After owning the Amex Cobalt for 1.5 years and seeing a couple of us mention it in the forum, I decided to write a more comprehensive, firsthand review of it.
In short, at 5 points per dollar spent at grocery stores and restaurants, this was the first card with an annual fee that I decided to keep past the first year. Note that 5 points does not technically equal 5% cash back for the Cobalt. I tried to give a more practical review than what I usually see with online credit card reviews, which just say "everything is great!", but hopefully I didn't get too caught up in the points calculations.
11:53 pm
October 21, 2013
I just got a letter about the Amex Cobalt credit card saying that, as of August 16:
- The monthly fee will increase by $2.99 per month, which is about $36 more per year. Before the increase, the monthly fee was $10 per month. For existing cardholders, the fee will increase after the next card anniversary date.
- New feature: mobile device insurance
- New feature: 3x points on streaming service purchases
- New feature: ability to transfer directly to certain airline frequent flyer programs, such as 1:1 to Aeroplan
It's that last new feature that is probably the most interesting to people, since that means the card effectively earns 5x Aeroplan points on grocery store and restaurant purchases.
For me, those features aren't currently appealing, so the fee increase is not worth it.
Please write your comments in the forum.