The best TD credit cards in Canada 2020

Best airline credit card:

TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite*

The new TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite has a super-impressive welcome offer of 10,000 bonus Aeroplan points, a first-year annual fee rebate and the ability to earn a Buddy Pass that gets you a companion ticket on Air Canada economy flights anywhere within North America. You’ll earn between 1 and 1.5 points per $1 on everyday spending, which can go towards booking flights on Air Canada or on over two dozen Star Alliance partner alliances. 

The card has a slew of travel perks, including preferred pricing when booking flights on points and savings on baggage fees on Air Canada flights. The insurance package is robust and includes hotel/motel burglary and auto rental loss and collision coverage. And between Aeroplan’s rewards chart and generous stopover policy, there are plenty of opportunities to maximize your points values and travel options further. 

• Annual fee: $139 (rebated for the primary and a supplementary cardholder for first year)
• Welcome bonus: Earn 10,000 Aeroplan points when you make your first purchase, and receive the Buddy Pass when you spend $1,000 in the first 90 days. This offer is not available for residents of Quebec. Quebec residents, please click here.* 
• Rewards earn rate: 1.5 miles for every $1 spent on groceries, gas, and on purchases from Air Canada; other eligible purchases earn 1 mile per $1 spent
• Additional rewards: Comprehensive travel insurance including up to $1M in travel medical; first checked bag free for you and up to eight other travellers on the same reservation; Nexus pass application reimbursement up to $100 every 48 months.

Get more details about the TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite*

Best no fee cash back (and student) credit card:

TD CashBack Visa*

For those looking for a no-fee cash back card, there’s the TD CashBack Visa. When you spend with this card you’ll earn 1% back on groceries, gas, and recurring bills, and 0.5% on everything else. The perks are lean—expect purchase security and extended warranty—but like other TD cards, your cash back never expires and you can redeem it whenever you want (in $25 increments).

It’s important to note that when it comes to simple math, this is not the best no-fee credit card out there. The Tangerine Money Back is a better choice, offering up to 2% back on up to three spending categories. That said, new applicants are eligible for a sweet $25 bonus when they keep their account in good standing for 90 days. 

• Annual fee: $0
• Welcome bonus: Earn $25 when you open an account and keep it in good standing for 90 days. Welcome offer available until December 6, 2020. This offer is not available for residents of Quebec. Quebec residents, please click here.
• Earn rate: 1% cash back on eligible grocery and gas purchases, and on recurring bill payments; 0.5% cash back on everything else
• Additional benefits: Purchase security and extended warranty; savings at Avis and Budget 
• Income requirement: None

Get more details about the TD CashBack Visa*

TD All-Inclusive Banking Plan

TD’s All-Inclusive Banking Plan is a premium bank account that offers top-tier services and valuable discounts, some of which reward those carrying select TD credit cards. For example, All-Inclusive Banking Plan account holders receive an annual fee waiver when they sign up for certain TD credit cards for both the primary and one additional card holder—for as long as they carry the account. Just how much can you save? A bundle. The TD Cash Back Visa Infinite, for example, costs $120 annually plus $50 for up to  one authorized cardholder. The $170 annual savings nicely offsets the account fees while allowing you to leverage the perks associated with your credit card. Eligible cards include the following: TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite, TD Aeroplan Visa Platinum, TD First Class Travel Visa Infinite, TD Platinum Travel Visa, and TD Cash Back Visa Infinite.

Sweetening the pot for account holders, TD rewards with premium chequing account benefits such as unlimited debit transactions and Interac e-transfers, a small safety deposit box, money orders, and personalized and certified cheques—all included. Additionally, there are no TD transaction fees when you use any ATM in Canada, the U.S. or internationally (except for exchange rate fees). Clearly, bundling accounts with the big banks has its perks, including that it keeps things simple.

This premium account does come at a premium price. The monthly fee is $29.95, or $22.45 for seniors. However, for those who can afford to keep $5,000 parked in the account, that fee is rebated, meaning all these perks including the credit card rebates are free. Otherwise, you’ll want to weigh the benefits against the cost. The annual fee comes out to nearly $360 (or almost $270 for seniors) but any credit card rebates would come out of that total.

