Canada’s 7 Best American Express Credit Cards

American Express Credit Cards: What You Need to Know

When choosing an American Express credit card, you should familiarize yourself with what benefits an American Express credit card can offer, what features to look out for, and how American Express credit cards can fit into an optimized overall credit card strategy.

Why get an American Express card?

Over the years, American Express has deliberately cultivated a premium brand. But it’s more than just an image – their cardholders get many unique benefits and significantly more perks than you’ll see on other credit cards.

Because Amex is both a card issuer and a payment network, they have more control over the rewards they can offer. As a result, Amex cards have the highest everyday earning rates on popular spending categories like groceries and restaurants. For example, while you may see 5% back on a Visa or Mastercard, they don’t offer flexible transferable rewards you get with the American Express Cobalt Card.

As if that weren’t enough, Amex is also known for offering some of the largest signup bonuses in the industry. Considering how valuable their points can be, it’s no surprise that these incentives are incredibly tantalizing.

For even more points or cash back, you’ll receive special Amex Offers throughout the year. Activate them online and your account will automatically be credited when you meet the conditions. The Shop Small promotion is a popular one, good for credits when you make purchases at local businesses that take Amex. Offers like these can easily give you ongoing value year after year.

There are also many lifestyle-oriented perks of being an Amex cardmember. With American Express Invites, cardholders can get advance access to presale tickets for hot events like concerts and live theatre, before they go on sale to the general public. With American Express Experiences, cardholders can be invited to exclusive events only for Amex members, such as advance screenings, travel deals, and private venue-within-a-venue bars and lounges at major shows or festivals.

American Express cards don’t have a minimum income requirement. Whereas premium Visa and Mastercard products require you to be more established in your career, Amex can open the door for anyone to earn big rewards and enjoy top-tier benefits.

Finally, Amex prides themselves on top-notch customer service. Their staff are among the best when it comes to being informed, attentive, and able to address any issues that may arise for their clients.

What should you look for in an American Express credit card?

American Express uses Membership Rewards (MR) for their in-house awards program. On cards that earn MR points, you can transfer your points to various airline or hotel partners for high-value redemptions.

Amex also offers a range of co-branded cards, including Aeroplan and Marriott Bonvoy. These cards earn points directly into the loyalty program, and the premium cards have program benefits including discounts, elite status, and annual vouchers.

Amex’s premium cards have some of the best travel benefits, including unlimited airport lounge access, high insurance payouts, annual cash rebates, and automatic hotel status.

They also have a few cash back cards. These don’t have category bonuses, but they’re great for other purchases. If you want to earn more cash back on category spending, consider using a card that earns Membership Rewards points at a high rate, and redeeming them for statement credit against travel expenses.

Unique in the Canadian credit card scene, many Amex cards have a refer-a-friend program. You can earn an incentive bonus by referring friends and family when they are approved for new Amex cards, and the welcome bonuses through refer-a-friend links also tend to be stronger than the publicly available welcome bonuses.

For small business owners, American Express business cards have many flexible ways to help you grow. You’ll have increased options to manage your cash flow with interest-free grace periods and high spending limits on charge cards. Overall, there’s a great selection in Amex’s portfolio that can meet the needs of every type of entrepreneur.

What’s the optimal strategy for American Express credit cards?

American Express offers the most powerful rewards and travel benefits among all Canadian credit card issuers by quite some distance.

If you’re a dedicated traveller who wants to see as much of the world as possible by maximizing your credit cards, American Express credit cards will naturally play an all-important role in your wallet.

The Membership Rewards family of cards represents the best starting point, as they’ll allow you to quickly rack up the points to use towards flight and hotel redemptions. The Aeroplan and Marriott Bonvoy co-branded credit cards add another layer of bonus points into the mix.

Thanks to their unique refer-a-friend program, the American Express credit cards are also ideally suited to families and households who want to earn points together.

That’s especially the case because the welcome bonuses through refer-a-friend offers are usually better for the person opening the card, compared to applying without using a referral.

Combined with the referral bonus for the referrer, and the points can stack up very quickly within a single points-collecting household.

Within the household, it’s also a great idea to make sure that at least one individual is holding a Platinum Card or Business Platinum Card at any given time, as the unlimited Priority Pass lounge access benefit can be used by both adults (the cardholder and one guest) to access airport lounges before you fly.

Taken together, all these benefits significantly outweigh the occasional acceptance issues you might run into as an American Express cardholder.

With industry-leading welcome bonuses and travel benefits, competitive travel insurance, and access to the most powerful transferable, airline, and hotel rewards currencies in Canada, American Express credit cards ought to be an essential part of any Canadian traveller’s wallet.

Frequently Asked Questions

Below are some questions we frequently hear from readers about the best American Express credit cards in Canada.

What’s the difference between a credit card and a charge card?

Credit cards have a preset spending limit, and each month you have to make minimum payments. Charge cards don’t have a preset spending limit (although Amex may enforce one internally), and you face extremely steep penalties if you don’t pay your balance in full every month. You should be paying your balance in full anyway to avoid interest, so the difference between credit and charge cards won’t affect you.

Charge cards also appear on your credit report differently. Having a charge card is good, because it shows that you can responsibly manage other types of loans besides regular credit cards.

How many American Express cards can I have?

At any given time, each person can have up to four credit cards and unlimited charge cards from American Express in Canada.

How often can I apply for American Express cards?

You cannot apply for the Business Platinum Card and Business Gold Card within 90 days of each other. Aside from that, there are no firm rules – anything goes, as long as Amex is willing to have you as a member and extend more credit to you.

Can I apply for American Express business credit cards?

Yes, you can get business credit cards from Amex even if you aren’t a small business owner in the traditional sense. In general, you do this by signing up as a sole proprietorship, the type of business entity that refers to a business being operated solely within your name.

Which credit bureau does American Express check?

Usually TransUnion, although sometimes they’ll do a hard pull from Equifax. American Express also sometimes doesn’t do an inquiry for existing cardholders, instead relying on pre-approvals and your internal client profile with them.

How do I refer a friend?

Login to your Amex online dashboard and click on the “Refer Now” button. You can email an invitation to people you know, or generate a link directly to copy and paste via other channels.

What is an incognito offer?

Occasionally, American Express will target first-time visitors to their website with a bigger welcome bonus. You can try to trigger these offers by using a new web browser session, device, or IP address. Incognito offers are very common in the US, and they’ve been making appearances in Canada as well.