The Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite Card is a top travel card in Canada that offers (the often elusive) no foreign transaction fees, up to a $400 signup bonus, and many other rewards and benefits.
Frequent international travellers fully understand the impact that 2.5% foreign exchange fee markups can have on their budget. This Scotiabank card does away with this inconvenience and the additional cost of travel.
This Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite Card review shows why it ranks high on my list of the best travel and no foreign transaction fee credit cards in Canada.
Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite Card Benefits
Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite Card
Rewards: Earn 2x Scene+ points/$1 on groceries, dining, entertainment, and daily transit; 1x points/$1 everything else; 6 free airport lounge passes/year; no FX fees.
Welcome offer: Get up to 40,000 points ($400 value).
Interest rates: 20.99% on purchases; 22.99% on cash advances.
Annual fee: $150 (waived in the first year)
1. $300 Sign up bonus: Earn 30,000 Scene+ points ($300 value) when you spend $2,000 in the first 3 months.
2. Everyday rewards: Earn 2 Scene+ points on every $1 you spend on eligible groceries, dining, entertainment, and daily transportation. Earn 3x Scene+ points on every $1 you spend at Sobeys, Safeway, IGA, Foodland and participating Co-ops. Additionally, earn 1 Scene+ point per $1 spent on all other purchases.
3. No foreign currency conversion markup when you make purchases in a foreign currency in or outside of Canada. The Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite is the Best No-Fx Fee Credit Card for 2024.
4. Complimentary Priority Pass membership that includes 6 free visits per year and is worth $379 per year.
5. Earn 10,000 extra points ($100 value) when you spend at least $40,000 annually.
6. Comprehensive travel insurance that covers:
- Travel emergency medical insurance of up to $1 million and with 25 consecutive days of coverage if you are under age 65 or 10 days if 65 years or older.
- Trip cancellation/interruption insurance at up to $2,500 per insured person (up to a maximum of $10,000).
- Flight delay insurance for delays of 4 hours or more.
- Delayed and lost baggage insurance.
- Travel accident insurance up to a maximum of $1 million per occurrence.
- Rental car collision loss/damage insurance.
- Hotel/motel burglary insurance
7. Purchase security insurance, extended warranty, and price protection.
8. Complimentary Avis Preferred Plus membership and Infinite Visa benefits.
The Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite card is an interesting credit card. While it comes with a $150 annual fee (waived in the first year), its benefits more than cover its cost.
One of the high points of the card is its no foreign transaction fee offer. You do not get dinged with 2.5% or more foreign exchange markup when you spend money abroad. Assuming you spend $5,000 on overseas travel or purchases in a year, this feature alone translates into $125 in savings.
When you spend at least $2,000 during your first 3 months of owning this card, you receive 30,000 points ($300 sign-up bonus) that can be redeemed towards travel, merchandise, and more.
If you use your card to pay for most things and spend at least $40K in a year, you receive an additional 10,000 points ($100 value), making for a total of 40,000 points or $400 in bonus rewards.
In addition, for every $10,000 spending above $40,000, you earn an extra 2,000 bonus points!
Other perks of this card, like the free Priority Pass airport lounge membership that includes six free visits per year and comprehensive travel insurance, are worth noting.
The Airport Lounge Access and Priority Pass membership alone exceeds a $350 CAD bonus benefit when you consider that Priority Pass membership costs $99 USD, and each lounge visit is worth $27 USD.
Downsides of the Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite
The main downside of the Scotia Passport is the $150 annual fee and the fairly high minimum annual income requirement of $60,000 (personal) or $100,000 (household).
Note that the annual fee is waived in the first year.
Also, cardholders are hit with a 20.99% APR interest rate on purchases when they carry a balance beyond the grace period and a 22.99% interest rate on cash advances.
Applying for the card is easy and can be accomplished online, by phone, or in person at a branch. Other minimum requirements are:
- You must be a Canadian citizen or permanent resident,
- You must be the age of the majority in your province or territory, and
- Must not have declared bankruptcy in the past seven years.
Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite Alternatives
Two top alternative credit cards to the Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite for travel rewards are:
Scotiabank Gold American Express
Rewards: Earn 5x Scene+ points/$1 on restaurants, food delivery, and grocery (up to 6x at some stores); 3x points/$1 in gas & travel; 1x points/$1 everything else.
Welcome offer: Get up to 40,000 points ($400 value).
Interest rates: 20.99% on purchases; 22.99% on cash advances.
Annual fee: $120
American Express Cobalt Card
Rewards: Earn 5x pts per $1 spent on food & drinks; 3x pts on streaming subscriptions; 2x pts on travel; 1x pts everywhere else.
