I love these first year free and high sign-up bonus offers that we have found this month!

The Scotiabank Gold American Express Card has a new offer with no annual fee for the first year and a bonus of 25,000 points (worth $250 towards travel).

This card offers a high earn rate of 4% on gas, grocery, dining and entertainment spend and 1% everywhere else.

It also lets you redeem your cash equivalent points for ANY travel expense!

The best use of Scotia Rewards is as a statement credit against a travel purchase.

Either purchase your own travel and redeem for a statement credit against that travel or use Scotiabank’s full travel agency to make the booking for you. Redeeming for any non-travel purchase will be poor value.

Since many things qualify for travel, you will likely have some eligible purchases on your card that you didn’t realize qualify, (think ferry, car rental, hotel, etc).

The minimum redemption, however, is 5,000 points (i.e. $50).

This offer is valid until July 31, 2017!

It also includes these incredible extras for Insurance:

  • Travel Emergency Medical Insurance –  As the primary cardmember, you, your spouse and accompanying dependent children are each automatically covered for up to $1 million in emergency medical coverage for up to 25 consecutive days out of province.
  • Trip Interruption & Cancellation Insurance
  • Flight Delay
  • Delayed & Lost Luggage Insurance
  • Common Carrier Travel Accident Insurance
  • Rental Car Collision / Loss Damage Insurance
  • Hotel / Motel Burglary Insurance
  • Purchase Security & Extended Warranty Insurance – personal items purchased on your credit card are insured against theft, loss or damage for their first 90 days after purchase!
  • Price Protection Service – Use your card to buy a new item that is offered for sale at a lower price within 60 days of purchase, the Price Protection Service, will pay you the difference up to $100.

I would be most interested in this Price Protection Service as it helps you get the lowest price and purchase security is a nice feature I currently don’t have in my other cards.

The travel medical insurance does stand out as it covers you for up to 25 days per trip which is somewhat higher than the majority of cards that offer the benefit.

For more details or to apply for the card please click here.