Capital · Credit Cards · American Express
A $250 Fee
And A $100 Credit.
The Gold Rewards Card costs $250 a year, returns $100 of it as a travel credit that only spends through Amex Travel Online, and earns two points per dollar on travel and on stand alone gas, grocery and drugstore in Canada. I carry this card. Every figure here is off American Express Canada, read 6 September 2026.
The American Express Gold Rewards Card costs $250 a year. It earns two points per dollar on eligible travel and on stand alone gas, grocery and drugstore purchases in Canada, and one point everywhere else. It carries a $100 annual travel credit and a $50 NEXUS credit every four years. I hold this card. Not advice.
Annual Fee
One supplementary card free, $50 each after that.
Travel Credit
Once a year, and only through Amex Travel Online.
Gas, Grocery, Drugstore
Stand alone merchants in Canada. 1x everywhere else.
Emergency Medical
First 15 consecutive days, under age 65.
What The Card Is
Read off American Express Canada on 6 September 2026, in their words before mine.
Stand Alone Is The Word That Matters
Amex states the two point rate applies at stand alone gas stations, drugstores and grocery stores in Canada. Their own category page rules out superstores, wholesale clubs, alcohol retailers and general merchandise, anywhere gas, grocery or pharmacy is not the merchant’s primary business. Groceries bought at a warehouse club earn one point.
The Travel Credit Only Spends One Way
Amex states the $100 travel credit “can only be redeemed at time of booking through American Express Travel Online”, once a year, basic cardmember only. It is not a statement credit against any travel purchase. Book anywhere else and it does not exist.
There Is No Cap On The Points
Amex states “There’s no cap on the number of points you can earn, and your points will never expire.” That is unusual on this site. Most accelerated rates in Canada stop at a cap, and every other page here has to print one.
It Exists As Both A Charge Card And A Credit Card
Amex Canada publishes two separate cardmember agreements for this card, one lending and one charge, both dated September 2026. Which one a new applicant receives is not stated. That decides whether a balance can revolve at all, so read your own agreement rather than this page.
The Arithmetic On The Fee
What actually comes off the $250, in the order it hits.
$100 Travel Credit
Once a year, at time of booking, through American Express Travel Online only. One booking clears it. It is used or it is lost.
$50 NEXUS Credit, Every Four Years
A statement credit when the NEXUS application or renewal fee is charged to the card. That is $12.50 a year amortised, not $50. State it the honest way.
What Is Actually Left
$150 of the fee survives the travel credit. That $150 is what the two point rate, the Priority Pass membership and the insurance have to be worth to you, and that number is personal rather than universal.
The Extra Point Has To Clear $150
The second point is worth one cent per dollar at Amex’s own 1,000 points equals $10 redemption rate. Clearing $150 on earn alone takes $15,000 a year of stand alone gas, grocery, drugstore and travel spend. Below that the card is paying for the insurance and the lounge, not for the points.
The Case Against Carrying It
Same standard as every other page here.
Amex Acceptance Is Still The Ceiling
Two points at a grocery store that does not take American Express is zero points. This is the oldest objection to every Amex card in Canada and it has not gone away.
The Foreign Transaction Fee Is Not Published
Amex Canada states the conversion commission is set out in your own information box and publishes no percentage anywhere public. On a card sold partly on travel, that is a real blind spot. See below.
Amex Publishes Two Different Interest Rates For It
One Amex Canada page shows 21.99 percent. Another shows 20.99 percent on the flexible payment option. Neither figure is on the product page, which serves a consent gate instead of content. See below.
A Locked Credit Is Not Cash
A $100 credit tied to one booking channel is worth $100 only if you would have booked there anyway. Whether Amex Travel Online prices competitively on your route is yours to check, not this page’s to assert.
How It Sits In A Stack
Not advice. How this card reads next to the others published here.
It Is The Card The Platinum Is Measured Against
Same points currency, same travel credit idea, $549 less a year. If the Platinum’s lounge network and hotel status are not worth $549 to you, this is where a Membership Rewards balance should be built instead.
Gas And Grocery Is Where It Beats The Cobalt
The Cobalt earns five on eats and drinks and two on gas. This earns two on gas, grocery and drugstore. Which one wins is a question about where your money actually goes, and that is checkable in a statement rather than arguable.
It Is In My Wallet
This is one of the nine cards on the stack page, not a card researched from the outside. That does not make it right for anyone else. It does mean every figure here was read against a card I actually carry.
What Could Not Be Confirmed
In circulation, and not on the issuer page. Printed rather than dropped.
