PaySmarter Guides
Credit Cards & Rewards
Choosing cards, understanding points and cashback, welcome offers, and building a simple setup that keeps paying off after year one.
Featured Guides
All Credit Cards & Rewards guides
- StrategyBest 2-card wallet setups in Canada (2026)One card almost never wins everything. Here are the 2-card setups we recommend most often for Canadian renters who want to maximize rewards without overcomplicating life.
- StrategyHow to earn more rewards on recurring billsRecurring bills are the easiest spend to optimize: predictable, card-eligible, and a quiet source of $200–$400/year in extra rewards. This guide covers the strategy — for the full ranked list, see our recurring-bills card ranking.
- StrategyTravel vs Cashback Credit Cards in CanadaCashback or points? It's the most common credit-card question Canadians ask. Here's the simple framework we use.
- StrategyAeroplan eStore guide: stacking portal points with your credit cardThe Aeroplan eStore is Air Canada's online shopping portal: click through to a partner retailer from estore.aeroplan.com and you earn bonus Aeroplan points on top of whatever your credit card already earns. Used deliberately, it is one of the few genuinely free stacking layers available to Canadian shoppers.
- StrategyHow to hit credit card welcome bonuses by paying rent in CanadaThe hardest part of a big welcome bonus is the minimum spend. Rent is usually the largest bill you have — routing it through a payment platform can get you there without buying anything you don't need.
- StrategyAeroplan vs cash back: which gives more value on rent?Points or cash? On a bill as large as rent, the choice is worth hundreds of dollars a year. Here's the math, with the platform fee included.
- RewardsEarning Rewards by Paying Credit Card Bills in CanadaHow some platforms let you earn extra rewards when paying your credit card bill — and the catches.
Explore other guides
- Paying BillsPractical guides for paying rent, mortgage, taxes and everyday bills.
- Fees & SavingsUnderstand costs, fees, savings and break-even points.
- Credit & TrustCredit education, transparency and how PaySmarter evaluates offers.
- How PaySmarter WorksUnderstand PaySmarter, its methodology and how comparisons work.