hey guys it's Adrian here the Canadian in a t-shirt and today I'll be breaking
down the top 5 best cash back credit cards in Canada for 2020 four out of
these five credit cards come with an annual fee but their cashback value more
than makes up for it as long as you use them enough but those of you with really
small annual expenses I'll also make a video of the top five credit cards with
no annual fee and I'll release that video in the next few days also I'll
include a link in the description box below for each of these credit cards if
you want to submit an online application credit cards are a powerful spending
tool as long as you pay off your monthly statement in full each and every month
if you don't you'll be charged upwards of 20% to 25%
interest on this debts and there is no investment or cash back in the world
that can make up for this huge interest working against you I set a very strict
budget and I track and control every single purchase I made with this budget
I am never worried about spending more than I can afford and so I use credit
cards for 99% of all of my purchases using a credit card for everything gives
me two benefits first I'm able to build my credit score each and every day which
helps when I'm trying to obtain a mortgage secure a car loan or move into
a new apartment second all these purchases give me cash back at the end
of the year that's essentially free money that I get each and every year
whereas if I was paying for things using a debit card or cash I would be getting
no money back at all you guys may be wondering why do I use cash back cards
versus a points or rewards based card for me you can't beat the simplicity of
cash back I know that at the end of the year I'm gonna receive several hundreds
of dollars in cash back and this is free tangible money there are certain credit
cards which offer generous travel points or air miles which can be exchanged for
things like flights vacations and hotels but these are definitely more
complicated and they force you to spend even more money before you can redeem
these points with cash back I receive free money no matter what
but with travel miles for example I won't receive anything unless I decide
to take an expensive vacation overall I love cash back credit cards because they
offer simplicity and the freedom to spend my rewards however I want let's
jump into the list for each of these five credit cards I'm gonna be comparing
their cash back rates their annual fees the additional
benefits they provide and whatever promotional offers come with it let's
start at the top my overall favorite cash back credit card of all time is the
American Express simply cash preferred card this card takes the lead because it
looks really cool and because of its simplicity this card offers 2%
cash back on every single purchase you make other cards on this list may offer
3% to 4% cashback but only on certain types of expenses like
groceries there is no other card in the market which offers 2% cash
back across the board because of this I use this card on everything especially
on large purchases things like flights vacations hotels and furniture this card
comes with a $99 annual fee but with 2% cashback it more than makes up
for it I've had this card for four years now
and every single year this car has given me between $300 and
$500 in cash back minus the $99 annual fee that's $200 to $400
of free money each year let's do a quick calculation to see if
this card is right for you the annual fee is $99 let's round it up to a
hundred if we divide 100 by 2% or 0.02 we get 5000
dollars if you spend at least $5000 a year with this card
the cashback will already make up for the annual fee and you'll be breaking
even if you spend $10,000 a year you'll get $200 in cash back minus the
$99 annual fee and that's a profit of $100 right there I would highly
recommend this credit card but only if you spend at least $10,000 a year with
it any less than that and you'd be better off going with a no annual fee
American Express simply cash card I'll talk about this card and more No Fee
credit cards in my upcoming video another great feature this card offers
is free damage and theft insurance for car rentals I used to rent a car every
few weeks and using my American Express at the rental agency it saved me about
$70 of rental insurance each and every time I went another awesome feature is
the American Express front of the line access whenever there's a concert or
basketball game announced I can use my American Express to buy tickets three to
five days before they go on sale to the general public to put the final cherry
on top if you click my referral link in the
description box below you'll get a 5% cashback promotional period for
the first six months or first $6,000 whichever one comes first
that's 5% cash back on every single purchase you make for the first six
months this will get you up to $300 of bonus cash back plus the
