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Amex India ends Membership Rewards pooling — each card keeps its own balance

From 15 November 2026 (first announced for 11 October) every proprietary Amex card in India keeps its own Membership Rewards balance, the MRCC's 50% renewal waiver goes, and milestones count on posting date.

What changed

Coming 15 Nov 2026

Devaluation · American Express

Before

One Membership Rewards account per Basic Cardmember: points earned on every enrolled proprietary Amex card pooled into a single balance, so two cards' earn could be combined into one transfer to a partner programme.

From 15 Nov 2026

One balance per card. A cardmember holding two or more proprietary Amex cards has each card's points maintained separately, with no transfer between cards. Supplementary-card earn still consolidates into its Basic Card.

See it with every other change

Update, 10 October 2026: the date moved. Amex pushed the whole change back five weeks, to 15 November 2026. Its own India consumer-updates page now says the ability to transfer Membership Rewards points from one card to another “will be permanently discontinued effective 15 November 2026”, and that the MRCC’s 50% waiver ends the same day. It is postponed, not cancelled. Between 12 and 16 November new transactions and points may post late while Amex switches systems, and from the 15th you redeem in the new Amex app. The dates below are updated.

American Express India has told cardmembers that Membership Rewards stops being one pot. Live From A Lounge reported the notice on 11 September 2026, and InsideFlyer carried the same terms: “From October 11, if a cardmember holds two or more proprietary American Express Cards, the Membership Rewards points earned on each card will be maintained separately.” No moving points between cards. Points earned on a supplementary card still roll into its Basic Card.

What changes on 15 November 2026 (first reported for 11 October):

  • No pooling. Each proprietary card carries its own MR balance, with no inter-card transfer.
  • MRCC loses its middle waiver. The ₹4,500 renewal is still waived in full at ₹1,50,000 of annual spend. The 50% waiver for spending ₹90,000 to ₹1,49,999 goes. If your spend falls in that range, that is ₹2,250 more a year.
  • Milestones count on posting date, not purchase date. A run you finish on the last day of the month and that posts on the 1st now counts toward the next month.
  • Restrictions while an account is overdue, and new supplementary-card applications paused from 22 September 2026.

Amex says this is part of a technology upgrade to its account experience. It lands while the 28 August pause on new applications is still in force, which Amex also put down to platform updates; it has not said the two are the same work.

What it actually costs. Indian MR worked best as a pair: an MRCC or Gold Charge cleared its monthly milestones and fed the same balance a Platinum card was earning into. Then one transfer went out at Amex India’s 2:1 into KrisFlyer, Avios or Asia Miles. After 15 November each card’s points can only leave from that card’s balance. Two half-sized balances can leave you short of a partner’s award, or leave odd points stranded on the card you hold for milestones. The transfer ratios themselves are not part of this notice.

The sourcing, honestly. Amex has not yet reissued its Membership Rewards Programme T&C. When we re-read it on 2 October 2026 it still defined pooled “Linked Accounts”. The MRCC’s product page and Lending MITC still printed both waiver bands. So our MRCC page keeps today’s terms and flags the change as upcoming. Our tracker carries it at the 15 November effective date.

Our take: this lands six weeks after Reward Multiplier was switched off on 30 September. It hits hardest the people who run two Amex cards on purpose. Before 15 November, decide which card your points need to sit on. If a partner transfer was only reachable by combining two balances, there is still time to make it. None of the reports we have say what happens to a balance that is already pooled on the day, so don’t wait for the change to find out.

More on this story

  1. Amex Platinum Travel loses ₹1.9 lakh milestone, ₹7 lakh now gets ₹20,000 Taj voucher

  2. Amex MRCC loses its 50% renewal waiver between ₹90,000 and ₹1,49,999

  3. Amex India pauses all new card applications

  4. Amex India discontinues Reward Multiplier

  5. Amex India re-rates Hilton Honors upward — 10:9 becomes 2:3

  6. Amex India re-rates Virgin Atlantic and Hilton Honors upward

American Express transfer partners

Sources

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