We know that American Express will be updating the Cobalt Card as of August 16, 2021. On that date the card will get an increased earn rate of 3x points for select streaming services like Netflix and Spotify. It will also get Mobile Device insurance added to insurance suite of benefits. The biggest change however will be the ability to convert points earned on the Cobalt Card directly to American Express' airline partners. This is big news for many points and miles enthusiasts as this means 1 to 1 redemption to Air Canada Aeroplan and British Airways Executive Club. And then a redemption rate of 1 to .75 points for the other airline partners.
What this translates to is that you can earn up to five Aeroplan points or British Airways Avios per dollar spent on the Cobalt Card. In the terms of earnings, this is the highest standard accelerated earn rate on any card in Canada for Aeroplan or British Airways.
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Of course with all these changes comes the one piece of bad news and that is an increase to the monthly fee. Right now the Cobalt Card carries a $10 monthly fee and as of August 16 that will be increased to $12.99. So that brings us to the question should you get the card now or after August 16? The reason why we ask this is that if you apply for and get the card before August 16 you can lock in the $10 a month fee for 12 months as American Express won’t start charging the $12.99 until the anniversary of your card. That means if you apply for the card after August 16 you will be charged $12.99 each month right off the bat.
You may ask why are we even asking the question? Shouldn’t it be obvious to get the card before August 16 - yes get it before and lock in for $10 a month. However there is an ever so slight possibility that with the increase in monthly fee we may see an increased welcome on the card after August 16. Of course we don’t know this for sure and in my gut knowing the changes that are happening in earn rate and conversion in exchange for the higher monthly fee I feel the welcome bonus of 30,000 points won’t change. But that’s just a guess and I don’t know for sure at this time. If you get the card right now you'll lock in at $10 a month and save yourself almost $36 in the first year but then you have to ask yourself what if they bring back the 45,000 point bonus on the card that we saw earlier this year? That’s an additional 15,000 points that are worth no less than $150! So you can see the dilemma here - save $36 right now or come out $114 ahead in points. We know you can lock in at $10 a month We don't know if there will be a better welcome offer. So I’ll leave it up to you but in my gut I feel like there won’t be a bigger welcome bonus. Personally I would apply for the card now if we didn't already have two of them in our household. No matter what you decide either way the card remains the best card in Canada whether you are paying $10 a month or $12.99 a month and it should be in every Canadian's wallet. Let us know what you think in the comment section below - do you go with the known or the unknown?
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