With so many credit cards on the market in Canada, it can be difficult to choose the one that’s right for your personal finance and travel needs.
A lot of banks try to make their products more appealing by offering a bevy of lovely annual credits as a benefit on their credit products, which allow you to receive money back as a statement credit from the issuer by making specific purchases. These credits are very useful but can require a bit of navigation to ensure you can fully maximize them each eligible year.
With that in mind, let’s take a look at all of the different credit cards that offer annual credits in Canada, and how these credits might earn them a place in your wallet.
Why We Love Credit Cards With Annual Credits
Cards with annual credits are a great value add for the travel-hungry consumer because they can let you get a whole lot of extra value out of your daily spending. If you were already going to shop at certain retailers or start the process of obtaining a NEXUS membership, then many of these credits will help you get back money you were going to be spending anyway.
Another reason we love cards like these is because they help you to reduce your effective annual fee. If, like most Canadians, you prefer to have only a few payment solutions in your wallet and you keep your credit card year after year, these credits can effectively drastically slash the cost of your continued cardholdership, particularly on those premium credit cards with higher annual fees.
They also offer a useful marketing opportunity for certain brands or amenities: certain companies might get you introduced to their products by getting you in the door via one of your cards’ annual credits. For example, I’d probably never have shopped at Holt Renfrew without receiving an Amex Offer for $50 off a purchase of $100+, and while I’m not a regular shopper there due to its prices I have gone back to the one in Calgary for presents at Christmas time.
Canadian Credit Cards with Annual Credits
There are many different types of annual credits offered on credit cards in Canada. For the sake of simplicity, I have separated the credits into the categories they fall under, and will cover each relevant credit card that offers a respective benefit in that category.
Annual Travel Credits
Credit cards that offer annual travel credits are fantastic, as each of these credits is designed to enhance your travel experience either by offering discounts on travel itself, or on incidental costs that you may incur while traveling. Either way, saving money on travel is always a good thing!
The first group of credit cards that offer annual travel credits in Canada are offered by American Express Canada. These cards include the American Express Platinum card, American Express Business Platinum card, and the American Express Gold Rewards card.
Do be advised that the travel credits offered on these cards credits need to be redeemed when booking via Amex Travel, the company’s internally managed travel agency. Your access to status benefits will therefore vary depending on what you are booking.
The American Express Platinum card (with an annual fee of $799) and the American Express Business Platinum card (with an annual fee of $799) both offer an annual $200 travel credit per cardholder anniversary year.
The American Express Platinum card is a premium card that offers benefits including a $200 travel credit, a $200 dining credit, airport lounge access, instant elite status with Marriott Bonvoy and Hilton Honors, and more.
Check out our American Express Platinum card review for more details.
In 2025, we awarded this card as the Best Credit Card for Airport Lounge Access.
100,000 Membership Rewards
$10,000
$1,401+
$799
Yes
–
On the other hand, the American Express Gold Rewards card (with an annual fee of $250) offers an annual $100 travel credit per cardholder anniversary year.
The American Express Gold Rewards card offers a variety of benefits including an annual $100 travel credit, $50 NEXUS credit, and four complimentary Plaza Premium airport lounge passes per year.
60,000 Membership Rewards
$12,000
$1,070+
$250
Yes
–
These credits can only be applied at the time of booking, whether doing so online or via the phone. The box can sometimes be missable online so if you want to ensure you use your credit, consider calling in.
Next up is the CIBC Aventura Visa Infinite Privilege card, which boasts a $499 annual fee, but also offers an annual $200 travel credit.
The CIBC Aventura Visa Infinite Privilege card offers benefits that include an annual $200 travel credit, $100 NEXUS credit, and six airport lounge passes.
80,000 Aventura
$25,000
$1,261+
$499
Yes
–
This booking has to be made via CIBC’s in-house travel agency. As with Amex travel credits, your elite benefits are likely to exist in some sort of purgatory or liminal extradimensional space unless you can absolutely verify that your loyalty program number has been added to the hotel reservation at check-in and that your benefits will apply.
Taking a bit of a different approach, the National Bank World Elite Mastercard offers an annual $150 travel credit for incidental costs. These can only be used for seat selection, cabin upgrades, baggage fees (hopefully including carry-ons for the new WestJet ultra basic fares), paid lounge access, and airport parking. This last option is the most useful, especially for transporting large families who need access to transportation.
