It's very unlikely we'll ever see 50% bonus transfer anymore, either to Avios or to Aeroplan

25% to Avios is the best we see now, and I'm surprised it's valid for few months

but with AA availability drying up, I have hard time using my Avios also

Some people speculate that the bonuses may not be as generous in the future since the lower Canadian dollar means that Amex gives out more member rewards here than in the US for the same value purchase.

Maybe the same inherent value, but we're also paying more for it...

I transfered some of my Amex MR to Avios at the 1.25 .

My points are presently 45% Aeroplan, 25% Avios, 20% Amex and 10% Alaska

Based out of YVR and being strictly a leisure traveller I like diversify my points. I will use the Aeroplan for longhaul business class and Avios for shorthaul (Alaska and hopefully AA) and maybe CX to NYC

I am saving up the Alaska points for trying out the shower plane :)

Customer service at its best...

"GOTCHA"

Great use of miles! You'll love it...

I know this is just the case in general, but it really bugs me how screwed we Canadians get on the SPG Amex

Signup Bonus:

Canada - 20k
USA - 25

okay, that difference isn't too big...

Annual Fee:
Canada - 120.-, no FYF
USA - FYF, then 65.- (84CAD)

... okay, pay more but get less.... why?

Starpoints earned:
Canada - 1 for everything
USA - 2 for stays, 1 for rest

... that's quite a big difference if one wants to focus on SPG stays&points

Elite Status nights:
Canada - nada
USA - 2 stays&5 nights towards next elite level

After August 11, the annual fee in the US will increase to 95 (so, basically same annual fee as us), BUT they also get additional benefits:

-NO FOREX FEES (yeah, wish we had more than ONE of those here...)
-Free Boingo Wifi (ever been to an airport with Boingo and no free wifi? yeah, it sucks)
-Sheraton Club Lounge access, aka free daily breakfast at Sheraton's

-sigh-

Sometimes I wish I had a credit file in the US, this would be so much better than the Canadian SPG, especially with no forex fees, you can easily just use it everywhere in Canada.

Two words ... "global transfer".

Also, UK has it worse than us. They pay £75 or so and get no nights benefit and only 10K points.

Japan is kind of a toss up. $320/year, but it has a free cat 6 night yearly.

Implies getting a US SSN & bank account though, which I'm pretty sure I need a US address for... I mean, I CAN ask a friend for his address, but the rest, not so sure how that'd work. Didn't even know that was a thing, seems pretty sweet for starting to build credit when moving though.

... Does it... does it work? if so, how? PM me if you don't wanna share, please :D

I'd argue a free cat 6 night at SPG is worth more than 200.-... but ouch, yeah, didn't know about the UK one.

I mean the US has better benefits in general (AA signup bonuses anyone), but the SPG we have a direct comparison so it just makes me feel worse :lol

US amex SPG is going up to 95 USD (123 cad) annual fee, but with waived forex fees (common down south, not so much in Canada)

Earnings rate for US SPG amex is 1 USD:1 SPG
Earnings rate for Canadian SPG amex is 1 cad (0.77 USD):1 SPG

The gap isn't as big as it used to be when the cad was at par

seem to recall reading something that basically said issuers make way more from your average US customer vs your average Canadian customer, so they're willing to offer bigger bonuses.

something to do with US consumers paying more interest, fees, carrying larger balances, etc.

1USD:2SPG for hotel-spend though, which can make quite the difference.

Question: does anyone know if you can pay car insurance/ICBC with a credit card? My car dealer won't let me pay my lease with one which is a bummer, what about car insurance? ICBC's phone lines are about as bad as aeroplan's -.-

If you pay annually all Autoplan brokers will accept Amex (and others) for ICBC insurance. Monthly payments only available via CTFS's bill payment interface. I've timed my Amex Business Gold app to coincide with renewal to knock a big chunk out

Some automakers financing arms are also on CTFS (Ford is for sure, Subaru and Toyota were not when I checked) so you could earn 1% back on Ford payments

Yes, you can pay your car insirance with a CC, regardless of whether you pay it all up front or if you are on AP12. It is up to the broker which credit cards they accept so just find a broker who takes the card you want to use.

Mazda only accepts pre-authorized bank withdrawals :(

Thanks for the responses! Knocking out a 3-month spend with it is exactly what I had in mind ;)

I just called ICBC and it's even more awesome than I thought, the guy was super helpful:

I can go to any autoplan broker, tell them I need to make a pre-payment and can pay any random amount of money with my credit card, and then ICBC will just deduct it from the balance when my payment is due. I don't even have to "time" it with my renewal date, I can do it anytime I want! That's sweet. So I can just pay month-to-month until I have a big minimum spend coming up, pay a large pre-payment to fullfill the spend and then don't have to worry about ICBC for a while.

Sweeeeeeeet.

Now if only Mazda was as cooperative... Maybe if I go to my dealer I can make a pre-payment too, but I'm not sure :lol

Thanks for the heads up. The IHG Capital One may be coming to an end fairly soon. When I called today the agent seemed to think it had already been canceled but it is still showing up on the website.

