American Express Membership Rewards Credit Card Review (MRCC)

By | January 24, 2024
Amex Membership Rewards Credit Card Review

While American Express is known for their premium cards with amazing customer support they also issue one of the highly rewarding entry-level credit card in the country in the name of Membership Rewards Credit Card (MRCC).

Even though its an entry-level credit card, you can get return on spend as good as any other super premium credit card and even more. Let’s see how,

Overview

TypeEntry-level Card
Reward Rate1% – 10%
Joining Fee1,000 INR+GST First Year Free
Best forTaj Vouchers & more
USPMonthly Reward Milestones

American Express Membership Rewards Credit Card is a pretty decent rewards card that gives lucrative reward rate if used right.

If you’re new to credit cards (holding at-least one non-Amex card) and looking for a higher reward rate to begin your journey, you may start with Amex MRCC.

apply now

*** Limited Period Offer: First Year FREE ***

Apply through the link on the page & you’ll get additional 2,000 Referral Bonus Membership Rewards® points (spend INR 5,000 within 90 days)

Fees

Joining Fee1,000 INR+GST First Year Free
Welcome Benefit4,000 MR Points (on paid cards)
Renewal Fee4,500 INR+GST 1,500 INR +GST (Limited Period Offer)
Renewal BenefitNil
Renewal Fee waiverNil

Note that with the limited period offer you not only get the card as a FIRST Year FREE but also get a lower “renewal fee” when applied through the referral link.

Further, the renewal fee can as well be waived off by calling Amex support. Expect 100% waiver on renewal with annual spends >1.5 Lakhs. Else, you can get 50% waiver on spends >90K INR.

Design

Amex Membership Rewards Credit Card Design

While I’m not a fan of this yellow credit card, it does look decent after you look at it so many times and get used to it. 😀

Anyway, it’s not about the design that matters for an entry-level card. It’s all about rewards and it does offer quite a lot of that.

Rewards

SPEND TYPEREWARDSREWARD RATE (CASH CREDIT)REWARD RATE (MARRIOTT/TAJ VOUCHER)
Regular Spends1 MR on every 50 INR spend0.50%~1%
  • Excluded spends: Utilities, Fuel spends
  • Rewards don’t expire.

If you plan to use the card primarily for fuel and utilities, you may instead have a look at the Amex Gold Charge Card.

The reward points earned on MRCC are ideally meant for Marriott transfers (or) Taj voucher redemptions via Amex Gold Collection (24K), as other options are not attractive enough, unless you know what you’re doing.

Also note that the MR points earned on MRCC can be pooled with other Amex cards (except Plat travel which happens rarely), so you can get closer to 24K or 18K Gold collection redemptions faster.

Monthly Rewards

Amex MRCC Monthly Rewards
Spend CriteriaRewardsValue (Marriott)
1500 INR *41000 MR Points~500 INR
20,000 INR1000 MR Points~500 INR
  • 1 MR Point = ~0.50 INR (average taken for calculation above)
  • MR Point value can vary from 0.38 INR to 0.58 INR depending on the redemption.

Monthly rewards is the USP of Gold cards (Gold Charge Card & MRCC) wherein customers are given bonus MR points on completing certain spend criteria in a calendar month.

Unlike Gold Charge Card that can get you only 1000 MR points monthly, here with MRCC you can get 2000 MR points every month on completing two spend targets, as mentioned above.

Note that the bonus MR points on 20K spend is an “enrolment based benefit”. So donot forget to enroll.

The Value of 2000 MR points is only 500 INR if you redeem for cash credit but if you aim for the gold collection (or) redeem points at Marriott properties that’s easily 1000 INR value which means you’re getting ~5% return on spend (20K spend).

You may as well accumulate points and hope to redeem for Taj vouchers under 24K Gold Karat Collection which will further enhance the point value from to 0.58 INR.

You may as well get the Gold Charge Card, link both cards and get closer to your redemptions faster, as mentioned earlier.

Amex Offers

amex mrcc offers and benefits

One of the major advantage of holding an American Express credit card is that you get access to most of the Amex network offers that shows up from time to time.

This could be merchant offers, spend based offers or even points transfer offers. Check out all previous noticeable Amex Offers here.

While Amex merchant offers used to be AMAZING in the past (2018 & before), we didn’t see much in 2023/2024, but they did multiple decent spend linked offers worth considering.

Amex offers is just one reason for holding an American Express Credit card. Here are 5 Reasons Why You Should Have an American Express Credit Card otherwise.

Reward Multiplier

While Amex Reward Multiplier is something I’m not happy with since it’s inception, it does offer a great value if you’re not into other bank’s Super Premium Credit Cards.

