If you’ve just been approved for the American Express Cobalt Card, congratulations. In my opinion, this is the single most powerful everyday points-earning card in Canada.
But simply having the card isn’t enough.
To unlock the real value — especially if you care about premium travel redemptions — here are the 10 things you should do after approval.
1. Automate Full Monthly Balance Payments
Before you think about points, think about discipline.
Log into your Amex account and:
- Set up pre-authorized payment of the full monthly balance
Interest charges instantly wipe out the value of any points earned. The Cobalt’s value comes from rewards — not carrying balances.
This is step zero.
2. Make Sure You Meet the Monthly Minimum Spend Requirement (MSR)
The Cobalt earns its welcome bonus through monthly spending, typically:
- $750 per month to earn 1250 points
- For 12 months for a total of 15,000 points
If you miss a month, you permanently lose that portion of the bonus.
If you’re falling short in a given month:
- Prepay recurring expenses (insurance, subscriptions)
- Stock up on non-perishables or frozen groceries
- Time larger purchases strategically
Consistency matters more than one big spend.
3. Maximize the 5× Categories
The Cobalt earns 5× Membership Rewards points on:
- Restaurants
- Bars
- Cafés & coffee shops
- Uber Eats / Skip / DoorDash
- Grocery stores
Advanced Optimization
- Instacart and Uber Eats code as 5×
- You can use them for Costco, Walmart, or Loblaws/No Frills purchases (which normally wouldn’t accept Amex or only earn 1x points
- Nespresso purchases paid via Amex Cobalt directly in the app codes as 1x but purchases paid via PayPal using the Cobalt codes as 5x
- Uber eats sometimes gets your order wrong and when they do, they refund you uber credits. Instead of using these credits on your next Uber Eats order, thus losing out on 5x points, use these credits on you Uber rides, where you would normally get only 2x points.
The 5x category is where your points balance grows fast.
4. Move Streaming & App Store Subscriptions for 3× Points
The Cobalt earns 3x points on:
- Streaming subscriptions
- Any Apple App Store purchases or subscriptions
think Apple One, Apple Music, Spotify, Fitness apps, Headspace (just make sure you are not paying a higher cost because it is via the Apple app store) - Select digital subscriptions
Go through your subscriptions and move:
- Netflix
- Disney+
- Spotify
- Apple iCloud
- App Store recurring charges
Set it once and forget it — passive 3x earning.
5. Put Gas Spend on the Cobalt (2x Points)
The Cobalt earns 2x points on gas.
While the RBC ION+ earns 3x Avion points on gas, Membership Rewards points are significantly more flexible and valuable, especially when transferred to airline partners. In most cases, earning 2x MR is still more valuable long term than earning a higher multiplier in a lower-value ecosystem.
Unless you’re optimizing at a very granular level, gas belongs on the Cobalt.
6. Open Free Transfer Partner Accounts
Amex Membership Rewards points shine because they transfer to airline and hotel programs.
At minimum, create free accounts with:
- Air Canada Aeroplan
- British Airways Executive Club – Avios
- Air France/KLM Flying Blue
- Marriott Bonvoy
You don’t need points yet — just set up accounts so you’re ready when it’s time to transfer.
Example Redemptions
- 60,000–70,000 points → one-way business class to parts of Europe using Aeroplan or Flying Blue
- 25,000-40,000 points → one-way economy class to parts of Europe using Aeroplan or Flying Blue
- 13,000 Avios points → one-way economy class off-peak to Dublin via Aer Lingus (British Avios transfers 1:1 to Aer Lingus Avios)
- 50,000 Avios points → one-way business class off-peak to Dublin via Aer Lingus
The value jumps dramatically when you transfer strategically.
7. Activate Amex Offers
Log into your Amex app or website and go to “Activate Offers” to activate:
- Monthly Instacart credits ($5/month)
- Rotating merchant offers
These are stackable savings on top of points.
8. Use the Rewards Canada Spreadsheet to Confirm 5× Categories
Merchant coding matters and sometimes stores you didn’t think coded in the 5x category do.