regular 2% cash back once the promotional period ends just a heads
up not all vendors accept American Express cards especially the smaller
shops here in Canada the big stores like the Best Buy's the Loblaws, Sobeys and
Walmart's they'll all accept American Express but some of the smaller sandwich
shops or smaller convenience stores they might not accept American Express
whereas they probably accept Visa or MasterCard that's why I always carry an
additional Visa card with me just in case American Express is not accepted
the 2% cash back on everything plus the free car rental insurance and the early
access to concert ticket sales is enough to make this credit card my all time
favorite but this 5% cash back signup bonus really cements it as the
undisputed king of cashback my second favorite credit card is the
Scotiabank momentum Visa Infinite card and this is actually the oldest credit
card that I have this card was a game changer when it came out it was one of
the first cards to offer higher cash back rates for certain types of expenses
you'll notice that my number 3 & 4 pick definitely tried to copy the Scotiabank
momentum infinite but for me the original is still the best one this card
offers a whopping 4% cash back on groceries and recurring bill payments
any purchase you make in a grocery store like Sobeys Loblaws or Metro will give
you 4 % cash back on your entire purchase that's essentially a 4%
discount on everything in the store even better I hook up all of my monthly
payments to the Scotia visa including my cell phone internet provider my Netflix
account and my 407 highway tolls and I get 4% cash back on all of these
for me groceries and bill payments are my biggest expense so this 4%
cash back makes a huge difference for me this card also offers a 2% cashback on
gasoline and transit which includes things like uber and bus passes the card
also offers 1% cash back on everything else which is pretty standard
my strategy is to use the Scotia visa to get 4% cashback on groceries
and all my monthly bills and then use my American Express card to get 2%
cash back on everything else the annual fee for this credit card is quite steep
at $120 but with 4% cashback you'll only need
to spend $3,000 a year to make up for it that's only $250 a month and I spend way
more than that on groceries and bills so the cashback is well worth the annual
fee this card also comes with a list of generous benefits just like the American
Express card it offers free car rental damage and
theft protection it also offers flight delay and cancellation protection
emergency travel medical insurance and here's a really cool one free mobile
device insurance if you buy your new phone using the Scotia visa you'll be
covered up to $1,000 if your phone gets scratched damaged or destroyed they also
offer a signup bonus by waiving the annual fee for the first year that's a
value of $120 right there which makes this card even better for years I only
really needed these two cards the American Express and the Scotia visa to
maximize my cashback until these next two cars of my list came along with some
incredible sign up offers at number 3 we have the TD cashback Visa Infinite card
this card came onto the scene last year and it was designed as a direct
competition to the Scotia Visa Infinite this card offers a very similar cashback
structure to the Scotia visa both some nice changes and tweaks to make it a
better choice for some users this card offers 3% cashback on
groceries gas and recurring bills that's less than the 4% cashback on
groceries and bills that Scotia offers but it is more than 2% cash back
that Scotia offers for gasoline everything else gets 1%
cashback the annual fee is also $120 so you'll need to spend at least $4000
dollars a year on gas groceries and bills to make up for it that's only $330
a month so this card definitely makes up for the annual fee if you spend
a lot of money each month on gasoline let's say you have a one hour commute to
work everyday or you work as an uber driver or a truck driver then this 3%
cashback on gasoline will be a huge win for you for me personally I
spend more on groceries and bills than I do on gas which is why I prefer to get
the 4% cash back from Scotia over TD but TD doesn't give up that
easy TD has a very unique cash back payment
system. credit card companies pay out their cash back once a year at a fixed
schedule American Express pays out their cash back in September Scotia Visa pays
it out in November but TD's cash back can be redeemed any time at all as long
as you have a cash back of at least $25 you can redeem your cash
back whenever you want and as many times as you want throughout the year with
this flexibility you don't have to wait until November to get paid you can cash
out whenever you want TD Visa Infinite offers a lot of the same benefits as a
Scotia visa they both offer emergency travel medical insurance and free car
rental insurance but a really neat feature that TD offers is free roadside