You can get 2X rewards on the Reward Multiplier with Gold Charge Card.

What this means is, you get 1% more reward rate on the spend. While this is not so lucrative as the 5X rewards on Gold Charge Card, it’s still decent enough to get little beyond the regular rewards.

Other Benefits

  • Foreign Exchange Markup fee: 3.5% + Service Tax
  • Amex health insurance benefits (with ICICI Lombard)
  • Supplementary Card Offers
  • Amex Festive Offers
  • 24/7 premium support

The downside however is that being an entry level card, chances of it being used by non-premium cardholders is high as so are the merchants, due to which one might get into card acceptance issues.

Maximizing MRCC

Monthly Bonus rewards of 2000 MR points (1000+1000) is all you need to consider to earn points faster and redeem for Gold collection.

You may as well explore Points transfer partners if you can flex your mind into the ocean of points & miles game. That said, Marriott points transfer is the easiest one among.

On spending 20K every month you end up getting 24K MR points on 2.4L spend which is a sweet ~6% reward rate.

And if you’ve a flexible travel schedule and can find sweet spots with Marriott (not tough), you may even get value as good as 1 INR per MR point and that my friend means this card can get you a return of 10% annually (on 2.4L annual spend)

Check-out my Marriott Hotel reviews to get some ideas.

Not only it looks lucrative, but also you may enjoy a renewal fee waiver as well with above spends.

If you’re not into travel redemptions, you may as well redeem for other options under Gold Collection like Tanishq or Shopperstop which is quite good as well.

Note: If spending 1.5K*4 is tough for you, you may also load your wallets (if free) or simply split your >3K spends into multiples of 1.5K to get there faster.

How to apply?

You may apply online/offline or at airport outlets (no special airport offers at the moment), whichever is convenient for you.

Currently, one of the best offer you could get is a First Year Free Limited period offer when you apply using a referral link.

If you’re already holding an Amex card, do note that American Express allows you to hold 1 Charge Card + 2 Credit cards at any point in time.

apply now

*** Limited Period Offer: First Year FREE ***

Note: It’s better to apply using your Aadhaar address, otherwise the application might get delayed (or) even rejected, as reported by some of those who experienced it.

Bottomline

  • CardExpert Rating: 4.8/5

If you’re new to the world of American Express, MRCC is the best card to begin your journey with Amex.

While MRCC is ideally suitable for ~2L or so spends, If your spends are in the range of 4 Lakhs or above, you must check out the Amex Platinum Travel Credit Card which is one of the best travel credit card in the country.

Overall, except for the not so great design, everything else is great with the Amex Membership Rewards Credit Card.

Do you hold American Express Membership Rewards Credit Card? Feel free to share your experiences in the comments below.

Author: Siddharth

Helping Indians to choose right credit cards, pick right offers and enjoy luxury vacations for less. Day & night exploring the spiritual reality of our human existence.

129 thoughts on “American Express Membership Rewards Credit Card Review (MRCC)

  1. Prashant Gupta

    this with Gold charge card combined if used properly give good rewards.

    Reply
  2. Nisarga

    Are spends on fuel, insurance, and utilities transactions excluded from the spend Rs.1000*4 times a month and get 1000 Bonus points every month offer?

    Reply
      1. modded

        Are MR points applicable on purchases made using supplementary cards?

        Reply
  3. MAA-traveler

    Platinum Travel + MRCC + Gold Charge is a great combo to earn at least 33,000 MR Points + Rs 10000 Taj Voucher + Rs 19500 SpiceJet/Travel Vouchers. This is apart from the 10X insurance spends bonus, other offers like supplementary card, 50% Bonvoy bonus and couple of other spend based bonuses. Without going overboard we could get 40,000 to 50,000 MR points every year.

    Even after paying Rs 5900 annual fee, it is a solid return on spends. 😀

    Reply
    1. ANIMESH SEN

      How we can get this as combo? Can we spend 4 Lac/annum combinedly with 3 cards to get the fees waiver?

      Reply
      1. MAA-traveler

        @ANIMESH SEN,
        Fee waiver may not be possible unless spends are north of a 7 digit figure annually. When we pay for Plat Travel, most people are given MRCC as companion card LTF. For gold charge card better to pay first year fee as you get 4000 MR points. You may apply through some referral for additional 2000 MR points or Rs 1500 Amazon voucher if applied on Amazon site (which I did as Rs 1500 voucher is more valuable than 2000 MR point IMO). Renewal fee is mostly waived off.

