canadamed111 Posted June 21, 2007 Report Share Posted June 21, 2007 Hello, I've read in this forum about the virtues of the Starwood MBNA Mastercard, but noticed that the minimum income one needs to have to be eligible is $35000. Since typical med students don't have nearly that income, how do people manage to obtain one? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirsteen Posted June 22, 2007 Report Share Posted June 22, 2007 Hello, I've read in this forum about the virtues of the Starwood MBNA Mastercard, but noticed that the minimum income one needs to have to be eligible is $35000. Since typical med students don't have nearly that income, how do people manage to obtain one? Hi there, Perhaps it's based on future earnings, or past earnings (if the medical student had a career prior to entering medical school). No matter how it's earned, I'd vouch for the MBNA Mastercard. I've had one for a while now and the Starwood points program is brilliant. No blackouts at all. I used points to book many of my hotel rooms on the CaRMS trail and just spent a good bit of time in Europe and used points to fund almost all of my nights in Paris. Plus, if you're in Calgary, the Four Points Canmore costs only 3,000 points per night--what a steal. Cheers, Kirsteen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevie Boy Posted June 22, 2007 Report Share Posted June 22, 2007 Hmm...I think the best way to go would be to call them up and talk to a Customer Service Rep. I know online apps can be indiscriminate on special circumstances, so don't think that's the way to go. If you've had a credit card before that's always a plus to tell the CSR. The starwood plan is pretty sweet for hotel stays, great % return. But after doing a crazy amount of comparisons, I'd have to go with using two cards. The starwoods Mastercard up until i hit the 10k mark, and then after that point I'd use the citibank 1% or the petropoints card. We'll see which one comes up on top after I get a call back from the petro travel dept. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EESH Posted June 22, 2007 Report Share Posted June 22, 2007 I just called them and the guy on the phone said that the annual income posted doesn't have to be met as long as your credit history is good. I'm debating between applying for this card or just getting the RBC Avion... wouldn't the avion earn more flights per dollar spent? I went to spg.com and supposedly you need 25,000 points to get a domestic flight... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blinknoodle Posted June 22, 2007 Report Share Posted June 22, 2007 Which card is best depends on your spending habits and how you plan to redeem the points. The Starwood m/c is good for hotels but can also be used for flights. Depending on how you redeem your points, you can get a 6% return while only spending 2000 points for a hotel in BC. I would be weary of the Avion if you don't get the annual fee waived, but otherwise it also has good returns for airlines. Source: http://www.redflagdeals.com/deals/main.php/articles/credit4/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevie Boy Posted June 23, 2007 Report Share Posted June 23, 2007 Just thought I'd share my crazy rant, sorry for the length. Regarding flexibility for air travel, the avion is pretty good. It actually depends on where you plan to travel too. Aeroplan costs less for asia flights, so if that's where you wanna go, then aeroplan is #1 from my research. Bit more limited in flexibility though as only 3% or so of their seats are available at the super cheap rate. Only reservation I have for the RBC avion is that you book through their travel agency, and it has a maximum cost per flight. The average return on the RBC avion by my calculation is a maximum of ~2% for flights (greater returns for domestics and using their maximum coverage cost), but can be closer to 1.5% using discount airfare comparisons for domestic flights and ~1.7% for long hauls. These returns are comparable and can be less than the starwoods travel rewards as starwoods gives you 1.25 reward miles for every dollar spent with the same reward bracketing as the avion, versus the avions 1:1 point earning ability. But the real savings of the sherwood card is from what kirsteen and blinknoodle and others have said on hotel stays where the rewards can be up to 3% or 6% in return(if you spend in 10k brackets on the card). But I've found those high return hotels are VERY few and far between, you're looking at more of a 1.5-2.5% return as you'll probably end up opting for cat 3/4 hotels as they're more proliferant. Overall, I look at raw % return, cause in the end I'd rather have cash back than free stuff if the return isn't significantly worth it. Plus, annual fee cards usually only pay themselves off if you spend more than 15k a year on the card, which is a wee bit over my annual spendatures. Oh, but signup bonuses mess everything up. CIBC is giving away 15k aeroplan points = ~$150 for signup, which essentially makes up for the annual fee. I've done so much research and comparisons on this I hope I didn't mix anything up or confuse anything. In the end, starwood is best if you spend at least 10k a year on your card. Otherwise, if you're a low spender, I'd go with a 1% card, or possibly the petropoints card which may be the best of all (no fee travel rewards at aeroplan reward brackets and avion flexibility? can it be? PLUS ~2% off gas?!