We’ve all heard of Scotiabank, but their travel credit cards tend not to make a lot of headlines in the travel world. However, when leveraged properly, these cards can go a long way to enhancing your travel game, allowing you to see the world for free.

Scotiabank offers a wide range of services to Canadians including personal and commercial banking, wealth management, investment banking, asset management, and insurance. Scotiabank provides a wide range of banking and financial services to Canadians—services which include travel credit cards.

The travel credit cards offered through Scotiabank come with several perks including:

• Travel rewards can be redeemed for various travel-related expenses such as flights, hotel stays, car rentals, and more.
• Great sign-up bonuses
• Travel Insurance
• Airport lounge access
• Travel-related discounts and benefits

Travel credit cards through Scotiabank allow cardholders to earn Scene+ points

What are Scene+ Points

Scene+ points are offered by Scotiabank in partnership with Cineplex Entertainment. Scene is a popular entertainment loyalty program in Canada that allows members to earn points on their everyday purchases and redeem them for free movie tickets, concessions, and other rewards at Cineplex theatres. HOWEVER, Scene+ points can also be used for travel expenses at a 1 cent/point value.

If the travel purchase is made with your Scene+ card, you can redeem your points against that purchase directly through your Scene+ account.

Scotiabank bought the Scene loyalty in 2021 and merged it with Scotia Rewards into the Scene+ program.

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What are the Top Travel Credit Cards Offered Through Scotiabank

Scotiabank offers 5 Travel Credit Cards

Top Scotiabank Visa Card: Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite Card

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The Scotiabank Visa Infinite card is a great introductory Scotiabank travel card because the annual fee is waived in year 1, and Visa’s are accepted pretty much everywhere. The 30,000 Scene+ points are $300 and can be used towards travel expenses.

The $150 fee (waived in the first year) comes with the following benefits:

Top Scotiabank American Express Card: Scotiabank Gold American Express Card

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The Scotiabank Gold American Express is a great Scotiabank travel card because of the high earning rates on groceries. If you want to collect Scene+ points, and regularly shop at a grocery store that accepts American Express, you should strongly consider this card.

The $120 annual fee (offset by a $100 rebate through GreatCanadianRebates) is waived in year 1 and comes with the following benefits:

Runner-up Scotiabank American Express Card: Scotiabank Platinum American Express Card

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The Scotiabank Platinum American Express has great travel perks, but currently comes with a hefty annual fee, and doesn’t have great everyday earning. This card should only be leveraged if you have already applied for other Scotiabank cards, or if the welcome bonus increases.

The $399 annual fee (offset by a $150 rebate through GreatCanadianRebates) comes with the following benefits:

Top No Fee Card: Scotiabank American Express Card

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The Scotiabank American Express card is a no-fee card with a modest sign-up bonus. This card should only be applied for if you’ve leveraged the cards above, and you have no desire to pay an annual fee for a Scotiabank credit card. The 7,000 Scene+ points are $70 and can be used towards travel expenses.

This no-fee card (which has a $25 rebate on GreatCanadianRebates) comes with the following benefits:

• Sign-up Bonus:
  • 5,000 Scene+ points upon spending $750 in the first three months
  • 2,000 Scene+ points upon spending $5,000 in the first year
• Earn Rate: 
  • 3 Scene+ pts/dollar spent at Sobeys, IGA, Safeway and FreshCo
  • 2 Scene+ pts/dollar spent on other dining, grocery, travel & streaming services
  • 1 Scene+ pt/dollar spent everywhere else
• Insurance:
  • Emergency Medical Travel Insurance – up to $1,000,000
  • Car rental damage insurance 
  • Trip Interruption Insurance- up to $2,500

Top Scotiabank Business Card: Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite Card Card

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The Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite card is a great introductory Scotiabank business travel card due to the fact that even a sole proprietor can apply for a business card and that Visa’s are accepted pretty much everywhere. The low everyday earning puts this card below some of Scotiabank’s other offerings. The 30,000 Scene+ points are $300 that can be used toward travel expenses

The $199 annual fee comes with the following benefits:

• Sign-up Bonus:
  • 30,000 Scene+ points upon spending $5,000 in the first three months
• Earn Rate: 
  • 1.5 Scene+ pt/dollar spent everywhere else
• Insurance:
  • Emergency Medical Travel Insurance – up to $1,000,000
  • Car rental damage insurance 
  • Trip Cancellation Insurance- up to $2,500
  • Flight Delay insurance – up to $500 if your flight is delayed >4 hours
• Perks
  • No foreign transaction fees
• Lounge Access
  • 6 complimentary PriorityPass visits

When Should I Start Collecting Scene+ Points

Scene+ points can be redeemed against travel purchases at 1 cent per point. While that’s fantastic, other travel programs in Canada can get you better value.

I would encourage Canadians to look at programs such as Aeroplan, Marriott Bonvoy, or American Express Membership Rewards to get started on your points journey. Those programs can get you a value of upwards of 10 cents/point if redeemed properly. Aeroplan & Marriott are the two biggest loyalty programs in Canada. This is where you should start

Once you’ve properly racked enough Aeroplan & Marriott Bonvoy points, you can then start focusing on Scene+

Canadians are often in situations where they need to spend cash for their travel purchases. Maybe you’re paying cash for a hotel stay, or maybe you’re flying on an airline that doesn’t have a loyalty program (Flair Airlines for example). For this reason, the Scotiabank Scene+ program should not be overlooked.

Read: Your Complete Guide to Flair Airlines

Read: Travelling to Various Golf Destinations

What’s the Optimal Scotiabank Credit Card Strategy

One of the downsides of the Scotiabank credit card portfolio is that you can’t “product switch” (switch from one card to another) and earn different welcome bonuses each time. You can however downgrade your card to a card that doesn’t carry an annual fee. The benefit of doing this is to keep your credit history with Scotiabank in good standing. You’re more likely to get approved for a second line of credit if you’ve had a Scotiabank card for a year/few years.

With that information in mind, we can start building our credit card strategy.

Starting with the Scotiabank Visa Infinite Card makes the most sense given the high signup bonus and first-year annual fee waiver. It’s essentially a free $300 towards travel. It also comes with convenient lounge access. If you value lounge access, you can keep the card, but it may be in your best interest to downgrade to a no-fee Scotiabank card after year one.

From there, you can open up a second credit line by signing up for the Scotiabank American Express Gold card. This card comes with a strong welcome bonus, and also has great everyday earning, particularly at the grocery store. Canadians will have to determine whether or not the high annual fee ($120) is worth taking into year two.

Once these two cards have been leveraged, you can then venture into the other credit cards offered through Scotiabank.

Conclusion

Scotiabank offers a range of credit cards with various features and benefits, catering to different customer needs and preferences. There are a few things that make Scotiabank a desirable credit card issuer:

• Some of Scotiabank’s credit cards offer luxurious airport lounge access
• Most Scotiabank travel credit cards offer no foreign transaction fees
• Scene+ rewards can be redeemed against travel at a rate of 1 cent/point, which can be useful if you’re in a situation where you have to pay with cash (Car Rental, AirBnB, etc.)
• Many credit cards offered by Scotiabank come with a cash-back rebate if you sign up through GreatCanadianRebates