        Reply
        1. Dhananjay

          Currently I am holding Amex MRCC card, if I am able to get the Platinum Travel Card now, will the MRCC card become LTF?

          Reply
          1. Shivi

            Doubt it till there is an ongoing offer. Confirm with AmEx customer care!

          2. Rakesh

            you need to call the care and ask for LTF on MRCC, they would agree to it as long as you hold Plat Travel !

          3. Vikcy

            I have an amex travel and LTF gold card. But when i am trying to apply to MRCC online, i get this message ”

            Thank you for your interest!

            Based on the details provided by you, we regret to inform that you are not eligible for The American Express Membership Rewards® Credit Card at this point in time. You will shortly receive an email from us with more details on the same.

            Please advice what to do

  4. Ankur

    Hi Sid,

    Have a query as its not mentioned on product page. Does MRCC allow points transfer to hotel and airlines partners of Amex like Platinum Travel or only gold collection and Bonvoy ?

    Reply
    1. Siddharth Post author

      Does MRCC allow points transfer to hotel and airlines partners of Amex like Platinum Travel ?
      – Yes

      Reply
  5. Nitesh ladia

    Not worth,Bob select card is much better than this, you should review that card, and you will really find it useful.

    Reply
  6. Niraj

    Hey Sid
    Not directly related to above article but I have a query about Amex.

    I am moving to another country for more than a year. I heard on another website about Amex card transfer when person switch a country. Do you have any idea on how it works!!

    I have Amex MRCC(6 months old). I had option to go for Platinum Reserve but I didn’t go as I had DCB and Yes Exclusive. Should I try for Platinum Reserve and move most of the spends to Amex now!!

    Reply
    1. Amex Guy

      For Global Transfer, your Amex account should be at least a year old with no periods of no card. In your destination country website, there will be an option for Global transfer either via dedicated link or in the form itself. For some countries, Amex has implemented a new system where it uses your Amex India logged in account to pull info, for others you’d have to manually enter. Otherwise you can call customer care. You will need a proper residential address in the destination country.

      They will still follow local requirements of the card. For example, while transferring to India one still needs a PAN Card along with residential address. But your credit line will depend upon your existing history with origin country.

      Reply
  7. Rohit Jha

    Hi,
    What will be a good card for a beginner ? I will prefer a secured card.
    Thanks

    Reply
  8. Joseph

    Unfortunately I live outside any of the cities that is serviced by amex.
    Although have a bank account with parents address in Cochin, No other address proof in any of the other cities.
    Is there any work around to getting an amex card?
    Also not sure about usability/acceptability of amex in the Tier 2 city that I live in currently.
    That means even if I get this card I would probably use it only for online transactions/ wallet loading. So is it worth it?

    Reply
    1. The Outrigger

      Yes, very interested to know if there is an offline application process or similar for those outside of the limited metros service areas listed online.

      Reply
  9. Dr Pankaj Gupta

    Amex website mentions annual fees as Rs. 4500 (2nd year onwards)

    Reply
  10. M. Upendran

    In Amex website, for MRCC I could find the following rewards. Not sure at each stage all the 3 rewards are given or one of the 3:
    24,000 MR points / 24 Karat Gold Collection:
    American Express Domestic Travel e-voucher worth Rs. 11,000
    Bose Sound Link Color II Bluetooth Speaker
    Statement Credit worth Rs. 10,000

    18,000 MR points / 18 Karat Gold Collection
    Statement Credit worth Rs. 7,500
    Amazon e-gift card worth Rs. 8,000
    Tanishq Voucher worth Rs. 7,500

    Reply
    1. Tejas Ghongadi

      Your understanding is completely wrong.

      Its not stage-wise rewards. These are redemption options on Amex MRCC. If you have 18,000 Points, you could redeem it for any one of the Three rewards under the 18K Gold Collection. If want to wait further till 24K points, then you could redeem is for any one of the three rewards under the 24K Gold Collection.

      Reply
  11. wah

    hello sid,
    i applied for AMEX platinum card before 3 month’s but it got decline,The reason behind that was my home address was in-serviceable.
    Should i try again now,
    which AMEX card has good approval rate,
    I hold ITR 6.5lac self employed.
    Thanks & Regards.

    Reply
  12. Sivakumar

    Hi Siddharth,
    Very nice to hear the insights from you, much appreciated. QQ as cited below:
    Can I use the Amex membership Reward credit card to pay my rent each month online via the approved websites and still be eligible to gain additional membership reward points apart from the monthly rewards cited by above?

