Honestly, it's not the big deal. Plus, there are plenty of other credit cards that offer boosted earning points on travel. What Amex should really do is ENHANCE the Gold card... It's so embarrassing that the Canadian Gold card has so low earning rates and practically non existant statement credits (excluding the travel credit) and other perks in comparison to the USA Amex Gold card.
I agree not a huge deal in the big picture. As to the Gold Card, one can't really compare it to the U.S. one like we used to because of the Cobalt Card. The U.S. doesn't have an equivalent card to the Cobalt. Instead they focused on the Gold and Platinum in their market while Canada went with the Cobalt. In hindsight, perhaps Canada should have done the same and made the Gold better rather than introducing the Cobalt but I believe at the time Amex Canada wanted to keep Gold as only a charge product and wanted a new credit product to increase market share so we had the birth of the Cobalt Card.
Now that they’ve dropped the travel earn rate to 1x and if AMEX drop that 5x to 4x, they better lower their monthly to half then. Good thing I have the TD VIP which will earn 1.5x on hotel. To pay for our wedding reception🙂
Does this mean hotel stays are also being downgraded? I have Bonvoy and Aspire so my loyalty hotels are already covered but for all the other hotels the Cobalt was a go to. Especially since we lost the best HSBC card with insurance for elders.
The highest earners for travel for no fee cards are: Rogers World Elite Mastercard 1.5% cash back (2% if you are a Rogers/Shaw/Fido customer) Tangerine Mastercards 2% (for hotels only, if you choose hotels as one of the 2% categories) American Express Green Card 1 point per dollar but when transferred and redeemed via Aeroplan, BA Executive Club or AF KLM Flying Blue you can get 1.5, 2 or even more cents per point in value TD Rewards Visa is 4 points per dollar on purchases made via Expedia for TD - that's a 1.6 to 2% return.
Thank you! And 100% agree, still an amazing card, just need to shift spend for travel, or if you don't buy that much travel the change from 2 points to 1 points won't make a huge difference.
This is a serious change and downgrade. Not for the travel component exactly but because this is a test to see how people will react to the first downgrade. NEXT WILL BE GROCERIES and that's the end of the card period.
Can they drop the rate on groceries etc? Sure they can but I don't think they will just for the reason you mentioned, it will end the card period. In my discussions with Amex this past week it is pretty clear they want to differentiate their true travel cards (Gold and Platinum) from the Cobalt and this was the primary driver for that. In the end my guess is they are banking on Cobalt cardmembers that do purchase a lot of travel to add either a Gold or Platinum card to their wallet in addition to their Cobalt Card.
What do you think of the upcoming change to the Cobalt Card?
Honestly, it's not the big deal. Plus, there are plenty of other credit cards that offer boosted earning points on travel. What Amex should really do is ENHANCE the Gold card... It's so embarrassing that the Canadian Gold card has so low earning rates and practically non existant statement credits (excluding the travel credit) and other perks in comparison to the USA Amex Gold card.
I agree not a huge deal in the big picture. As to the Gold Card, one can't really compare it to the U.S. one like we used to because of the Cobalt Card. The U.S. doesn't have an equivalent card to the Cobalt. Instead they focused on the Gold and Platinum in their market while Canada went with the Cobalt. In hindsight, perhaps Canada should have done the same and made the Gold better rather than introducing the Cobalt but I believe at the time Amex Canada wanted to keep Gold as only a charge product and wanted a new credit product to increase market share so we had the birth of the Cobalt Card.
Even though they nerfed it. Cobalt is still the best card in Canada imo
Thanks as always for these videos! Looking forward to next week.
Now that they’ve dropped the travel earn rate to 1x and if AMEX drop that 5x to 4x, they better lower their monthly to half then. Good thing I have the TD VIP which will earn 1.5x on hotel. To pay for our wedding reception🙂
I don't think we'll see them drop the 5x unless Scotia and MBNA do the same!
This sucks but still the best everyay card in Canada.
Does this mean hotel stays are also being downgraded? I have Bonvoy and Aspire so my loyalty hotels are already covered but for all the other hotels the Cobalt was a go to. Especially since we lost the best HSBC card with insurance for elders.
Yes hotels will also be 1 point/$. It will be for any merchant that falls under a travel category - so flights, hotels, car rentals etc.
Are there any no annual fee credit cards that have 2x multipliers on travel? Ideally I don't want to pay for additional annual fees for a card...
The highest earners for travel for no fee cards are:
Rogers World Elite Mastercard 1.5% cash back (2% if you are a Rogers/Shaw/Fido customer)
Tangerine Mastercards 2% (for hotels only, if you choose hotels as one of the 2% categories)
American Express Green Card 1 point per dollar but when transferred and redeemed via Aeroplan, BA Executive Club or AF KLM Flying Blue you can get 1.5, 2 or even more cents per point in value
TD Rewards Visa is 4 points per dollar on purchases made via Expedia for TD - that's a 1.6 to 2% return.
I think is still ok can use diferent card for Travel. The food 5x is amazing. Continue good work !
Thank you! And 100% agree, still an amazing card, just need to shift spend for travel, or if you don't buy that much travel the change from 2 points to 1 points won't make a huge difference.
This is a serious change and downgrade. Not for the travel component exactly but because this is a test to see how people will react to the first downgrade. NEXT WILL BE GROCERIES and that's the end of the card period.
Can they drop the rate on groceries etc? Sure they can but I don't think they will just for the reason you mentioned, it will end the card period.
In my discussions with Amex this past week it is pretty clear they want to differentiate their true travel cards (Gold and Platinum) from the Cobalt and this was the primary driver for that. In the end my guess is they are banking on Cobalt cardmembers that do purchase a lot of travel to add either a Gold or Platinum card to their wallet in addition to their Cobalt Card.