Changes to the Scotiabank Gold American Express Card
Scotiabank has revamped one of its top cards, the Scotiabank Gold American Express Card. Today, we are doing to discuss the changes. I think that you will find some pleasant surprises below!
First off, let’s recap the previous and current highlights.
Previous Highlights
- $99 annual fee
- $29 annual fee for a supplementary cardholder
- Earn 20,000 sign up bonus
- Earn 4 points for every $1 spent on gas, grocery, dining and entertainment purchases (on the first $50,000 in purchases)
- Earn 1 point for every $1 spent on all other purchases
- Have at least $12,000 in personal annual income
Current Highlights
- $120 annual fee
- $29 annual fee for a supplementary cardholder
- Earn 30,000 sign up bonus (earn 25,000 after spending $1,000 in the first 3 months and another 5,000 after spending $10,000 in an anniversary year) (if you apply before October 31, 2019)
- Earn 5 points for every $1 spent on grocery, dining and entertainment purchases (on the first $50,000 in purchases)
- Earn 3 points for every $1 spent on gas, transit, and select streaming services (on the first $50,000 in purchases)
- Earn 1 point for every $1 spent on all other purchases
- No foreign transaction fees
- Have at least $12,000 in personal annual income
Annual Fee
The increase in annual fee is not welcomed, but as we continue with this post, you will see that there are enhanced benefits to justify this increase. The good news is that they did not increase the fee for supplementary cardholders, which is good, because they can enjoy the enhanced benefits without more costs.
Unfortunately, we have seen first year fee waived promotions previously, but there is none at the moment.
Sign Up Bonuses
The sign up bonus changes all the time, so it is very hard to compare this. For now, the current 30,000 sign up bonus is one of the highest we’ve seen with this card.
Earning Ratios
You may notice that the multiplier bonuses have been shifted around. Grocery, dining (includes fast food, drinking establishments, food delivery and food subscriptions) and entertainment (movies, theatre, and ticket agencies) increase from 4 to 5 points per dollar.
While gas was decrease from 4 to 3. However, transit (rideshare, buses, taxis, subway, ferries, passenger railways, limousines) and streaming services (Apple Music, Cineplex Digital Store, iTunes, Kindle, Kobo, Netflix, SiriusXM, Spotify) have been added.
Overall though, this was definitely a positive change. There is more value being offered.
Foreign Transaction Fees
This is the game changer with the gold card. The increase annual fee can be justified by the foreign transaction fee savings. If you look at the multiplier bonuses listed above, this card has really become a day-to-day travel expense credit card.
Conclusion
Overall, I think that Scotiabank has done a great job revamping this credit card.
What are your thoughts about the changes, please let us know in the comment section below!
I think the changes implemented Aug 1st are positive for most people but I decided to downgrade my Scotia Gold AMEX to the no annual fee Scotia AMEX (red) because I get more value from the my AMEX Cobalt. The following aspects also affected my decision.
1) There were 3 negative changes to the insurance. 60d price protection insurance was eliminated. Travel Emergency Medical Insurance for eligible persons age 65 and over changed from 10 days to 3 days. Trip Cancellation and Trip Interruption Insurance Coverage changed from $2,500 per person to $1,500 per person.
2) The elimination of the 2.5% Foreign Transaction Fee is good but Scotia does not provide the multiplier bonuses on foreign transactions, you only earn 1%. Thus you earn more for foreign spending with the Rogers World Elite MasterCard (1.5%) or the AMEX Cobalt on groceries/dinning (5% rewards – 2.5% FX fee = 2.5% return).
All valid points, thanks for sharing your analysis JB!
I was going to apply but it says if I have other Scotiabank cards I am not eligible for the sign up bonus points of 30,000. I was surprised to see this as I only have Scotia Visa cards but not AMEX through them. So I will have to think whether it is a card I will use since the sign up bonus is not available to me. As per their T&C-
Bonus Offer Eligibility and Exclusions: The following individuals are not eligible for the Bonus Offers:
Current primary or secondary cardholders of a Scotiabank retail credit card, including those that switch from an existing Scotiabank retail credit card
Previous primary or secondary cardholders of a Scotiabank retail credit card in the past 2 years
Employees of Scotiabank 🙁
Scotiabank has some strict sign up rules for returning customers. Beneficial to new customers only.