Amex India tightens Membership Rewards: the 50% fee waiver goes and points stop pooling across cards (11 Oct 2026)

Update, 9 October 2026: reportedly moved to 15 November

As first reported by Live From A Lounge on 9 October, Amex has pushed the main changes below (separate points per card, the end of the 50% fee waiver band, posting-date milestones) from 11 October to 15 November 2026. This comes from a single outlet and Amex has not published a notice, so treat the new date as reported; InsideFlyer's coverage still gives 11 October. The same report adds two details:

• Supplementary and Additional Cards: new Supplementary Card applications are paused from 27 October 2026, and the Additional Card (a second card in your own name used to split spends, usually on Charge Cards) ends the same day. Existing supplementary cards continue and keep earning into the basic card.
• Overdue accounts: if an amount is overdue when your next statement generates, points stop being earned on transactions from that statement date and redemption is blocked until the overdue amount is paid.

If the delay holds, you have about five extra weeks to consolidate or redeem pooled points before the split.

The original announcement

American Express is changing how its India Membership Rewards program works from 11 October 2026. None of it touches the headline earn rate, but two of the changes quietly cost regular cardholders money, and a third changes which month your milestone spends count toward. Here is the fine print.

What changes on 11 October 2026

The fee waiver band is gone

On the Membership Rewards Credit Card, Amex used to waive half the renewal fee if your annual spend landed in a middle band, and waive it fully above the top threshold. From 11 October the middle band disappears. There is no partial credit any more: you either cross the full-waiver spend line or you pay the entire renewal fee. If your spending historically parked you in that middle band, this is a straight increase in what you pay to keep the card.

Points no longer pool across two Amex cards

If you hold two or more proprietary American Express cards, your Membership Rewards points have shared a single balance, which made it easy to combine and redeem. From 11 October, each card keeps its own points. This matters most for redemptions with minimums or transfer thresholds: splitting one balance into two smaller ones can leave points stranded below a useful redemption or transfer floor on each card.

Milestones now follow the posting date

Amex will judge milestone spends by when a transaction posts, not when you make it, and credit milestone bonuses at the end of the calendar month. A purchase made on the last day of a month that posts on the first of the next month now counts toward the next month. If you time end-of-month spends to hit a monthly milestone, that timing gets less forgiving.

What does not change

The core earn rate, the redemption catalogue, and the monthly milestone benefit itself stay as they are. On the Membership Rewards Credit Card and the Gold Charge Card, the monthly milestone bonuses (the extra 1,000 points for four qualifying transactions, and the 1,000 points for crossing the monthly spend threshold) continue. This is a change to fee mechanics, pooling, and timing, not to how much a point is worth.

What to do before 11 October

• If you sit in the old half-waiver band, work out whether pushing spend to the full-waiver threshold is worth it, or whether the card still earns its keep once you pay the full fee.
• If you hold two Amex cards and lean on pooled points, consolidate or redeem before the split so you are not left with two sub-threshold balances.
• If you chase monthly milestones, stop relying on last-day purchases; give transactions a few days to post inside the month you want them counted.

Not sure the annual fee still pays for itself once the waiver band is gone? Run your real spend through CardPolo's card matcher to see which cards actually clear their fee for your pattern, or ask Polo Brain to compare the fee-versus-reward math side by side.