Amex Ends Points Pooling: India From 15 Nov, US Too

Updated as of 16 Oct 2026. India details from American Express India’s consumer experience updates page; US details from Amex’s Membership Rewards terms, October 2026. Both checked 16 Oct 2026.

For years, if you held two Amex cards, your Membership Rewards points sat in one pot. That’s ending. Amex India stops pooling on 15 November, and this week Amex quietly did something similar in the US. It isn’t a one-country tweak: Amex is moving towards one points balance per card. Here’s what it means for you, and what to do before mid-November.

India: separate balances from 15 November

• One balance per card: if you hold two or more basic Amex cards, each keeps its own Membership Rewards balance.
• No combining to redeem: every redemption must come from the balance on that one card.
• No moving points between cards, permanently. Amex says this facility is “permanently discontinued”.
• Your current pool gets split according to what each card earned.
• Point values and redemption options stay the same.

This is part of a bigger set of Amex India changes on 15 November, including the end of the MRCC 50% fee waiver; see our full Amex India changes post.

US: new cards get their own points account

Amex’s US terms, updated in October 2026, now say: “When you open a new Product, a new Rewards Account will be created and linked to that Product.” Existing cards stay pooled for now, and US members can still link accounts themselves under “Manage Connections”. But the same terms say you lose all the points in a Rewards Account the moment you cancel its last linked card. So a US cardholder who closes a card without moving its points first can now lose them.

	India	US
Starts	15 Nov 2026	October 2026, new cards
Existing pooled points	Split by card	Stay pooled
Can you combine again?	No	Yes, manually
Risk when you close a card	Plan to use that card’s points first	Unlinked points are lost

India got the strict version. US members can still put the pot back together; Indian members can’t.

Why it hurts

The classic Indian Amex setup is an MRCC for its monthly bonus plus a Platinum Travel or Gold Charge for milestones, all feeding one pot that you transfer to Marriott or an airline in one go. Transfers need minimum blocks, and big awards need big balances. Split pots mean smaller, stranded balances: 18,000 points on one card and 22,000 on another can’t make the 40,000 you need for one transfer.

What to do before 15 November

1. Use the combined pot now. If you have a transfer or redemption planned, do it while the points are still together. Find the award seat or hotel night first; transfers are one-way.
2. Clear any overdue amount: from 15 Nov you can’t earn or redeem while your account is overdue.
3. Pick one main card from now on. Put most of your spend on the card whose points you’ll redeem, so its balance builds up on its own.
4. Before closing any Amex card, empty it first. After 15 Nov, its points can’t move to your other card.

Not sure where to send your points? Compare partners in our Partner Finder.

DealUni take: two Amex cards used to be better than one, because the points added up. From 15 November they don’t. If you hold two, redeem the combined balance now and then decide which card earns its fee; for most people, one Amex card plus a strong Axis or HDFC card now beats two Amex cards.

Ek pot tha, ab do katoriyan. (There was one pot; now there are two small bowls.)