Amex Cobalt vs Scotia Passport (2026): Fees, Points, FX

Amex Cobalt vs Scotia Passport comes down to where a card gets used: at Canadian grocery stores and restaurants, or outside Canada. The Cobalt pays its top rate on food at home. Scotiabank’s card, sold today under the name Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite+, answers with no fee on foreign purchases and a handful of airport lounge passes. Below, each Passport feature is measured against what the Cobalt does with the same dollars, so you can match the two to your own spending. This is general education, not financial advice.

For one card at a time, the Amex Cobalt review covers the Amex side and the Scotia Passport Visa Infinite review covers Scotiabank’s. Two neighbouring match-ups are Amex Cobalt vs Aeroplan Reserve and Scotia Passport vs RBC Avion.

Amex Cobalt vs Scotia Passport at a glance

The numbers in this table were read by YieldMaple on the American Express and Scotiabank card pages on October 11, 2026.

The same rows as sentences, Cobalt first. Its fee is $15.99 a month ($191.88 a year) outside Quebec; Quebec residents pay $191.88 once a year, and Amex adds a single conversion commission of 2.5% of each foreign-currency charge, added to the exchange rate. Its top rate is 5 points per $1 at eligible restaurants, coffee shops, bars, stand-alone grocery stores and food delivery in Canada, then 3 points per $1 on eligible streaming subscriptions in Canada, 2 points per $1 on eligible gas, transit and ride share in Canada, and 1 point per $1 on everything else. Scotiabank asks $150 a year for its card and, under foreign transaction fees, lists none: only the exchange rate applies to foreign-currency purchases. Its rates run from 3 Scene+ points per $1 at Sobeys, Safeway, IGA, Foodland, FreshCo and other Sobeys-group grocers, down to 2 Scene+ points per $1 at other grocery stores and on dining, entertainment and daily transit, with 1 Scene+ point per $1 on all other purchases.

Is the Amex Cobalt or the Scotia Passport cheaper per year?

Scotiabank’s card carries the smaller sticker price: $150 a year, compared with $191.88 a year on the Amex Cobalt.

That leaves the Cobalt $41.88 a year dearer. Billing differs as well. Outside Quebec the Cobalt fee arrives in monthly pieces: it is charged on your first statement after the card is issued and every month after that, whether or not you activate the card. Scotiabank quotes a single yearly figure.

Add a second or third cardholder and the order can flip. Amex lists no annual fee for additional cards. Scotiabank’s price for supplementary cards is $0 for the first additional card and $50 a year for each one after that. A household carrying three cards in total would pay $200 a year to Scotiabank, and $191.88 to Amex.

A Scotiabank chequing package can shrink the Passport’s side of that sum. Holders of the bank’s Ultimate Package account get a rebate of up to $150 a year on the annual fee. On the Preferred Package, Scotiabank’s figure is $40 a year, from the first anniversary after June 22, 2026, if at least $15,000 in purchases posted to the card in the previous 12 statement periods. Each fee has its own guide: the Amex Cobalt fees breakdown and the Scotia Passport annual fee guide.

What does each card add to a foreign-currency purchase?

The Amex Cobalt adds 2.5% to whatever is charged in another currency; the Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite+ converts at the exchange rate alone.

In Amex’s application information the charge reads as a single conversion commission of 2.5% of each foreign-currency charge, added to the exchange rate. Scotiabank’s page answers the same question with none: only the exchange rate applies to foreign-currency purchases, and gives 2.5% as the mark-up card issuers usually add.

Take a holiday with $3,000 charged in U.S. dollars or euros. On the Cobalt, Amex’s commission comes to $75. Put through Scotiabank’s card, those charges cost the exchange rate and nothing more.

The Cobalt’s food rate does not rescue it abroad. Its top rate is limited to merchants in Canada, so a restaurant bill in another country earns 1 point per $1 on everything else. At Amex’s redemption rate of 1,000 points = $10 toward eligible purchases, that is 1 cent back per dollar, less than the 2.5% commission charged on the same dollar.

Measured against the Cobalt, the Passport’s entire fee is recovered at $6,000 a year of foreign-currency spending. Scotiabank reports that an active Passport account saves $132 a year on average through the missing fee. One more Amex detail: when a foreign purchase is refunded, the commission is not returned when a foreign-currency purchase is refunded (no extra commission is charged on the refund itself).

Which card earns more on groceries and restaurants?

