7 Best Canadian Cash Back Credit Cards

Canadian cash back credit cards, as their name suggests, give you a small portion of what you spend back as a statement credit or as cash in your bank account.

The best cash-back credit card for you should match your specific spending profile because each cash-back credit card offered in Canada allows you to earn specific percentages back for various kinds of purchases. An excellent strategy would be to use a credit card that offers a high percentage of cash back on gas. For instance, if you commute hundreds of kilometers each week and spend thousands of dollars on gas annually, this would be an excellent way to maximize your savings.

You can earn hundreds of dollars in cash back annually with cash-back credit cards, but you have to pick one. This brings us to the following list of the 7 best Canadian Cash Back credit cards.

These cards offer free money that you wouldn’t have gotten if you used a debit card or cash; just remember to limit your spending and pay your credit card bills in full every month.

Although some of these cards have an annual fee, the majority are cost-free.

Everyone has various spending patterns, but some of them are simple for anyone to be approved for even with low wages. Others call for a high credit score, so before you apply for credit cards, make sure that you are well aware of your credit score, as knowing your credit score and how to improve it is very important.

What are the best Canadian Cash Back Credit Cards?

1. American Express Simply Cash Preferred Card

The American Express Simply Cash Preferred card has the potential to give hundreds, or even thousands, of dollars every year. The simplicity of the Amex is its best feature. Every single purchase you make earns you 2% cash back, and you don’t need to be concerned about various spending categories or shops.

With this card, you effectively receive a 2% discount on all purchases as there are no restrictions. Some of the other cards on this list offer greater rates of up to 4% cash back, but only on specific kinds of purchases, such as gas or groceries. In this scenario, you can use the Amex card to pay for everything else to earn 2% cash back. This is especially helpful for expensive expenditures like hotels, airfare, trips, and furniture.

Not all stores in Canada accept American Express, which is a drawback of this card.

All of the big stores, like Walmart, Best Buy, and Sears, will accept American Express, but some of the smaller shops might not.

So even though this is the top pick for the best Canadian cash back credit card, to be safe, you should always have a Visa or MasterCard on you.

2. Scotiabank Momentum Visa Infinite

This card gives you a huge 4% cash back when you buy groceries or pay recurring bills.

This means that you can pay monthly bills, like cell phone, internet, Netflix, insurance, and utilities, with this card to get the 4% cash back. This 4% cash back rate applies to everything you buy in a grocery store, even things like electronics or gift cards.

So, if you want to buy something on Amazon, for example, you could go to your grocery store and use the Scotiabank Visa Infinite card to buy an Amazon gift card. This counts as a purchase of groceries, and effectively gets you a 4% back in cash when shopping for Amazon. You can use this gift card trick when you need to buy things from Amazon, iTunes, or the Xbox store, but it works with any gift card.

A $120 fee is charged each year for this card. But the money you get back makes up for it more than enough. If you spend at least $3,000 a year or $250 a month on groceries and bills, the cash back already pays for itself instead of your monthly bills.

This card comes with a great list of benefits, such as insurance for car rentals, flight delays and cancellations, emergency travel, medical insurance, and free mobile device insurance.

If you pay for your new phone with a Scotia Visa, you will be covered for up to $1,000 if it gets lost, stolen, or broken.

3. Simplii Financial Cash Back Visa

This is a one-of-a-kind card that is intended for use in dining establishments. This card does not charge an annual fee, and it provides an incredible 4% cash back on purchases made at cafes, bars, and restaurants.

This cash back is hard to compete with, even by premium credit cards that charge an annual fee. Because of this, it is easy to suggest this card to everyone.

It is essential to note that in order to qualify for this 4% cash back, your annual spending must be at least $5,000.

If you spend more than $5,000 a year at restaurants or bars, the percentage of cash back you receive will decrease to 0.5%.

On the other hand, $5,000 is equivalent to $416 every month, and hopefully, you are not going out to eat that frequently.

Simplii Financial also offers some of the best checking and savings accounts in the country. There are no monthly fees or transaction fees for these accounts, which could save you a lot of money compared to other banks.

4. Home Trust Preferred Visa

This is one of the very few credit cards that does not charge a fee to convert currencies, making it a very desirable option. If you’re making a purchase with a currency other than Canadian dollars, you’ll be hit with an up-front fee of 2.5% on almost every other credit card. However, if you make your purchases with this card instead of one that charges a 2.5% foreign transaction fee, you can think of it as giving you a 2.5% cash back on those transactions.

For instance, if you spend $500 on a website in the United States such as Amazon.com, the equivalent purchase on a Canadian website would be Amazon.ca. When paid with any other credit card, the $500 is equivalent to $665 Canadian. They would charge an additional currency conversion fee of 2.5% on top of that. Therefore, the total cost of your bill will be $682. If you utilize the Home Trust Preferred Visa, however, you won’t have to pay the conversion charge of ten dollars. Therefore, you will only be responsible for paying the actual sum of $665.

