Can you transfer Amex Membership Rewards to someone when you cancel? Er, ‘Yes’.

Until early 2013, American Express allowed you to transfer your Membership Rewards points to someone else, at any time, for a £15 fee.  This option no longer exists.

However ….

The terms and conditions of the Gold and Platinum cards (PDF) explicitly allow you to transfer your points to another person when you close your account.

Here is the wording:

If you end your Card Account agreement and there are no other Linked Cards on your Points Account, or if you end these Terms and Conditions, you will have 30 days from the date you request this to redeem your Points. You can also transfer them to another Points Account, including transferring to a Points Account held by someone else (for a fee that we will inform you of at the time). If you do not transfer or redeem your Points within 30 days, they will be forfeited.

Before I carry on, let me give you the back story to this article.

Whilst this clause exists in the Terms & Conditions for the Gold and Platinum cards, I think it is not meant to be there.

My understanding is that Amex intended to remove this feature when they stopped allowing transfers of any kind back in 2013.  Every so often, a Head for Points readers tries to get American Express to move their Membership Rewards points to someone else when closing the card.

The agent usually refuses.  When escalated to a supervisor, the supervisor also refuses.  In the past, some readers have had to make a complaint to FOS, the Ombudsman service, to make American Express stick to their own published terms and conditions – conditions which are still on their website, remember.  If you go to FOS – and the instructions are also in the terms and conditions – it will get done.

I first wrote about this back in October 2013.  Amazingly, for the last 40 months, Amex has not changed their Terms & Conditions to remove this clause, even though they were updated in December 2014.

Amex has continued to refuse to transfer Membership Rewards points when you request it upon card closure, obliging you to make a formal complaint.  However, there may be some movement on this issue.

A reader recently had the same debate with American Express that I outlined above:

he asked the agent to transfer his points (he was closing his card) to his wife – refused

he escalated to a supervisor – refused

he made a formal complaint to Amex (it was never escalated to FOS) – success

What is more interesting, though, is what he was told told.  Whilst a manager told the reader that it WAS a mistake to leave this in T&C’s originally, Amex had decided at some point to leave it in.  They forgot, however, to tell the call centre which is why agents refused to do transfers.  He was then told that all call centre agents were being sent a memo to remind them that MR points CAN be transferred to a third party (not necessarily at the same address) on closure.

In general, I have always said on HfP that you must empty your Membership Rewards account when you close your card.  This was the best course of action.  It simply wasn’t worth, in my view, going down the road of pushing it with Amex, wrecking your reputation with them and then escalating it with the Ombudsman.  Life was too short.  If agents genuinely have been a sent a memo telling them to allow transfers on closure without a fight, however, I will change my advice.

Want to earn more points from credit cards? – December 2021 update

If you are looking to apply for a new credit or charge card, here are our November 2021 recommendations based on the current sign-up bonus. 

You can see our full directory of all UK cards which earn airline or hotel points here. Here are the top current deals:

British Airways American Express

5,000 Avios for signing up, no annual fee and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending ….. Read our full review

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

25,000 Avios and the UK’s most valuable credit card perk – the 2-4-1 companion voucher Read our full review

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & two airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

30,000 points and an unbeatable set of travel benefits – for a fee Read our full review

Earning miles and points from small business cards

If you are a sole trader or run a small company, you may also want to check out these offers.

American Express Business Gold

20,000 points sign-up bonus and free for a year Read our full review

American Express Business Platinum

40,000 points sign-up bonus and a long list of travel benefits Read our full review

British Airways Accelerating Business American Express

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review

Capital On Tap Business Rewards Visa

The most generous Avios Visa or Mastercard for a limited company Read our full review

For a non-American Express option, we also recommend the Barclaycard Select Cashback card for sole traders and small businesses. It is FREE and you receive 1% cashback on your spending:

Barclaycard Select Cashback Credit Card

1% cashback and no annual fee Read our full review