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirsteen Posted June 23, 2007 Report Share Posted June 23, 2007 Regarding flexibility for air travel, the avion is pretty good. Hi there, I have all three cards: a CIBC Aerogold (which I've had for years, since the time of being a CIBC customer, then coming to my senses. ), a Royal Bank Platinum Avion (which came with the VIP package that I snagged a good number of years ago and also, the more recently acquired MBNA Starwood Mastercard. All three have strengths and it's nice to be able to accumulate points in one direction or another depending on your seasonal goal. One other little point about the Avion re: flight redemptions is that, if you're an Air Canada Prestige, Elite or Super Elite member, then the reward ticket that you claim with Avion points is upgradeable. That is, you can use your upgrade certificates on that ticket. This is impossible if you obtain a ticket using your Aeroplan points (via CIBC Aerogold). A drawback to the Avion-acquired tickets though (which I found a couple of summers ago when I redeemed my points for a ticket to Europe) is that if any changes need to be made to the ticket then you cannot contact the airline directly to make the changes. You need to wait for the Avion travel office to open to ask them to help. Cheers, Kirsteen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jgray2 Posted July 10, 2007 Report Share Posted July 10, 2007 OP: the fine print on the website is that you must earn 35k a year OR be a student. i said i was a medical student and they gave me the card with a 5k limit. (that was later upped). they also gave me a platinum card which includes all of the same insurances that the rbc avion gave. no annual fee. as for rate of returns, hotel stays give you the best bang for your buck. of course, if you wanna fly business class here and there, then suddenly your rate of return is 5-10% EESH: you don't need 25k pts for a free flight. you just need 20k (which is earned 1:1 after getting the 10k$ thresholds) for most airline programs. spg also has crazy bonuses (thousands and thousands) for staying at their hotels almost every 3 months. the only catch is that you have to register (for free) for them. Stevieboy: i would go up to 20k if possible. you will spend 14k on tuition and supplies. then groceries? gas money? bills? electives? if worse comes to worse, you can pay a bit more of your 2nd year tuition a month early to get you to the next threshold level. if you go with the petropoints route, then you can convert those points into asiamiles (cathay pacific -- one world) along with your new spg card. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bioboy2007 Posted July 10, 2007 Report Share Posted July 10, 2007 Hey jgray, I'm kicking myself right now because I received the Starwood Mastercard last week and also booked a vacation package (at a Starwood hotel), but didn't use Starwood to pay for it. Do you know how many points are earned for staying at Starwood hotels? I can't seem to find anything on their website. Is it based on hotel category? Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jgray2 Posted July 11, 2007 Report Share Posted July 11, 2007 i did the same thing as you you get 2 pts per dollar spent on eligible stays (note, hotels booked through heavily discounted sites in general do not count). things like room service should also count. if you are gold status (10 stays/25 eligible nights) or plat (50 eligible nights), then you get 3 pts/dollar. look on the spg website to sign up for promotions. last oct, i got 3k bonus pts for staying at a night in edmonton. just cuz. -j Hey jgray, I'm kicking myself right now because I received the Starwood Mastercard last week and also booked a vacation package (at a Starwood hotel), but didn't use Starwood to pay for it. Do you know how many points are earned for staying at Starwood hotels? I can't seem to find anything on their website. Is it based on hotel category? Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirsteen Posted July 11, 2007 Report Share Posted July 11, 2007 you get 2 pts per dollar spent on eligible stays (note, hotels booked through heavily discounted sites in general do not count). things like room service should also count. if you are gold status (10 stays/25 eligible nights) or plat (50 eligible nights), then you get 3 pts/dollar. Hi there, I was an SPG (Starwood Preferred Guest) Platinum member last year and Gold this year so can confirm that you do receive points for anything that ends up appearing on your Starwood hotel bill, i.e., room service, internet fees, etc. What you cannot do, however, is claim Aeroplan points (or some other loyalty program points) and Starwood points (since Starwood is aligned with Aeroplan). A few things about Starwood that are great: 1) they have hotels practically everywhere and at many different pricepoints; 2) if they have a free room at any given hotel, then you can pretty much be guaranteed to be able to use your points to book that room; 3) you can make bookings online, and for the most part (unless they're super-hot properties in Bora Bora and the timing is over new year's) you can cancel them right up to the day of arrival. Where this comes in handy, most especially, is CaRMS interview time. I stayed with them in every city where I interviewed except for St. John's. Cheers, Kirsteen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moose Posted August 1, 2007 Report Share Posted August 1, 2007 anyone have any opinions of the TD Visa Gold Travel? I have one right now but it seems that nobody has mentioned it and I thought it was a good card. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jgray2 Posted August 1, 2007 Report Share Posted August 1, 2007 if i recall correctly, the td travel card gives you 5000pts for 5000$ in spending = 75$ off travel. 