This can help you save a significant amount of money on significant purchases made abroad, such as hotels. And because there is no annual charge associated with this card, there is no reason not to make use of it. Therefore, it is a great card to use when traveling

5. Canadian Tire Triangle World Elite Mastercard

When you make purchases at Canadian Tire, SportChek, Party City, or Mark’s with this card, you will receive 4% cash back on those purchases. The auto service department at Canadian Tire is included in this as well, so if you take advantage of this offer and get your car serviced or put on winter tires, you will receive 4% cash back, which is a fantastic deal.

At petrol stations owned and operated by Canadian Tire, it saves you five cents per litre on ordinary fuel and seven cents per liter on premium fuel.

This card also provides 3% cash back on groceries purchased for up to $12,000 a year, which is a wonderful perk, but it is not as wonderful as the 4% cash back offered by Scotia Unlimited.

This card does not have an annual fee, and in addition to that, it provides free roadside assistance along with a host of other advantages. Therefore, for a free card, it offers an excellent value.

With this card, you can pay for things like property taxes and utility bills that don’t usually accept credit cards as a form of payment. This is a really interesting function of the card. In addition, if you use this card to make payments, you will earn 1% cash back, which may quickly add up to a significant amount. And there isn’t another credit card that I’m aware of that gives this perk, therefore, it’s a huge deal for people who invest in real estate.

One drawback of this card is the high barrier to get approved. You’ll need to have a high credit score as well as an annual salary of at least $80,000. Another thing to note is that this card is not a cash back card in the traditional sense. This card does not allow you to earn cash; instead, it allows you to earn Canadian Tire money, which may be redeemed at any time for merchandise or services at Canadian Tire stores, sport check marks, and other retail locations.

6. PC Financial World Elite Mastercard

This card is quite similar to the Canadian Tire Triangle World Elite Card because instead of giving you cash rewards, it awards you with PC Optimum points.

When you make purchases at Shoppers Drug Mart as well as a number of other supermarkets, such as Loblaw, Zehrs, Real Canadian Superstore, Value Mart and No Frills, you have the option to exchange 10,000 points for a discount of $10. PC Optimum also provides offers such as the 20 times the points event, which, if you take advantage of it, can save you a significant amount of money.

Also, with this card, you’ll get 3% cash back in the form of points at all of the grocery stores I’ve listed, which is a great perk. When you fill up your tank at an Esso gas station, you’ll get another 3% cash back in the form of points, which is a great perk for a free card.

Although there is no annual charge associated with this card, applicants must demonstrate that they earn a minimum of $80,000 personally or $150,000 household annually in order to be considered. As a result, you shouldn’t have any problems as long as you have a good credit score.

You can get 25,000 bonus points, which is equivalent to $25, simply by referring a friend to this card. You are permitted to do so for a maximum of ten referrals.

7. Scotiabank Scene Visa

Another card that does not give you cash back in its traditional form is this one. It will award you with a scene plus point, which can be used for free movie tickets, snacks, and drinks at the cinema, or movies from the online Cineplex store. This card is an absolute must if you are a movie buff because it offers an astounding 5% cash back on purchases made at the movie theatre. That is completely unbelievable. Particularly for a free credit card. You will receive five bonus scene points for every dollar that you spend at Cineplex.

And in terms of redemption, every 100 points is equivalent to one dollar. This accounts for the remaining 5% of the total.

In the past, in order to redeem a movie ticket, you were required to accumulate a total of one thousand points; however, they have since made the process more flexible by introducing increments of one hundred points. This makes it an excellent choice for people who are just starting out, such as students or novices.

Additionally, if you make a purchase of $750 you will receive 5,000 bonus scene points.

This is a sign-up incentive worth $50 for a free credit card.

What to go with – Cash Back or Points?

The truth is that there is no straightforward response to this question.

The simplicity, adaptability, and reliability of cash back rewards are its most significant selling points. The value of one percent of cash back is always equal to one cent – no matter what. Not only will you be able to save money on travel and specialized items and gift cards from specific stores, but you will also be able to save money on all of your ordinary purchases that you charge to your credit card. Last but not least, redeeming points is easy, and most of the time, the amount is added to your card’s statement balance automatically.

On the other hand, points are more complicated to understand, but they have the potential to be more rewarding, in particular if you are a traveler.

The value of points, in contrast to the value of cash back, is not constant and might vary based on the loyalty program and what you’re redeeming them for. When you use your points to get travel perks like flights, for example, the value of your points can change based on things like where you want to go and what time of year you want to go, like low season or high season.

The biggest benefit of travel credit cards is that they usually come with more bonus categories and perks, as well as bigger welcome bonuses. In addition, the value of the rewards you earn can be maximized by carefully redeeming your points, which, depending on the travel card, may allow you to earn more than the industry-standard $0.01 for each point.

In short, points can be very valuable, especially when they can be exchanged for travel rewards like plane tickets and hotel stays. But if you want straightforward benefits, don’t travel all that often, and want the flexibility to use your credit card rewards to save money on any and all of your regular expenditures, then a cash back card is going to be a better option for you.