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 5x the points spending categories:

60,000 points for $6,000 in purchases in 12 months is a 10% minimum return if you use your points for an account credit for any purchase. That’s a $600 value!

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-$1,000 worth of groceries a month, you could buy gift cards there for other businesses you regularly frequent like Amazon, SAQ, GAP, Old Navy, etc. Another way to earn 5x the points for these purchases.

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

The monthly fee for the American Express Cobalt™ Card is $12.99.

This allows you to be much more flexible: if you want to cancel your card after 6 months, you will have paid only $77.94 instead of $150 for a similar card. But I don’t think you’ll cancel your card as you’ll earn a lot of points even beyond the first year!

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

To maximize your card, you can purchase gift cards (Amazon, SAQ, Netflix, etc.) in grocery stores or at your 7-eleven / Couche-Tard convenience store. 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.

For example, here is a $226.12 grocery invoice at Super C, where I earned 1,131 Membership Rewards Points:

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

For example, here’s a $250 purchase I made with my American Express Cobalt™ Card at a Metro grocery store, right next to an SAQ Depot location:

So I earned, thanks to this SAQ gift card purchase in grocery stores, 5 points per dollar on my SAQ purchase!

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

This is exciting because convenience stores sell a lot of gift cards. So you can earn 5 points per dollar on many other businesses purchases!

For example, with a $200 Amazon.ca gift card purchase, I earned 1,000 Membership Rewards Points:

Also, with the American Express Cobalt™ Card, you earn 5 points per dollar at restaurants and bars.

For example, here are a series 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! With the American Express Cobalt™ Card, you also earn 5 points per dollar for home food delivery!

Here are two purchases from:

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

Do you regularly travel to the United States or anywhere else in the world for extended stays? You can easily use your American Express Cobalt™ Cardd at any U.S. grocery store and earn 5 points per dollar!

Here are, for example, our purchases in Puerto Rico grocery stores (Supermax and Pueblo):

When we travel, we spend more in restaurants and bars. With the American Express Cobalt™ Card, you also earn 5 points per dollar!

Here is a series of purchases in US restaurants during a stay in New York:

Or in South Africa:

It’s not all about earning a lot of Membership Rewards Points, but you have to be able to use them!

Here are the best uses of your Membership Rewards points earned with your American Express Cobalt™ Card.

This is the easiest way to redeem Membership Rewards Points earned with your American Express Cobalt™ Card:

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:

The principle is identical as above.

1. You are purchasing something with your American Express Cobalt™ Card
2. You redeem your points on this purchase: 1,000 points = $10

This is simply the best use of American Express Cobalt™ Card Membership Rewards points:

1. You browse 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, this is for those who want to earn Marriott Bonvoy points to get a free stay at one of the group’s 7,000 hotels:

1. You log on to the Membership Rewards transfer portal
2. You transfer your Membership Rewards Points to Marriott Bonvoy with a 1:1.2 ratio (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!

In fact, that’s why we rank the American Express Cobalt™ Card and the American Express Business Edge™ Card alongside Marriott Bonvoy cards to earn Marriott Bonvoy points!

This is 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 transfer your Membership Rewards points to Aeroplan points or Avios miles at a 1:1 rate
3. You book your flight directly through your Aeroplan or British Airways Executive Club account

Here, you use the Marriott Bonvoy program as a lever to earn airline program miles through your American Express Cobalt™ Card!

This is for those who want to earn Flying Blue, Alaska Airlines, Avios miles with their American Express Cobalt™ Card purchases:

1. You log on to the Membership Rewards transfer portal
2. You transfer your Membership Rewards Points to Marriott Bonvoy with a 1:1.2 ratio (or 5:6 if you prefer)
3. You transfer your Marriott Bonvoy points to airlines program with a 3:1 ratio (or 2.4:1 when you transfer in 60,000 Marriott Bonvoy points increments)
4. You book your airline reward directly within the airline program

In short, with every purchase on your American Express Cobalt™ Card in a 5x the points category, you earn 6 Marriott points/$ or 2 Flying Blue miles – Alaska 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 occurs 3 or 4 times a year with 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 promotional offers to American Express Cobalt™ Cardmembers.

Here are three recent examples:

Up to $95 easily accumulated, putting the $12.99 monthly fee into perspective!

With the American Express Cobalt™ Card, you get a lot of great insurance, especially for a card that costs only $12.99 per 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 and damage up to the market value of the rental car with a maximum MSRP of $85,000 depending on the year of the model.

To take advantage of this benefit, you simply need to refuse loss or damage protection or any other similar option offered by the rental company and bring the entire rental to your Card. This insurance is available at no extra cost and you do not have to pay the insurance charged by the car rental company (usually costing between $16 and $23 per day).

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 routine purchases of clothing and minor items deemed essential that you make in a four-day periodIf your luggage is not returned to you within the six hours after arrival at destination of your departure flight.

If you carry the full amount of your airfare to your Card you are insured in case of loss or damage of your personal belongings, carry-on baggage or checked baggage while travelling up to $500 per trip for all insured people.

Charge your airline tickets to your Card and get up to $500 (maximum in combination with Misdirected Baggage Insurance) for all necessary and reasonable expenses incurred within 48 hours at a hotel, motel or restaurant, or for small items, if your flight is delayed or you are denied boarding for four hours or more without providing alternative transportation.

Travel accident insurance gives you automatic coverage of up to 250,000 for accidental death and dismemberment for you, your spouse and your dependent children under age 23 when you travel on a common carrier (plane, train, boat or bus) and you charge the full price of all tickets to your Card. Supplementary card holders, their spouses and dependent children under the age of 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 manufacturer’s initial warranty up to an additional year when you carry all eligible items to your Card.

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

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

95% of respondents clearly preferred the American Express Cobalt^® Card. Here’s more 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 of the above.

Whenever someone asks “which credit card to apply for” in the Facebook group, many enthusiastic members come up to praise the 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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