    Reply
  13. srikkanth

    Hi, any idea on getting Amex card for freelance consultants , ITR is above 6 lakhs and cibil is 800+, but Amex ppl are asking for company mail id if employed or office set up for self employed …

    Reply
    1. Shimul

      The address verification agent asking for company sign board what i don’t have as freelance so amex rejected my application. My family members applied for MRCC got approved (May be verification agent was lazy that day).

      I applied for another amx card and verification agent came to my door and asking for signboard what i don’t have. Told him about the family member card and show him the approval latter.

      He said i remembered. He took a photo of my working desk and card approved :). Got lucky i gess!

      Applied for another family member. Verification agent didn’t came, got rejected.

      Reply
  14. MAA-traveler

    Devaluation alert!

    24,000 MR points / 24 Karat Gold Collection:
    Statement Credit worth Rs. 9,000 (earlier Rs 10,000)

    18,000 MR points / 18 Karat Gold Collection
    Statement Credit worth Rs. 6,000 (earlier Rs 7,500)
    Amazon e-gift card worth Rs. 7000 (earlier Rs 8,000)

    But Taj Voucher added for Rs 9000 (18K MR Points, Rs 0.5 per point) and Rs 14,000 (24K MR Points; Rs 0.58 per point). Now it make sense to redeem only for Taj Vouchers, transfer to Marriott Bonvoy (about Rs 0.5 per point as how I would value) or any Hot Rewards.

    Reply
  15. Amit kumar

    Currently there is 5x rewards on insurance spends. I have registered for it. Any idea, How we utilise this?
    Last year I paid LIC Policy premium and it didn’t reflect as LIC in the statement but rather as PAyu…

    Reply
  16. A2Z

    @SID
    Looks from 01 FEB 2020 there is another bad news apart from points devaluation
    4 times spends criteria may become 6 times same as Gold Charge card

    Spend Rs.1000*6 times a month and get 1000 Bonus points every month

    Reply
    1. Siddharth Post author

      No. On MRCC mailer I still see:
      “It’s easy to reach our Gold Collection!
      • Earn 1,000 Bonus Points every month simply by making
      4 or more transactions each of ₹1,000 or above.”

      Reply
      1. Abhi

        I think A2Z is talking about Gold Charge Card and not MRCC. MRCC has still 4 transactions required of 1000+ and Gold Charge card, well it has been more than a year (or 2?) since the requirement has changed to 6 transactions for Gold Charge card.

        Reply
  17. The Outrigger

    Can you share the sequence and timeline of events once you complete and submit the online application process? Thank you.

    Reply
  18. Nikhil

    You get lounge access(Domestic) at discounted rate of 590 per person if that matters. However with so many cards having free access, its not worth

    Reply
    1. Shivi

      Cards with free lounge access don’t give you access to AmEx lounges which are exclusively for few variants of AmEx card holders only. I am not sure which lounges are offered at discounted rate on MRCC

      Reply
  19. SYED ABDUL RAHIM

    Hi Siddharth,
    I tried to apply amex cc via the provided link, but my application is being rejected by a trailor mail that my CIBIL is not eligible for the card, I have a CIBIL around 795 and I hold multiple cards from other banks including Infinia, is there a way to get into amex ecosystem for me, is my CIBIL of 795 bad enough for getting amex, any way the trailing mail had an option to check my CIBIL, which gave the error message CIR not found. I didn’t understand, I don’t know whom to contact as there is no representative available, I am basically from Chennai, could you give me your valuable inputs
    Dr Rahim

    Reply
    1. Shivi

      Maybe the reason they are rejecting you is not the score but the report. Multiple cards for one are looked down upon, high outstanding balance, multiple credit enquiries, multiple ongoing EMIs, multiple open loans or credit lines etc. etc.

      Score number is irrelevant.

      Reply
      1. SYED ABDUL RAHIM

        Hi, thanks for the reply
        Currently I am having only 3 active credit cards, with no active loans or emi, my outstanding is merely 2% of my credit limit.

        Reply
        1. Shivi

          Are the addresses/cities that you live in/ that are reported in CIBIL serviced by AmEx?

          Reply
        2. Shivi

          Well anyway, you can go to Amex India site and look up the support number on the site n talk to one of the representatives or message them on Facebook and they will let you know the email on which to contact and follow up with them. They do respond quite quickly and to the point.

          Reply
  20. Himanshu

    I had an MRCC for about a year but closed it since I wasn’t able to use it much (maybe I didn’t know how to take advantage). At the time of closing this card, they had mentioned that this card can be reinstated within a year of closing at no additional processing. After reading your review, I was tempted to do that and they did confirm it is

    Then I found a new reward card SmartEarn. It has lower fees (495, waived with spend > 40k). It does not have the 1000*4 rewards though. Does having this card instead of MRCC make sense?