75/5000 = 1.5% return per dollar spent. if travel is what you want, you can /easily/ do better using any other card/program. for example, a flight from yyc-yyz return on a good day is 400 (not including taxes). if you redeemed an air canada reward for economy class (which is a bad idea -- it's best to redeem for international business class) ... then you'd spend 25000 pts. 400.00/25000 = 1.6 cents per point, or a 1.6% return (assuming you get 1pt/$ on your credit card). fly yvr-sin on business class on singapore airlines? that's a 6% return. the insurances on the gold cards and the mbna platinum starwood card are the same. however, the gold cards all have a yearly fee ... the mbna platinum card doesn't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moose Posted August 1, 2007 Report Share Posted August 1, 2007 hey, thanks for that response. with the TD Visa, if you upgrade your account to a chequing account with a minimum $5000 balance, the yearly fee is waived. you mentioned air canada reward. which card is that with? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jgray2 Posted August 2, 2007 Report Share Posted August 2, 2007 the reward scheme that i used in my example is air canada, but it's pretty much the same across any airline point system (eg. AA,UA,CX,SQ ....) mbna will give you 1.25 airline points per dollar spent, which is better than most 1pt/1$ cards. remember how i said that the return was 1.6% if you used an airline points system? that assumed a card that gave you 1pt/1$. the mbna card will give you more than that, thus giving you a minimum of 2% return ... on the worst type of reward in terms of return. if you want the aeroplan specific card, then you /could/ choose the aerogold card (120$) or the amex classic plus (60$) -- but why pay when you can get it for free? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevie Boy Posted September 1, 2007 Report Share Posted September 1, 2007 Just thought I'd add on a note. The starwood card that originally comes after you apply for it online is an ordinary "Preferred" level mastercard according to MBNA guidelines (MBNA.ca). To gain coverage in Travel Insurance, Rental Car Insurance, Purchase and Warranty coverage you need to call in and talk to a customer rep to upgrade to the "Platinum Plus" version. Should be completely free and hassle free except that you have to change mastercard numbers, keeping all the goodies that the original card had. Disclaimers: Your experience may vary. MBNA "platinum plus" is not the same as "platinum" starwood level. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
riamo Posted October 5, 2007 Report Share Posted October 5, 2007 does this point system work for Air Canada and West jet flights? Also, from what I read the points expire after 1 year if you dont use them? I think that would be one down fall with the points. Forcing you to travel for the heck of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jgray2 Posted November 23, 2007 Report Share Posted November 23, 2007 does this point system work for Air Canada and West jet flights? Also, from what I read the points expire after 1 year if you dont use them? I think that would be one down fall with the points. Forcing you to travel for the heck of it. no -- points do not transfer to west jet flights as they do not have a frequent flier program that you can transfer to. (or a real frequent flier program, for that matter). you can transfer your points to aeroplan, although only in a weird kind of way through their customer service agents. spg points do expire if you do not have a hotel stay within a year, or if you do not hold one of the spg-branded credit cards (like the mbna one or the amex in america). if you have the credit card, then your points last forever. aeroplan points expire after 7 years, or after 1 year if there is no account activity (which can suck). i just make sure to fill up my car at esso at least once a year Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Entorhinal Posted December 13, 2007 Report Share Posted December 13, 2007 If you guys really care about the points - I suggest the AMEX platinum card. Without even going to a Starwoods Hotel you are automatically enrolled in Starwoods Gold club - which means complimentary room upgrades. Plus the AMEX platinum has a points accelerator. If you don't have access to this type of card - maybe you can bother your parents for the points. - Victor Ward Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirsteen Posted December 13, 2007 Report Share Posted December 13, 2007 If you guys really care about the points - I suggest the AMEX platinum card. Without even going to a Starwoods Hotel you are automatically enrolled in Starwoods Gold club - which means complimentary room upgrades. Plus the AMEX platinum has a points accelerator. If you don't have access to this type of card - maybe you can bother your parents for the points. - Victor Ward Hi there, I just acquired an Amex Platinum Aeroplan card a few weeks ago. Yes, you are supposed to receive Starwood Gold status but the Platinum Aeroplan card does not permit you to accrue Starwood points to use towards free rooms (unlike the Starwood Mastercard). As for the complimentary upgrade, as a Starwood Gold member all that means is that, when available, they will upgrade you by one room class if you have booked a room at their hotel, and generally only if you are paying for the room, i.e., the room is not booked with points. (Although that being said, I have received room upgrades with points-booked rooms.) To qualify for an Amex Platinum, however, you need to be pulling in an income of >$65K. (At least that's what I was told by their rep when I applied.) You can, however, receive your own card if you have a partner or someone else who is willing to take out a supplementary card for you. (There is a charge for this--$250, I believe.) Cheers, Kirsteen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Entorhinal Posted December 16, 2007 Report Share Posted December 16, 2007 Hi Kirsteen, Thanks for the clarification but I was referring to the American Express (AMEX) Platinum - not the AMEX platinum Aeroplan. - VW Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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