and back from a hiatus: no longer a pivot visa user, changes to the sears mastercard

i'm back from a hiatus. this was the royal college exam year for me, and so who knew that it would take this much effort to pass an exam? but it's over and done now, with only good results. as of this summer, i'll be my own independent physician in practice.

there are a few things that i noticed in the last couple of months (among many). but some of the unique propositions that i've written about have changed for me.

1) pivot visa by petro canada is now too hard to use
i've had to stop using this because of the inability to buy reloadable cards. i've tried to use my scotia bank gold american express (4% cash back at gas stations), and invariably, the attendants would turn me down. common reasons were: "oh, our machine is broken today" (some people might push the issue, but i don't), "oh, let me call our authorization centre ... oh, we are still on hold ...", and probably the most truthful, "we don't accept credit cards for those kinds of purchases." i respect that.

but because i can't reload the card anymore using the american express, there is no longer any value in keeping the reloadable visa card. i've paid $10 to buy the card and $59.95 for the annual option, but luckily, i was able to more than break even.

2) sears and petro-canada are no longer partners
i logged into my petro-points account recently and found out that sears points and petro-points are no longer transferable.

it kind of makes sense given sears' difficulty in canada. i don't normally care for sears points except that i have their sears financial no-forex, no-fee mastercard. it was an amazing opportunity where $1 spent on the card earned 12 petro-canada points, which could then be turned into 1.2 asia miles. i have yet to find a card that is this generous. but sadly, it's no longer an option. had i known, i would have transferred my points out before the deadline, but i missed the announcement. if there was an announcement.

given the difficulty in redeeming sears points in store (namely because the stores are disappearing quickly), i think the best recommendation for no-forex, no-fee cards is now the chase amazon 1% cash back card. the original discussion was here, but is now in need of an update.

credit cards without a 2.5% foreign conversion fee

update: sears no longer transfers to petro-points, so my new recommendation is the amazon.ca rewards visa.

most credit card companies in canada charge an extra fee for making purchases in non-canadian dollars. typically, this amounts to 2.50% of the purchase price. so if something were to cost an equivalent of 100$ cad, you'd end up paying 102.50$. this becomes tricky when using your rewards-based credit card. if your original rate of return was just 2%, then after the foreign conversion fee, you'd end up with a net loss of benefit. this charge is usually built into the exchange rate that you see.

the solution to this is having a no-forex credit card. in the states, there are lots floating around. i'm sure there are lots floating around in canada too, being offered by the various credit unions in canada. chase canada, however, has consistently removed the forex fees among most of its card offerings. so if you would normally pay a 2.50% fee using your rewards credit card, then by using a no-forex fee card, your immediate return would be 2.50% -- not bad!

here are a list of cards they have that do not have a foreign exchange fee:

1) best buy rewardzone visa: very, very limited program. 1 point per 1$ spent, 400 points = 5$ reward certificate for best buy. this is equivalent to a 1.25% return per dollar spent at regular merchants, or 2.5% return per dollar spent at best buy. no annual fee.

2) amazon.ca rewards visa: more versatile than the best buy rewardzone visa, you receive 1% straight cash back on all purchases, or 2% back on purchases from amazon.ca. no annual fee.

  

3) marriott rewards visa: this carries a hefty 120$ annual fee, although the first year is waived. this is made up for, however, by the free category 1-4 hotel night stay that you receive each year for having the card. (note, a hotel in downtown seattle is a category 5, so i can only imagine hotels in more or equally desirable cities would be at a higher category). 

you receive 1 point per dollar spent on regular purchases, 2 points per dollar on airline tickets, car rental, or restaurants, and 5 points per dollar spent at marriott purchases. a category 5 hotel (e.g., in seattle), costs 25,000 points per night, or 20,000 points per night if you book 5 nights. using a category 5 hotel, in this instance, courtyard seattle downtown/lake union, for a random date (june 8-9) would cost 243.60$. mind you, this is for their advertised rate -- whether you would actually pay nearly 250$/night in seattle is a different story altogether. at best, each point is worth roughly $0.01. for most purchases, this card would give you a 1% return.

probably more importantly about this card is that it gives you a credit for 15 nights a year in the marriott rewards program. this automatically vaults one into their silver status, meaning that in order to get gold status, one only needs an additional 35 nights a year rather than 50. 

4) sears financial mastercard (no annual fee) / voyage mastercard (39$ annual fee): the no annual fee version is the one that i carry. 1$ spent = 1 point spent. you'll get twice the points for sears purchases, and on the voyage mastercard, you'll get three times the points for travel purchases. what i like most about the card is its versatility. 1000 points = 10$ at sears, meaning a 1% return on most purchases. 

if you don't want to shop at sears, you can convert these points. that is the best feature of it all. 1,000 sears points = 12,000 petro points. 12,000 petro points can be used to pay for 12$ worth of travel. following this logic, each 1$ spent on the card at regular merchants gives you a 1.2% return on travel. still not enough? 12,000 petro points can then be exchanged for 1,200 cathay pacific asia miles. so in reality, 1$ spent on the card gives you 1.2 asia miles on cathay pacific (better, really, than CIBC aerogold, for example). that is the real benefit of this card.

and all of this is on top of the 2.5% "savings" you get with the foreign exchange fee waived. note, however, that none of these cards offer extra insurances, such as purchase protection or extended warranty. only the marriott visa gives car rental insurance, but nothing else. something else to consider.

my strategy:

1) use my MBNA 2% cash back card at almost merchants in canada

2) test out my scotiabank gold amex at gas/grocery/dining/entertainment for 4% cash back

3) use my sears financial mastercard for all my international spending needs.