hey guys it's adrian here the canadian in a t-shirt and today i'll be breaking down the
best premium cash back credit cards in canada for 2021. when i say premium i mean that all the cards
on this list come with an annual fee they require a strong credit score and most of them require a
high salary of at least $60,000. if you want to improve your credit score check out my video on
the basics of credit scores in canada and how to improve your credit in seven simple steps so
click the pop-up at the top right and then come back to this video even though these cards come
with an annual fee their cashback value more than makes up for it as long as you spend enough these
cards can earn you hundreds or even thousands of dollars every year in free cashback money
i personally have used all the cards on this list but you really only need two of them at most since
there's quite a lot of overlap between them check out my video on the seven canadian cashback cards
i use on a daily basis to maximize my overall cashback two of those cards are premium cards and
they'll show up on this list the other five come with no annual fee for those of you with smaller
incomes and lower credit scores click the pop-up at the top right to check out my video on the best
no fee cashback credit cards in canada those are cards that almost anyone can get approved for and
i'll be making an updated version of that video very soon but in this video i'm only going to be
talking about cards with an annual fee as always these cards are a great way to earn extra money
but only spend what you can afford these cards can give you four percent in cash back but that's
nothing compared to the 20 percent of interest charged against you if you can't make a payment
so be smart control your spending and always pay your credit card bills in full so with that let's
jump into the best premium cashback credit cards in canada starting at the top my overall favorite
cashback credit card of all time is the american express simply cash preferred card i've had this
card for over six years and it's the card that gives me the most cash back every single year
this card takes the lead because one it looks cool and two because of its simplicity
it offers two percent cashback on every single purchase you make by using this card i'm getting
a two percent discount on anything i buy other cards on this list will offer you three percent
or four percent cashback but only on certain types of expenses like groceries there is no other
card on the market that offers you 2 cashback across the board i use this card on everything
especially large purchases like electronics hotels flights furniture concert tickets and vacations
this card comes with a $99 annual fee but the percent cash back more than makes up for it as
long as you spend at least five thousand dollars a year with this card even better this card does
not have an income requirement so as long as you have a strong credit score you'll get approved
if you don't think you'll spend enough to justify the $99 annual fee then you can go for its little
brother the no fee american express simply cash card this card has no annual fee but it only
offers 1.25% cashback on every purchase the big brother offers 2% cashback but it comes with a $99
annual fee here's an easy way to decide if you spend more than thirteen thousand dollars a year
with this card then go for the big brother the simply cash preferred card to get that higher
cash back rate but if you spend less than thirteen thousand dollars a year stick to the little guy
the simply cash card the $99 annual fee is just not worth it unless you spend enough for both
cards the cashback is paid out to you once a year in september this card also comes with some great
benefits like free theft and damage insurance for car rentals travel insurance extended purchase
warranty and my favorite front of the line access this card allows you to buy tickets for concerts
and sporting events three to five days before they go on sale to the general public i use this
card every time i go to a concert to avoid being sold out also american express is the only card in
canada that offers a referral program every time you refer this card to a friend you'll receive $100
in cash back up to $1500 a year if you refer one friend that covers the annual fee already if you
refer 10 friends that's a thousand dollars for you even before i had a youtube channel i was
still referring this card to at least two or three friends every year of course don't
be annoying only refer this card to people who would actually benefit from it and if you use
my referral link in the box below you'll get a 10% promotional cash back rate on every purchase you
make for the first four months or the first four thousand dollars you spend that's a ten percent
discount on everything you buy and that'll get you up to four hundred dollars of bonus cashback plus
i'll get a referral bonus as well just a heads up not all vendors in canada accept american express
all the big stores like walmart best buy and sobeys they'll all accept american express
but some of the smaller shops might not so just to be safe always carry a visa or a mastercard
