The American Express Cobalt Card, which is Canada’s best overall travel rewards credit card is taking a hit as American Express has announced an increase to the card’s monthly fee (Annual fee in Quebec). As of November 5, 2025 the monthly fee will increase to $15.99 per month from $12.99, except in Quebec where it will have it’s annual fee increased to $191.88 from the current $150.
Details of the Fee Increase
At $15.99 per month ($191.88 per year) the Cobalt Card will become Canada’s second most expensive premium card after the BMO VIPorter World Elite Mastercard which has an annual fee of $199.
American Express provided Rewards Canada with further details on when this change will take affect:
This change applies to a Cardmember’s first statement following their yearly anniversary. Supplementary Cards remain at $0. Newly acquired American Express Cobalt Cards will be subject to the higher fee immediately if approved on or after October 7, 2025.
Over the years we’ve seen the card go through numerous enhancements and devaluations as American Express tries to balance out the exceptional rewards that the card offers with the cost of having to provide those rewards.
Most of the devaluation side of things came after American Express brought in the biggest enhancement to date on the card several years ago, which was to add airline transfer options for Cobalt cardholders. A move that was and is still beloved by the points and miles community for the sheer value it can provide. Air Canada Aeroplan, Air France KLM Flying Blue, British Airways Executive Club, Delta SkyMiles and others all became fair game for Cobalt cardmembers who, prior to that enhancement only had options to convert to Marriott or Hilton (And then further on to airline programs from those hotel programs)
To this day, the card remains unmatched in the ability to earn points and miles for its airline program partners and of course, by offering up to 5 Aeroplan points, 5 Avios, 3.75 Flying Blue miles and so forth per dollar spent – it does not come cheap for American Express. Even the card’s any travel at anytime, cash back statement credit and fixed points for travel options are hard to beat thanks to the 5x points earning with only a few cards putting up a fight in those redemption options as it’s an expensive endeavor for any issuer to be providing returns of up to 5% to 10%.
And, it’s pretty obvious American Express does not want to toy with that – the biggest selling feature of the card of earning up to 5x points and having the most flexible redemption options, so they have and are adjusting other parts of the card to help the bottom line. This has included dropping the travel earn rate from 2 points to 1 point per dollar, cutting off accelerated earn rates outside of Canada and now increasing the cost to hold the card. Bad things happen in threes I suppose?
Will this affect how the card ranks?
I haven’t run any detailed numbers yet but having written so much about the Cobalt Card since it launched in 2017 and knowing the offerings of all of the competition, I can tell you that this latest change does not affect the card’s ranking as the best overall travel rewards card in Canada. The card has just been that far ahead of the competition that American Express can afford to make these changes without losing much ground!
For some of you I know you may have to run the numbers to see if the price increase affects your overall return on the card. This will especially be the case if you are one that does not convert to Amex’s airline and hotel partners or doesn’t used the Fixed Points for Travel reward chart. In other words, if you are only redeeming for any travel at anytime (not cash back statement credits), the increase in the Cobalt Card fee gives even more power to the Scotiabank Gold American Express Card (which remains at $120 per year) so you may want to compare these two cards for your individual spending and redemption habits to see which one will be better for you.
No other changes to the card
American Express also confirmed to Rewards Canada that this is the only change happening to the Cobalt Card. Everything else provided on the card such as the earn rates, benefits, insurance coverage and reward options are not changing.
Wrapping it up
Many of us in the points and miles community have wondered how long American Express would be able to maintain the earn to burn prowess of the card after adding the airline partner redemption option (not to mention increasing the pay with points redemption value) and Amex are proving that they can continue to do so by simply adjusting other parts of the card.
No matter how excellent the card is and remains to be, news like this still hits hard and is disappointing for all of us American Express Cobalt Cardmembers. Three dollars more per month may not seem like much but that’s over a 20% increase in the cost to carry the card and just further adds to the total cost of everything else in life getting more expensive.
What are your thoughts on the increase to the fee on the Cobalt Card? Does it or will it make much difference to you? Are you going to keep the card or move to a different one? Let us know in the comments below
Click here to learn more about the American Express Cobalt Card