I absolutely disagree. SPG is the one and only one place Canadians have it better.

As yall know, I'm a double dipper. And yes, you need an SSN and U.S. physical address to get a US credit file. I play the game big time both down here and north of the border.

Re: the SPG card, the referral is 10K, plus the bonus, that's 30K per hard pull. US is only 25K. So you're paying less than $100 US for 5K extra points. Not great, but better than you made it out to be.

But the real bonus is on the MR transfer rate: 1 to 2 v. 1 to 3. Canada wins. In fact, I believe that the key to aspirational travel for Canadians is via this method. Now that the Aeros to US/AA via points.com transfer option is dead, I believe transferring to SPG is the way to go, and that's what I'm doing with mine.

Plus, the Sheraton lounge access is only for Biz cards anyway.

My 2 cents. Or Starpoints.

All true but....MR accumulation suddenly got a lot worse in Canada now that we've moved to the 1x personal card per lifetime model. So transferring at 0.5:1 to SPG from MR isn't as easy to swallow anymore. For me, makes me look at my Aeroplan options a lot more closely. As that's where I can build critical mass of points.

I'm also worried that Amex SPG will have a lower earn rate at some point...because it's costing Amex more to buy those points from SPG.

I know, that's a big hit, but the U.S. has the same policy. With the TD Aeroplan cards still being churnable, I prefer using my SPG points for AS transfers, or as a great way of getting AA points in Canada.

And btw, there are essentially no SPG referral opportunities in the U.S.

Exactly why I applied tonight and got approved
Got to get it in before it's gone, buying 60K for $120

I agree on many of your points, but the point earning comparison is only much of a factor when about 30% or more of your spend is at Starwood hotels.

For those of us who use it much more for regular spend than hotel spend it is better at the higher annual fee and 1CAD to 1SPG conversion.

Another good point showing why Canadians have it better than Americans in this one aspect of the game: SPG. With the weak Canadian Peso, your earning rate is currently 25% higher than in the US.

Well here it is again. Convert points to Aeroplan and receive a bonus of up to 40,000 Aeroplan miles. Off valid July 27 – August 24.

Me too, just applied and got approved! I wasn't going to apply since it says under the definition of excellent credit that you can't have applied for credit within the last 3 months. I had an online chat with an agent and he said go for it and sent me an application link:)

It really doesn't make any difference for Canadians that earn and spend in Canadian dollars.

It makes a big difference on redemption decisions.

If you're using points on SPG hotels in the US you're spending the same as you did before.

If you're considering cash, you're facing a 30% increase in price all else equal versus this time last year.

So the pay cash vs. use points is now more of a no-brainer. It has made hotel points overall more valuable, if you happen to use them in the US (which I haven't much, but probably will).

And the cost of accumulating those points hasn't changed it's true. you're still spending $1 to get 1 SPG. The point being made above, though, is that for a Canadian it's the equivalent of spending US70c per SPG point versus Americans that have to spend USD$1 per SPG point. So we have it better.

might be a lot more places to use Starpoints soon

http://seekingalpha.com/news/2676315...-in-deal-talks

That's not good. Not a merger of equal. SPG gets rolled into IHG program, which isn't as good (though better IMO than Marriott and Hilton from a redemption perspective).

Might not have to worry. There's a post in the spg forum here that with a link to a new article says talks have ended. But, there is also another post about a Chinese group trying to buy starwood.

What's the best use of Aventura points? I did some searching, seems short distance redemptions give best value for points. However, unlike for Aeroplan etc., can't seem to find an Aventura thread?

No idea, I struggle to use it myself
I should've signed up for the CIBC Aerogold instead of Aventura

honestly I may simply let my 15K Aventura go to waste because I don't see any real good value reward to redeem... and it can't transfer out either :(

Aventura lost all appeal after they stopped allowing Aeroplan transfers.

14k gets you a $100 GC (costco being most useful)

https://rewards.cibcrewards.com/Rewa.../0/680100/None

Didn't know they offer Gift Cards
I'll cash out for $100 Gas gift card then, thanks!

Wasted 1 credit check for $100 GC, boo, at least it's Free.

I just did a product switch from the Aventura Infinite to the AeroGold Infinite. I'm not really clear on whether or not I'll get the 15k AP bonus, but either way, at least my credit check wasn't for nothing!

Were you paying or did you pay AF for Aventura?

I may do that too, but I wonder how annual fee gets calculated, since AeroGold isn't FYF publicly and I didn't pay AF on Aventura either (due to YYZ signup)

I did pay it (already on my 2nd year). The told me that the AF will be prorated and appear on my new AP card. So it sounds like first the AF will post, then a prorated credit from my AV AF will offset it. So in your case it seems that you probably won't be able to carry over the FYF but 15k is still worth paying $120 for...barely though. I did it because I will be doing some heavy spend and would much prefer AP over AV.

Thanks! glad I saw this tonight, also apply tonight and got approved, their website said 3 month rule although I just applied last month for TD Credit card and got denied

Thanks. Got this tonight as well. And the 3 month rule definitely doesn't apply as I got an RBC Visa just last month and was instantly approved for this. So if in doubt, give it a shot.