    Reply
    1. Tejas Ghongadi

      Absolutely not. Right now for an average credit card user, MRCC is one the best Amex Cards. I have the MRCC for almost 3 years and have reaped reward like crazy with the 4 x 1000 Rs. Transactions bonus. The card is hardly ever used for anything else considering the other cards in the wallet are DCB, SCB Ultimate, YFE & Citi PM.

      Recently added the Gold Charge Card to the collection.

      Reply
      1. rajeev

        AMex is giving me SmartEarn card as LTF along with my existing MRCC (for which they charge me annually 2250Rs, waived off when spends >1.5L ). Does it make any benefit to get that card as well ? I can’t think of any use-case in which I will use SmartEarn over MRCC. They said they will do a hard check on credit score so that’s the only concern. (apart from the concern of possibility of catching covid through card delivery package 🙁 )

        Reply
  21. Aman

    Hey Sid,

    Great article. Had a doubt.

    The Amex website mentions:

    Welcome Gift of 4,000 Bonus Membership Rewards® Points

    So if i apply via referral for Amex MRCC, will i get the 2000 points as mentioned in the post (along with first year free)
    or 4000 points as mentioned on Amex website ?

    Reply
    1. MJ

      Aman,
      You will receive 2000 pt and first year free from above link.
      4000 pt is given when you pay 1000+GST as first year fee.

      Reply
  22. Anurag

    how to apply this card from Belgaum city Karnataka, I can’t see city Belgaum in amex website apple now

    Reply
  23. hrishikesh

    I have received offer of LTF MRCC on my Amex Plat Travel card.Should i take it. is it worth.To be eligible for 18K collection I have to spend at least 3 lac more.Or Can I combine my Plat travel and MRCC together with this offer.I already have 16000+ point on my Plat Travel.

    Reply
  24. ismail

    Sir,
    is the annual fee of 1500 still valid if pursued from above link? or is it no longer valid?

    Reply
    1. MJ

      ismail,
      1500 annual fee is still valid. I have applied and got it 🙂

      Reply
  25. Peter

    If any one looking to apply, annual fee via referal have came down to 1500 from 4500 now.

    Reply
  26. ismail

    hello sid
    i applied and got the card from the above link, and happy to get the FYF and 1500+gst as annual fee. Suppose i dont cross the annual fee waiver limit of90k and pay the fee of 1500rs, will i get the bonus 5000 reward points for paying annual fee? because it will be more useful getting 5000 points for 1500+gst rupees!

    Reply
  27. Mayank

    Does anyone know whether we will get reward points if we do school fees payment through AMEX card?
    or if we do payment through paytm or mobikwik using AMEX card?

    Reply
  28. Sudheep

    tks SID

    Applied via your referral link for MRCC and availed first year free + annual 1500/- , my first card with AMEX.

    Process was pretty fast, approval in 4days, received the card in a weeks time. No physical verification , only telephonic call. Just asked me to drop a mail from my official ID . no other formalities.

    CL of 4L is provided , happy with that too..

    asked them is there any way i could pay the first year fee(1000) so that i will get 4000 reward points, but unfortunately that option was not available. But 2000 bonus for joining via referral plus 2000 for 25k in 90 days is available by default

    Reply
  29. amitabh maheshwari

    Get MRCC with Smart Earn as companion. Helps to reach 18k or 24k points fast.

    Reply
  30. Captain Bishuddha Bharatiya

    Got approval for MRCC with 50k limit. It’s my 2nd card from Amex.

    Reply
    1. Shivi

      Good good. Now I only have to wait till Eternity for them to start issuing it to Tier 2 town residents. Meh :-/

      Reply
    2. MrNightStar

      Cap, how linient is AMEX in giving limit? Did KYC happen again for 2nd card? Is the limit shared? How co-related is it to monthly income?

      Reply
      1. Captain Bishuddha Bharatiya

        In my 1st card which is SmarEarn the limit provided is Rs. 85,000 and now my 2nd card i.e., MRCC the limit I got is Rs. 50,000 ( separate limit ). The gap between the two applications was less than 90 days. Many banks do not provide 2nd card and if they do they either don’t provide separate limit or gap should be more than 6-12 months. I have a youtuber friend who has more than Rs. 10 lakhs limit in Infinia and he got MRCC approved on the same day as mine. His limit is also Rs. 50,000. HNI’s are getting starting limit of Rs. 50,000. So I am quite happy with the overall experience with Amex. Infact I am loving it.

