My 2018 Predictions for the Miles and Points World

Predictions has been a more recent (2017, 2016) tradition for me, but I am starting to get the hang of it. This idea started when I started getting more questions about what I think will happen. So I mine as well put all my ideas into one post, put myself to the test to see how I do by the end of the year.

Let’s start with a recap on how I did last year before we embark on the new year.

Recap of 2017

Last year, I scored 0.5/3, but this year, I had some improvement!

  • Devaluations With Air Miles – So the benchmark for this is that if you redeem your Air Miles in the form of cash, 95 miles gets you $10 to use at partner stores. So when redeeming for merchandise, you want to keep this cash ratio in mind as a comparison of what your miles can we worth. The good news is that the 95:$10 ratio has remained the same. So even if some merchandise may seem to cost more, you always have to option of earning your miles to redeem for cash instead. I am more than happy to give myself a 0/1 on this prediction. WRONG.

Predictions for 2018

Let’s try again this year!

1) New Co-Branded Airline (Frequent Flyer) Credit Card

I think that enough work is being done in the background for us to finally get an announcement in 2018. Maybe Porter? Maybe one of the U.S. based airlines? Maybe someone else? Either way, I am expecting to see a new partnership with a frequent flyer program this year.

I will exclude any Air Canada and Marriott Rewards announcement from this prediction. Air Canada already stills has partnerships through Aeroplan until 2020. Furthermore, Chase Marriott cardholders are still grandfathered, so even if they announce a new partnership, it will not be considered a new one for this prediction.

For my to get this prediction correct, it has to be a brand new partnership. I will make a separate Marriott Rewards prediction below.

2) American Express will offer a Marriott Rewards Co-Branded Card

I think that American Express is the leading candidate to land a co-branded card with Marriott Rewards, mainly because they already offer the SPG card, as well as having a partnership with American Express in the U.S. I believe that 2018 will be the year that we hear an announcement for Marriott Rewards’ new credit card partnership.

Ideally, however unlikely in Canada, more than one company will be offering a co-branded Marriott Rewards card.

3) More Credit Cards that Waive Foreign Transaction Fees

We the new Chase credit cards being discontinued this past year, I think someone will step up to waive foreign transaction fee purchases. Currently, only the HSBC credit card and Home Trust has this offer.

Keep in mind that whoever waives the foreign transaction fees will still have to compete with the two Rogers Bank credit cards that give 4% cash back on foreign purchases, even though they charge the standard 2.5% fee.

4 Comments

  1. Matthew, not a whole lot of folks may be aware of this credit card, but the Home Trust Preferred Visa card offers 1% cash back with no annual fee, no FX conversion charge, some basic insurance (e.g., rental collision/loss damage insurance), and free roadside assistance. In my opinion, it’s actually a better card than a lot of the no-annual fee credit cards in the market! Note that all residents except Quebec can apply for this card.

    I personally don’t hold this card, as I only found out about it earlier this year. I own the discontinued Chase Amazon Visa card as my no FX conversion card. However, if Chase does not renew my card after it expires, I would take a hard look at the Home Trust Preferred Visa card. Please see http://www.hometrust.ca/Preferred_Visa/

  2. Matthew, I would like to highlight the Home Trust Preferred Visa fine print T&C that this card is NOT offered to residents of Quebec.

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