with you as well my second favorite credit card is the scotiabank momentum visa infinite
and this is actually the oldest card that i have this card offers a whopping four percent cashback
on groceries and recurring bill payments i hook up whatever monthly bill payments i can to this card
to get that four percent cash back including my cell phone internet netflix and utilities
unfortunately walmart is not considered a grocery store at least not where i live so i can't use
this card to get four percent at walmart instead i use my american express to get two percent
but for all other grocery stores like sobeys metro and loblaws i use this scotiabank visa
to get four percent cash back on everything i buy for me groceries and monthly bills are my biggest
expense so getting four percent cash back is perfect for me this card also offers two percent
cash back on gasoline and transit things like bus passes and uber everything else gets one percent
cash back which is pretty standard my strategy is to use this card to get four percent cash back
on groceries and builds and then use my american express on everything else to get two percent cash
back this card comes with a $120 annual fee but the cashback more than makes up for it if you spend a
lot on groceries and bills if you spend at least $3000 a year or $250 a month the cashback already
pays for itself this card requires a strong credit score but it also requires an income of at least
sixty thousand dollars or a household income of a hundred thousand dollars the cash back from scotia
is paid out to you once a year in november this card also offers a generous list of benefits like
car rental insurance flight delay and cancellation insurance emergency travel medical insurance
and here's a really cool one free mobile device insurance if you buy a new phone using the scotia
visa you'll be covered up to $1000 if your phone is stolen damaged or destroyed as a signup bonus
scotiabank will waive the annual fee for the first year saving you $120 plus they'll give
you 10% promotional cashback on every purchase you make for the first three months or the first two
thousand dollars you spend that's a total signup bonus worth $320 which makes this card even better
this promotion is offered every few months so keep an eye out for it at number three we have
the cibc dividend visa infinite card this card is very similar to the scotia visa infinite but it
focuses on gasoline rather than monthly bills this card offers 4% cashback on groceries and gasoline
interestingly it also offers 2% cashback at tim hortons and telus which might be useful for you
everything else is the standard 1% cashback the main draw of this card is the 4% cashback
on groceries and gasoline this is the best card when it comes to gasoline so if you drive a lot
i would consider this card over the scotia card as an extra benefit you can link up your CIBC visa to
the journey rewards program for free and that will save you 3 cents per liter at all pioneer
ultramar and chevron gas stations and on top of that you'll earn four percent cash back on those
purchases this card comes with an annual fee of $99 but the cash back more than makes up for it if
you spend a lot on groceries and gasoline if you spend at least $2500 a year or $208 dollars a month
the cash back already pays for itself to qualify for this card you'll need a strong credit score
and an income of at least 60 thousand if you don't meet this income requirement apply for the cibc
dividend platinum visa the platinum card has the exact same cashback rates and annual fee but you
only need fifteen thousand dollars to qualify for it the downside is that the platinum card offers
far fewer insurance benefits than the infinite visa the cashback from cibc is paid out to you
once a year in december CIBC infinite visa offers essentially the same insurance benefits as the
scotia visa they offer emergency travel medical insurance flight delay and cancellation insurance
and car rental insurance but they don't offer the cell phone insurance that scotia does currently
cibc's sign up bonus only waives the $99 annual fee but every few months they offer a promotion of 10%
cashback on every purchase for the first four months or the first two thousand dollars you
spend just keep checking their website and take advantage of this excellent sign up bonus meridian
offers an infinite visa which is pretty much identical to the cibc infinite visa it also has a
$99 annual fee and it offers four percent cashback on groceries and gasoline just like the cibc but
it offers two percent cashback at pharmacies and utility bills and one percent cash back everywhere
else it also offers the same $1000 mobile device insurance that scotia does if gasoline is your
biggest expense and you want this mobile insurance then maybe the meridian Infinite visa is a better
option for you finally we have the td cashback visa infinite card and this card is like a hybrid
between the cibc and the scotia visa the cibc was best for gasoline spenders and the scotia
was great for large monthly bills the td visa is a balanced middle ground between the two this card
