Continuing on with our series on credit cards in Canada that need an overhaul, today we'll look at two cash back cards that need some tweaking. This 'overhaul' series started earlier in the year when we posted an article about how the RBC Avion Visa Infinite Card was due for a major overhaul. That post was initially planned as five credit cards that need an overhaul but we ended up writing so much about the Avion card that it ended up being a post just on that card. We then followed up with the second card a few weeks ago - the American Express Gold Rewards Card and the changes we think that card needs and in this post we'll cover cards three and four. The fifth card in the list will have its own post in the near future.
Here are the previous posts in the our 2021 Overhaul/Tweaking series:
- There is one very popular travel rewards credit card in Canada that is due for a major overhaul
- It's time for American Express to tweak the venerable Gold Rewards Card
This post will actually be much shorter than the first couple articles as in reality the two cards we look at here only need one small tweak each which is actually the same for both cards. First, let's reveal the two cards needing this ever so small overhaul. The cards are ranked in our top 5 best Canadian cash back cards and they are the Scotia Momentum® VISA* Infinite card and the SimplyCash™ Preferred Card from American Express.
So what do these cards need so desperately? It's super easy and simple - quicker access to the cash back rewards earned on them. Simple as that. Over the past two years we've seen a major shift in the cash back market away from the once per year awarding of the cash back earned on cash back credit cards to more liquid options. Most cards in the market have gone to instant or almost instant redemption. From BMO letting you redeem for as little as $1 in cash back, to CIBC and TD letting you cash out anytime you hit $25 to others like Meridian awarding it monthly. There really aren't many cash back cards left that only award your cash back once per year. The major hold outs are these two cards and their siblings in the same card family. That needs to change for these cards to keep competing. Yes they have strong cash back earn rates with the Scotia card earning 1 to 4% cash back and the SimplyCash Preferred being a flat 2% on all purchases. It is those earn rates and additional benefits on the cards that have kept them in the race but it is the restricted access to the cash back rewards that have let others jump ahead of these two. And that's it!
Wrapping it up
This was a simple post - cards three and four in our list of five cards needing an overhaul in 2021 simply need to move to a more liquid cash back option. Whether it's anytime redemption or even rewarding the cash back monthly, that's what these two cards need.
What do you think? Do you have one or both of these cards and would like to see them move to a more liquid redemption? Let us know in the comments section below.
Here are the current details for each of these cards:
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