American Express has quietly rewritten the rules of its Membership Rewards program, and anyone who collects points across multiple Amex cards should take note. Under updated terms and conditions flagged by Doctor Of Credit, new Amex cards that earn Membership Rewards points will no longer merge automatically into your main points balance. Instead, each new product gets its own separate rewards account, and you have to link them yourself.
Historically, Amex was the easiest of the big issuers on this front: as long as your cards sat under one online login, every point pooled into a single balance without you lifting a finger. That's changing. The new terms state that opening a new card creates a fresh rewards account, and cardholders who want everything together must link accounts online or in the Amex app via the 'Manage Connections' option. You can also add or remove cards from a rewards account by calling the number on the back of your card. Crucially, this applies to new cards only — existing setups appear untouched for now.
So is this a big deal? Not if you're paying attention. Linking accounts takes a minute or two, and once done, points consolidate into one balance as before. The risk is for people who open a card, never link it, then close it later and forget to move the points first — under the old system that scenario was far less likely, since everything pooled automatically.
The more interesting question is why Amex is doing this at all. Companies rarely make things more complicated for fun, and the change hints at two possibilities. First, fragmented balances mean cardholders who close an account and forget to consolidate will forfeit those points — a quiet win for Amex's balance sheet. Second, and potentially more significant for points enthusiasts, separate accounts would let Amex introduce different transfer ratios for different cards, something Chase has done with Ultimate Rewards and Citi increasingly does with ThankYou points. That could eventually mean some cards transferring to airline and hotel partners at worse rates than others. Neither outcome is confirmed, but the plumbing is now in place for both.
For travellers, the practical takeaway is simple: if you open a new Amex card that earns Membership Rewards points, link it to your main account immediately, and set a reminder to consolidate any balance before closing any card. Points collectors who juggle several Amex products for welcome bonuses and category spend should also keep an eye on future terms — if differential transfer ratios arrive, which card earns which points will suddenly matter a lot more when it's time to book that business class seat.
