. With this card, you do not have to pay the hidden 2.5% foreign transaction fee when you make purchases online or when you are traveling abroad, you just have to pay the exchange rate.

This is a great feature because oftentimes when you are buying things that are the Canadian websites, the price is higher than if you were on the US website and converted to Canadian dollars. For example, a recent one for me was booking and saving money on a cruise. There was about a $100 difference in CAD looking at the US version website compared to the Canadian version of the website. So I went on the US website, booked in US dollars, and paid with my Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite card.

Airport Lounge Access. You get 6 free Lounge Passes with the Visa Airport Companion Program through Dragon Pass. There are over 1200 Airport lounges available worldwide.

Here’s one of the lounges I recently visited, thanks to the Passport Visa Infinite.

I love lounge access, once you have a taste of (free) lounge access, you can’t go back. The free food and free drinks is a great feature when you are traveling with hungry kids and you don’t want to pay for overpriced fast food at the airport. A Dragon Pass lounge ticket is usually $32 USD per person, so this is already almost a $200 USD value.

Avis Preferred Plus Membership. With this credit card, you get complimentary Avis Preferred Plus membership which means an automatic free upgrade if available and discounts in North America on car rentals.

Passport Visa Insurance Benefits

Travel credit cards usually have awesome insurance benefits.

This one comes with:

• Travel Medical Insurance which is 25 days for card members under age 65, and 3 days for card members over age 65, up to $2,000,000 per insured person per trip
• Trip cancellation insurance up to $10,000 per trip
• Trip interruption insurance up to $10,000 per trip
• Flight delay insurance up to $500 per insured person per trip
• Lost or Delayed Luggage up to $1000 per trip
• Hotel or Motel Burglary Insurance
• Rental Car Collision for 48 days, up to $65,000 in value of vehicles rented
• Travel Accident Insurance
• Purchase Security and Extended Warranty

Redeeming Scene+ Rewards Points

The best part of this credit card is the ease in redeeming the Scene+ Rewards points. There was a recent overhaul in the past few years and you don’t have to ONLY redeem your Scene+ points for Cineplex movies anymore.

You can book your Scene+ Travel rewards and it is powered by Expedia. Points can be redeemed fully or partially for flights, car rentals, and hotels.

You can apply your Scene+ points for travel. Just click “Apply Points to Travel” option to redeem points within 12 months from date of travel purchase on your Passport Visa Infinite credit card. This way you have the flexibility to book your own travel AND you have to flexibility to book earlier and collect your points later to offset your travel cost!

In addition you can redeem your Scene+ points for shopping online, dining out at restaurant partners, watching movies at Cineplex, or even using the Points for Credit option to get a statement credit.

Here’s more detail on how Scene Points work.

Passport Visa Annual Fee

The Passport Visa annual fee is $150.

Right now the annual fee is waived for the first year for your first supplementary card.

Premium Scotiabank credit cards like this one is waived for the first year if you have a Scotiabank Preferred Package.

This annual fee is waived annually for the principal account holder if you have a Scotiabank Ultimate Package.

Annual Income Requirements

The minimum income requirement for the Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite is $60,000.

Or you can have a minimum household income of $150,000 or at least $250,000 in assets under management to qualify for this card.

Genymoney.ca’s Verdict

The great thing about earning the welcome bonus points is that the Scene+ points are credited to your account 2-3 days after you make the net purchases.

This is fast.

For example, even if you spend $1000 the day after you activate your card, you will get the Scene+ points 2-3 days after you make your $1000 purchase, and you don’t have to wait the three months or more to get your Scene+ points.

This helps if you are trying to save money on a trip that is coming up relatively soon… so you don’t have to plan your trip 12 months in advance. In fact, you can just plan your trip now and pay for points retroactively! Perfect for us “YOLO” people.

In addition, as mentioned, there is a feature as part of the Scene+ program where you can redeem your Scene+ points within 1 year of purchase. You can just select the credit card where the purchase was from under a drop down menu when you log into your Scene+ Rewards account and redeem your points towards the travel purchase.

Also, there are not many cards out there who do not have any foreign transaction fees. This is invaluable when you’re traveling and don’t want to exchange to the local currency (if they accept credit cards of course).

If you’re planning on traveling, the Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite is a great travel credit card with fantastic insurance benefits and the Welcome Bonus promotion is amazing.

Also, it’s first year free!

You may also be interested in:

• Scotiabank American Express Gold Card

What is your Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite review?