Update: Refer American Express Membership Rewards Credit Card (MRCC) Review for updated info/review on Rewards card.
American Express India has recently launched a new credit card named: The American Express Membership Rewards Card which is basically a credit card which has the same feature as that of Amex Gold charge card. The major difference is that Membership Rewards card is a Credit card while Gold card is a Charge card. No other new features to talk about as far as i know.
American Express Membership Rewards Card – Snap by the reader SriKrsna
American Express Membership Rewards Credit Card Review:
Amex was sourcing this card since past couple of weeks locally before they actually put the details on web. I see that they have done couple of changes on the website recently. They’ve even added some pages for complimentary lounge access on Amex Plat Travel card this week and notified me as well, all happened this week. So it looks like their website gets updated with new info all in one shot.
Coming to the membership rewards card, i really wonder why Amex is coming up with a common name with features of copy/paste type with dull looks of Gold charge card. I wish they come up with a better design, better name and better features which all means a whole new variant.
However, Amex maynot take such a meaningless decision to release an identical version of Gold charge card without a reason, maybe they’re planning to stop taking applications on Gold card. Lets See!
P.S: Thanks to our reader SriKrsna for helping with the snap of his new Membership Rewards Credit Card.
CardExpert Rating: 4/5 [yasr_overall_rating]
Anyone else signed up for this card? Share your views below.
The main difference between gold charge and this card is that you can avail EMI on this card but one cannot avail EMI feature on the gold charge card. Rest everything remains the same.
I dont think complimentary pass for airport is included in this card…dont see it anywhere on the website.
I am just wondering how does Amex charge card impact CIBIL score? It does not have any credit limit so would it affect my credit usage ratio.
Suppose I have HDFC card with limit of 5 lacs and Amex Charge card. Now if my outstanding in a month for HDFC is 50k and 50k in Amex. Would my credit usage be 10% per card, or 10%/20% on total in CIBIL record. Does anyone has any idea? It will help understanding whether Amex Gold credit card is better or equivalent to Amex Gold charge card.
Deepak,
Am unsure about this. But there can be two possibilities.
1. Even Amex charge card has a limit. Maybe they will share this limit with CIBIL.
2. The highest txn will be taken as your credit limit. (happen in some foreign countries where limit is not set)
I checked regarding the limit concept with Amex support. They have something called shadow credit limit that is based on historical spends and your income. However this shadow limit is dynamic and can be increased as soon as we swipe this card for high amount transaction. In such case, Amex will call us to confirm before approving the high value transaction.
I have this card and in Rs.12500 shopping in first month i have got around 1250 points. Thats around 2.5% value in terms of cash which is very good.
Hey hey, u must have done > 1000 value transaction (min 4) , to make u eligible for 1000 MR points every Calender month. So, u actually got 2% points on rs 12500 (ie 250) .
can amex card be applied through Card on Card basis?
currently all the docs needs to be submitted in PDF online which is a bit risky
I don’t think so. Well, everything is scanned and kept somewhere 😀
For new Amex customers with more than 12lacs income p.a this credit card is offered for lifetime free of any charges for online applications received before 30th November.
I have amex gold card and hence I am not eligible for this offer 🙁
Can I call customer care and request if I am eligible for this card for free??
Krishna,
If you have Amex Gold card, you can get this rewards card for free.
There is a promo running. Just call customer care and they can help 🙂
Siddharth,
I read about the current offer in your another article after my comment. I already called them and applied for it.
Regards,
Krishna
Great, sounds good!
@Siddharth I recently got an Amex gold charge card. 1 week back a customer rep told that I could get the rewards card as LFT. But today when I talked they were telling no such offer to give rewards card. But they can give gold credit card as companion. Any idea.!?
Yes, its the temporary offer, both cards are same. Go for it.
Gold credit card & rewards card are same? They were telling both are different. & I couldn’t find any info about gold credit card online. Do you have any ifo?
Charge card they gave me without joining fee& 2nd year onwards discounted fee of 2250
Yes, both are same. Just that they call it as a “companion card”.
I’ve mentioned about this in one of the latest article:
5 Things You Must Know about Amex Gold Charge Card
May i know how the card is sourced at no joining fee?
Thanks for the info. Is the rewards card worth taking? I mean if the reward points & features(except revolving credit &emi) are same why should we take one? Can you please give your opinion?
I got without joining fee because of the offer i got from Anex corporate card team. I have a corporate card. They told me about this offer. No documentation, joining fee etc. So i got tempted to take one
Corporate card, Cool. That’s the only difference. It doesn’t hurt to get anything for free, that too “credit” 😉
Its important to note that you might need to skip it if you plan to take some other cards with Amex.