        Reply
      2. Bishuddha Bishuddha Bharatiya

        It’s separate limit. My annual income is Rs. 6.02 lakhs

        Reply
  31. AMNIRUDH

    Can someone tell me what is the minimum cibilscore to apply for Amex
    self employed with cibil score 747 (newly into credit cards just 4 months old)
    I have hdfc diners and Idfc One card.
    ITR:12 LAKHS

    CAN SOMEONE SUGGEST ME

    Reply
  32. Captain Bishuddha Bharatiya

    Mr. NightStar I don’t know why my comment was not posted. Anyway I am replying again.
    My first card ( SmartEarn ) which I got less than 90 days ago came with a limit of Rs. 85,000. This second card came with a limit of Rs. 50,000.
    Yes I have to provide KYC and income documents again. Everything was submitted online via e-mail. No physical documents are required.
    According to my latest ITR my monthly income is Rs. 50,260.
    Feel free to ask any question. I will be glad to help.

    Reply
    1. Sanchit

      Hi Captain

      How did you get DCB with your ITR? Was it only because your limit was greater then 5L or did you use some other hack as well. Any pointers/tips would be greatly appreciated.

      Reply
      1. Captain Bishuddha Bharatiya

        Hi Sanchit I got Diner’s Black last year in the month of September. Actually when limit in my previous card reached four lakhs than I started forcing my R.M. for Black. As usual he said it’s not possible but I kept forcing him for special approval. After trying for many weeks they finally approved Diner’s Black.

        Reply
  33. Shashank

    Hi Sid,
    I had a small query regarding this card. If I apply for this card using your link, and use this card only to make four transactions above ₹1000 per month, and accumulate 12K points per year, and repeat the same process for two years, I’ll end up with 24K points which can then be redeemed for Statement Credit. This can be directly used to offset the 1.5K Annual Fee from second year onwards. Are my assumptions correct? Or do MR points expire after a particular time duration?

    Also, is it prudent to wait until a LTF offer is resumed on this card?

    Reply
    1. Siddharth Post author

      I’ve less expectations for LTF from Amex to return.

      Assumptions are correct, but Amex these days reduces the point value redeemed for stmt. credit. So its better to redeem then and there instead of wait for 2 yrs to gain 24K points. You may get Gold charge card to speed up though.

      Reply
  34. Sunil Patel

    Hey, Sid just got my amex approved applied from your link. I am back with amex after seven years. Hope to have a better experience this time.

    Reply
  35. mayank

    I hold MRCC and got a surprising email telling me that my smart earn card is on the way. Customer support ppl then let me know that they are discontinuing this card and moving all the customers to smart earn credit card which would be free for the first year and then 495 + GST from from second year onwards. I was holding an LTF card.

    Reply
    1. Sechigal Sharma

      That is for the Gold credit card and not MRCC even my Gold CC was discontinued and I got a SmartEarn instead which I upgraded to MRCC for Rs.1000 for first year.

      Reply
  36. Barath

    AMEX has devalued this variant (MRCC) a lot and does not offer a tangible benefit anymore. Plus, increasing number of merchants who earlier accepted AMEX are also not preferring it now. Paytm is charging 2% on wallet loadings as well, so requested for either a LTF benefit or cancellation and they were happy to cancel it.

    Recently been observing rude behavior from Amex guys as well over the calls and chats. Anyone with the same feel..?

    Reply
    1. Amit verma

      Customer care has been a bit rude and don’t try to understand the issue at all. I spoke to them regarding heavy fees charged for customer who has directly opted for card which is 4500 whereas referred customer gets discounted fee of 1500 second year onwards.
      Tried to explain this unfair fees model which doesn’t offer any additional benefit for such customer. I have decided to cancel it in coming months.

      Reply
      1. Barath

        Good decision. I have already canceled their card after redeeming all the points and happily moved to HDFC Infinia.

        Reply
    2. Shivi

      AmEx increased MDR (so did others), hence the reluctance of merchants in accepting it specially coming out of covid & lock-down mode. Regarding rude behavior of AmEx customer care – Did you by any chance threaten them regarding card closure/high fees or belittle their “inability to get things done/lack of acceptance/wait time”? That might trigger it off.

      Reply
      1. Barath

        I did not threaten them. Just called for cancellation and reason was poor acceptance due to which I am not able to make the spendings resulting in a high fees and expressed my concern on their reward points devaluation. He tried all sort of ways to explain how Amex is above all and all. I was clear with my point – either make it LTF or Cancel it. The response I got was – ” Sir please cut your card into 2 pieces, I have canceled it.”

