Lakhs Of Points Gone Overnight: Amex Cardholders Allege Retroactive Rewards Clawback

After multiple confusions, American Express India has now informed cardholders that it has removed Membership Rewards points linked to previously cancelled cards. In an email to affected customers, they cited a technical issue that had allowed ineligible points to remain visible in customer accounts beyond the permitted redemption period. However, the adjustment has triggered multiple complaints from customers who say their rewards were pooled across multiple cards, leaving them with no clear way to redeem, or even identify, points associated with an individual card before its closure.

Amex has said that points linked to a cancelled card must be redeemed within 30 days of cancellation, failing which they are forfeited under its Membership Rewards terms. The company followed up by saying a technical issue had allowed these points to continue reflecting in accounts beyond the 30-day period. It also said that the issue had been resolved and the balances updated in accordance with the applicable terms.

🚨 Massive shock from @AmexIndia today! Trust completely broken. 🚨 I woke up to a massive 23,88,090 MR points CLAWED BACK from my account, dragging my balance down to -21,48,040. And from what I'm seeing, I am not the only one affected! 📉 Here is what is happening: Like many of us, I hold multiple Amex cards with points pooled into one central MR account.I closed some older cards a while back. Historically, the 30-day point forfeiture rule ONLY applied to full account closures (if you close all your cards). But today, out of nowhere, Amex retroactively audited accounts and wiped out points earned on individually closed cards that weren't redeemed within 30 days. No email, no SMS, no prior warning. 🛑 The worst part? I got on a call with their support (which I have fully recorded 🎙️). The representative agreed with me and ADMITTED that at the time of closure, even their own employees were not aware of this update to warn customers! How can a global bank enforce a sudden, uncommunicated policy and take back points that are rightfully ours? We expect sudden reward devaluations from other banks, but Amex was supposed to be the gold standard for customer service and transparency. I refuse to accept this silently. I am escalating this to the Banking Ombudsman. ⚠️ TFCians & Credit Card Users: Please check your MR balances immediately, especially if you have closed any Amex cards recently while keeping others active! Have you been hit by this sudden clawback today? Let me know in the replies. 👇 https://t.co/C2oDMSlUaj

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— Sumanta Mandal (@SumantaTF) November 9, 2026

Account screenshots shared by cardholders show adjustments of 311,990 points, 53,528 points and 75,715 points on November 9. One cardholder, Sumanta Mandal, claimed on X that 23,88,090 points had been removed from his account, leaving it with a negative balance of 21,48,040 points. Another customer, Roshan Agarwal, said the points removed from his account were worth around Rs 4.5 lakh. These individual claims have not been independently verified by NDTV Profit.

🚨 AMEX HAS WIPED OUT ₹4.5 LAKH WORTH OF MY REWARD POINTS. And the explanation? “It was an earlier error. We have now corrected it.” Seriously, @AmexIndia @AmexBusiness? Let's break this down. You are claiming that points relating to cards that were closed more than a year ago should have been redeemed within 30 days of closure. But: 👉 There was NO mechanism to identify or redeem points card-wise. 👉 I made multiple redemptions AFTER those cards had already been closed. 👉 Those redemptions were accepted and processed by Amex without any warning that I was supposedly using points belonging to a closed card. 👉 Now, more than a year later, you suddenly decide that the points currently sitting in my account belonged to those cancelled cards and simply erase them. On what basis? Show me the transaction-level calculation. Show me the methodology. Show me exactly how you have established that these points belonged to a particular cancelled card. And even if you somehow establish that they did is this really how Amex treats customers? These aren't free promotional points. They were earned through years of genuine spending, loyalty and card usage. You cannot make an internal accounting/system error and then, months later, pass the entire cost of correcting that error onto the customer. This isn't just about my ₹4.5 lakh. It's about the precedent. If Amex can retroactively identify points, reassign them to a closed card and wipe them out after years have passed, then what confidence does any customer have in accumulating rewards? The irony is that Amex was once considered one of the most customer-centric card issuers in the world. Today, long-standing customers are being told: “Our system made a mistake. You pay for it.” That isn't customer centricity. That's AMEX LOOTING ITS OWN CUSTOMERS. @AmexIndia @AmexBusiness Restore the ₹4.5 lakh worth of points. And if you genuinely believe they were incorrectly credited, publish the complete transaction-level reconciliation showing: Points earned → points redeemed → points attributable to each card → balance allegedly liable for reversal. You can't transfer your incompetence to your customers. Don't hide behind “system error corrected”. Show the numbers. #Amex #AmericanExpress #CreditCards #RewardPoints

— Roshan Agarwal | CA Miles (@rhoeshan) November 9, 2026

Clawback being questioned

The concerns centre around how points are tracked and redeemed when customers hold multiple American Express cards.

Amex's Membership Rewards terms define linked basic card accounts held by the same customer as accounts where spending is combined and accumulated under one Membership Rewards Program account. Customers argue that they saw a common points balance and could not specifically select points earned on a particular card for redemption.

This also raised questions about how Amex calculated the points attributable to each cancelled card, particularly where customers had continued making redemptions from the pooled balance after closing individual cards. Cardholders are seeking transaction-level calculations showing points earned, redeemed and subsequently reversed against each card.

Amex's email, however, does not provide this reconciliation or explain how previous redemptions were allocated.

Additionally, from Nov 15, the company says points held by customers with two or more basic cards will be maintained separately for each card, rather than in an overall account-level balance. Existing points will then be distributed based on the individual balances associated with each card.

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