offers 3% cashback on groceries monthly bills and gasoline everything else gets one percent
the annual fee is $120 so you'll need to spend at least four thousand dollars a year on groceries
gasoline and bills to break even that's only $330 a month so this card should make up for the annual
fee this card requires a strong credit score but also an income of at least $60,000 or a household
income of a hundred thousand a great feature with the td infinite is that you can redeem
the cashback anytime you want you don't have to wait to get your cashback money once a year
you can redeem your cash back anytime at all as long as you have a balance of at least $25 the td
visa infinite offers a lot of the same benefits like the other cards like car rental insurance
and emergency travel medical insurance but a really cool feature is that this card comes with
free roadside assistance called td auto club this card basically comes with a free CAA membership
built in so if you need to tow your car or jump start your engine this td visa has you covered
as a signup bonus td will waive the annual fee for the first year saving you $120 plus they'll give
you 10% promotional cashback on every purchase you make for the first three months or the first two
thousand dollars you spend that's a total signup bonus of $320 and this promotion is offered every
few months so keep an eye out for it so those are the best premium cashback credit cards in
canada let's do a quick summary of each of their benefits to help you decide which one or two of
them you should get the american express simply cash preferred card offers you two percent cash
back on every purchase it comes with a $99 annual fee and it offers all the standard benefits plus
early access to concert ticket sales and a referral bonus as a signup bonus this card
gives you 10% cashback on every purchase for the first four months for a maximum of $400
the scotiabank momentum infinite visa offers you four percent cash back on groceries and bills
two percent cashback on gas and transit and one percent on everything else this card comes with
a $120 annual fee and it offers all the standard benefits plus mobile device insurance as a signup
bonus this card will waive the annual fee for the first year and it will offer you 10% bonus cashback
on every purchase for the first three months up to a maximum of $200 the cibc dividend infinite visa
offers you 4% cashback on groceries and gasoline two percent cash back at tim hortons and talus and
one percent everywhere else this card comes with a $99 annual fee plus it will give you a discount
of three cents per liter at certain gas stations as a sign up bonus this card currently only waives
the annual fee for the first year but usually it will offer you 10% cashback on every purchase
for the first four months up to a maximum value of $200 the td infinite visa offers you 3% cashback
on groceries bills and gasoline and one percent everywhere else this card comes with $120 annual
fee this card offers all the standard benefits plus it allows you to redeem your cashback
anytime as long as you have at least $25 dollars it will also offer you free roadside assistance
as a signup bonus this card will waive the annual fee for the first year plus it will
offer you 10% cashback on every purchase for the first three months up to a total value of $200
the scotia cibc and td visa are all so similar so you really only need one of them let's see which
one works best for you remember the american express already offers two percent cashback on
everything so we can just ignore all the cashback rates that are two percent or lower to compare
these three cards also all three cards have almost the same annual fee so we'll get rid of them and
we'll clean up the table a bit now we can focus on the differences between each card scotia visa
is the only one that pays four percent cash back on monthly bills so if you're like me and monthly
bills are your biggest expense i would go with the scotia the cibc is the only one that offers
four percent cash back on gasoline so if you drive a lot you should probably go with the cibc
finally if you spend roughly equally between groceries gasoline and monthly bills then the
td infinite visa is probably your best bet so pick one of those three cards to get three percent or
four percent cash back on groceries bills and gasoline and then for everything else use the
american express to get two percent so there you have it those are the best premium cashback credit
cards in canada for 2021. i've included a link in the box below for each of these credit cards if
you'd like to sign up including my referral link for the american express card to get that 10% sign
up bonus be sure to check out my canadian credit card playlist to find out how to improve your
credit score and to learn more about canadian credit cards including the best no fee credit
cards in canada thanks for watching guys and be sure to like comment and subscribe if you found
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thanks everyone and i'll see you guys on the next episode of the canadian in a t-shirt bye guys