        Reply
  37. Neville Joseph

    Has anybody tried adding money to OlaMoney Wallet? Will it count towards the 4 x ₹1000 transactions per month?

    Reply
    1. Hari

      You can add to any wallet. It is a valid txn to get the bonus MR points

      Reply
    2. Shikhar Makkar

      Yes, it does. In fact any transaction of Rs 1000 or more will count towards it, be it online, offline or wallet reloads

      Reply
  38. Omkar Devasthali

    Hi Sid,

    I have applied for Amex MRCC from your referral link. Overall the experience from applying till receiving the card has been great.
    Applied on: 31st Jan 2021
    Received Card on: 05th Feb 2021.
    I have never witnessed such professionalism and quick service from any brand so far. At first, I was going to apply for Plat Reserve as I am eligible for that but it would have less useful to me.
    Anyways, thanks for referring and I am hoping for same service from Amex in the future as well.
    PS: Quick question, how many Amex cards can I hold? If I apply for plat reserve and get it approved then will they distribute the existing limit on MRCC in between my two cards like ICICI?
    Thanks and Regards,

    Reply
    1. Omkar Hemant Devasthali

      Also to add to it, the 4000 bonus points on joining are on spending 5000 in first 90 days and not 25000. You may want to correct the article.

      Reply
    2. ASHISH PREM

      From process of apply to delivery of card able to explain in terms of Verification and Documents provided.

      As one of the RM is conveyed only Office Email Confirmation is required.

      With Regards and Congratulations for your New Card 🙂

      Reply
  39. Mahesh S. Panicker

    Applied for MRCC from Sid’s link, got the card approved and delivered in under a week. Absolutely professional service from Amex, no dramas whatsoever, professional through and through. When going through the link, they’d mentioned an Amazon voucher of 500 on card approval. any idea what is the fulfillment period? Also, the 4000 bonus points credit requirement is 5000 in 90 days. Did receive a welcome mail from Amex in which they mentioned 2000 points for 2000 spend in 60 days. A bit confused about what all offers are eventually going to be provided.

    Reply
  40. Joseph

    Hi All
    My current residential address is not covered by Amex, but my permanent address is.
    Am I still eligible to apply for an Amex card.
    (All my address proof is in my current residential address, save for a bank account in my permanent address)

    Reply
  41. Priyank Jain

    Hi Sidharth

    Beyond spend based offer of Amex Platinum Travel and and monthly rewards of Amex Rewards card, the base reward is better for MRCC? Please let me know if my understanding is correct.

    MRCC give 2 Rewards for 100 rs with conversion varying from 41p (statement credit) to 58p (Taj Vouchers) and Amex Platinum Travel giving 2.5 rewards for 100rs with conversion varying from 25p (statement credit) to 37p (Taj Vouchers).

    PS: I understand, DCB/Infinia is much better for base rewards

    Reply
  42. Akshay

    Nice article. But after the recent changes made to their Gold Collection, you need to spend INR 3 lakh to earn 18,000 MR points equivalent to INR 6,000 if you redeem the 18K gold collection which makes the return rate a mere 2% not 10%. The paragraph in which you mentioned that it can generate a 10% return rate sounds more like a marketing gimmick to me!

    Reply
  43. Vinay Kapoor

    Closed down MRCC. Initially they were good and provided retention offere but when i was adamant they transferred me to senior executive and damn she was rude to the fullest. Absolutely unexpected

    Reply
  44. manoj singh

    Is there any chance to get good redeem option of membership reward points. I read somewhere that send out targetted offer at 10k or 12 k points with better redeem option. If yes how to get those. Should I wait till December to get good redemption offers of points other then gold collection.

    Reply
  45. Neville Joseph

    Hi Sid,
    Does Taj properties accept Amex Taj Vouchers, obtained through 18K Gold collection, if I have done my booking with Innercircle members-only rate?

    Reply
  46. PM

    One of the best uses of this card was to load PayTM wallet through Uber, four times a month for 1500. Now this doesn’t seem to be working. Uber silently can rejects the transaction attempt 🙁
    Loading using PayTM app directly works, but you pay 2.63% additional.

    Someone else facing this issue?

    Reply
    1. Shashank Karnawat

      Use Blusmart app to load your Paytm wallet instead of uber. Works like a charm. 4000 limit still applies though.

      Reply
  47. Mahesh S. Panicker

    If you do the transactions back-to-back, or within a short period, there is an issue with MRCC/Uber-Paytm. Else, if you limit it to 2 transactions totaling 4000, still working.