Welcome offer: Get up to 15,000 bonus points in the first year.
Interest rates: 20.99% on purchases and 21.99% on cash advances.
Annual fee: $155.88
Is The Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite For You?
This card is a great addition to any traveller’s wallet.
The no-foreign transaction fee, travel rewards, free lounge access, insurance, and the other Scotia Passport Visa rewards and benefits are more than worth its annual fee.
If you would rather not pay an annual fee, the Home Trust Preferred Visa is a no-fee card that waives the 2.5% foreign transaction fee, but it lacks other perks.
Conclusion
My review of the Scotiabank Passport is positive.
The 30,000 ($300) bonus awarded when you spend $2,000 within 3 months is easy to redeem and is almost twice the annual fee. This is before considering your savings on FX.
Factor in the 2% rewards rate (2 Scene+ points) earned per $1 spending on groceries, dining, entertainment, and transit, plus the $379 in lounge access if you travel often, and this card solidifies its inclusion among the best travel cards in Canada.
*See Card Provider’s website and Card Application for complete card details, terms and current offers. Reasonable efforts are made to maintain accuracy of information.
Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite Card Review
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Annual fee
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Insurance benefits
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Rewards
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Eligibility
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Other perks
Overall
Summary
This review of the Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite card details its features, benefits, how to earn up to 35,000 bonus points ($350) when you apply, and why it’s one of the best travel rewards cards in Canada.
Pros
- Competitive welcome bonus
- Waives FX fees abroad
- Comprehensive travel insurance benefits
- Free airline lounge visits
Cons
- High minimum annual income requirement
Well, I did apply for that card some time ago. but because I am retiree, it seems, I was denied, notwithstanding the fact I had something like $150,000 with scotia and Itrade and another $140,000 with Tangerine (their subsidy), and I was customer of them for more than 35 years Their argument was that I could spend all that money in one day! Needless to say that I removed all my business out from scotiabank.
Does anyone know if the authorized user (Supplementary card I ordered) gets an additional 6 free passes to airport lounges, or is it just 6 in total? Thanks,
@Jane B: I believe it is just 6 in total i.e. for the primary cardholder only.
Has anybody had trouble with the Scotia passport VISA being declined for international transactions?
They’re currently waiving the annual fee for the first year but they charged it to my card anyways. When I called them they said it would be taken off at the next billing period. The next billing period came and not only was it still there but they charged interest on it. I’ve had to phone them multiple times about this. They claim it will be fixed (remains to be seen) but this doesn’t reflect well on them and I’m not sure I’d take out another product with Scotiabank if they can’t even get their own credit card intro offers right.
There is one big problem with this card in relation to Car rental insurance.
One that you probably use the most.
What contracts says is:
” Vehicles which belong to the following categories are NOT covered:
Any vehicle with a Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price (MSRP) excluding all taxes, over sixty-five thousand dollars ($65,000) Canadian,at the time and place of loss.”
In our time 65K CAD is not a lot and probably exclude all premium cars, especially if you rent in Europe.
Even worse. Let say you pre-payed for regular car in Europe and they offered you free upgrade to Luxury car, let say BMW. You happily accepted and you just lost all your CLD insurance and they will pay $0 to any damage to a car.
I am so pissed off with this limitation. I was in this situation. I did not have any damage, but I just realized I was driving without CLD. And car I got as free upgrade was probably in range of $85K (BMW 530)
A lot of other card do not have this limitation. So I would suggest be very careful if you use this card for Car Rental.
If you have the Ultimate Package it comes with a $30 monthly fee (unless you maintain $5000.00 in the account each month then it’s free) and pays the $139 yearly fee for the Ultimate Visa. In short, by maintaining $5000.00 in your account, the Infinite Visa is free as well as your bank account.
I booked my business class flight from Toronto to Phoenix on Air Canada using my ScotiaGold Passport card. I assumed I could use the priority lounge but was told it wasn’t for Air Canada passengers. I then thought I could access with my Scotia Gold Passport card That didn’t work either. Is there a way of gaining access to Priority Lounges with my Gold card?
@Ruth: The ScotiaGold does not offer complimentary Priority Pass membership. A Scotiabank card that offers this perk, as well as free airport lounge access, is the Scotiabank Passport Infinite. You can read more about this card in the link below:
https://www.savvynewcanadians.com/scotiabank-passport-visa-infinite-card-review/
Thanks for the update.
@Vincent: You are welcome.
“if you already bank with Scotiabank and have the Scotia Total Equity Plan (STEP), your $139 annual fee is reduced to $69!” – Where to find this info? Thanks.
@Vincent: As another reader pointed out, this is no longer the case.