Every now and then, American Express puts out upgrade offers for existing cardholders of select products. By upgrading to a higher-tier card, you’ll receive a new welcome bonus, and you’ll also benefit from any other perks included with the card.
Currently, there are upgrade offers to switch from the American Express Green Card to the American Express Cobalt Card or the American Express Gold Rewards Card, from the Cobalt Card to the Gold Rewards Card, and the Gold Card to the American Express Platinum Card.
Here’s everything you need to know about the upgrade offers.
Amex Green to Amex Cobalt Upgrade Offer
The American Express Green Card is the most basic Membership Rewards credit card in Amex Canada’s portfolio. It doesn’t have an annual fee, but it also doesn’t come with any other meaningful benefits, other than the following everyday earning rates:
- Earn 1 Membership Rewards point per dollar spent on all purchases
- Earn 1 additional Membership Rewards point per dollar spent on eligible hotels and car rentals booked through the Amex Travel portal
Right now, you can choose to upgrade from this product to the American Express Cobalt Card. If you do so, you’ll earn 15,000 Membership Rewards points, so long as you make $2,000 (all figures in CAD) in net purchases within the first three months after upgrading.
If you make the switch, keep in mind that the Cobalt Card comes with a $12.99 monthly membership fee, and features the following earning rates, which are the best in Canada:
- Earn 5 points per dollar spent on eats, drinks, and groceries (up to a maximum of $2,500 per month)
- Earn 3 points per dollar spent on streaming services
- Earn 2 points per dollar spent on travel and transit (travel will be reduced to 1 point per dollar spent in October 2024)
- Earn 1 point per dollar spent on all other purchases
- Earn 1 additional point per dollar spent on eligible hotels and car rentals through the Amex Travel portal
While the Cobalt Card is sparse on premium travel benefits, such as lounge access, its outstanding earning rates make it one of Canada’s must-have credit cards.
If you wish to learn more about the upgrade from the Amex Green to the Amex Cobalt, head through to the offer’s landing page.
Amex Green to Amex Gold Rewards Upgrade Offer
Another upgrade option that’s currently available to cardholders of the Amex Green Card is to move up to the Amex Gold Rewards Card.
If you choose to do so, you can earn 50,000 Membership Rewards points upon spending $3,000 in the first three months as a cardholder.
The metal Gold Rewards Card, which also comes in rose gold, features the following everyday earning rates:
- Earn 2 points per dollar spent on travel, gas, grocery, and drugstore purchases
- Earn 1 point per dollar spent on all other purchases
- Earn 1 additional point per dollar spent on eligible hotels and car rentals booked through the Amex Travel portal
Additionally, the card carries the following travel benefits:
- $100 annual travel credit, redeemable on the Amex Travel portal
- Priority Pass membership, plus four complimentary Plaza Premium lounge visits each year
- $50 NEXUS membership statement credit every four years
It’s worth noting that while the Gold Rewards Card comes with some premium travel benefits, its earning rate doesn’t match the 5x eats & drinks multiplier of the Cobalt Card.
If you’re interested in learning more about the upgrade, head over to the offer’s landing page.
Amex Cobalt to Amex Gold Upgrade Offer
If you currently hold the American Express Cobalt Card, you may find that the monthly fee structure, earning rates, or lack of travel benefits no longer meet your needs.
In such a situation, you may opt to upgrade your Cobalt Card to the American Express Gold Rewards Card with the current offer.
By doing so, you’ll earn a renewed welcome bonus of 40,000 Membership Rewards points, which are awarded after making $3,000 in net purchases in the first three months after upgrading. Plus, you’ll get another 10,000 points upon making a purchase in months 14–17 as a cardholder.
It’s worth noting that the Cobalt to Gold upgrade offer is lower than the Green to Gold offer (at least in the first year), and much lower than the best-available public offer for new applicants. However, the public offer has a monthly spending requirement spread out over a year, which could be seen as more difficult to keep track of.