About TD Cash Back Rewards

The TD Cash Back Rewards credit card program lets you redeem on-demand without time restrictions, unlike some other programs that restrict you to once per calendar year. You can redeem once you’ve accumulated $25 (that’s the minimum redeemable amount, too) and your cash-back rewards never expire. The TD program is one of the most flexible cash-back programs out there, though it’s worth mentioning that BMO does have an edge in that you can redeem with as little as $1 in your account.

About TD Points Rewards

TD Rewards Points can be redeemed for a range of gift cards, merchandise and even cash–but they’re first and foremost made for travel redemptions, specifically from the Expedia For TD website. The value of your points varies according to what you redeem them for, and how. We break down the options below:

Expedia For TD

200 TD Points = $1 / 1 TD Point = 0.5 cents (0.5%)

You’ll get the very best value from your points when redeeming on ExpediaforTD.com. There, you can put your points toward booking free or discounted travel from Expedia, one of the world’s largest travel search engines and online travel agencies. There are no blackout dates or airline restrictions, and the points values remain consistent no matter how, when or where you’re travelling, making this method a winner for those who don’t want to spend their time deciphering rewards charts.

Book Any Way

250 TD Points = $1 on the initial $1,200 of travel booking / 1 TD Point = 0.4 cents (0.4%)

200 TD Points = $1 on any amount that is over $1,200 / 1 TD point = 0.5 cents (0.5%)

If you don’t want to use Expedia For TD, you do have the flexibility to book elsewhere, such as directly with an airline or another travel agency. You can use TD Points for virtually anything travel-related including flights, hotels, tours and car rentals. Simply select the Book Any Way option when redeeming points. The one disadvantage here is that at 0.4 of a cent per point on the initial $1,200, you’ll get slightly less value than you would on Expedia For TD. This works out to about 25% less value per point.

Redeem points for cash

400 TD Point = $1 / 1 TD Point = 0.25 cents (0.25%)

Everybody loves cash, but at 400 points per dollar, using your TD Points to get it isn’t the best idea. If you want to earn cash with TD, it’s better to go with one of TD’s cash back cards. However, if you’re still looking to turn your points into cash, you can–just know that you need a minimum of 10,000 points.

Redeem points for gift cards

Average 1 TD Point = 0.25 cents (0.25%)

There’s a wide variety of gift card options on TDRewards.com, usable toward purchases at retailers including Best Buy, Canadian Tire, Foot Locker, Bed Bath & Beyond, and others. That said, the value of your redemption done this way matches what you’d get when using points for cash back so you’re better off using another method.

Redeem points for merchandise

TD Points can be used toward a huge variety of merchandise, from exercise equipment to electronics. Points values on these items vary dramatically but generally will hover between 0.2 and 0.35 of a cent per point.

About Aeroplan Rewards Points

Aeroplan launched a program overhaul on November 8, 2020, at which time Aeroplan points will be redeemable for flights based on a redemption chart that breaks up the world into four different travel zones: North America, Atlantic, Pacific and South America. You’ll be able to redeem points for flights on Air Canada, plus more than two dozen Star Alliance members, including Singapore Airlines, Austrian Airlines and United.

Points values vary depending on where you’re flying to and how popular the route is, but you can use this calculation:

Value of 1 Aeroplan Point = (The Price of Ticket – Fees) ÷ Aeroplan Points needed to redeem

So, as an example, if a round-trip flight from Toronto to Vancouver has a base fare of $405 and $20 in fees, your formula would look like this:

($405 – $20) ÷ 25,000 TD Points = 1.54 cents per 1 Aeroplan Point

You can also maximize your points values by adding stopovers, getting baggage fees waived, and so forth.

Learn more about changes to Aeroplan.

Any and all Aeroplan points you earned on an Aeroplan credit card between now and November 8, 2020 will be honoured on a one-to-one basis.