Why the American Express Cobalt Card Is One of the Best Credit Cards in Canada

Here’s how you could earn 60,000 points in your first year by optimizing your purchases in the 5 points-per-dollar categories:

60,000 points for $9,000 in purchases over 12 months represents a minimum return of 6.7% if you use your points for a statement credit on any purchase. That’s a value of $600!

If you remove the cost of the card fee ($12.99 per month or $155.88 over 12 months), you have a net worth of approximately $444 in the first year!

One way to do this is to do your grocery shopping. And if you don’t have $500 to $1,000 worth of groceries a month, you could buy gift cards for other stores you frequent regularly, such as Amazon, SAQ, GAP, Old Navy, etc. Another way to accumulate 5x points for these purchases.

To our knowledge, American Express is the only institution in Canada to introduce a monthly fee on a credit card instead of an annual fee!

Thus, the monthly fee for the American Express Cobalt^® Card is $12.99.

This gives you a lot more flexibility: if you want to cancel your card after 6 months, you’ll only have to pay $77.94 instead of $150 for a similar card. But I don’t think you’ll ever cancel your card, because it’ll earn you so many points, even after the first year!

With the American Express Cobalt^® Card, you can earn between 1 and 5 points per dollar:

To maximize the use of your card, you can purchase gift cards (Amazon, SAQ, Netflix, etc.) at grocery stores or Couche-Tard convenience stores. You will get 5x the points for these purchases.

With the American Express Cobalt^® Card, you earn 5 points for every dollar spent on groceries.

Here’s an example of a $226.12 grocery bill at Super C that earned me 1,131 Membership Rewards points:

And don’t forget: grocery stores are a great place to find gift cards!

Here’s an example of a $250 SAQ gift card purchase I made on my American Express Cobalt^® Card in a Métro grocery store, right next to an SAQ Dépôt branch:

So when I bought SAQ gift cards in grocery stores, I earned 5 points per dollar for the SAQ!

With the American Express Cobalt^® Card you earn 5 points per dollar in convenience stores (Couche-Tard at Quebec, Macs-Circle K / 7-eleven elsewhere in Canada).

It’s great because convenience stores sell a lot of gift cards. So you can earn 5 points per dollar at many other stores!

Here, for example, is the purchase of a $200 Amazon.ca gift card that earned 1,000 Membership Rewards points:

Also, with the American Express Cobalt^® Card you earn 5 points per dollar in restaurants and bars.

For example, here is a list of restaurants, grocery stores and bars on our American Express Cobalt^® Card:

With all these purchases, I earned 5 points per dollar!

We’re big fans of home food delivery with platforms like Uber Eats or GoodFood! Here too, with the American Express Cobalt^® Card you get 5 points per dollar for home food delivery!

Here are two purchases:

• Uber Eats for $42.64 (213 Membership Rewards Points)
• GoodFood for $90.00 (450 Membership Rewards Points)

There used to be an annual limit of $30,000 on purchases eligible for the 5X multiplier, which has now been changed to a limit of $2,500 per month.

It’s not enough to accumulate Rewards Points quickly, you also have to be able to use them.

Here are the best uses for your Membership Rewards points earned with your American Express Cobalt^® Card.

It’s the easiest way to use American Express Cobalt^® Card Membership Rewards points:

1. You charge a trip to your card: flights, hotels, Airbnb, car rental, etc.
2. You redeem your points on this purchase: 1,000 points = $10

Here are two examples of travel companies without loyalty program, Air Transat and Airbnb:

Here, the principle is the same as for travel purchases… except that it applies to everyday purchases:

1. You buy something with your American Express Cobalt^® Card.
2. You redeem your points on this purchase: 1,000 points = $10

Here, it’s simply THE best use of American Express Cobalt^® Card Membership Rewards points:

1. You log in to the American Express travel portal
2. You book some flights at fixed-points pricing: 15,000 points = $300!

But this only applies to specific flights:

Here, it’s aimed at those who want to earn Marriott Bonvoy points towards a stay at one of the group’s 9,000+ hotels:

1. You log on to the Membership Rewards transfer portal
2. You transfer your Membership Rewards points into Marriott Bonvoy pointsat a rate of 1:1.2(or 5:6 if you prefer).
3. Book your hotel directly with your Marriott Bonvoy account

This is a great way to earn Marriott Bonvoy points, especially when you have exhausted other solutions like with Marriott Bonvoy credit cards bonuses!

That’s why we rank the American Express Cobalt^® Card alongside Marriott Bonvoy cards for earning Marriott Bonvoy points!