Rewards Canada is a Canadian website dedicated to rewards and points and they have a spreadsheet that tracks what merchants code as 5× category (and 3x and 2x).
Check to confirm:
- Which grocery chains trigger 5×
- Which smaller cafés code correctly
- Which specialty stores qualify
- Some gas stations, when you pay inside the store, as opposed to at the pump, code as 5x “groceries” (think some 7/11 locations)
9. Occasional Gift Card from a Grocery Store is Fine, but…
Buying a gift card at a grocery store earns 5×.
Occasionally grabbing:
- Amazon
- Gas
- Restaurant
…gift cards is reasonable.
But don’t make a habit of buying many gift cards every month as it breaks the terms and conditions of the Cobalt and puts you at risk of Amex closing your account (known as being “Amexiled”). Amex MR points are valuable enough that this is not worth the risk. Keep the spending natural.
10. Add a supplementary card for your partner
One additional strategy with the Cobalt is adding a no-fee supplementary card for your partner. This allows you to consolidate household spending into one Membership Rewards account and accelerate points earning significantly.
Key advantages:
- All spending earns points in your primary account
- You maximize multiplier categories across the household
- No additional annual fee
Before you jump to making a supplementary card, note one small detail. Occasionally, American Express runs promotions where adding a supplementary card earns an additional 10,000 Membership Rewards points.
If there is no active supplementary card bonus now, you can simply add your primary card to your partner’s (and your own) Apple Wallet or Google Pay so you both can use the card independently. Then wait and formally apply for the supplementary card when a promotional offer is available to capture the extra points.
BONUS: Use Roame to Explore Redemptions
Before transferring points, explore redemption options using:
- Roame.travel
Roame allows you to:
- Live search across multiple airlines programs 3 days at a time (free version) or 7 days at a time (paid version)
- Skyview search (using cached results) across multiple airline programs 60 days at a time (paid version)
- Set alerts for the flights you are interested in (paid version)
- Compare pricing quickly
- Explore sample redemptions
Even if you’re just dreaming about Europe or Asia, it helps you understand what your points can realistically unlock. Explore my article on Roame here. The free version is a good starting place, but the real strength of the website is via Friends of Roame (paid version) which allows you to search entire regions (e.g. Toronto to Europe instead of Toronto to Paris only), 60 days at a time (called Skyview), and set alerts so you know when your desired flight becomes available. Use this link and the code PP10 for 10% off Friends of Roame.
Final Thoughts
The American Express Cobalt Card isn’t just a good card — it’s arguably the best everyday points engine in Canada when used correctly.
But the difference between “good” and “exceptional” comes down to:
- Consistent, natural spending
- Maximizing the multiplier categories
- Smart airline transfers
- Understanding redemptions
Use it intentionally — and it can fund flights that would otherwise cost thousands of dollars.
Referrals
If you found this article helpful, please consider using one of my referral links to support the work I do. It costs you nothing extra and by using a referral you are often able to get elevated sign-up bonuses, access to points promotions, or a discount. Most importantly, this helps convince my wife that the hours I spend on this hobby are worth it!
For Amex credit cards earning Membership Rewards, the most powerful and flexible travel points in Canada, like the Cobalt, Gold, Business Gold, Platinum, and Business Platinum please reach out to learn about the best sign up bonus options.
If you shop a lot (>$550 month) at Costco and are interested in flying to Europe, the Brim Flying Blue Mastercard is a solid choice and can be applied for using this link.
After your flight is sorted out, you’ll need a hotel room. For Amex credit cards that earn Marriott Bonvoy points such as the Marriott Bonvoy Amex and Marriott Bonvoy Business Amex, please reach out to learn about the best sign up bonus options.
To supercharge your points earning, use Chexy via this link to pay for things like rent, taxes, professional fees and other expenses that normally cannot go on a credit card.
Once you have accumulated points, you will need to search for flight redemptions efficiently. Roame is the best tool to quickly search multiple programs, multiple destinations, across many dates. Please use the following link and use code PP10 for 10% off the Friends of Roame subscription.
If you are new to points and rewards and want to learn more about optimization and have a personalized approach, please reach out to me for a free one-on-one session.
