Big news from TD today as they are making changes to several cards in the credit card portfolio. The changes range from minor to major and I won't bore you with a long introduction as there is lots to cover in the post so I'll just get down it:
TD First Class Travel Visa Infinite Card Changes
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| The new look for the TD First Class Travel Visa Infinite Card |
This is the card with the most significant changes. As of October 30, 2022 the TD First Class Travel® Visa Infinite* Card will receive new earn rates, an increased annual fee, new benefits and enhancements to its insurance coverage.
Annual Fee
The card's annual fee will be increasing to $139 from its current $120. Unfortunate but not unexpected seeing that more and more Infinite Card have already moved up to that $139 annual fee. Honestly though the card changes more than make up for the $19 per year increase.
If you are a TD All-Inclusive account holder, you’ll continue to receive a full rebate of the Annual Fee for the Primary Cardholder and the First Additional Cardholder.
Earn Rate Changes
Here's the part most people are interested in and depending on your spending habits this can be good news or not so good news. The base earn rate on the card is dropping but they are adding in category accelerators, on some of the most popular categories which could mean a lot more points being earned if you spend a lot in those categories. The earn rate for ExpediaForTD purchases is also changing, lower for online bookings and higher for phone in bookings. Here are the earn rates:
Base Earn Rate
The base earn rate will become 2 points per dollar spent. This is a 33% decrease from the current 3 points per dollar earned. This puts the value of the new base earn rate at 0.8 cents per point (0.8% return) when you redeem for the any travel anywhere option or 1 cent per point (1% return) if you redeem via ExpediaForTD. This is down from 1.2% to 1.5%. Just like the cards from BMO I do hate to see a base earn rate below 1% on a premium card like this but I guess you can still get that 1% if you redeem via ExpediaForTD.
New Grocery, Restaurant and Pre-Authorized purchases accelerators
To offset the decreased base earn rate TD will be introducing increased points earning for grocery store and restaurant purchases as well as pre-authorized purchases.
For grocery store and restaurants the new earn rate will be 6 points per dollar spent. This a 100% increase from the current 3 points per dollar. This puts the value of this new earn rate at 2.4 cents per point
(2.4% return) when you redeem for the any travel anywhere option or 3
cents per point (3% return) if you redeem via ExpediaForTD. Restaurants will include take out and food delivery as well!
For pre-authorized purchases the new earn rate will be 4 points per dollar spent. This is a 33% increase over the current 3 points per dollar. This puts the value of this new earn rate at 1.6 cents per point (1.6% return) when you redeem for the any travel anywhere option or 2 cents per point (2% return) if you redeem via ExpediaForTD.
Each of these new category accelerators will have annual spending caps of $25,000 each. If you hit that cap in any of the categories you will earn the best earn rate of 2 points per dollar on spending above the cap amount.
New ExpediaForTD earn rates
There are also slight changes to the earn rates for ExpediaForTD purchases. Currently the card earns 9 points per dollar for online bookings or 6 points per dollar for phone in bookings. That will change to 8 points per dollar for either type of bookings. So a slight drop of 1 point per dollar for the online bookings and good jump of 2 points per dollar when you call to make a booking.
As mentioned above these changes could either be good news or bad news and that will depend on the cardholder's spending habits. With groceries, dining and pre-authorized purchases being very popular categories utilized by most Canadians these changes are good as it should actually work out for most cardholders to earn more points than they did before. However if you don't make a lot of purchase in those categories and/or use a different card for groceries and restaurants with really strong earn then these changes are not so good for you.
However you will actually earn more points than what we list above..... continue reading the next section to learn how!
New benefits and insurance enhancements
The changes for the First Class Travel Card don't end there. There are several new benefits and enhanced insurance coverage coming to the card.
Birthday Bonus Points
Just like TD's MBNA products they will be adding Birthday Bonus Points to this card. Cardholders will receive 10% of the total number of TD Rewards Points earned over the 12 months preceding the Primary Cardholder’s birthday, to a maximum Birthday Bonus of 10,000 TD Rewards Points. Depending on how much you spend on your card this could equate to earn rates of up to 2.2 points for base spending, 4.4 points for pre-authorized payments, 6.6 points for grocery/restaurants and 8.8 points for ExpediaForTD
$100 annual TD Travel Credit
New to the card as well will be a $100 annual travel credit. This credit is applied on your first Eligible Travel Credit Purchase posted to the Account in a calendar year. An Eligible Travel Credit Purchase includes:
- A Hotel, Motel, Lodging, or Vacation Rental Purchase of $500.00 CAD or more made with Expedia For TD; or
- A Vacation Package Purchase of $500.00 CAD or more made with Expedia For TD, that includes a Hotel, Motel, Lodging or Vacation Rental booking packaged with a transportation booking.
