I have been extensively researching for the past 6 months to figure out which credit card is good for traveling in Canada. There seem to be so many great credit cards in the USA. Their points are amazing, and the welcome bonuses are huge. But a lot of these cards do not exist in Canada. We had a pretty good travel credit card before this. But I knew there had to be something better than this card out there. We were paying a combined $500 in annual fees for this card but the points were just not justifying the high fees. So, what is the best Canadian travel credit card?
Best Canadian travel credit card out there
I spend 6 months finding this card. Once I found it, I did a lot of research to figure out if this card was right for us. Finally, I took the plunge and applied for it, and I am so happy I did! The Amex Cobalt credit card has been great so far. With a monthly fee is $12.99 and no minimum household income, this card is the right card for any family no matter your income.
Welcome bonus for the AMEX Cobalt
The card gives you a welcome bonus of 30,000 points in the first year. The way it works is, you get 2500 points each month for the first month when you spend a minimum of $500 on the card. This adds to a total of 30000 points which is a $300 value. Additionally, if you use the card right, you can rack up those points in no time.
How do you get points?
- This card gives you 5 points for every $1 you spend at restaurants, bars, coffee, or food deliveries in Canada. This includes HelloFresh, Chef Plate, etc.
- You get 3 points for every $1 you spend on streaming subscriptions in Canada. This is Netflix, Spotify, etc.
- You get 2 points for every $1 you spend on eligible travel and gas purchased in Canada.
- You get 1 point for every $1 you spend on everything else.
BONUS: you get 1:1 transfer points to several frequent flyer and other loyalty programs.
Here is my tried and tested tip to get you even more points
Once we started using this card, we realized that stores like Walmart, etc are not considered a grocery store. Hence, you only get 1 point for every $1 spend. I knew we had to change our shopping habits a bit to make the most of this card. We live in Port Elgin and there are only two stores in town for grocery shopping. Walmart does not count as a grocery store and the Independent does not accept AMEX. We started shopping from Foodland in Southampton as they accept Amex. We get HelloFresh boxes every week and that already counts as 5X the points.
TIP: When you know you are going to shop from stores such as: Canadian Tire, HomeSense, etc or fill gas, I would suggest you first buy gift cards for these from a grocery store. When you spend at Canadian Tire, you get 1 point for every $1 you spend BUT if you buy a gift card from a grocery store first, you are earning 5 points for every $1 of the gift card.
For eg. I buy my gift cards from Foodland in town. We buy a chunk of gift cards for gas because I know I am filling it up either way so why not get 5 points for every $1 on it? I also buy gift cards for Amazon and load it on my amazon account.
if you are planning to book an Airbnb or a trip somewhere, make sure you check out the gift cards section at your local grocer. There are Airbnb gift cards at our local Foodland.
That is not to say that there are times when we go over the gift card, we purchase but at least I know most of the chunk comes from the higher points.
Keep in mind
AMEX caps a total of $30000 annually towards the 5 points for every $1. That breaks it down to $2500 per month. This is a huge amount to spend anyway in a month. Even after buying gift cards for gas, our groceries, our home projects, and miscellaneous expenses, we are not nearly close to the $2500 mark per month.
Final thoughts
I have been using this card for less than 2 months and already have $400 in points sitting in my AMEX account. This is the first time I am trying a credit card solely based on the points method and I have to say, I love it. I am hopeful that by next year, we will have at least 3 free tickets to somewhere
If you are looking for a credit card with good points, make sure you check out this link. This is NOT an affiliate link. It is a referral link so if you use this link to sign up, you get 2500 points and I get 5000 points! You can even visit our Shop our stuff page to check out our recommendations! We only recommend things that we have personally tried and liked!
If there is any other card you have and like for the point with a low annual fee, please let me know! I am on a mission to find the best Canadian travel credit card.
