American Express Cobalt Card

The American Express Cobalt Card is one of the most popular cards in Canada, and for good reason. It’s the ultimate lifestyle card, earning incomparable rewards on groceries and restaurants, with an extremely flexible points program.

Bonuses & Fees

The Cobalt Card is designed as a “monthly membership” card. For each monthly billing cycle during the first 12 months that you complete $750 in spending, you’ll earn 1,250 MR points, for a total of up to 15,000 MR points over the course of the first 12 months of membership.

The annual fee of $155.88 is also charged on a monthly basis – so each month, you’ll be on the hook for a “Membership Fee Installment” of $12.99.

As a cardholder, you’ll earn 5,000 MR points for every referral you make, up to a maximum of 75,000 MR points per calendar year. You can also add supplementary cards for free.

Earning Rewards

The American Express Cobalt Card is a game changer when it comes to the returns on daily spending. You’ll earn:

• 5 MR points per dollar spent on groceries & dining, specifically “(i) restaurant, quick service restaurant, coffee shop and drinking establishments in Canada, (ii) stand-alone grocery stores in Canada, (iii) delivery of food and groceries in Canada as a primary business” up to a maximum of $2,500 a month. Thereafter, you’ll earn 1 MR point per dollar spent.
• 3 MR points per dollar spent on eligible streaming services in Canada, which include Apple TV+, Apple Music, Crave, Disney+, fuboTV, hayu, Netflix, RDS, SiriusXM Canada, Spotify, and TSN
• 2 MR points per dollar spent on eligible transit and transportation purchases, specifically stand-alone automobile gasoline stations in Canada and local commuter transportation in Canada including subway, streetcar, taxi, limousine, and ride sharing services
• 1 MR point per dollar spent on all other purchases
  • Earn 1 additional MR per dollar spent when booking your hotel or car rental through Amex Travel Online

Everyone that can make use of the Cobalt Card’s strong everyday earning rates stands to benefit from adding this card to their wallet.

This is also one of the few cards to offer 5x category multiplier on spending in Canada, which is something our American neighbours have had for a while.

Redeeming Rewards

The Membership Rewards program offers outstanding redemption opportunities. This is primarily because it’s a flexible, transferable rewards currency.

You can transfer your MR points to these airline and hotel programs at the following rates:

• Aeroplan at a 1:1 ratio
• British Airways Executive Club at a 1:1 ratio
• Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
• Air France KLM Flying Blue) at a 1:0.75 ratio
• Delta SkyMiles at a 1:0.75 ratio
• Etihad Guest at a 1:0.75 ratio
• Marriott Bonvoy at a 1:1.2 ratio
• Hilton Honors at a 1:1 ratio

Furthermore, you can redeem MR points directly for flights through the Amex Fixed Points Travel reward chart, although these are limited to round-trip flights departing from Canada.

Essentially, you can use a fixed amount of points towards the base ticket price of a regular cash ticket, up to a certain maximum. The number of points required and the maximum ticket price depends on the geographical region you are visiting (you can only book roundtrip flights that originate in Canada).

Lastly, you have the option of redeeming MR points directly against travel purchases at a rate of 1 cent per point (cpp), although this is typically not recommended, as the value pales in comparison to what you could get by booking flights through Aeroplan, Avios, or even the Fixed Points Travel chart.

Perks & Benefits

The strength of the Cobalt card is in its earning rates, and not so much in extra benefits. However, you’ll still get to enjoy some perks just for being an American Express cardholder.

With your card, you will have access to booking hotels through The Hotel Collection program. When you book a stay of two or more nights, you can receive up to $100 USD hotel credit and a room upgrade at check-in when available.

If you enjoy watching concerts, theatre productions, or other special events, your Cobalt card will give you access to presale and reserved tickets through Amex’s Front Of The Line® program and with Amex Experiences.

Lastly, you can take advantage of specially-tailored Amex Offers for extra value when used at specific dining venues, shops, and more.

Insurance Coverage

Charge your travel purchases to your Cobalt card, and you’ll automatically enjoy the following major coverages:

• Emergency medical insurance: Up to $5 million of coverage for the first 15 days of your out-of-province trip, for travellers under age 65.
• Flight delay insurance: Up to $500 (aggregate maximum with Baggage Delay insurance), for food, accommodation and items purchased within 48 hours when your flight is delayed 4+ hours.
• Baggage delay insurance: Up to $500 (aggregate maximum with Flight Delay insurance), for items purchased within 4 days of arrival when your baggage is delayed 6+ hours. (Note: this is different from lost and stolen baggage insurance, which doesn’t cover delays)
• Lost or stolen baggage insurance: Up to $500 of coverage total for all insured persons.
• Hotel burglary insurance: Up to $500 coverage for stolen items (excluding cash).
• Travel accident insurance: Up to $250,000 of Accidental Death and Dismemberment Insurance.
• Car rental theft and damage insurance: Comprehensive coverage for up to 48 consecutive days for cars with an MSRP of up to $85,000.

The most notable insurance difference with the Cobalt card when compared to the Amex Gold and Amex Platinum cards, is that it does not have any Trip Interruption and Trip Cancellation coverage.

Additionally, it is one of the few credit cards to offer Mobile Device Insurance. Coverage will be up to $1,000 per insured person, in the event of theft, loss or accidental damage, anywhere in the world, for up to a maximum of 2 years from the date of purchase.

The Cobalt card also comes with Purchase Protection^® Plan and Buyer’s Assurance^® Protection Plan, covering most eligible items you’ve purchased with your card up to $1,000 should they be stolen or damaged within 90 days of purchase, as well as an extended one-year warranty period on the manufacturer’s warranty.

Historical Offers