If you’re interested in learning more about the upgrade, head over to the offer’s landing page.
Amex Gold to Amex Platinum Upgrade Offer
If you currently have an Amex Gold Rewards Card, you may receive an invitation to upgrade to the American Express Platinum Card, though it appears that this particular offer is targeted.
If you’re eligible, you can earn 80,000 Membership Rewards points upon spending $6,000 in the first three months as a cardholder.
The Platinum Card is a premium card, and comes with a hefty $799 annual fee compared to the Gold Card’s $250 annual fee.
However, you’ll also benefit from unlimited lounge access through the Global Lounge Collection, a $200 annual travel credit, a $200 annual dining credit, strong insurance, and more.
To see if you’ve been targeted with this offer, head over to the offer’s landing page, sign in to your account, and then proceed from there as you wish.
Should You Accept an Amex Upgrade Offer?
In the past, we’ve recommended the Amex Green Card as an ideal card to hold instead of a more expensive premium card, like the American Express Platinum Card, so that you don’t lose access to your Membership Rewards points.
Therefore, if you’ve been holding the Green Card simply to park your Membership Rewards points, now could be an excellent time to top off your balance through one of the upgrade offers.
If you’ve yet to add the Amex Cobalt Card to your portfolio, we’d suggest considering the Green-to-Cobalt upgrade offer, but to hold off on the Green-to-Gold upgrade offer. Here’s why.
The Amex Cobalt’s 5x earning rate on restaurants & groceries is an industry leader that’s often imitated but never truly surpassed, since Membership Rewards points are transferable to a number of airline and hotel loyalty programs.
Furthermore, the welcome bonus on the upgrade offer is much more lucrative than the current public offer for the Cobalt Card, which is segmented into 12 monthly minimum spending requirements of $750 to earn 1,250 bonus points. This results in a total of up to 15,000 MR points, spread out over the course of a year with monthly minimum spending requirements, rather than getting the same allotment of points by just spending $2,000 in three months.
In other words, to get the same amount of points with the best-available public offer compared to the Green-to-Cobalt upgrade offer, you’ll need to spend more than four times as much and wait an extra nine months to boot. It’s not hard to see why this is an excellent opportunity.
Meanwhile, when upgrading from the Green Card or the Cobalt Card to the Gold Rewards Card, the math becomes a little bit more complicated. This is mainly because the upgrade offers for 50,000 points upon spending $3,000 in three months (Green-to-Gold) or 40,000 points upon spending $3,000 in the first three months plus 10,000 points in year two (Cobalt-to-Gold) are 20,000 MR points lower than the total best-available welcome offer of up to 70,000 bonus points.
However, the current best-available offer for the Amex Gold Rewards Card provides 5,000 bonus points for each billing period in the first 12 months in which you spend $1,000 on your Gold Rewards Card, for a total of up to 60,000 MR points upon spending at least $12,000. You’ll also get 10,000 MR points upon spending $4,000 in the first three months.
If you can sustain the spending requirements for the public offer over the course of the year, then the extra 20,000 or 30,000 MR points at stake in year one could indeed be worth the added effort. However, if you’re looking for the path of least resistance to earn an extra 50,000 points, then the Green-to-Gold upgrade offer is certainly worth considering.
As for the Cobalt-to-Gold upgrade offer, the opportunity cost here is the loss of elevated earning rates on daily spending that you’d get with the Cobalt Card, especially for groceries and dining. If you happen to spend up to $2,500 at restaurants, bars, and grocery stores every month, the Gold Rewards Card probably isn’t the ideal card for your spending habits, and you’d be better off keeping the Cobalt Card as your daily driver.
On the other hand, you could also consider taking the upgrade offer for a boost of points, and then look at adding the Cobalt Card back into your portfolio further down the line for its elevated earning rates. Just beware that you may not be eligible for the welcome bonus the second time around, and be sure to read the upgrade offer’s terms and conditions.
However, this is where the magic of two-player mode comes into effect, since ideally, you’d have both the Cobalt Card and the Gold Rewards Card available in your household.