assistance so if you ever pop a tire or you need a tow truck or you need to
jumpstart your engine TD's deluxe Auto Club will take care of
you for free this TD visa essentially comes with a CAA membership built
into it but the best thing about the TD infinite visa is its promotional bonus
this is the most impressive signup bonus I have ever seen on a credit card for
the first year the annual fee is waived that's $120 of value right there but the
best part is this card offers 10% cash back on all purchases for the first
three months or $2,000 whichever one comes first that essentially gives you a
10% discount on everything you buy for the first three months after the
promotional period ends you'll get the standard 3% cashback on gas
groceries and bills plus TD's cashback can be redeemed at any time so you don't
have to wait until the end of the year to get your money even if you don't want
to keep this card I would still apply and take advantage of this 10%
promotional cashback and use it for the first year the annual fee is waived for
the first year so as long as you cancel before the 1-year mark hits this card
won't cost you anything at all and you'll have a generous pile of cash to
spend and number four we have the CIBC dividend infinite Visa Card this is the
newest card on our list and it is very similar to both the Scotia infinite and
TD infinite Visa card this card offers 4% cashback on groceries and
gasoline interestingly it also comes with 2% cashback on Tim Hortons
and Telus, oddly specific and it offers 1% cash back on
everything else with the cashback of 4% this is the best card when
it comes to gasoline so if you drive a lot I would definitely consider the CIBC
Visa over the Scotia and TD visa unfortunately it only offers 1%
cashback on bills compared to the 4% cash back from Scotia and for me
monthly bills are my biggest expense much more so than gasoline which is why
I prefer Scotia visa over this one the annual fee is smaller at only $100 so
you'll need to spend $2,500 a year on gas and groceries
to break even that's only $208 a month on gas and groceries so this car
should definitely pay for itself the CIBC infinite visa offers
essentially the same insurance benefits as both the Scotia and TD all three of
them offer emergency travel medical insurance flight delay and cancellation
protection and free car rental insurance but unfortunately the CIBC does not
offer the free roadside assistance from TD or the free cellphone insurance
offered by Scotia but the best thing about the CIBC Dividend infinite visa is
its promotional bonus it's basically the same signup bonus as the TD visa for the
first year the annual fee is waived that's $100 of value right there I like
the TD visa it offers 10% cash back on all purchases for the first four
months or $2000 whichever one comes first so they're basically
giving you a 10% discount on everything you buy for the first four
months after the promotional period ends the card returns to a standard 4%
4% cash back on gas and groceries but unlike TD you can't redeem this cash
back whenever you want for CIBC you'll have to wait until December of each year
to receive your money this promotional offer is still incredible and even if
you don't want to keep this card I would still recommend applying for it
maxing out that 10% cashback and use this card for free for the first
year as long as you cancel the card before the 1 year market it won't cost
you a thing and at number 5 we have the home trust preferred visa this is the
most unique and most obscure card on my list it's the only card on my top 5
which does not have an annual fee this card pays 1% cash back on everything and
with no annual fee it's already a pretty decent card where this card truly shines
though is when you perform foreign currency transactions all credit cards
charge a foreign currency conversion fee anytime you make a purchase and anything
other than Canadian dollars this currency conversion fee is usually
around 2.5% if you travel outside of Canada every time you use your credit
card your card will charge you an additional 2.5% fee on top of the
Canadian dollar value of your purchase this 2.5% fee is applied even if
you're inside Canada if you shop on amazon.com by mistake
instead of amazon.ca you'll be making your purchase in US Dollars and so
you'll have to pay an extra 2.5% of the total purchase price the great
thing about the home trust preferred visa is that
this card will not charge you a currency conversion fee ever so if I buy a
hundred US dollars of shoes using this home trust preferred visa I only pay the
Canadian equivalent value which is around $132
dollars Canadian using any other credit card they would have charged me an
additional $3.30 since you're saving the 2.5%
2.5% that you would normally be paying in currency conversion fees this
card basically gives you a 2.5 percent cashback on any foreign currency