The Foreign Transaction Fee
Amex Canada’s public exchange rate page says only that a foreign charge “will be converted into Canadian dollars” and refers you to your cardmember agreement. Both Gold agreements refer in turn to “a single conversion commission as specified in the information box and disclosure statement”. The percentage is published nowhere public. The 2.5 percent in wide circulation could not be confirmed on any American Express Canada page on 6 September 2026.
The Interest Rate
Amex Canada’s own Cobalt to Gold comparison page shows 21.99 percent on purchases and 21.99 percent on funds advances. The Gold support FAQ separately describes 20.99 percent on the flexible payment option. The card’s own product page will not render. Two Amex pages, two numbers, so neither is printed here as the rate.
The Welcome Offer
Amex Canada’s rewards card index shows up to 60,000 points on this card’s tile. Amex’s own upgrade page shows 20,000 after $3,000 in three months, plus 10,000 between month fifteen and seventeen. Those are different numbers on the same issuer’s site. This page prints neither and says to check American Express directly.
The Annual Fee, Strictly Speaking
The $250 is confirmed on Amex Canada’s own card comparison table and by a 2021 repricing notice in the support FAQ. It could not be read off the card’s own product page, which returns a consent gate rather than content. It is printed as $250 with the sourcing said out loud.
All figures read off American Express Canada’s own pages and linked PDFs for the American Express Gold Rewards Card on 6 September 2026: an annual fee of $250 confirmed on Amex Canada’s Cobalt to Gold comparison table and by a repricing notice in the Gold support FAQ, no annual fee for one supplementary Gold Rewards Card and $50 annually for each supplementary card after that to a maximum of nine with supplementary cardmembers at least 13 years old, two points per $1 on eligible travel purchases, two points per $1 on eligible stand alone gas, grocery and drugstore purchases in Canada with superstores, wholesale clubs, alcohol retailers and general merchandise excluded because gas, grocery or pharmacy is not their primary business, one point per $1 on eligible purchases everywhere else, one additional point per $1 on American Express Travel Online, a stated absence of any cap and of point expiry, a redemption rate of 1,000 points for a $10 statement credit, a $100 annual travel credit redeemable only at time of booking through American Express Travel Online and only by the basic cardmember, a $50 NEXUS statement credit once every four years, a Priority Pass membership and four complimentary Plaza Premium Lounge passes, out of province and out of country emergency medical insurance of $5,000,000 for the first 15 consecutive days under age 65, travel accident insurance of $500,000, trip cancellation of up to $1,500 per insured person to a maximum of $3,000 combined, trip interruption of up to $1,500 per insured person to a maximum of $6,000 combined, flight delay and baggage delay of up to $500 combined, lost or stolen baggage of up to $500 per trip, hotel burglary of up to $500, car rental theft and damage for rentals of 48 days or less on vehicles with a manufacturer’s suggested retail price up to $85,000, an interest grace period on purchases of 21 days from the statement closing date, and two separate cardmember agreements dated September 2026 for a charge card version and a credit card version of the same product. The foreign transaction fee, a single interest rate and the welcome offer could not be confirmed on American Express Canada and are published above as unconfirmed. No figure on this page comes from a comparison site. Cody Wise holds this card.
The Rest Of The Card Pages
What is actually in the wallet, and the one that is not.
The Whole Card Stack
Nine cards across six issuers, what each one costs and what it is actually for.
The Amex Platinum
The premium card in the wallet, with the $799 fee broken down against its credits.
The Centurion
The card with no application form, and what American Express actually publishes about it.
Common Questions
$250 a year. One supplementary Gold Rewards Card is included at no charge and each one after that is $50 a year, to a maximum of nine. Read off American Express Canada on 6 September 2026.
Two points per dollar on eligible travel, two points per dollar on stand alone gas, grocery and drugstore purchases in Canada, and one point per dollar everywhere else, plus one additional point per dollar booked on American Express Travel Online. Amex states there is no cap and the points do not expire.
It is applied at time of booking through American Express Travel Online, once a year, for the basic cardmember only. It cannot be redeemed anywhere else and it does not carry forward.
American Express Canada publishes two different figures for this card, 21.99 percent on one page and 20.99 percent on another, and the product page does not render. No single rate is printed here. Read the information box on your own account.
Both versions exist. American Express Canada publishes separate cardmember agreements for a Gold Rewards charge card and a Gold Rewards credit card, both dated September 2026. Which one a new applicant receives is not stated publicly.
A Rate Is Not A Return
Until You Spend There.
Every accelerated rate in Canada is a rate on one category. The only question that matters is whether that category is where your money actually goes.
Not financial advice.