    Reply
  48. Mahesh S. Panicker

    Amex has also introduced new options for the Gold Collections. Croma, Flipkart and Big Basket options in addition to Amazon, Taj and the statement credit that is going to go away after 6 May for 18000. Vistara and Myntra also among the 24000 category. Overall, good value addition, particularly the Big Basket option, giving 8000 rather than the 7000 available on Amazon.

    Reply
  49. Prashant Gupta

    Finally after 6 years i have closed both MRCC and Gold Card. Redeemed 72K points for amazon and Big Basket vouchers. It was becoming a hassel now to spend 12K on the cards and the return after partial fee waiver was not that much.

    Reply
  50. Abhi

    Previously monthly bonus of 1000 RP on reaching 20K spends used to be credited at end of following month. But I ve noticed for past 2 months it’s credited as soon as you hit the 20K spend.

    Reply
  51. Mahesh S. Panicker

    Good to refresh this review as Amex is getting back up there. So long as your online spends are more than 20000 a month, this should certainly be a card you should consider. However, think 4.8 is a touch too high for this card, mainly because of the absolutely pathetic offline acceptance rate of the card. Even in the national capital Delhi, 90 percent of merchants/establishments I tried the card including some big hospitals didn’t accept Amex. decent in Gurgaon whenever I went, but poor everywhere else. Besides, Amex has been continuously cutting down on card offers of late. perhaps a 4.2?

    Reply
  52. Nanda

    Hi Sid, I see that applying from the referral Link the renewal fee is 1500/- Is that applicable for 3rd year as well or only for 2nd year? This is for MRCC.

    Reply
  53. AAJ

    It would be great if you get to mark this as add on card with Plat. Charg. or others to accumulate and redeem as gold collection

    Reply
  54. Roshan

    I am New to Amex do they offer upgrade to their higher tier cards above MRCC like other banks do or I have to apply again ?

    Thanks

    Reply
  55. Shivaa

    Hi Sid

    Applied using your referral link on 1st Jan and card was delivered on 4th Jan 2023. Awed by their speed.

    Customer care confirmed over call that renewal fee for the card would be 1500 annually. (Waived off if the spend criteria is met)

    However, spend based offer for new card member is 25000 within 90 days for 2000 bonus points. (As informed by Amex Customer Service)

    Thanks

    Reply
  56. Guru

    I got this card 7-8 years ago as LTF. I ensure to make atleast 4 transactions of 1500/- each month for bonus points 🙂

    Reply
  57. Anish S

    Hi Sid,

    I am being bombarded with mails from AMEX to upgrade my MRCC card to Platinum Travel card.

    Is it worth doing it? I have not done so far because of the milestone benefit/month and 4 transactions/month to earn rewards.

    But in Platinum travel card there is only Milestone spends of 1.9 L and 4L.

    Should I upgrade?

    Or what would be your suggestion?

    Reply
    1. Siddharth Post author

      As you can see both the reviews in detail, I guess it’s a personal choice beyond that.

      That said, one thing to note with plat travel is that it requires much more than 4L to get the 100% renewal fee waiver, which is not the case with MRCC.

      Reply
  58. Mannat Juneja

    Hi Sid,

    I am holding Gold Charge + Plat. Charge + Plat. Travel, can I get this as the 4th card?

    Thanks a lot.

    Reply
  59. Manish Shrivastava

    VERY DISSAPOINTING MOVE BY AMEX … by reducing the value of their 18k and 24k collection rewards. Just connected with the support executive and came to know that they had reduce their gold collection rewards for both 18k and 24k. Now, we will get 6000 rs voucher value for redeeming 18k Flipkart/amazon voucher instead of 7ooo rs earlier. Same is the case with 24k collection rewards.
    Now, we will get 8k Rs voucher instead of 9k earlier for Flipkart/Amazon.

    They had done the same for Myntra/Tanishq diamond voucher and only thing they hadn’t change is Taj Voucher value, which remains the same for 14k voucher for 24k points.
    To save their face, only solace they are giving is we had added more retailers to the collection.

    Also, MAIN THING IS THEY DIDNT BOTHER TO UPDATE CUSTOMER in advance, and they quietly downgraded value which looks totally unprofessional from AMEX.

    I was supposed to redeem 90k points i have for 35 k vouchers of Flipkart, instead i will get only 30k now and will be sitting at a loss of 5k rs , if only AMEX would have update to customer in advance, would have redeemed on time. (i was checking and trying to do on Dec 23) .

    Siddharth: I think this update should be highlighted in your main page.

    I will surrender one of their card coming renewal.

    Manish

    Reply
    1. Siddharth Post author

      Will update shortly. Generally Amex does inform in advance but indeed quite surprising that they didn’t do it this time.

      Reply

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