Insurance Enhancements
The card will see the addition of three more types of insurance coverage and its travel medical insurance coverage is being bumped up to $2,000,000 per person from $1,000,000. Here are the three new insurance benefits being added:
- Mobile Device Insurance coverage up to $1,000 for eligible mobile devices in the event of loss, theft, accidental damage or mechanical breakdown.
- Hotel/Motel Burglary Insurance coverage up to $2,500 per occurrence for each Cardholder on the Account and eligible family members travelling with the Cardholder.
- Flight/Trip Delay Insurance is available when 75% of the trip’s cost is charged to the Card.
I would have to say for the most part the card has been made better. It has the potential to earn a lot more points for many of the cardholders, the additional benefits and insurance coverage easily make up for the $19 increase in the annual fee - and for many you won't even pay that fee in the first year if you are just getting the card more often than not this card has a first year free offer. Just like the current offer:
TD First Class Travel® Visa Infinite* Card
Apply by October 29, 2022 to earn up to 100,000 TD Points† (a travel
value of up to $500 when you book travel purchases through
ExpediaForTD.com†) and get a full Annual Fee Rebate† for the Primary and
Additional Cardholders† (a value of up to $170†) for the first year.
That’s a total value of $670†. Apply for the card here.
TD Platinum Travel Visa* Card Changes
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The new look for the TD Platinum Travel Visa Card |
As of October 30, 2022 the TD Platinum Travel Visa* Card will undergo a number of changes.
Earn Rate Changes
Just like their flagship card the base earn rate on this card is dropping but they are adding in category accelerators and quite good ones at that. The earn rate for ExpediaForTD purchases is also changing - they are being increased! Here are the earn rates:
Base Earn Rate
The
base earn rate will become 1.5 points per dollar spent. This is a 25%
decrease from the current 2 points per dollar earned. This puts the
value of the new base earn rate at 0.6 cents per point (0.6% return)
when you redeem for the any travel anywhere option or 0.75 cents per point
(0.75% return) if you redeem via ExpediaForTD.
New Grocery, Restaurant and Pre-Authorized purchases accelerators
To offset the decreased base earn rate TD will be introducing increased points earning for grocery store and restaurant purchases as well as pre-authorized purchases.
For grocery store and restaurants the new earn rate will be 4.5 points per dollar spent. This is an increase of 2.25 times from the current 2 points per dollar for restaurants and 1.5 times for grocery stores. This puts the value of this new earn rate at 1.8 cents per point (1.8% return) when you redeem for the any travel anywhere option or 2.25 cents per point (2.25% return) if you redeem via ExpediaForTD. Restaurants will include take out and food delivery as well!
For pre-authorized purchases the earn rate will remain at 3 points per dollar spent.
Each of these new category accelerators will have annual spending caps of $15,000 each. If you hit that cap in any of the categories you will earn the best earn rate of 1.5 points per dollar on spending above the cap amount.
New ExpediaForTD earn rates
There
are also slight changes to the earn rates for ExpediaForTD purchases.
Currently the card earns 5 points per dollar for online bookings or 3
points per dollar for phone in bookings. That will change to 6 points
per dollar for either type of bookings. Here you have an increase for both.
New insurance enhancements
There are two additional insurance benefits being added to the Platinum Card:
- Mobile Device Insurance coverage up to $1,000 for eligible mobile devices in the event of loss, theft, accidental damage or mechanical breakdown.
- Hotel/Motel Burglary Insurance coverage up to $2,500 per occurrence for each Cardholder on the Account and eligible family members travelling with the Cardholder.
TD Platinum Travel Visa* Card
Earn up to 50,000 TD Rewards Points plus first year no Annual Fee for the Primary and Additional Cardholders1 (a value of up to $370). Conditions Apply. Must apply by October 29, 2022. Apply for the card here.
