Before starting on my journey of travelling and working around the world, I researched several different travel cards in Canada.
I settled on the Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite Card, and for my situation, it was a no-brainer.
No foreign transaction fee
FX transaction fee: Whenever you use most credit cards and a foreign currency is used, you will be charged an extra transaction fee of 2.5% on top of whatever purchase you’re making. It’s a hidden cost many consumers aren’t aware of!
Since all my purchases would be made from now on in another currency, I needed a card that would eliminate the hidden foreign exchange transaction fees that are charged with every purchase.
There aren’t too many cards that provide this feature, but the Scotiabank Passport Visa is one of them.
Six free airport lounges
On top of that, I also wanted a card that had free airport lounge access. Airport lounges are a godsend for me. As someone who hates flying and finds it a stressful and tiring experience, having the lounges for layovers are amazing.
The lounges help me save money in the following ways:
- I can book cheaper flights with much longer layovers. With the airport lounges, I don’t even mind eight-hour layovers since I can relax and even shower in the lounge.
- The lounges are a great place to do work inside, so I’m making money while travelling!
- There are free food and drinks inside the lounge, so you’re saving $10 that you’d be wasting on lousy airport food-court meals. And the food is usually fantastic and all-you-can-eat.
Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite features
Top features:
- No foreign exchange fee
- Access to six premium travel lounges per year
- Excellent travel insurance and benefits when booking flights with the credit card
Who this card is perfect for
- Heavy travellers, who make a lot of purchases in foreign currencies.
- People who book a lot of flights per year and want travel insurance.
- People who value airport lounges.
- For long layovers, can use airport lounges to shower and eat.
- Digital nomad
You can get it for free
- Annual fee is $150 and you need $60,000 annual income to qualify.
- If you have an Ultimate account package from Scotiabank, you can get it for free every year without paying the annual fee. You can also get the Ultimate package for free if you maintain a $5,000 minimum balance in your Scotiabank account.
Reward points
- Get one or two reward points per $1 spent, depending on what you spend it on.
- I usually just redeem the points for a credit to my account, which works out to roughly 1% per every dollar spent.
- Combined with the foreign exchange fees I’ll save on, it’s around 3.5% saved per dollar spent, which is excellent.
Don’t get this card if:
- You don’t make a lot of foreign exchange purchases.
- You don’t care about airport lounges.
Conclusion
It’s been an excellent choice for me to get this card, and it’s perfect for digital nomads and heavy travelers.