Scotiabank Scene+ Visa Card for Students review

How the student Scene+ Visa earns points

The card earns 2 Scene+ points per dollar at Sobeys, Safeway, participating IGA, Foodland, FreshCo and other Sobeys-family stores. It also earns 2 points per dollar at Home Hardware and Home Building Centre locations and homehardware.ca, and at Cineplex theatres, the Cineplex app and cineplex.com. Everything else earns 1 point per dollar, including dining, gas, transit and groceries bought outside the Sobeys family.

Scotiabank doesn’t list an annual cap on the 2x rates.

A worked example

Say a student spends $250 a month at Sobeys-family grocers, $50 at Cineplex and Home Hardware, and $400 on everything else. That earns 500, 100 and 400 points, or 1,000 Scene+ points a month and 12,000 a year.

Scotiabank values 10,000 points at $100 when applied to travel, so 12,000 points are worth about $120 a year with no annual fee. A student who buys groceries mainly outside the Sobeys family earns half as much on that spending.

The welcome offer

New cardholders can earn up to 5,000 bonus Scene+ points: 2,500 after $250 in eligible purchases in the first 3 months, plus 2,500 more after $1,000 in eligible purchases in the same 3 months. It applies to accounts opened between July 2, 2026 and November 1, 2026.

The offer isn’t available to anyone who held a Scotiabank personal credit card in the past 2 years. In the example above, 5,000 points is about five months of regular earning.

Using Scene+ points

Scene+ points can go toward movies at Cineplex, groceries at Scene+ partners, or travel. You can apply points to travel booked with any provider within 12 months of the purchase, or book flights, hotels and car rentals through Scene+ Travel, Powered by Expedia. Hotels and car rentals booked there earn an extra 3 points per dollar.

Fees, interest and the fine print

There is no annual fee and supplementary cards are free. Purchases are charged 21.99% interest, and cash advances, balance transfers and cash-like transactions 22.99%. The minimum credit limit is $500.

Purchases in a foreign currency carry a 2.5% fee, or $25 for every $1,000. Scotiabank lists no built-in insurance; Scotia Credit Card Protection, a creditor insurance product, is optional. Its own page says the card may not suit you if you want embedded insurance or prefer cash back.

Extras

With a linked Shell Go+ account, Scotiabank lists up to 10¢ per litre in value at Shell: up to 7¢ off instantly for a limited time plus up to 3¢ in Scene+ points. Other extras include up to 25% off base rates at participating Avis and Budget locations in Canada and the US, 10% off GigSky global mobile data plans, and Scotia SelectPay instalment plans on purchases of $100 or more, with no-interest, no-fee plans on eligible Home Hardware purchases.

How it compares

The Scotiabank American Express Card for Students also has no annual fee and earns 3x at Sobeys-family grocers and 2x on dining, transit, gas and streaming, with up to 10,000 bonus points and mobile device insurance. It earns more for most students, as long as the places you shop take American Express.

The Scotiabank Scene+ Visa Card is the regular version of this card, with the same no-fee, 2x structure. Many students hold the Visa for acceptance and the Amex for its higher rates.

Before you apply

Canadian citizens and permanent residents can apply online; international students book an in-person appointment. Scotiabank doesn’t publish a minimum credit score, and notes that students with steady income over $12,000 a year may qualify for other cards. Confirm the offer and earn rates on Scotiabank’s website before you apply.