TD Rewards Points Guide for Canadians | Value, Redemption Rates & Cards

TD Rewards is the points program attached to TD’s travel credit cards. Unlike programs built around airline transfers, TD Rewards works on fixed dollar rates: you spend points through Expedia For TD, or apply them as a credit against purchases already on your card, and TD publishes how many points each dollar costs. That makes the value of a point easy to work out, and it also caps it, because TD’s terms don’t provide for converting points to an airline program.

This guide covers what TD Rewards points are worth under each redemption method TD publishes, how to redeem, which cards earn the points and at what rates, how TD Rewards compares with TD’s Aeroplan cards and with cash back, and the rules on expiry and closing an account. Every rate comes from TD’s own pages and the TD Rewards Program Terms and Conditions. For other programs, see the rewards programs hub.

TD Rewards at a glance

TD’s program terms also count the TD Business Travel Visa Card among the cards with TD Rewards.

What TD Rewards points are worth

TD states each rate as points per dollar. The fewer points per dollar, the more each point is worth.

Of TD’s travel and Pay Off Purchases rates, Expedia For TD takes the fewest points per dollar. TD’s program terms also set a floor for its other, limited-time redemption options: “your TD Rewards Points can be redeemed for a minimum value of 400 TD Rewards Points per $1”.

How to redeem TD Rewards points

Through Expedia For TD

1. Sign in to EasyWeb or the TD app and go to My TD Rewards, or use the Expedia For TD website or phone line. TD’s terms say “You can either visit the exclusive ExpediaForTD.com website or call the exclusive Expedia For TD phone number”.
2. Search for flights, hotels, car rentals or packages as on any booking site.
3. At checkout, apply points in blocks of 200 and charge any balance to your TD card.

You earn points only on the part charged to the card: “you will only earn TD Rewards Points on the net amount of Travel Purchases charged to the Account.”

Only bookings made through Expedia For TD itself count. TD’s terms say travel bought from Expedia Inc. in any other way, such as on Expedia’s own site, is “not considered Travel Purchases made through Expedia For TD”: it earns the base rate, and points can be applied to it only afterwards, through Pay Off Purchases.

With Pay Off Purchases

1. In the TD app or EasyWeb, pick an eligible purchase “from your past 3 statements, including your current statement.”
2. Choose how many points to apply; the app shows the points needed.
3. TD says “A credit for the redeemed points will be applied to your Account within two business days.”

Some charges can’t be paid off with points: TD lists cash advances (including balance transfers, cash-like transactions and TD Visa Cheques), interest, fees, adjustments, refunds and rebates. Whether a purchase gets the travel or the everyday rate depends on the merchant category code Visa assigns: airlines, hotels, car rentals, cruises, travel agencies and tour operators count as travel, and everything else as everyday. If you aren’t paying off the full balance, the credit doesn’t count toward the minimum payment, which is still due by the payment due date.

One detail TD spells out: paying off a purchase with points reduces the points that purchase earned in the first place. “When you redeem with Pay off Purchase, any credit that is applied to your account will reduce or cancel the TD Rewards Points previously earned for that Purchase.”

Cards that earn TD Rewards points

Earn rates by category

Spending past a category’s cap still earns points, at the card’s base rate: “If you exceed your annual spend cap, you’ll continue to earn TD Rewards Points at the standard base earn rate on all additional purchases made in that category.” TD’s cap year isn’t the calendar year: it “runs after your first statement period in January until the end of your statement period the following January.” Each purchase earns in one category only, decided by the merchant category code Visa assigns to the merchant.

The TD First Class Travel Visa Infinite also gives a $100 TD Travel Credit once a calendar year, on the first hotel, motel, vacation rental or hotel-inclusive vacation package of $500 or more booked through Expedia For TD; a flight on its own doesn’t qualify. The account has to be open, active and in good standing, the credit doesn’t count toward the minimum payment, and a credit not earned in one year doesn’t carry over to the next.

Welcome bonuses. TD runs sign-up offers on these cards, but the amounts and conditions change, so this page doesn’t list them; TD’s card pages show the current offer and its spending requirement. Credit card churning covers how issuers limit repeat bonuses, and the best TD credit cards page compares TD’s lineup.

TD Rewards vs TD Aeroplan cards

TD also sells Aeroplan cards, which earn Aeroplan points instead of TD Rewards points.

The trade-off is between fixed and variable value. A TD Rewards point is worth a set amount on any flight or hotel available on Expedia For TD. An Aeroplan point’s value depends on the award price of the flight you choose, on Air Canada and its partner airlines, so it can be worth more or less than a fixed rate. The Aeroplan guide explains how Aeroplan awards are priced, and Aeroplan points value works through what a point buys.

TD Rewards vs cash back

For everyday spending, the comparison is with a cash back card.

The points make the most sense for someone who books through Expedia For TD anyway; for someone who wouldn’t, the everyday pay-off rate is the one to compare with a cash back card’s rate. The cash back calculator runs that comparison on your own spending, and are credit card rewards worth it looks at when an annual fee pays for itself.

Keeping your points: expiry and closing an account

TD’s terms say “TD Rewards Points will not expire and be forfeited so long as the Account connected to the Program remains open, active and in Good Standing, and the Agreement has not ended.” The exceptions:

Ways to get more from TD Rewards

Related guides

• Credit card rewards programs in Canada: the hub for every program guide
• RBC Avion Rewards guide: RBC’s program, with fixed-points flights and airline conversions
• Aeroplan guide and Aeroplan points value: the program behind TD’s Aeroplan cards
• Amex Membership Rewards in Canada: a program with airline and hotel transfers
• Cash back calculator: compare points with cash back
• Points vs cash back credit cards and best no annual fee credit cards
• Best travel credit cards in Canada