We don’t have any Vanilla re-loads in Canada but we have some great tools to meet minimum spending for the great credit card bonuses.
Currently the AMEX Gold Rewards card and the American Express Aeroplus Gold have bonuses of 25,000 Membership reward points and 30,000 Aeroplan Miles with minimum spending of $500 over the first 3 months of the card.
For some people they would pre-pay some expenses like utilities or cable/Internet but another idea is the Vanilla Reload/Petro-Can Pivot VISA. If you don’t have high expenses each month it could be difficult to meet the requirements.
To meet the minimum spending quickly for the bonuses for these cards, this is an idea you could use:
- Buy a Petro-Can Pivot VISA (http://retail.petro-canada.ca/en/creditcards/4661.aspx) for $500.
- Withdraw $500 ($250 per day maximum) at an ATM.
- Deposit in chequing account to pay off credit card bill.
- Close/deactivate the Pivot VISA.
Here are the fees associated with this account:
PIVOT™ Visa® Prepaid Card Cost $10
ATM Domestic Cash Withdrawal Fee $3 x2 (Max. weekly ATM Withdrawal $250)
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Total $16This is almost 3% of the balance in fees! I would rather pre-pay expenses but I wanted to share an alternative for Canadians.
Another nice benefit of the card is the 5 cents off per liter you get at Petro Canada for every $1 you load on the card but at today’s gas prices it is not worth a lot (better to get a Target Red Card and get 5% cash on gift card purchases and buy a Petro Canada or Esso card).
I don’t think it is worth it but here is our Canadian re-load equivalent!