The Value of TD Rewards Points

The average dollar value of 1 TD Reward point is $0.005

TD Rewards points value

The value of a TD Rewards point is $0.005 (half a cent) when redeemed for travel through Expedia for TD. For all other redemption categories, including Book Any Way travel, statement credits, merchandise and gift cards, the value of a TD rewards point is lower, between $0.0025 to $0.004. 

How do TD Rewards points work?

You need to use a TD travel credit card that is part of the TD Rewards program. The TD loyalty program allows card holders to earn TD points for every dollar spent. Points can then be redeemed for a variety of rewards, including travel, merchandise, gift cards, and more. TD’s travel credit cards include:

You can also earn bonus points by taking advantage of special offers and promotions from TD Bank. These offers may include earning extra points for using your card or redeeming your TD points at specific retailers or for making certain purchases; like at Expedia, Starbucks and Amazon.ca.

How to redeem TD points

Once you have accumulated enough TD Rewards points, you can redeem them through the TD Rewards portal (tdrewards.com). The most popular redemption option is for travel, where you can use your points to book flights, hotels, car rentals, and more through Expedia for TD. Thanks to TD and Expedia’s partnership, you can redeem TD points for anything listed on one of the largest travel search engines in the world via the ExpediaforTD website including:

• Flights from virtually any airline of your choice with no blackout dates or seat restrictions
• Hotel stays at hundreds of resorts
• Vacation packages
• Car rentals
• Cruises
• Tours (e.g. museum tours)
• Anything else available on Expedia

Plus, with TD points you can redeem your points for all or part of the travel booking, depending on how many points you have (just remember that 200 TD points = $1 on Expedia for TD.) If you use points for only part of the booking, and charge the rest to a TD travel credit card, you’ll still earn bonus TD points on the remainder of the booking price charged to your card.

You can also redeem your points for merchandise, gift cards, cash back, and even education expenses like tuition (a rare option for rewards programs), although the value of points for non-travel redemptions is lower.

How to use Expedia for TD

In order to leverage the partnership between TD and Expedia and reap the maximum value out of your TD points, simply visit ExpediaforTD.com, use the search filters to create the ideal travel itinerary, and input the number of points you’d like to redeem in 200 point increments at the online checkout when you’re ready to book.

You can use any combination of points and credit as you like, so you won’t need to build up a giant stockpile of rewards points before you can start putting them to good use. Just note: you must visit ExpediaforTD.com, not Expedia.ca. While both website share the same travel options, only ExpediaforTD.com allows for direct redemption of TD points.

Expedia for TD price guarantee

The Expedia for TD price guarantee is a price matching program offered for hotel bookings or package bookings only. There are a few eligibility conditions your booking will have to meet:

• For vacation packages, travel must have been booked within the last 24 hours to be eligible.
  The price of the booking is lower than the price of your Expedia booking
• You must submit the price matching claim before 12am on the day of your check in
• The details of your claim must be the same as the Expedia booking: the booking date, property, room type, rate and refund policy as well as extras must all be the same
• You provide a screenshot and URL of the price found online
• The booking must have been made in Canadian dollars (and without reference to currency converters)
• The booking must have been made online, so that disqualifies bookings made over the phone where you call to receive lower rates (like with some bookings on Priceline, for example)

How to use Book Any Way Travel

Book Any Way is slightly more involved but extremely flexible, allowing you to purchase virtually any travel booking directly from an airline or travel provider of your choice using your TD Rewards credit card and redeem your TD points after the fact.

Redemption values may differ slightly depending on the price of your travel booking. On the first $1,200 of travel expenses, you’re able to redeem in flat increments of 250 points for $1 (0.4 cents per point). On anything $1,201 or beyond, you can redeem in increments of 200 points for $1 (0.5 cents per point)

A range of expenses are eligible for redemptions under the Book Any Way option, including everything from conventional travel expenses like air travel and hotel stays, to airport parking, bed & breakfasts, and theme park tickets (and even meals, in some cases); making it a great option if you’re looking to redeem TD points for a travel reward not available on the ExpediaforTD website. 

Your points will be applied to your card bill as a statement credit to offset the cost of the travel purchase. Here’s how it works:

• Make a travel purchase on your TD Rewards Visa Card and wait for it to appear on your credit card statement (usually takes at least 3 business days)
• Visit the TD Rewards website (or contact TD Rewards over the phone) to apply TD points against your travel purchase (must be done no later than 90 days from the date you purchased the travel booking)

How to redeem TD points for education

Are you (or a loved one) a student enrolled in a post-secondary institution? As a TD Rewards points collector, you can redeem points for education credits that’ll go towards reducing the cost of tuition and student loans.

