Some of the top no annual fee cash back credit cards in Canada are worth considering to earn free rewards while paying no fees.
Key Comparisons
| American Express® Green Card | Tangerine Money-Back Credit Card | |
| Estimated Credit Score | 660 | 660 |
| Annual Fees | N/A | N/A |
| Interest Rate | 20.99% | 19.95% |
| Insurance Coverage | Yes | Yes |
| Pros | 1. Travel benefits include $100 CLEAR® Credit, $100 LoungeBuddy Credit, Baggage Insurance Plan, Car Rental Loss, and Damage Insurance, Global Assist® Hotline, and more. 2. Use Pay With Points for purchases at American Express Travel, Amazon.com, Ticketmaster, Best Buy, and other retailers. 3. You can use points to pay for all or part of your travel when you book travel, including flights, hotels, travel packages, cars, and cruises with American Express. | 1. Choose the spending categories where you want to earn the most cash back. 2. Unlimited cash back—no maximum spending limit for any purchase category. 3. Cashback is paid out monthly rather than annually. 4. Periodically includes a special welcome offer where you can get extra cashback. 5. 1.95% interest on balance transfers for the first 6 months (1% transfer fee applies). |
| Cons | 1. No elite benefits like airport lounge access or hotel elite status. 2. Charges a relatively high annual fee compared to similar rewards cards. 3. CLEAR membership credit only covers part of the benefit’s fee. | 1. Regular cashback rates are still lower than what you can get from a card with an annual fee. 2. Limited extra perks or benefits beyond the cash back and balance transfer promotion. 3. Generally not a good fit for shopping at warehouse clubs or wholesale grocers like Costco or Walmart. 4. Tangerine does not have any physical bank branches. |
Key Benefits of American Express® Green Card
Annual Fee and Welcome Bonus
The American Express® Green Card card does not have an annual fee for primary or secondary cards. Earn 40,000 Membership Rewards® Points after spending $2,000 on purchases with your new Card in the first six months of Card Membership. Points will be credited to your Program account after 8-12 weeks of meeting the Threshold Amount. Eligible purchases can be made by the Basic Card Member and any Additional Card Members on a single Card account. Fees or interest charges; purchases of traveler’s checks; purchases or reloading of prepaid cards; purchases of gift cards; person-to-person payments; or sales of other cash equivalents are NOT eligible purchases. So make every swipe or tap count,
Earning of Points
You can earn 1 American Express Membership Point for every $1 spent on purchases. In addition, when you use your card to pay for hotels and auto rentals, you can get an additional point per dollar spent. It is simple to redeem your Membership Rewards points for travel bookings through AMEX travel services, statement credit towards eligible expenditures (1,000 points = $10 statement credit), gift cards and merchandise, and Amazon.ca purchases. When you completely charge eligible items to your American Express® Green Card, your coverage may automatically extend the manufacturer’s original guarantee for up to one year.
Membership Rewards
For each dollar of eligible purchases charged on the American Express® Green Card throughout each billing cycle, you will earn one Membership Rewards® point. Travel: For each dollar charged on eligible travel expenditures like as airlines, hotels, cruises, tours, car rentals, campgrounds, travel purchases on third-party travel websites, and travel purchases on amextravel.com, you will earn two additional points (for a total of three points). Transit: For every dollar spent on qualified transit expenditures such as trains, taxicabs, rideshare services, ferries, tolls, parking, buses, and subways, you will receive two more points (for a total of three points). Restaurants: Earn 2 extra points (for a total of 3 points) for every dollar spent at restaurants.
Key Benefits of Tangerine Money-Back Credit Card
Money-Back Rewards
Earn 2% Money-Back Rewards on your everyday purchases in two 2% Money-Back Categories of your choice, and 0.50% Money-Back Rewards on everything else. Every month, Money-Back Rewards are placed into your Account, and there is no limit to the amount you can earn on daily purchases. Money-back categories can be altered at any moment to fit your shopping habits. You select the Categories that are most convenient for you, such as groceries, furnishings, and entertainment. There are ten options to pick from.
Balance Transfer Offer
Transfer a balance from another credit card with a higher interest rate to a Tangerine Money-Back Credit Card and pay a low promotional interest rate of 1.95% on the transferred balance for 6 months (and 19.95% on any unpaid balances beyond 6 months). You must complete the Balance Transfer request within 30 days of account approval and activate your card within 45 days of account approval to take advantage of this promotion. Tangerine will charge a 1% balance transfer fee on each transferred amount (the price is waived if you are a Quebec resident).
Purchase Assurance and Extended Warranty
You may receive a lifetime maximum of up to $60,000 for most new purchases made anywhere in the world with your Tangerine Money-Back Credit Card for the following: Purchase Assurance, which automatically covers loss, theft, or damage on most new insured items for 90 days from the date of purchase, and Extended Warranty, which may double the period of repair services to a maximum of one year.