Amex Upgrade Offers: Green to Cobalt & Cobalt to Gold

Every now and then, American Express puts out upgrade offers for existing cardholders of select products. By upgrading to a higher-tier card, you’ll receive a new welcome bonus, and you’ll also benefit from any other perks included with the card.

Currently, there are upgrade offers to switch from the American Express Green Card to the American Express Cobalt Card, and from the Cobalt Card to the American Express Gold Rewards Card.

While upgrade offers are sometimes only available to targeted cardholders, this current crop is available to anyone through the appropriate upgrade offer links.

Amex Green to Amex Cobalt Upgrade Offer

The American Express Green Card is the most basic Membership Rewards credit card amongst Amex Canada’s portfolio. It doesn’t have an annual fee, but it also doesn’t come with any meaningful benefits, other than the following everyday earning rates:

• 1 point per dollar spent on all purchases
• 1 additional point per dollar spent on eligible hotels and car rentals booked through the Amex Travel portal

Right now, you can choose to upgrade from this product to the American Express Cobalt Card. If you do so, you’ll earn 30,000 Membership Rewards points, so long as you make $3,000 in net purchases within the first three months after upgrading.

If you make the switch, keep in mind that the Cobalt Card comes with a $12.99 monthly membership fee, and features the following earning rates:

• 5 points per dollar spent on eats, drinks, and groceries (up to a maximum of $2,500 per month)
• 3 points per dollar spent on streaming services
• 2 points per dollar spent on travel and transit
• 1 point per dollar spent on all other purchases
• 1 additional point per dollar spent on eligible hotels and car rentals through the Amex Travel portal

While the Cobalt Card is sparse on premium travel benefits, such as lounge access, its outstanding earning rates make it one of Canada’s must-have credit cards.

If you wish to learn more about the upgrade from the Amex Green to the Amex Cobalt, head through to the offer’s landing page.

Amex Cobalt to Amex Gold Rewards Upgrade Offer

If you currently hold the American Express Cobalt Card, you may find that the monthly fee structure, earning rates, or lack of travel benefits no longer meet your tastes.

In such a situation, you may opt to upgrade your Cobalt Card to the American Express Gold Rewards Card with the current offer. By doing so, you’ll earn a renewed welcome bonus of 50,000 Membership Rewards points, which are awarded after making $3,000 in net purchases in the first three months after upgrading.

The metal Gold Rewards Card, which also comes in rose gold, features the following everyday earning rates:

• 2 points per dollar spent on travel, gas, grocery, and drugstore purchases
• 1 point per dollar spent on all other purchases
• 1 additional point per dollar spent on eligible hotels and car rentals booked through the Amex Travel portal

Additionally, the card carries the following travel benefits:

• $100 annual travel credit, redeemable on the Amex Travel portal
• Priority Pass membership, with four complimentary lounge visits each year
• $50 NEXUS membership statement credit every four years

It’s worth noting that while the Gold Rewards Card comes with some premium travel benefits, its earning rate doesn’t match the 5x eats & drinks multiplier of the Cobalt Card.

If you’re interested in learning more about the upgrade, head over to the offer’s landing page.

Should You Accept an Amex Upgrade Offer?

In the past, we’ve recommended the Amex Green Card as an ideal card to downgrade to from a more expensive premium card, like the American Express Platinum Card, so that you don’t lose access to your Membership Rewards points.

Therefore, if you’ve been holding the Green Card simply to park your Membership Rewards points, now could be an excellent time to top off your balance through the upgrade offer.

Moreover, the Amex Cobalt’s 5x earning rate on restaurants & groceries is an industry leader that’s often imitated but never truly surpassed, since Membership Rewards points are transferable to a number of airline and hotel loyalty programs.

Note that this offer is much more lucrative than the current public offer for the Cobalt Card, which is segmented into monthly minimum spending requirements of $500 to earn 2,500 bonus points. This results in a total of up to 30,000 MR points, spread out over the course of a year.

Therefore, to get the same amount of points offered through the Green to Cobalt upgrade offer, you’ll need to spend twice as much and wait an extra nine months. It’s not hard to see why this is an excellent opportunity.

Meanwhile, when upgrading from the Cobalt Card to the Gold Rewards Card, the math becomes a little bit more complicated. This is mainly because the upgrade offer for 50,000 points upon spending $3,000 in three months is 20,000 MR points lower than the total best-available welcome offer of up to 70,000 bonus points.

However, the current best-available offer provides 5,000 bonus points for each billing period in the first 12 months in which you spend $1,000 on your Gold Rewards Card, for a total of up to 60,000 MR points upon spending at least $12,000. You’ll also get 10,000 MR points upon spending $4,000 in the first three months.

If you can sustain the spending requirements for the public offer over the course of the year, then the extra 20,000 MR points at stake could indeed be worth the added effort. However, if you’re looking for the path of least resistance to earn an extra 50,000 points, then the upgrade offer is certainly worth considering.

However, the opportunity cost here is the loss of elevated earning rates on daily spending that you’d get with the Cobalt Card, especially for groceries and dining. If you happen to spend up to $2,500 at restaurants, bars, and grocery stores every month, the Gold Rewards Card probably isn’t the ideal card for your spending habits, and you’d be better off keeping the Cobalt Card as your daily driver.

On the other hand, you could also consider taking the upgrade offer for a boost of points, and then look at adding the Cobalt Card back into your portfolio further down the line for its elevated earning rates. Just beware that you may not be eligible for the welcome bonus the second time around.

However, this is where the magic of two-player mode comes into effect, since ideally, you’d have both the Cobalt Card and the Gold Rewards Card available in your household.

If you’re living with a significant other, trusted friend, or indulgent family member, you could always refer that person to the Cobalt Card before upgrading yourself to the Gold Rewards Card. This would net you another 5,000 Membership Rewards points from the referral, which comes in addition to keeping the 5x eats & drinks earn rate under your roof. 

In this situation, you’d benefit from the best of all worlds: easy access to an attainable welcome bonus of 50,000 points via the upgrade offer, the excellent daily earning rates from the Cobalt Card, and the travel benefits offered by the Gold Rewards Card.

Conclusion

American Express Canada is offering customers an opportunity to upgrade an American Express Green Card or American Express Cobalt Card. The upgrade offers for both cards offer the chance to rapidly expand your points balances in only a few months.

On the one hand, if you upgrade a Green Card into the powerful Cobalt Card, you’ll earn just as many points as the Cobalt’s public offer in a mere three months, rather than a year. This offer is tantalizing, and hard to turn away. 

On the other hand, if you upgrade your Cobalt Card into an American Express Gold Rewards Card, you’ll gain 50,000 bonus points in a short amount of time, but you’ll give up the valuable 5x eats & drinks multiplier on the Cobalt. 

If you’re able to take advantage of either upgrade offer, head over to the landing pages and crunch the numbers to see if you stand to come out ahead.