TD Rewards Visa* Card Changes
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The new look for the TD Rewards Visa Card |
As of October 30, 2022 the TD Rewards Visa* Card will undergo a number of changes.
Earn Rate Changes
Unlike the other two proprietary TD Rewards cards this one only sees increases in points earning rates! The base earn rate remains the same while it sees more points for grocery, restaurant and ExpediaForTD
New Grocery and Restaurant accelerators
For grocery store and restaurants the new earn rate will be 3 points per dollar spent. This is an increase of 1 full point from the current 2 points per dollar for those categories. This puts the value of this new earn rate at 1.8 cents per point (1.8% return) when you redeem for the any travel anywhere option or 2.25 cents per point (2.25% return) if you redeem via ExpediaForTD. Restaurants will include take out and food delivery as well!
For pre-authorized purchases the earn rate will remain at 2 points per dollar spent.
New ExpediaForTD earn rates
There
are also slight changes to the earn rates for ExpediaForTD purchases.
Currently the card earns 3 points per dollar for online bookings or 2 points per dollar for phone in bookings. That will change to 4 points
per dollar for either type of bookings. Here you have an increase for both.
New insurance enhancements
There are two additional insurance benefits being added to the Platinum Card:
- Mobile Device Insurance coverage up to $1,000 for eligible mobile devices in the event of loss, theft, accidental damage or mechanical breakdown.
Earn a $50 value in TD Rewards Points + to use at Amazon.ca with Shop with Points. Plus, get a 9.99% promotional interest rate on purchases for the first 6 months with no annual fee^. Conditions Apply. Must apply by October 29, 2022. Apply for the card here.
TD® Aeroplan® Visa Infinite* Card Changes
There only one small change happening to the TD® Aeroplan® Visa Infinite* Card and that sees it travel medical insurance coverage being bumped up to $2,000,000 per person from $1,000,000.
TD Cash Back Visa Infinite* Card Changes
This one is a bit unfortunate, the TD Cash Back Visa Infinite* Card is seeing its annual fee being increased to $139 from $120 however there are no improvements to the card other than the addition of Mobile Device Insurance. It does surprise me to see the annual fee being increased with no meaningful additions or changes to it. There are competing cards that charge the same or even a lower annual fee but provide higher cash back rates so I thought TD would come through here and make this card more competitive. Instead they've made it less competitive.
This is almost what we called for!
You may recall in 2021 the TD First Class Visa Infinite Card was part of our series on cards we thought were due for an overhaul and here we have it being overhauled! In our post It's time for TD to update their TD First Class Travel Visa Infinite Card we called for category accelerators and addition of benefits to the card. And it looks like our call for 6x points on certain categories was met! Here is an excerpt from our post:
Much like we said for the RBC Avion Card in the first post of this series become a copy cat here - boost your typical grocery, dining, recurring bills spend. Make those 6 points per dollar so that cardholders can have a 2.4 to 3% return on that spending.
However we thought TD should maintain the 3 points per dollar on all other spending and as you can see from above this did not happen. They lowered this earn rate
However the TD card would still retain the 3 points per dollar rate on all other spending which is better than the base earn rates on cards like the aforementioned Scotia Gold Amex card and nearly doubling the base earn on BMO's Eclipse Visa cards.Benefits wise we asked for lounge access and the ability to convert TD Rewards Points to Aeroplan however those didn't happen but we are happy to see TD has added in the Birthday Bonus and the annual travel credit benefits!
Wrapping it up
A few short weeks after we posted our It's time for TD to update their TD First Class Travel Visa Infinite Card TD actually approached us for feedback on some ideas they had to revamp the cards and now they have gone ahead with most of the changes they proposed! Overall I would say the changes to the three proprietary TD Rewards Cards are a net positive.
Based on one set of calculations I conducted for $2,500 in spending per month (this is just one though, everyone's will be different) it worked out that the First Class Visa would earn 105,000 points versus 90,000 at the current earn rates. The $100 annual travel credit more than covers the $19 increase in the annual fee and you also get the additional birthday bonus points and increased insurance coverage.
The only negative I can see is that base earn rate, anyone who reads Rewards Canada knows I am not a fan of premium cards providing less than a 1% return but at least the card does retain a minimum 1% if you choose to redeem via ExpediaForTD - BMO doesn't give you that option and with them you are stuck with even lower base earn rates.
Title image via TD
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