If you’re living with a significant other, trusted friend, or indulgent family member, you could always refer that person to the Cobalt Card before upgrading yourself to the Gold Rewards Card. This would net you another 5,000 Membership Rewards points from the referral, which comes in addition to keeping the 5x eats & drinks earn rate under your roof.
In this situation, you’d benefit from the best of all worlds: easy access to an attainable welcome bonus via the upgrade offer, the excellent daily earning rates from the Cobalt Card, and the travel benefits offered by the Gold Rewards Card.
Lastly, for the Gold-to-Platinum upgrade offer, you’ll need to consider whether or not you’re able to make use of all the card’s extra benefits in exchange for the $799 annual fee.
The best-available welcome bonus on the Platinum Card is for up to 100,000 Membership Rewards points, which is 20,000-points more than what’s at stake through the upgrade offer:
- Earn 70,000 MR points upon spending $10,000 in the first three months
- Earn 30,000 MR points upon making a purchase in months 14–17 as a cardholder
However, keep in mind that the structure of the Gold-to-Platinum upgrade offer is much simpler, since you’ll get the full swath of 80,000 points upon spending $6,000 in the first three months.
Conclusion
American Express Canada is offering customers an opportunity to upgrade an American Express Green Card, American Express Cobalt Card, and an American Express Gold Rewards Card. The upgrade offers for all cards offer the chance to rapidly expand your points balances in only a few months.
If you’re able to take advantage of any of the upgrade offers, head over to the landing pages and crunch the numbers to see if you stand to come out ahead.
Just got the upgrade offer from cobalt to gold, only 20k bonus membership points on $3000 net purchases in the first 3 months, + 10k points when making a purchase during 14th-17th months. Seems like pretty terrible compared to what mentioned in the article?
Hi. So it depends what your spending pattern is. Your upgrade offer offers 20k upon spending $3,000. But with the public offer, it is 10k points for $4,000 spend, and another 5k points for every $1,000 spend monthly up to 60k points. If you are looking at maximizing your earning, then indeed, the public offer is better. But if you have previously own the gold card before, then you will not be eligible again for the sign up bonus. Then this upgrade offer may be a way to give this card a 2nd try with added incentive.
Thank you for the reply! I’ve never had the gold card before, so if I’m deciding to try I want to maximize the welcome reward. And the offered to me seems subpar at best. Anyways, I wouldn’t consider switching since the 5x grocery & food reward is unbeatable.
Cobalt to Gold is gone from my account too. I guess I didn’t jump on it quickly enough.
I don’t see this offer when I log in anymore (I used to see it). Can I just apply using the offer landing page from this website and still get the welcome bonus?
Is this deal only for the US or invite only? because I called AMEX and the agent haven’t heard about this offer.
Hi, it is usually targeted offer only, and happening on both sides. Agents should be able to see if any upgrade offers were attached to your account if you are targeted. If not, perhaps hang-up and call again and see if there is any offer for switching your current card to another card.
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I always thought product switches are not possible with Amex in any form except occasional upgrade offers. Can anyone confirm a successful downgrade?
Indeed, we can product change in Amex, but normally within the card family, such as among the personal Aeroplan Cards, among the business cards that earn MR Points, among the personal cards that earn MR points etc
I have the Amex Green but the promotional offer I sent was the same as for the cobalt, 50k after spending $3k in the first 3 months on the gold card.
What happens to the Amex points that you have already parked in the Green Amex card when you transfer to the Colbalt card?
Hi, both cards use the same points currency so they should transfer over. When you call in to make the product switch request, make sure the agent acknowledge that you want the points to transfer over as well, just to be safe.
Great, thank you. So we do not need to transfer by the link? We can call in to take advantage of this transfer offer? Also, would you know when this offer ends? Thank you so much for your help Chris.
It doesn’t seem to have an end date to this “promotion” for now. However, it is still subjected to end by Amex without prior notice if/when they see fit.