Scotiabank · Visa
Best low interest card for a first credit card
13.99% on purchases and cash advances, which is about eight points below the rest of this segment. It earns nothing, so it only makes sense if you carry a balance.
Rates and features verified 2026-08-18Full terms and conditionsHow we research cards
What we like, and what we don’t
Worth having
- 13.99% on purchases, roughly eight points below the standard card rate
- 13.99% on cash advances too, which is almost unheard of and the real reason to hold it
- A 0% balance transfer rate for nine months with a 1% transfer fee
- The $29 fee is waived in the first year
- Scotiabank publishes no minimum income
Watch out for
- It earns no rewards at all
- $29 a year from the second year, on a card that pays you nothing back
- The first year waiver applies to the primary card only
- No travel insurance and no purchase protection
- The fuel and car rental discounts are third party offers, not card benefits
What this card earns
- What we value a point at
- Not published by the issuer
The earning fine print
No rewards program. This card earns no points and no cash back. It is a low-interest product. The only spend-linked value comes from third-party discounts: up to 5 cents per litre in fuel savings at Shell, up to 25% off car rentals at Avis and Budget, and 10% off GigSky global mobile data plans. All earn fields are null because no earn structure exists, not because it is unpublished.
The welcome offer
- Also included
- The first-year annual fee is waived
- Offer ends
- 2027-01-03
What the offer actually requires
The welcome offer is a 0% promotional interest rate on balance transfers for the first 9 months with a 1% balance transfer fee (minimum $5.00), plus no annual fee in the first year. Scotiabank's legal text states 'We will waive the annual fee for the primary card on the Account for the first year only'. The waiver is one year and applies only to the primary card. Offer period: July 2, 2026 to January 3, 2027. There is no points or cash bonus, so all bonus_tier fields are null.
Fees and interest rates
- Annual fee
- $29 waived the first year
- Additional card
- Free
- Foreign transaction fee
- 2.5%
- Purchase APR
- 13.99%
- Cash advance APR
- 13.99%
- Balance transfer APR
- 13.99%
- Balance transfer promo
- 0% for 9 months
- Balance transfer fee
- 1%
Who can get this card
- Minimum personal income
- Not published by the issuer
What the benefits really mean
No embedded insurance is published for this card. Scotia Credit Card Protection is an optional paid add-on with Basic and Comprehensive bundles. Non-insurance perks: up to 5c/L at Shell, up to 25% off Avis and Budget car rentals, 10% off GigSky data plans. The single genuinely useful feature is the 13.99% rate on purchases AND cash advances. Roughly 8 points below every other student card in this segment, and the only student card in Canada where the cash advance rate is not punitive. For a student who will carry a balance this beats all the rewards cards. But it costs $29/year after the first year and earns nothing, so a student who pays in full every month loses money on it relative to any $0-fee student card. First-year fee waiver applies to the PRIMARY CARD ONLY and for one year only, per Scotiabank's legal text. INCOME INVERSION: no minimum income is published. The $12,000 figure appears only under the 'Not sure if this is right for you?' heading as 'Have a steady income of more than $12000/year'. A ceiling-style positioning statement, not a floor. Min_personal_income is NOT PUBLISHED. The 0% balance transfer promo carries a 1% transfer fee (minimum $5) charged up front and reverts to 13.99% after 9 months. No embedded insurance published at all. Not even purchase security or extended warranty. International students must book an in-person appointment; they cannot apply online.
Our verdict
Almost every card in this segment charges around 21% and pays a percent or two back, which is a fine trade if you clear the balance and a terrible one if you do not. This card is the reverse: nothing back, and a rate eight points lower. Carry $2,000 for a year and it saves you around $160 in interest, which no student card's rewards will come close to matching.
The cash advance rate is the part worth singling out. Most cards price cash advances at 22% or higher and start charging interest the same day. This one charges 13.99%, which makes it the least punishing card in this comparison for somebody who occasionally needs cash. If you pay in full every month, ignore all of this and take a free card that pays rewards, because here you would be paying $29 a year for a feature you never use.
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Where this came from. Scotiabank product page (student-value-card.html) for fees, APRs, balance transfer promo, fee waiver legal text and perks; Scotiabank Credit Card Fees page effective February 1, 2026 for the 2.5% FX fee and the greater-of-$5-or-1% balance transfer fee.. We take every figure from the issuer’s own pages, never from another comparison site, and we leave a field blank rather than guess at it.