Adam Smith

It's classic big Canadian bank strategy though. We have a cozy oligopoly here in banking, and customers tend to be very sticky, so there are often incentives to switch from one to another, but rarely incentives for existing customers. I feel like CIBC has consistently been somewhat unenthusiastic about the Aeroplan card business ever since TD muscled its way in.
​​​​​​​Re churning, I figure it won't be long before they go the way of Amex and stop giving out sign-up bonuses to people who've had the card before.

yscleo

It's true CIBC hasn't been promoting the ae card much. They've been pushing their own Aventura card. TD is still pushing the ae card more than their own First Class card, which is actually much better than Aventura as the expediaforTD is a much better search engine and does give 4.5% return.

As for not giving bonus to stop churning, it's a calculation they need to make, because the flip side is they don't get those customers to come back. The older generation who don't shop around and stay with the existing cards, are getting older. The younger generation who are more comfortable with tech, do shop around.

terencelai

please let me know which CIBC branch could do this, more than happy to bring $200 K plus investment plus $800K mortgage from TD to CIBC, if any of the CIBC branch can waive the entire fee, even my TD FA will not be able to waive the entire annual fee.
please share if this is true, spoke to couple CIBC FAs, none of them can even waive $399.

mileageking

This isn't a published benefit so don't expect (or demand) to get a $399 credit even if you rollover $1m in mortgages (although CIBC may reward you $3k for the new mortgage ). If you are going to transfer a $800k mortgage and $200k in investments strictly to get a $399 additional rebate, then I suggest you re-evaluate your financial priorities.

I may have mentioned here or maybe somewhere else, relationships (which I have had with branch managers and staff for multiple years), tenure on accounts (several years), maintaining certain balance, financial services (multiple mortgages, investments, etc.) may all have played a factor. Again relationships are important .

Someone also mentioned above receiving $139 on remaining $399 which netted to $260. I suggest you present your case and try and negotiate through.

Adam Smith

​​​​​
But the reason Amex decided to fire the churners, if you will, was that they're not very good customers. The card issuers spend much of the initial annual fee on the welcome bonus. They make a little bit of margin on the relatively small minimum spend, and then people usually stop using the cards and cancel them before they pay another annual fee. Ultimately, they're not very profitable for the bank.

I'm one of the "younger generation" still, I think, and while my friends might be slightly quicker to change cards than my parents and their generation, they still typically use cards for a few years and only change when there's good reason to do so, e.g. fed up with not finding Aeroplan seats > switch to Avion. Once they leave a card, they don't typically go back, so eliminating sign-up bonuses for repeat cardholders probably doesn't make much of a dent in the number of long-term cardholders, i.e. the ones who rack up more charges on their cards, pay annual fees year after year, maybe carry a balance and pay some interest.

I could be wrong, but I just feel like CIBC's lack of enthusiasm for the Aeroplan cards means they might not want to bother with the churners anymore.

msat

Can anyone explain how the free checked bag benefit works? (i.e. do I get reimbursed for the checked bag fee I pay or do I need to call in to have it applied)

somedude3210

I think your aeroplan # gets flagged as a cardholder (ie. its own type of status), so when checking a bag the system sees you as having the free bag. Just a guess since I haven't flown at all since I got the card (and have a free bag from status anyway). I seem to recall someone pointing out how a cardholder's boarding pass gets flagged as a cardholder just like *S/*G/E35/E50/etc get noted.

mileageking

The CIBC worldwide companion pass at $25k threshold would allow you to book:

$99 Canada/US
$299 Sun destinations in Central America (including Hawaii)
$499 Europe, the Middle East, and Africa
$599 Asia, Australia and New Zealand

yscleo

Ah, that's a different offering than the buddy pass. If you can make good use of this worldwide companion pass, that in itself is worth the AF.

tomvancouver

Anyone have any insight as to whether there will be points conversion option for the worldwide companion pass?

terencelai

I spoke to the general manager at transit #2, the biggest branch in the whole Ontario, and showed your posting in front of this GM, he has no clue what you're talking about, or said something about unpublished benefits. There is no such thing as unpublished benefits at CIBC, he said every offers are transparent and available to all clients. It is up to an individual, FA or FSR to absorb the cost of the credit card annual fee, so it is solely discretionary, and he does not think this is ethical or binding to CIBC code of conduct.

mileageking

Read my earlier post again (bold) in response to above comments.

And on your following comments:

Read my following post again in response to above comment:

Not sure if you also spoke to him what another FT posted below:

Like I mentioned earlier, if you don't get reimbursed, shouldn't be the end of the world for you. Maybe best for you to discuss with him to transfer your mortgage (together with your investments) towards a $3000 cash back. You could also open a CIBC smart checking account and get $300 back.

So that's a total $3300. You need to weigh the overall benefits vs. your existing business at TD.

Good luck

Benner

Has anyone noticed that they are no longer getting their SQM and SQS status qualification boosts for their credit cards? Looks like I received the proper SQM/SQS posting from my CIBC Aeroplan Infinite last month, but not on the credit card statement from a couple of days ago. I wonder if this is a new bug that has appeared as part of the EDQ roll-out as I am now receiving those.

Adam Smith

My statements get issued late in the month, and I got my SQM/SQS fine for April. Did you spend enough on the last statement to generate the boost?

TechnoTourist

I got my boosts from CIBC in late April, the day the statement posted IIRC