Canadians: TD Free $300 (until September 20 2019) and 10% Cashback credit card promotion

Want $300 for free?

Valid only until September 20 2019

If you don’t already have a TD Chequing account, sign up for one. Details here.

You obviously can’t already have a TD chequing account and/or have had one open in the past year or so, I can’t recall the exact details.

What I did: (Took 3 weeks from start to finish)

1. Signed up for the account in person
2. Deposited $4200 from my chequing account (I didn’t want to pay the monthly fee, and you need at least $4000 in there to waive that fee, plus I was assuming I had to pay bills and things of $50 increments, hence the extra $200 buffer)
3. Paid a bill immediately (credit card, whatever) of at least $50 through that account
4. Immediately took the banking info and went to Tangerine to set up an pre-authorized debit of at least $50 a month. You have to add this new TD Chequing account to Tangerine, wait for 2 small deposits into the account, verify, and then set up an automated transfer in Tangerine to debit at least $50 a month, every month.
5. Waited for my $300 bonus – I checked the account every week or so
6. Once I got the bonus, I cancelled all the pre-authorized debits, withdrew all the money in cash and closed the account (no fees charged). Now I won’t have an open chequing account eating a fee every month for not having a $4000 balance in it.

Note: I used Tangerine as an example but I believe you can use any bank to PAD from your TD Account.

• Tangerine: Use my Orange key { 32726976S1 } for free money ($50 once you deposit $100; and I get $50 too)

Update: You don’t need $4000

Everyone keeps telling me in messages that they would love this but don’t have $4000.

You don’t need $4000! You just need to have enough money to:

1. Pay the $16 monthly account fee until you get that $300 (then you can close the account)
2. Have $50 to pay a bill – one of the hoops
3. Have $150 to pay 3 months worth of pre-authorized debits (PAD) – the second hoop

Total Money Required: $248. Let’s say $300

And only $48 of that is “lost” in earning $300, which means you still net about $250.

The rest of that — is bill payments and a PAD to your other bank account (e.g. Tangerine) to pay other bills or go into savings.

SUPER EASY.

Opportunity Cost = Well worth the 3 weeks

For me to put $4000 in there instead of in Tangerine in their promotional 2.74% interest until end of November, it is a loss of about $9.13 in interest earnings.

For the 3 months my $4000 would be sitting there, I’d “lose” $27.40, which is far lower than the $300 bonus I will gain from opening the account.

Total time it took: 2 hours, max. Even less probably.

And I opened and closed the account within 3 weeks so I didn’t even lose that much in terms of opportunity to have the money earning 2.74% at Tangerine

• Tangerine: Use my Orange key { 32726976S1 } for free money ($50 once you deposit $100; and I get $50 too)

A lot of it was just waiting, but 15 minutes to enter banking info, 5 minutes to pay a bill… it is well worth the trouble.

Want a rewards card with 9% – 10% cashback for the next 3 months?

Offer ends December 1st 2019

Yeah you do.

Sign up for the TD Cashback Infinity Visa Card

Eligibility requirements below:

The fee is $120 a year, but it is waived for the first year you have it.

You will qualify for either 9% cash back on EVERYTHING or 10%. 10% is for preferred clients apparently, but I see on the site it says 10%.

(To be honest, I don’t know how I got on that list, but I suspect all my $$$ (even though it isn’t with them) has something to do with it.)

Anyway, sign up for the Visa card, and once you get it in the mail, make sure it is the TD Cashback INFINITY card, otherwise it is their regular Cashback Visa with $0 annual fee and completely useless (1% cashback).

To max out the $200 cash back before the promotion stops, you need to purchase $2000 worth on the card within 3 months.

(Thanks to reader B for the clarification!)

In 3 months, that’s spending about $666.67 a month. Very easily achieved.

This means the maximum cashback you can get with 10% back, is only $200 TOTAL, with a spending of $2000 then the promotion cuts off and it goes to 1% on everything, 3% on groceries, gas and recurring bills.

DON’T YOU DARE OVERSPEND TO GET 10% BACK!!!!!

I am in NO WAY encouraging you to overspend to get this max 10% cashback, but I am encouraging you to use this on EVERYTHING, from your utility and tax bills with PayTM, to booking flights, etc. If you are planning on spending the money anyway, throw it all on this card and get 10% back.

• PayTM Canada is also how I pay my municipal taxes, utility bills and so on with my CREDIT CARD (yes!! TO GET CASH BACK) plus I earn PayTM points for Amazon, Starbucks gift cards etc… Use my referral code [ PTM210713 ] for a free bonus 5000 points ($5 gift card)

But 10% cashback is pretty sweet.

After the promotional period ends, I will cancel the card before the end of the year so I don’t get dinged with the $129 fee for the second year.

It gives you 3% cash back on Groceries, Gas and recurring bills on the account (e.g. parking passes).

I plan on using it for those 3 categories to get 3% back, as my current Rogers Mastercard only gives 1.75% cashback, so I might as well milk the 3% while the annual fee is waived.