Here, it’s for those who want to earn Aeroplan points or Avios miles when booking flights with partner airlines:

1. You log on to the Membership Rewards transfer portal
2. You can transfer your Membership Rewards points into Aeroplan points or Avios miles at a rate of 1:1.
3. Book your ticket directly via your Aeroplan or British Airways Executive Club account.

Here, you use the Marriott Bonvoy program as leverage to collect airline program miles via your American Express Cobalt^® Card

So this is for those who want to earn Flying Blue, Alaska Airlines, Avios miles with purchases made on their American Express Cobalt^® Card:

1. You log on to the Membership Rewards transfer portal
2. You transfer your Membership Rewards points into Marriott Bonvoy points at a rate of 1:1.2(or 5:6 if you prefer).
3. Transfer your Marriott Bonvoy points into airline miles at a rate of 3:1(or 2.4:1 when transferring in increments of 60,000 Marriott Bonvoy points).
4. You book your airline reward directly within the airline program

In short, with every purchase on your American Express Cobalt^® Card in a 5 points-per-dollar category, you earn 6 Marriott points/$ or 2 Flying Blue – Alaska miles per dollar!

And it can be much more than that:

• When transferring your Marriott Bonvoy points in 60,000 increments: you get 5,000 bonus miles (so 60,000 points = 25,000 miles)
• Initiating this transfer during a conversion bonus period such as those offered 3 or 4 times a year by airline programs (25 to 35% bonus).

That’s why we think the American Express Cobalt^® Card is one of the best credit cards in Canada!

Throughout the year, American Express offers its Cardmembers promotional American Express Cobalt^® Cardpromotional offers.

Here are three recent examples:

Up to $95 easily accumulated, enough to offset the $12.99 monthly fee.

With the American Express Cobalt^® Card, you’ll benefit from a number of attractive insurances, especially for a card costing just $12.99 a month.

You are covered for $1,000 for your mobile devices.

Save when you travel with the flight and damage Insurance for rental cars included with your Card This insurance provides compensation for theft, loss or damage up to the market value of the rental car with a maximum MSRP of $85,000 per model year.

To take advantage of this benefit, simply decline the loss or damage coverage or similar option offered by the rental company and charge the entire rental to your Card. There’s no additional charge for this coverage, and you save yourself the daily insurance fee (usually $16 to $23 per day) charged by the car rental company.

Having booked your flight with your Card, you can receive up to $500 (maximum in combination with Flight Delay Insurance) for any necessary and reasonable everyday purchases of clothing and minor items deemed essential that you make within four days, if your baggage is not returned to you within six hours of arriving at your departure flight destination.

If you charge the full cost of your airline ticket to your Card, you are covered for loss or damage to your personal effects, carry-on baggage or checked baggage while traveling, up to a combined maximum of $500 per trip .

Charge your airline tickets to your Card and receive up to $500 (maximum in combination with Baggage Insurance) for reasonable and necessary hotel, motel, restaurant or incidental expenses incurred within 48 hours if your flight is delayed or you are denied boarding for four hours or more without alternate transportation.

Travel Accident Insurance provides automatic coverage of up to $250,000 for accidental death and dismemberment for you, your spouse and dependent children under age 23 when you travel on a common carrier (plane, train, boat or bus) and charge the full cost of all tickets to your Card. Supplementary Cardholders, their spouses and dependent children under 23 are also covered.

Simply pay for your hotel or motel room with your card and you will receive coverage of up to $500 in case of loss of most personal belongings in the event of a burglary at your hotel or motel room.

Eligible items purchased on your card may be insured for a period of 90 days from the date of purchase against accidental property damage and theft up to a maximum of $1,000 per claim (all items purchased combined).

Your coverage can automatically extend the original manufacturer’s warranty for up toone additional year when you carry all eligible items on your Card.

If you need to consult the insurance booklet, it can be found at this address.

On March 14, 2022, we took a poll in our Facebook group.

95% of respondents clearly preferred the American Express Cobalt card, and that it’s worth it in the long run. Here’s further proof that it really is the best, both on paper and in “real life”.

The American Express Cobalt^® Card is one of our favourite cards for all the aspects mentioned above.

Every time someone asks “which credit card to sign up for” in the Facebook group, many enthusiastic members arrive to talk about the virtues of American Express Cobalt^® Card!

You would like to apply for this Card while supporting milesopedia? Click here!

This article was not sponsored. The views and opinions expressed in this article are purely my own.

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In France, American Express cards are different.