For context, I am not a student anymore (I am age of majority) and this will be my first credit card. I currently bank with Scotiabank. I'm just looking for a basic no annual fee credit card (preferably cashback but open to good travel rewards cards) that I can build good credit. I prefer a bank that has a physical location (so any of the big 5 banks in Canada). I spend the most on rent, groceries/dining out, and re-occuring bills (ex. phone). Things I could care less about: saving money on gas bc I don't drive.

I've been searching around a lot but still am unsure so any help with narrowing down options would be great!

Hi I am currently using CIBC credit card. they give me 2% on the groceries and 1% on gas (all selective).

I just want to know which is the best to go for which would provide me more cash back (without being selective vendors)
I heard wealthsimple but I dont know if it is a safe option considering the credit card provided by the main Banks
I also heard RBC, could you please guide me guys

Thank you in advance

Tl;dr

HippityHoppityBoop’s Ultimate No-Annual-Fee Credit Card Stack

Here’s a list of no annual fee credit cards that should get you the highest yield available for each category (unless you’re a Rogers/Fido customer):

1. Simplii Visa: Restaurants

2. Triangle World Elite MasterCard: Groceries, Bill Payments, Gas at Canadian Tire or Petro Canada

3. Amex SimplyCash: Gas (assuming Triangle doesn’t cut it for you)

4. Desjardins Bonus Visa: Transit, Entertainment, Pre-authorized Payments

5. Tangerine MasterCard: Parking/Furniture/Hotels/Drugstores/Home Improvement (switch categories as needed)

6. Rogers World Elite MasterCard: Travel, Amazon, Walmart, Costco, everything else

7. Home Trust Preferred Visa: Foreign Currency Transactions

Caveat for Rogers/Fido customers:

• For all categories, if you are a Rogers/Fido/Chatr/Shaw customer, you can assume a base earning of 3% for all categories since redemption of the cash back from either of the Rogers MasterCard against your Rogers/Fido bill gives a 1.5x bonus, yielding you 3%. I didn’t include that below to avoid repetition.

• You just need to add a Simplii Visa for 4% cash back on restaurant purchases, and you’re done, just 2 cards, unless you want special features like bill payments, no foreign transaction fees, etc.

• If you qualify, go for the Rogers World Elite MasterCard as that will give you extended warranty, ability to buy a phone on an interest-free 48 month payment plan, basic travel insurance, net you 0.5% cash back on USD purchases, etc.

I have put together a list of spending categories along with a corresponding no annual fee credit card that has the highest yield for the category. I hope this list helps you find the right long term hold credit card for your spending patterns.

This is an ongoing list so please feel free to correct me over time as credit cards evolve and I shall update the list from time to time.

Hopefully this will help people establish a baseline for how much they can earn for each spending category for free and then analyze paid credit card offers based on whether the annual fee is justified by the incremental yield they’d get with the paid credit card.

Restaurants

• Simplii Visa: 4%

Groceries

• BMO Cash Back MasterCard: 3% for first $500/month

• Triangle World Elite MasterCard: 3% in Canadian Tire Money (CTM)

Gas

• Amex SimplyCash/Tangerine MasterCard: 2%

• Collabria credit cards available at most credit unions: 2%

• Triangle World Elite MasterCard: ~2.5-5% (depending on gas prices) in Canadian Tire Money. You get back 5c/litre for regular gas at Petro Canada (if you link your Petro-Points card you also get 12 Petro-Points per litre so about 1.2c/L) and Canadian Tire (plus 7c/litre for premium gas here).

Transit/Entertainment/Recurring Bills

• Desjardins Bonus Visa: 2%

• Tangerine MasterCard: 2%

Parking/Furniture/Hotels/Drugstores

• Tangerine MasterCard: 2%

Home Improvement

• Tangerine MasterCard: 2%

• All Triangle MasterCard: 4% in Canadian Tire Money (CTM) on pretax amounts at Canadian Tire. So about 3.5% after tax depending on province.

Bill Payments (like property tax, utilities, university fees)

• Triangle World Elite MasterCard: 1% in Canadian Tire Money

Amazon

• Rogers World Elite MasterCard: 1.5%

• MBNA Amazon.ca Rewards MasterCard: 1.5% for non-Prime customers/2.5% for Prime

Foreign currency transactions

• Home Trust Preferred Visa: 1%

Travel/All other Canadian spending

• Rogers World Elite MasterCard: 1.5% + free travel insurance coverages

As of: March 2024

Commentary:

• The Tangerine MasterCard is very flexible, you can use it to get cash back on categories not covered by other free cards. So for example, if you’re going on vacation, you could switch one category to hotels a month-ish in advance so you get 2% on hotel spending. Or if you’re moving to a new house and want to buy furniture or home improvement items, you can activate those categories. You should probably keep common categories like entertainment or transit covered by other cards like the Desjardins Bonus Visa or Cash Back Visa to keep category slots on your Tangerine open for less common categories.

• If you’re a Rogers/Fido customer it should be clear that the Rogers MasterCards (basic one) are the dominant card here, an absolute no brainer.

• The Triangle World Elite MasterCard is another masterpiece that everyone should consider but especially car owners, homeowners:

  • 3% in Canadian Tire Money (CTM) on groceries

  • ~2.5-5% (depending on gas prices) in CTM on gas at Canadian Tire and enroute and Petro Canada.

  • Free roadside assistance package including free oil change.

  • Purchases over $150 at Canadian Tire, Sportchek, etc. can be split into 24 equal monthly payments, no extra charges or interest. You could invest the cash you don’t need to pay back right away into a savings account or something instead.

  • 1% in CTM on bill payments, this should be especially good for those paying university/college fees, property taxes, etc.

  • 4% in CTM (~3.5% after tax) at Canadian Tire and a bunch of places, which allow stacking coupons. E.g. I got a $2000 snowblower for something like $1300 from Canadian Tire (could have been $1200).

• If you travel a lot there are probably better options for the no foreign currency conversion card than the Home Trust Preferred Visa. You probably also want strong travel insurance coverage so a card like Meridian Travel Rewards Visa Infinite ($99/year) is probably worth the annual fees and you essentially get 0.5% back on foreign transactions.