Tuesday, March 1, 2022

Starbucks and TD expand relationship to reward virtually all TD credit and debit cardholders


In late 2020 when the new Aeroplan program was revealed there was one piece of the news that didn't garner too much of the attention. This wasn't surprising given the sheer breadth of everything that came out from Air Canada and its partners in regards to the new Aeroplan program. That piece of the news was a limited time bonus that only the TD Aeroplan co-brand credit cards had with Starbucks. All of those cards would receive 50% bonus Aeroplan points on Starbucks purchases for a whole year and then that promotion kept being extended until February 14, 2022. And now we know why that was the end date - that's due to this becoming a permanent benefit not only on the Aeroplan cards but virtually all TD debit and credit cards as of today!

 

The expanded partnership now allows Starbucks Rewards members to link their account to an eligible TD Access Card with Visa Debit or Credit Card and once they do they will earn extra TD Rewards points or Aeroplan points plus extra Starbucks Rewards Stars! 

 Earning & Redeeming with the new partnership:

 

  • Earn 50% more Stars on purchases or card re-loads made through the Starbucks® app.
  • TD Rewards or TD Aeroplan card holders can also earn 50% more TD points or Aeroplan points on purchases through the Starbucks® app.
  • TD Rewards cardholders can convert TD points to Stars in real-time to use toward free food or beverages at Starbucks.

As you can see they have taken the 50% more points that was seen originally on the TD Aeroplan cards and expanded it to their proprietary program TD Rewards. The only difference we see here over the previous iteration with just the Aeroplan cards is that purchases have to be made through the Starbucks app and not by simply using your actual card for paying at Starbucks.

For those who link only a TD Visa Debit card you'll only be earning the 50% more Stars via the app as TD does not have their debit cards tied into TD Rewards.

You'll also see that you can convert TD points to Starbucks Rewards Stars and it can be done in real time

Limited time welcome bonus available until April 24, 2022

From today through to April 24 when you link you eligible TD card you'll receive 50 bonus Stars. Then, select TD cards (Those that are part of the TD Rewards program) will also earn 50 bonus Stars when you redeem 2,000 TD points for Stars or 150 bonus Stars when you redeem 10,000 TD points for Stars. At the time of writing this article the redemption rates for TD Rewards points to Stars were not yet available. I'll update the post as soon as they do become available.

Eligibility

All of the popular TD cards are included in the partnership like the TD First Class Travel® Visa Infinite* Card, TD® Aeroplan® Visa Infinite* Card and TD Cash Back Visa Infinite* Card however there are 16 credit and debit cards in total that are participating:


Air Canada Aeroplan Partnership

 

Starbucks' relationship with Air Canada's Aeroplan program continues as well as a separate partnership. Although I couldn't find exact details I would assume you can link both your TD card and your Aeroplan loyalty card to your Starbucks Rewards account and earn through both otherwise this would technically mean less earning for the TD Aeroplan cardholders than what they've been accustomed to since Aeroplan launched the separate partnership with Starbucks.
 

Wrapping it up

 

It's great to see another loyalty program partnership being introduced for Canadians to earn even more points and in this case even more Stars. If you have a card like the TD First Class Travel® Visa Infinite* Card you'll be earning 4.5 TD Rewards points per dollar spent through the Starbucks app and the TD Aeroplan cards will range from 1 to 2.25 points per dollar spent. Yes, you do have to funnel everything through the Starbucks app to earn the extra rewards however the difference between the TD and the separate Aeroplan partnership is you don't have to fund your Starbucks cards. You simply need to add your linked TD card as a payment method within the app for it to work. That does however mean only earning 1 Star versus 2 Stars per dollar spent so funding the app with your linked card is the more rewarding route to go with. Of course by funding the app you are adding to the running jokes that Starbucks is the biggest bank that isn't a bank with all the funds people hold on their Starbucks cards. At the very least you can consider the rewarding of these points and extra stars as interest that Starbucks is paying you to have them hold onto your money. However, no matter what route you take, if you are a TD customer you will now be earning more from your Starbucks purchases!
 

Images via TD

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