TD First Class Travel Visa Infinite Review

I was getting a little travel hacking FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) when I saw that Robb Engen applied for 13 different credit cards in one year with the goal of travel hacking.  He mentioned there was a great promotion with the TD First Class Visa Infinite.

Last updated: September 2021

The promotion was the first year is free and there was a big bonus if you applied (bigger than it usually is).  As we all know, the bonuses are what makes credit card travel hacking so fruitful.  I must admit, I signed up because of the FYF perk (First Year Free) for the primary cardholder.  Right now, you can get 60,000 TD Rewards points (a $300 value, not the best offer but not bad right now).  Here is my TD First Class Visa Infinite Review.

TD First Class Visa Rewards

• At the time of writing, there is a First Year Free promotion for the primary cardholder
• 20,000 TD Points when you make the first purchase with the TD First Class Travel Visa Infinite Card
• Then another 40,000 TD Points when you charge $1500 of purchases in the first 90 days.
• 60,000 TD Points is equivalent to $300 of travel related purchases if booked on TD for Expedia
• 60,000 TD Points is equivalent to $150 if you purchase a gift card, for example 20,000 TD Points is equivalent to a $50 Best Buy gift card.  You can see the TD Rewards gift card catalogue here.
• When booking with TD Points, there are no blackouts, no seat restrictions, and as long as you are a TD First Class cardholder, your TD Points don’t expire.
• Also, there is  Expedia’s Price Guarantee whereby if you find a cheaper booking (for flight and hotel package) within 24 hours of booking or a cheaper hotel rate up to 48 hours before you check in, Expedia will refund you the difference.

 Earning TD Points

• You earn 9 TD Points for every $1 spent if you book your travel on TD for Expedia
• You earn 3 TD Points for every $1 spent for regular purchases on the TD First Class Visa Infinite

The Perks of the TD First Class Visa

• Travel Medical Insurance:  Up to $1 million coverage for first 21 days of travel if you are under the age of 65.  If you are over age 65, you are covered for the first four days of travel.  The day of departure counts as the first day.  The travel insurance is provided by TD Life Insurance Company
• Delayed and Lost Baggage Coverage: Up to $1000 for essentials if your baggage is delayed for more than 6 hours or if it is lost.
• Priority Pass Membership Discount: Unfortunately you don’t get free Priority Pass tickets with this card, but you get a discount.  I’m a huge fan of the Priority Pass lounges (if they are provided for free of course).  The food is good and much appreciated since these days many domestic flights don’t even provide a package of peanuts!  Unfortunately these perks are not really perks anymore given the travel restrictions and the lack of desire to fly via an airplane.

The discount to Priority Pass is 20% off the membership:

• Trip Cancellation and Trip Interruption Insurance: If you booked your trip using your TD Credit Card or TD Points, you can qualify for up to $1500 for trip cancellation per insured person (and up to $5000 for the group), and for trip interruption, up to $5000 per insured person and up to $25,000 for all people in the group.
• Up to $500,000 of Common Carrier Travel Accident Insurance
• Purchase Security and Extended Warranty Protection: For items that you purchase on this card, if they are stolen or damaged within 90 days of purchase you are covered.  Also for certain items that have a 12 month warranty, you may be eligible for another 12 months (extended warranty) if you purchased it with this card as well.
• Auto Rental Collision/Loss Damage Insurance for 48 days (that’s a long car rental time!).  To be eligible for this you will have to charge the car rental to the card or use the TD points to pay for the car rental.  You will also have to decline the Collision Damage Waiver coverage that’s offered by the car rental company.

To Get Approved

What do you need to get approved?  To get approved for the TD First Class Travel Visa Infinite card, you would need to have $60,000 personal or $100,000 household annual income.

You also need to be a Canadian resident and be the age of majority to apply for this card.

TD uses Equifax credit bureau, compared to Transunion.  This is why your Transunion vs Equifax scores might look different.

TD First Class Visa Infinite Annual Fee

$120 but then this is waived with First Year Free if you applied before November 7 2020.

However, if you are a TD All Inclusive Banking Plan customer (usually the monthly fee is waived with a minimum balance) you can get this premium card for free.  This is similar to the TD Visa Infinite Aeroplan card which is also considered a premium card where the annual fee is normally $120.

GENYMONEY.CA’S Verdict on the TD First Class Visa Infinite:

On regular purchases (not travel related purchases), 3 TD Points per $1 isn’t that great considering the redemption is like 200 points to $1.  So if I spent $1000 a month, I would get 3000 TD Points per month, or 36,000 TD Points per year.  This is equivalent to a $50 gift card, however, if I booked on Expedia for TD, it would be about $180 worth of reward for travel related purchases.

Also, I don’t like that they don’t provide any Priority Passes included with this card.  Many other credit card providers provide a few free Priority Passes with sign up of the card.  Anyway, right now this is a moot point because of COVID.

Related: Transunion vs Equifax- Why the Difference Between Scores?

On an aesthetic note, I do like the new card design, I remember it used to be a forest green and it didn’t look as nice or ‘elite’.

The insurance package related to this card is pretty darn good, though it seems very standard though for a typical travel related credit card.  I like the 48 day car rental insurance coverage, this is a very long car rental insurance..  Similar to the CIBC Aventura Visa Infinite card, I think this card is a great card for the big bonuses but I don’t think it will be a regular staple in our wallet.  We will likely stick with the TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite for our main Visa card.

We will likely just hit the spend needed to get the sign on bonus and then move on.  $300 is not bad, you could have a nice weekend getaway for this amount of money.

Do you like the TD First Class Visa Infinite Card? 

What did you book your TD Points with?

Related:

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genymoney

GYM is a 30 something millennial interested in achieving financial freedom through disciplined saving, dividend and ETF investing, and living a minimalist lifestyle. Before you go, check out my recommendations page of financial tools I use to save and invest money. Don’t forget to subscribe for blog updates, a free dividend yield spreadsheet, and the free Young Money Bootcamp eCourse.