Points can be redeemed for education credits at over 100 universities, colleges, and higher-education institutions including OSAP, Canada Student Loans, University of Toronto, Queen’s University, University of British Columbia, and so many more.

You’ll need to redeem a minimum of 62,500 TD points for the equivalent of $250 in education credits (1 point = $0.04). The whole process is pretty straightforward: visit the TD Rewards website, select “Redeem for Education”, and link your TD account to the HigherEDPoint.com website - an institution that partners with loyalty rewards programs and universities. Once you’ve redeemed your points, you’ll transfer the credits from HigherEDPoint.com to your university or student loan provider. One important note: once you transfer your TD points to HigherEDPoint.com, you must use your credits within two years otherwise they’ll expire.

How to redeem TD points for gift cards, merchandise and statement credits

Redeem TD points for statement credits

To redeem TD points for statement credits and pay down your balance, you’ll need at least 10,000 points. 400 points is worth $1 in statement credits, which is a relatively low value of $0.0025. If you are looking to earn cash back rewards to pay off your balance or purchases, you may want to look into a cash back credit card instead, and get a higher earn rate in this category.

Redeem TD points for gift cards

You can redeem your points for gift cards using the following points redemption levels:

• 20,000 points for a $50 gift card (value of $0.0025)
• 10,000 points for a $25 gift card (value of $0.0025)

You can also redeem points for Cineplex tickets and experiences. As you can see, the value of TD points for gift card redemptions is also quite low.

Redeem TD points for merchandise

You can redeem TD points for a variety of products through tdrewards.com. For example, a Breville Nespresso machine available on the website has a retail value of $899.99, and 252,451 TD points are required - giving this redemption option a value of $0.0036. The value of some merchandise redemptions are higher than the redemption value for cash or gift cards, but still quite low compared to the value you can get from travel redemptions or education credits.

The best way to use your TD Rewards points

Tip 1: Redeem for travel (and stick with ExpediaforTD whenever possible)

Objectively speaking, the best way to maximize TD Rewards is to redeem your points for travel. Specifically from the ExpediaforTD website.

The benefit is two-fold: you’ll get the maximum value when redeeming points on ExpediaforTD (0.5 cents per point); plus you can earn up to triple the points per dollar for any travel expense paid for on the ExpediaforTD website using a TD rewards credit card. ExpediaforTD’s travel catalogue is vast and doesn’t just include flights but hotel stays and rental cars, too.

The next best alternative is to use the Book Any Way redemption option. While this does offer less value on your points when compared to ExpediaforTD, it does allows you to redeem points for virtually any travel booking, including B&Bs or RV rentals, which aren’t offered by Expedia. This gives you a wider variety of redemption options for your travels.

Here’s an example to compare the two.

When redeeming TD points for a $2,273 round-trip flight to Singapore:

Redeeming with ExpediaforTD:

• A total of 454,600 TD Points would need to be redeemed, at a rate of 0.5 cents per point

Redeeming with Book Any Way travel:

• For the first $1,200 of the flight ticket, you would need to redeem 300,000 points, at a rate of 0.4 cents per point
• For the remaining $1,073, you’d need to redeem 214,600 points, at a rate of 0.5 cents per point
• Adds up to a total of 514,600 points (required 13.2% more points versus if you used ExpediaforTD)

When paying for a $2,273 round-trip flight to Singapore (instead of using points):

Purchasing on ExpediaforTD:

• You could collect triple the points per dollar if you use a TD travel credit card. In the case of the TD First Class Visa Infinite, that would add up to 8 TD points per dollar or a total of 18,184 TD points on the travel purchase, which is enough for $90.92 in travel bookings on ExpediaforTD

Purchasing outside of ExpediaforTD:

• You would earn the base number of points per dollar. With the TD First Class Visa Infinite, that would be 2 TD points per dollar or a total of 4,546 TD points on the same travel purchase

Tip 2: If you don’t want to travel, your next best option is to redeem for education credits

If you or a loved one is a post-secondary student and you’ve got no travel plans for the foreseeable future, the best way to redeem your TD points is for educational credits. You’ll get a flat 0.4 cents (or 0.4% return).

Tip 3: Avoid redeeming points for merchandise

Using your points for merchandise rewards - whether in the form of gift cards, Amazon.ca purchases, or items from TD Rewards’ merchandise catalogue - will always net you a lower return. In several cases, you’ll get half as much value out of your points when redeeming for merchandise versus redeeming them for travel.

As a result, it’s best to stick to only redeeming points for travel or education credits. The silver lining is TD points never expire as long as your account is in good standing, so you can technically hoard your points until you do eventually want to book a flight, hotel stay, car rental, or another eligible travel reward far off into the future.

If you’d prefer to earn rewards as a way to save on your everyday purchases - as opposed to travel - we recommend checking out some of the best cash back credit cards in Canada instead.