The Amex Cobalt earns more on food: 5 points per $1 at eligible restaurants, coffee shops, bars, stand-alone grocery stores and food delivery in Canada. Scotiabank splits food into two rates: 3 Scene+ points per $1 at Sobeys, Safeway, IGA, Foodland, FreshCo and other Sobeys-group grocers, and 2 Scene+ points per $1 at other grocery stores and on dining, entertainment and daily transit.

Each issuer puts a ceiling on bonus earning, and measures it differently. Amex caps the Cobalt’s top food rate by the month: $2,500 in combined net purchases a month, then 1 point per $1. Scotiabank caps its two bonus rates by the year: the first $50,000 of 3X and 2X purchases each calendar year, then 1 point per $1. Across twelve months the Cobalt’s ceiling adds up to $30,000, so Scotiabank’s lower rates keep paying on a larger yearly budget.

Picture a household putting $800 a month through grocery stores and restaurants that qualify for the bonus rates:

The Cobalt finishes that year with 48,000 points. Scotiabank’s card finishes with 19,200 if no spending lands at a Sobeys-group store, and with 28,800 if all of it does. Converted at each issuer’s published rate, 1,000 points = $10 toward eligible purchases for Amex and 20,000 points for $200 off travel (Scene+ Travel or Apply Points to Travel) for Scotiabank, the Cobalt’s lead is between $192 and $288 a year. Either figure is larger than the $41.88 the Cobalt costs extra. Your own totals will move with your spending and with which merchants each issuer counts as eligible.

Membership Rewards vs Scene+ points

Cobalt points can leave Amex for airline and hotel programs, while Scene+ points are spent inside Scene+ at published prices.

Membership Rewards points from the Cobalt can be used against card purchases at 1,000 points = $10 toward eligible purchases. They can also move out: the program transfers 1:1 to several frequent flyer and other loyalty programs, and Amex’s partner list shows 8 partners: 5 airline programs and 3 hotel programs. The full list is Aeroplan, Air France KLM Flying Blue, British Airways Avios and Hilton Honors at 1,000:1,000; Marriott Bonvoy at 1,000:1,200; Cathay Pacific Asia Miles and Delta SkyMiles at 1,000:750; ALL Accor at 1,000:500.

On the Scene+ side, Scotiabank’s travel price is 20,000 points for $200 off travel (Scene+ Travel or Apply Points to Travel). A trip already charged to the card can be paid down with points within 12 months of the travel purchase date. Away from travel, the published prices include 3,000 points for a $20 account credit on an eligible Scotiabank card, or 1,000 points for $10 off Cineplex movie tickets.

Both issuers reward booking through their own travel sites. Scotiabank’s card pays an extra 3 Scene+ points per $1 on hotels and car rentals booked through Scene+ Travel. The Cobalt pays 1 additional point per $1 on eligible hotel or car rental bookings made with American Express Travel.

How do the Cobalt and Passport welcome offers compare?

Amex’s standard Cobalt offer is up to 15,000 Membership Rewards points, and Scotiabank’s offer on its card is worth $250 in travel points by the bank’s own count.

The route to each one is different:

• Amex Cobalt: 1,250 points for each monthly billing period in which you spend $750, in your first year. Reaching the full amount means hitting the monthly target in all 12 billing periods, which is $9,000 of spending across the year. Amex’s figure for the complete offer is up to $150. It is open to new Cobalt Cardmembers only; current or former Cobalt Cardmembers are not eligible.
• Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite+: one target instead of twelve. The offer is 25,000 bonus Scene+ points when you spend at least $2,000 on eligible purchases in the first 3 months, and it applies to accounts opened between August 4, 2026 and November 1, 2026. The points land about 8 weeks after the qualifying purchases post. Shut out of the offer: anyone who held a Scotiabank personal credit card (primary or secondary) in the past 2 years, including people switching from one, and Scotiabank employees.

Side by side, Scotiabank asks for $2,000 in the first 3 months, and Amex asks for steady spending over a full year. On the standard Cobalt offer, the issuers’ own valuations sit $100 apart, in Scotiabank’s favour. That gap does not hold when Amex shows a visitor its higher offer, described below.

Scotiabank also advertises a larger first-year number: up to $1,250 (Scotiabank's own estimate of welcome points, annual bonus, points earned, FX savings, lounge membership and supplementary-card savings). One piece of it needs heavy spending: 10,000 bonus Scene+ points each year you spend $40,000, plus 2,000 points for every additional $10,000 that year. Amex, for its part, does not show every visitor the same Cobalt offer. On October 11, 2026, the standard offer above was the one in the page’s own code, while the same page opened in a browser showed a higher offer labelled "Elevated Offer", which Amex says is available on that webpage and can change at any time. Either issuer can withdraw or replace its offer, so the terms on the issuer’s page at application time are the ones that apply.

