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 $192 is also charged on a monthly basis – so each month, you'll be on the hook for a "Membership Fee Installment" of $16.

As a cardholder, you'll earn 5,000 MR points for every referral you make, up to a maximum of 15,000 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.

If you’d like to estimate how much value you’ll earn each month, feel free to use our rewards calculator below.

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
The British Airways Club at a 1:1 ratio
Cathay Pacific Asia Miles at a 1:0.75 ratio
Air France KLM Flying Blue at a 1:1 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

What makes Membership Rewards points so powerful is that they can pretty much do everything that all other points currencies in Canada can, but they can also do much more.

By earning a single points currency, you have access to airlines in all three major alliances, and within each of those programs, you also have access to other external partners, too.

Air Canada's Aeroplan gives you access to Star Alliance-member airlines, such as All Nippon Airways, Lufthansa, Singapore Airlines, Turkish Airlines, United Airlines, and more, as well as external partners, such as Etihad Airways, Virgin Australia, and more.

The Essential Guide to Aeroplan

The British Airways Club gives you access to oneworld-member airlines, such as Cathay Pacific, Japan Airlines, Qatar Airways, and more. Plus, you can also convert your British Airways Avios into other "flavours" of Avios, which can result in some excellent redemption opportunities.

The Essential Guide to the British Airways Club

Air France KLM Flying Blue gives you access to SkyTeam-member airlines, such as Delta Air Lines, China Airlines, and more, as well as external partners such as Etihad Airways and even WestJet.

The Essential Guide to Air France KLM Flying Blue

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.

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.

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 four or more hours.
Baggage delay insurance: Up to $500 (aggregate maximum with Flight Delay insurance), for items purchased within four days of arrival when your baggage is delayed six or more 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 two 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.