purchase and since this card already has a 1% cash back on everything you
could think of this card as offering you a 3.5% cash back
rate on all foreign currency purchases I use this credit card every time I
purchase something from an American site in US Dollars and whenever I travel
outside of Canada if that wasn't enough home trust visa also provides free
roadside assistance just like the TD infinite card does all
of the other cards on this list have significant annual fees so if your
expenses are not high enough it's just not worth using those cards the home
trust visa however has no annual fee offers 3.5% cash
back on all foreign currency purchases 1% cash back on Canadian
purchases and free roadside assistance all at no cost there really is no reason
not to get this credit card I know I've thrown a lot of information at you guys
so let's do a summary of these top five cash back credit cards first off the
American Express simply cash preferred offers you 2% cash back on
everything it comes with a $99 annual fee and all the standard
benefits including early access to the concert ticket sales as promotional
bonus this card will give you 5% cash back for the first six
months the Scotia infinite visa offers you 4% cashback on groceries
and bills 2% cashback on gas and transit and 1% cash back on
everything else this card comes with a $120 annual fee and it
offers the standard benefits plus the mobile device insurance for promotional
bonus this card will waive its annual fee for the first year now the TD
infinite Visa card offers you 3% cashback on groceries bills and
gas and 1% cash back on everything else this card comes with $120
$120 annual fee and it comes with all the standard benefits
plus it allows you to redeem your cash back balance anytime you want and it
offers free roadside assistance as a promotional offer this card will give
you a whopping 10% cash back on all purchases for
the first three months and it will waive the annual fee for the first year moving
on to the CIBC dividend infinite visa this card offers 4% cashback
on groceries and gas 2% cashback
on Tim Hortons and Telus payments and 1% cash back on everything else
this card comes with a $100 annual fee and it only gives you the standard
benefits as a promotional offer this card will give you 10% cash back
on all purchases for the first four months and it will waive the annual fee
for the first year moving on to the home trust Visa Card
this card gives you 3.5% cash back on all foreign
currency purchases and 1% cash back on everything else this card has no
annual fee and it offers free roadside assistance this card doesn't have any
promotional bonuses but with no annual fee you don't really need any extra
incentive to get this card since the Scotia TD and CIBC visa are also similar
you really only need one of these three cards so let's try to break it down and
see which card works best to maximize cashback remember that the American
Express card already offers 2% cash back on everything
so all these cashback rates of 2% or lower are meaningless we can
just use the American Express for them also all three cards have basically the
same annual fee so we'll get rid of them and clean up the table here a bit and
you can see we're only caring about the 4% or 3% cashback
rates Scotia visa is the only one that offers 4% cashback on bills so
if you're like me and monthly bills are your biggest expense I would go with the
Scotia visa the CIBC is the only one that offers 4% on gasoline so
if you drive a lot you should go with the CIBC visa and finally if your
groceries and gasoline and monthly bills are roughly even then the TD visa would
be your best bet regardless of which of these three cards you choose you should
still apply for the TD and CIBC visa to take advantage of the 10%
promotional cashback and then cancel before the end of the first year and
that's how you decide between the Scotia TD and CIBC infinite visa just to finish
filling up this table the home trust visa should be used for foreign currency
and the American Express should be used for everything else in my next video
I'll dive deeper into how you should maximize your total cash back with a
combination of these five cards and there you have it those are my top five
best cash back credit cards in Canada for 2019 remember I've included a link
to each credit card in the description box below if you
want to submit an online application and if the annual fees of these credit cards
scare you off then tune in to my upcoming video where I'll be talking
about the top 5 best No Fee cash back credit cards in Canada thanks for
watching guys and be sure to LIKE, comment and subscribe if you found this video
helpful and please let me know in the comments below if you use any or all
these credit cards and if there's any cards that I've missed that you
recommend thanks everyone and I'll see you guys on the next episode of the
Canadian in the T-shirt bye guys