Does the Amex Cobalt or the Scotia Passport come with airport lounge access?

Only Scotiabank’s card does: 6 complimentary lounge visits a year through the Visa Airport Companion Program (run by DragonPass). Amex’s Cobalt page lists no airport lounge membership.

The passes belong to the main cardholder’s membership. Scotiabank’s wording is 6 complimentary visits per membership year on the primary cardholder's membership, usable by any cardholder on the account for themselves and accompanying guests, and its terms add that the primary cardholder must be present each time a complimentary visit is used. By the bank’s count the network holds over 1,200 airport lounges. A companion is not free: each person counts as one visit, so a cardholder plus one guest uses 2 of the 6. A couple flying together therefore gets 3 lounge stops before paying, and a solo traveller gets six. Past the free passes, the price is US$32 per person per visit. Scotiabank’s own estimate of what the membership and passes are worth is about $358.

On the Cobalt, “lounge” means something else: the American Express Lounge at some event venues, open to Amex Cardmembers plus one guest, subject to lounge capacity. Airport lounges appear on a dearer Amex card. The Platinum Card, with an annual fee of $799, lists more than 1,550 lounges at 500+ airports in 140 countries (Amex figure as of June 2026). More cards with lounge benefits are lined up in the travel credit card guide for Canada.

Travel insurance: Cobalt vs Passport

Insurance comes with each card, and neither is ahead on every line.

Medical cover shows the trade-off. The Cobalt’s limit is up to $5,000,000 for the first 15 consecutive days of a trip, if you are under 65. Scotiabank’s limit is up to $2 million, and it lasts for the first 25 consecutive days of a trip if you are under 65, and the first 3 consecutive days if you are 65 or older. So the Cobalt insures $3 million more, and Scotiabank’s card insures a traveller under 65 for 10 extra days of each trip.

For a delayed flight, Amex lists up to $500 (combined maximum with baggage delay insurance) and Scotiabank lists up to $500 per insured person. A hotel burglary claim tops out at up to $500 with the Cobalt, and at up to $1,000 with Scotiabank’s card. Rental car damage cover takes in cars with an MSRP up to $85,000, on rentals of 48 days or less on the Cobalt. Scotiabank’s takes in vehicles with a manufacturer's suggested retail price of $65,000 or less before taxes (pricier vehicles are excluded), for rentals of up to 48 consecutive days.

Scotiabank’s page goes on to list trip cancellation cover (up to $1,500 per person and $10,000 per trip) and trip interruption cover (up to $2,500 per person and $10,000 per trip). Both depend on charging at least 75% of the trip cost to the card. A claim on either card is settled under the insurer’s certificate, including its conditions and exclusions.

What does holding both cards cost?

Holding both cards costs $341.88 a year in card fees, before any chequing-package rebate on the Passport.

The pairing splits spending by type. Food spending in Canada goes on the Cobalt at 5 points per $1 at eligible restaurants, coffee shops, bars, stand-alone grocery stores and food delivery in Canada. Anything billed in another currency goes on Scotiabank’s card, whose foreign transaction fee line reads none: only the exchange rate applies to foreign-currency purchases. The lounge passes come from Scotiabank’s side as well.

Whether two fees are worth paying depends on your own numbers. The examples above give a way to test it: the points from your monthly food spending on one side, and 2.5% of your yearly foreign-currency spending on the other.

The verdict: food at home or spending abroad

• The Amex Cobalt fits spending that is mostly groceries, restaurants and food delivery in Canada, where it earns 5 points per $1 at eligible restaurants, coffee shops, bars, stand-alone grocery stores and food delivery in Canada, and readers who want points that transfer to airline and hotel programs.
• The Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite+ lines up with trips and online orders billed in other currencies, and with flyers who expect to use a Visa Airport Companion Program membership with six complimentary lounge visits a year. Scotiabank sets an income test for it: personal income of $60,000 to $80,000 or more, household income of $100,000 to $150,000 or more, or $250,000 to $300,000 or more in assets under management. Amex’s stated requirement for the Cobalt is being a Canadian resident with a Canadian credit file, at the age of majority in your province or territory.
• Both together cost $341.88 a year and cover both kinds of spending.

Issuers revise fees and offers without much notice. The figures here were last matched to the American Express and Scotiabank pages by YieldMaple on October 11, 2026.