The National Bank World Elite Mastercard offers benefits that include an annual $150 travel credit and access to the National Bank VIP lounge in the YUL International terminal.
Due to its stellar travel insurance and purchase protection benefits, we deemed this card the Best Overall Insurance Credit Card of 2025.
Check out our National Bank World Elite Mastercard review for more details.
0 À la carte Rewards
$0
$-150+
$150
Yes
–
To use this credit, you’ll need to keep detailed receipts and provide them to National Bank’s customer service department. As a value-sucking vampire, I am more than happy to play this song and dance to get my money’s worth, but you may not wish to do this dance.
Last up is the TD First Class Travel Visa Infinite card, which has an annual $100 travel credit on any paid hotel or lodging booking exceeding $500 made with Expedia for TD. Make a booking that is greater than $500 CAD in one purchase online and the statement credit will post automatically.
The TD First Class Travel® Visa Infinite* card earns 8x TD Rewards on purchases at Expedia for TD, plus a $100 Expedia for TD credit and TD Rewards birthday bonus.
Check out our TD First Class Travel Visa Infinite card review for more information.
135,000 TD Rewards
$5,000
$675+
$139 (FYF)
Yes
–
Annual Lifestyle Credits
Annual lifestyle credits are offered by quite a few different financial institutions, and each of these credits is intended to improve the cardholder’s quality of customership and provide either straight cashback or a discount on specific experiences.
The most notable annual credit entry on this list is the annual $200 restaurant credit available on the American Express Platinum card. This benefit offers $200 off a single purchase of $200 or more at one of the many fine dining establishments on Amex’s list. This offer is per calendar year, so eligibility resets every January 1st. Note that you need to register for this benefit to take advantage of it.
Learn More: American Express Platinum $200 Dining Credit Guide
Is this worth the full $200 for those not into fine dining? Maybe, maybe not, as you do need to rack up quite a bill at one of many restaurants whose menu prices can match the credit in no time. But if you are holding this premium credit card, it’s a no-brainer to at least treat yourself once to oysters and $200 off the $799 annual fee.
Next up are the BMO Eclipse Visa Infinite card which offers an annual $50 lifestyle credit and the BMO Eclipse Visa Infinite Privilege card which offers an annual $100 lifestyle credit. These cards clock in with an annual fee of $120 and $599 respectively, though the Visa Infinite version almost always offers the first year free as part of the welcome bonus.
The BMO eclipse Visa Infinite card earns 5x BMO Rewards points on several bonus categories, plus an anniversary $50 lifestyle credit.
60,000 BMO Rewards
$3,000
$402+
$120 (FYF)
Yes
Jun 1, 2025
Using these lifestyle credits is simple, as the cardholder only needs to make any purchase exceeding $50 or $100 and see the credit post. Back in the day, these credits were per calendar year (starting on January 1st), but alas, such glory days have left us behind as these are now offered per cardholder anniversary year.
Last up, although not a dedicated annual credit, are some of the American Express Offers that are routinely available. All American Express Canada cards are eligible to access Amex Offers, plus those cards that operate on the American Express network, such as the Scotiabank Gold American Express card.
These offer statement credits for purchases that are made at specific retailers; one perennial favorite of mine that I get each year is provided courtesy of the high-end fashion retailer Holt Renfrew.
Whilst getting this $50 off $100 offer isn’t guaranteed, I have gotten it every year and there are other similar opportunities available to the shrewd American Express cardholder who checks their offers often.
Annual Business Credits
Annual business credits are offered exclusively by American Express business cards and provide cashback on purchases at specific business-focused retailers (but can be used for personal purchases from those same retailers, too). These may not be useful if you don’t specifically use these business services.
The American Express Business Platinum card offers $10 in statement credit on mobile bills charged directly to the card once a month. This amounts to a total annual $120 mobile phone bill credit when you pay your phone bill with the card. This credit can be easily used by most cardholders and is a compelling reason to change your pre-authorized mobile bill payments to the American Express Business Platinum card.
Both the American Express Business Platinum card and American Express Business Gold Rewards card have bi-annual Dell credits. These are for $100 and $50 respectively, with the redemption periods being 1 January – 30 June, and 1st July – 31 December of each calendar year. This means you can get up to an annual $200 Dell credit on the Business Platinum card, or an annual $100 Dell credit on the Business Gold Rewards card.
