American Express: Should You Upgrade From The Cobalt Card To The Gold Card?

To the point American Express Canada offers certain cardholders the opportunity to upgrade from the Cobalt Card to the Gold Card with bonus points. Should you take the plunge?

Cobalt to Gold Card Upgrade Offer Cobalt Card: Best for Points Accumulation Gold Card: Best for Benefits and Travel Gold or Cobalt Cards: beware of abuse Bottom Line

American Express - Cobalt to Gold Card Upgrade Offer

Presently, American Express Canada is offering select American Express Cobalt^{^®} Cardmembers the opportunity to upgrade to the American Express^{^®} Gold Rewards Card.

Upgrade to a Gold Card now and you could earn 40,000 bonus Membership Rewards points by making $3,000 in purchases on your Card within the first three months of membership + you could earn 10,000 points by making a purchase between the 14th and 17th months following membership enrolment.

Let’s quickly compare the benefits of the American Express Cobalt^{^®} Card and the American Express^{^®} Gold Rewards Card.

American Express - Cobalt Card: Best for Points Accumulation

The American Express Cobalt^® Card is unbeatable when it comes to accumulating points: you can earn between 1 and 5 points per dollar.

Category	Points per dollar
Grocery (Metro, IGA, Sobeys, Super C, etc.)	5
Home food delivery	5
Restaurants and bars	5
Convenience stores	5
Streaming services	3
Gas station	2
Transportation	2
Travel	1
Other	1

This represents an average return of 1.7% to 8.5% on all these purchases, according to Milesopedia’s valuation of a Membership Reward point.

Just like the American Express^® Gold Rewards Card, you can easily use these points as a statement credit towards your everyday or travel purchases. The value is the same: 1,000 points = $10.

Or you can transfer them into Aeroplan points, Avios (British Airways, Qatar Airways and Finnair), Flying Blue, Marriott Bonvoy or Hilton Honors.

The American Express Cobalt^® Card has a monthly fee of $12.99, which translates into $155.88 per year.

American Express - Gold Card: Best for Benefits and Travel

The American Express^® Gold Rewards Card is not as generous when it comes to accumulating points: you can earn between 1 and 2 points per dollar.

Category	Points per dollar
Grocery (Metro, IGA, Sobeys, Super C, etc.)	2
Gas station	2
Pharmacies	2
Travel	2
Other	1

This represents an average return of 1.7% to 3.4% on all these purchases.

Just like the American Express Cobalt^MD Card, you can easily use these points as Statement credit towards your everyday or travel purchases. The value is the same: 1,000 points = $10.

Or you can transfer them into Aeroplan points, Avios (British Airways, Qatar Airways and Finnair), Flying Blue, Marriott Bonvoy or Hilton Honors.

The American Express^® Gold Rewards Card has an annual fee of $250. That’s $94.12 more than the American Express Cobalt^® Card.

With a higher annual fee, this Card offers several benefits for travel:

$100 Annual Travel Credit
Priority Pass membership and four free visits per year to Canada’s Plaza Premium lounges
Account credit of $50 every 4 years for NEXUS application or renewal fees
Gold or Rose Gold stainless steel metal options for your Card

By using the $100 travel credit each year, it’s as if the card only cost you $150, a little less than the American Express Cobalt^® Card. What’s more, you get 4 free accesses to Plaza Premium lounges in Canada (including the Air France Montréal-Trudeau YUL lounge).

On October 8, 2024, the accumulation rate for the American Express Cobalt^® Card was reduced from 2X to 1X points. Therefore, if you have a lot of spending to do on hotels, airfare, train tickets, cruises or the like, it may be advantageous to upgrade to the American Express Gold Rewards Card.

Amex Featured Salon Air France YUL -2 — Carte Or - Salon Air France Montréal Trudeau (Plaza Premium)

American Express - Gold or Cobalt Cards: beware of abuse

If you are offered an upgrade from the American Express Cobalt^® Card to the AmericanExpress^® Gold Rewards Card, you might be tempted to accept the offer and sign up for the American Express Cobalt^® Card again.

However, American Express has made provision for this case in the conditions relating to this upgrade offer:

Current or former Cardmembers with this Card are not eligible for this offer. If we determine you have engaged in any abuse related to the offer and/or program and/or you are not eligible for the offer, we reserve the right to forgo issuing the welcome bonus, deduct it from your account, and/or cancel your Card account(s) and you will not be eligible for a fee refund.

Abuse can include but is not limited to, applying for multiple cards to earn points, applying for or transferring to a new Cobalt card after upgrading, canceling or downgrading your card within 14 months of acquiring it, or canceling or returning purchases you made to earn points. Please refer to the Membership Rewards Terms & Conditions (https://www.americanexpress.com/en-ca/rewards/membership-rewards/terms) for other examples of abuse related to the program and for further detail on the consequences of abuse in relation to the program.

So don’t play with fire. Your account may be audited, and all your American Express Cards may be cancelled.

Bottom Line

So? What should you do if you are an American Express Cobalt^® Card holder and American Express Canada suggests you upgrade to the American Express^® Gold Rewards Card?

First, analyze your spending in the 5X-point purchase categories (grocery stores, restaurants, convenience stores, food delivery). And don’t forget the gift cards you can buy in grocery stores.

For example, if you spend $1,000 per month on groceries, restaurants and food delivery, you’ll earn 5,000 points or $50 cash back per month. That’s 60,000 points or $600 cash back per year with this card for this purchase category!

By upgrading to the American Express^® Gold Rewards Card, you will now only earn 2 points per dollar for groceries and only 1 point per dollar for restaurants, convenience stores, and food delivery.

Truth be told, the purchase categories where the American Express Gold Rewards Card stands out are travel and pharmacy, offering 2 points per dollar (compared to just 1 point for the American Express Cobalt^® Card).

Category	Cobalt Card Points per dollar	Gold Card Points per dollar
Grocery (Metro, IGA, Sobeys, Super C, etc.)	5	2
Home food delivery	5	1
Restaurants and bars	5	1
Convenience stores	5	1
Streaming services	3	1
Gas station	2	2
Transportation	2	1
Travel	1	2
Pharmacies	1	2
Other	1	1

However, if you don’t have a lot of spending in the 5 points-per-dollar categories (or have another American Express Cobalt^® Card in your household), upgrading from the American Express Cobalt^® Card to the American Express^® Gold Rewards Card may be worth considering to benefit from:

The Welcome Bonus Offer
The travel benefits

Personally, having received this offer myself (and being a holder of both Cards) I’m not going to accept it. Even if the offer seems tempting, I don’t want to part with the American Express Cobalt^® Card, which I still consider to be one of the best credit cards in Canada.

It’s a card I renew year after year (and we’ll explain why here).