Amex India points clawback reversed: Membership Rewards points removed on 9 November to be restored

Short answer: American Express India is reversing the points removal. On 9 November 2026 it took Membership Rewards points out of the accounts of cardholders who had cancelled one Amex card but kept another. About 48 hours later it emailed those cardholders to say it will restore the balance they had on 8 November 2026. The rule behind the removal, that points on a cancelled card must be redeemed within 30 days, stays in force for future cancellations.

Update, 11 November 2026: Amex says it will restore the points

Live From A Lounge reports, quoting the email affected cardmembers received, that Amex has "decided to restore the Membership Rewards points balance available on your Card Account as of 8 November 2026", taking into account any points earned or redeemed since then. This is one outlet's report of a customer email; Amex has not published a public statement, so we label it reported.

Two things the email does not settle, per Live From A Lounge: whether the 30-day rule will run separately for each card once balances are split, and how cardholders will be warned about points at risk. The email also says balances will be shown separately for each card from 16 November 2026, and Live From A Lounge notes some account updates may be slow between 12 and 16 November while Amex moves customers to its new online system.

What to do now

1. Check your balance against your 8 November figure once the 48 to 72 hours have passed. If you took a screenshot, compare it.
2. If it is still short or negative after a week, write to Amex with the restoration email and your earlier balance, then follow the escalation route further down.
3. Treat the 30-day rule as live. Before you cancel any Amex card from here on, redeem or transfer its points first.
4. Expect one balance per card from mid-November. Points will no longer pool across your cards, so plan redemptions card by card.

The rest of this post is our original report of the removal, kept for the record.

What happened on 9 November

Around 9 November 2026, American Express India took Membership Rewards points out of the accounts of cardholders who had cancelled one Amex card but kept another. Amex told them, by email, that points linked to a cancelled card had to be redeemed within 30 days of cancellation, and that a technical issue had let those points stay visible for longer. Some cardholders then showed a negative points balance.

Amex has not published a public statement. This post is based on the Amex email as quoted by Live From A Lounge and by EconoTimes, which cites NDTV Profit, plus figures cardholders posted themselves.

What Amex said

According to both reports, the email to affected cardmembers said:

• points associated with a cancelled card must be redeemed within 30 days of the cancellation;
• points left after that period are liable to be forfeited under the Membership Rewards terms;
• a technical issue allowed those points to remain visible in customers' Membership Rewards accounts beyond the permitted period;
• the issue has been corrected and balances adjusted under the programme terms.

Why so many people were caught out

Until now, an Indian cardholder with two or more Amex cards saw one pooled Membership Rewards balance. Points earned on different cards sat together, and Amex accepted redemptions from that pool, including after one of the cards was cancelled. Live From A Lounge notes that redemptions drew from the pool in the order points were earned, not card by card, so cardholders had no simple way to see which points belonged to a card they had closed.

That pooling ends on 15 November 2026, when each card keeps its own balance. The removals came days before that switch.

How big the adjustments are

The figures below are what cardholders reported, not numbers from Amex:

A negative balance means more points were taken back than the account held at the time. Live From A Lounge asks the obvious question: if those points were never really available, how did earlier redemptions from them go through?

Who is affected

Indian Amex cardholders who cancelled at least one card in the past while keeping another, and whose pooled balance still carried points earned on the closed card. If you have only ever held one Amex card, or never cancelled one, these removals should not apply to you.

What to do if your points are not restored

1. Check your Membership Rewards statement for an adjustment around 8 to 9 November, and screenshot your balance.
2. Ask Amex for a card-wise reconciliation: which cancelled card, which points, earned when, and why the total removed exceeds what you had, if your balance is negative.
3. Ask how a negative balance will be handled before you redeem anything else, so new points on your remaining cards are not silently used to cover it.
4. If Amex does not resolve it, escalate through its grievance process. If you get no reply within 30 days, or the reply does not settle it, you can complain to the RBI Integrated Ombudsman at cms.rbi.org.in.
5. Before you cancel any Amex card in future, redeem or move its points first. The 30-day rule is in the terms either way.

Common questions

Will Amex India give my points back? According to the email quoted by Live From A Lounge, yes: Amex says it will restore the balance you had on 8 November 2026, adjusted for points earned or redeemed since, within 48 to 72 hours.

Did Amex India wipe everyone's points? No. The reports describe removals for cardholders whose pooled balance held points from a card they had cancelled. It was not a wipe of all accounts.

Can Amex take back points from a card I cancel in future? Yes. Amex's terms say points on a cancelled card must be redeemed within 30 days or can be forfeited, and the restoration email says those terms continue to apply to cards cancelled from now on.

Does this change anything on 15 November? The separate balance per card goes ahead: announced for 15 November, and the restoration email says balances will show card by card from 16 November. Our Amex India 2026 explainer lists every change this year.

Every confirmed cut to Indian cards is in our Indian devaluation tracker. If this has shaken your trust in the card, Polo Match ranks the Indian cards you can apply for today against your actual spending.