The American Express Business Platinum card also offers $75 per quarter if you spend $75 or more on a single transaction at indeed.ca. This benefit is definitely for businesses looking to acquire talent or contractors enabled by the Indeed platform and adds up to a potential annual $300 Indeed credit per calendar year.
Lastly, both cards also offer 20% off, up to $350 per year, on Somm and Dinr. These are tech startups that offer wine subscriptions and fine dining reservations. I’m not really sure why this is a marketable point of business credit cards as I don’t know why a business would be ordering wine subscriptions, but if you work at a company that has this in the office, I want to know about it.
Lastly, there are Amex Offers that can be huge for businesses. One of the most prominent examples of this is a FedEx offer that rebates either 10% or 20% on charges up to $1,000 or more per year. When combined with a corporate account, this can lead to big savings for someone using these business shipping services.
Quadrennial NEXUS Membership Credits
Many credit cards available from many financial institutions in Canada offer a credit every four years toward the application or renewal of a NEXUS trusted traveler membership. NEXUS membership is one of the best ways to save time at the airport as you will have access to faster security and customs lines in North America.
While these credits aren’t offered every year, they are a great way to keep this incredible benefit at a reduced cost, and the four-year language means they are good every time you need to apply for renewal prior to the 5-year expiry deadline.
Note that these credits are offered in Canadian Dollars, whereas NEXUS charges their membership fee in US Dollars. All cards that offer this benefit will also incur a 2.5% FX fee when purchasing a NEXUS membership:
- TD Canada Trust: TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite card ($100 CAD rebate), TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite Privilege card ($100 CAD rebate), and the TD Aeroplan Visa Business card ($100 CAD rebate).
- CIBC: CIBC Aventura Gold card ($50 CAD rebate), CIBC Aventura Visa Infinite card ($100 CAD rebate), CIBC Aventura Visa Infinite Privilege card ($100 CAD rebate), and the CIBC Aeroplan Visa Infinite Privilege card ($50 CAD rebate).
- American Express: American Express Platinum card ($100 CAD rebate), the American Express Gold Rewards card ($50 CAD rebate), and the American Express Aeroplan Reserve card ($100 CAD rebate).
More information on how to specifically trigger and use each of these credits can be dedicated NEXUS membership article.
Summary of Canadian Credit Cards With Annual Credits
For quick reference, the following table categorizes the non-NEXUS annual credits available to cardholders of eligible Canadian credit cards.
| Credit Card | Type of Annual Credit | Credit Dollar Value |
|---|---|---|
| All American Express Cards | Amex Offers | Varies |
| American Express Platinum & American Express Business Platinum | Travel | $200 per cardmember year at amextravel.ca |
| American Express Gold | Travel | $100 per cardmember year at amextravel.ca |
| American Express Platinum | Lifestyle (Dining) | $200 per calendar year |
| American Express Business Platinum & American Express Business Gold | Business | $200 & $100 per calendar year ($100 & $50 semi-annually) at Dell |
| American Express Business Platinum | Business | $300 per calendar year ($75 per quarter) at indeed.ca |
| American Express Business Platinum | Lifestyle (Mobile Credits) | $10 a month on mobile phone bills, up to $120 a year |
| BMO Eclipse Visa Infinite Privilege & BMO Eclipse Visa Infinite | Lifestyle | $100 & $50 per cardmember year |
| CIBC Aventura Visa Infinite Privilege | Travel | $200 per cardmember year via CIBC’s internal travel portal |
| National Bank World Elite Mastercard | Travel (Incidentals Only) | $150 per year on baggage fees, cabin upgrades, seat selection, paid lounge access, or airport parking |
| TD First Class Travel Visa Infinite | Travel | $100 per cardmember year for an Expedia for TD hotel/lodging purchase of $500 or more |
Conclusion
It can be hard to determine what credit card belongs in your wallet, and with so many issuers clamoring for your attention and trying to provide value, I hope that I’ve helped outline what is out there. Each of these credits can help reduce an annual fee or put cash back in your wallet for a purchase you were going to make anyway.
It’s up to you to decide which, if any, of these products will be useful for your travel needs, but I hope that I’ve helped you either discover value in a card you already have or helped you make an informed choice for your next travel credit card.
Kirin Tsang
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