You can have 2 Credit Cards + 1 Charge Card at any point of time.
I think both cards are different but look same.
Amex representatives are calling the card which they issue freely for existing gold charge card customers as companion card as “Gold Credit Card” and the card which they are issuing for new applicants for lifetime free card as “Amex Membership rewards card”.
Hello Siddharth,
Amex posted 1000Rs credit to my card as welcome bonus. I didn’t even make 1 transaction using this card to now. I hope they have not given this so that they can charge the joining fee. So that net will be 0. (Card was offered to me without joining fee)
Talk to amex Customer care, these guys are very friendly.
Gold credit card as they are referring to is Amex Membership Rewards credit card as in this article. It seems they were issuing this card as gold credit card but they stopped sourcing it before some time. Now that has been rebranded as Membership Rewards credit card and launched again.
Thanks. Now its clear. It seems like some of the customer reps still refer to it as gold credit card.
I want to add a point here as I too have Amex Gold card. Amex is offering Gold rewards card (credit) as a companion to gold charge card under life time free but with the condition of validity until you continue Gold charge card. So there is no point in having two Amex cards (same varient) until you want to avail EMI, Rolling credit facility.
Hey siddharth,
The companion card given with the Gold Charge card is actually just the basic Gold credit card and not the Membership Rewards card. Both of the cards look the same but are different .
Yes Nikhil, Even I believe same, Amex representatives are calling the card which they issue freely for existing gold charge card customers as companion card as “Gold Credit Card” and the card which they are issuing for new applicants for lifetime free card as “Amex Membership rewards card”.
There is an “Life time free membership” offer is going on for Amex membership rewards card in Amex website. The requirement is net 12Lacs per annum excluding bonus and incentives. My compensation is around 12-14Lacs(fluctuate, based on stock) but with Stocks. My stocks will vest twice in a year and it appears as Credited and deducted in my payslip (Once stock is vested, i can sell anytime). I’m sure my net pay is around including stock ~
I’m not sure whether Amex will take a note of this while processing my application for this life time free card. Also, they have mentioned “To verify the information provided in the eligibility form with Credit Information Companies (CIC) as authorised by Reserve Bank of India. I am aware that such verification may impact my credit score.”
I don’t want to take any risk which may impact my credit score.
My question is,
i) Did Amex will take a note of my Stocks(reflected in payslip)
ii) It is asked to mentioned as net salary. If i want to mention my net salary, will i need to include the stock compensation (25% of my compensation is stock based)
iii) Did Amex is very stringent on their rules such as net salary
I’m unsure about it Gokul. You got to talk to the sales guys to find the answer.
Whatever is on your IT Returns will talk.
I discussed with Amex customer care(using call back option in their website).
They want net salary (take home) of ~12 lakhs to be credited in pay slip. At first, they have asked about Form 16(For last year, in IT returns mine is around ~9.5l). They’re fine with this. (Note: This year i got promo and pay is around 12-14 lakhs). But, they need last 2months payslip in which pay should reflect that you’re getting ~12 lakhs/year. But, my last 2months payslip fluctuates a lot due to stock vesting schedule.(Last month around 1.5l and last to last month 60k).
Atlast, they said, they cannot proceed with free card. But, they were willing to adjust the fees for other cards. But, i have told that i’m not interested.
Note: When i tried the “call back” option again, “You have already checked your eligibility. We request you to check again only after 90 days” message appears. It seems Amex is very strict 🙂
Siddharth,
Can you please suggest me an good credit card. Below are my monthly expenses.
i) 3.5-4K for fuel(mostly use Shell)
ii) 2k for petty expenses
iii) Most of online shopping goes to Amazon during first 2 days of every month where Amazon & ICICI where running offers in terms of Gift cards
Note: I have ICICI Platinum CC now.
Any ICICI cards i can try out.
Thanks,
Gokul
Amex Gold card or Regalia could help.
I have applied CC through HDFC diners website(given my contact details for call back) and within 2.5 hrs i got an call from HDFC and they have asked all the details(Salary, work etc) and they told me my company is listed in HDFC(not sure what it means) I’m eligible for Life time Free(No Joining Fee, Annual fee) Regalia, Diners PremiumCredit card. I asked them whether i can get Diners Black LTF and she told she’ll get back to me on Monday on this and they’ll collect the documents on Monday.
I specifically asked her to send me an email that Regalia, Diners premium will be LTF(no joining, annual fee) for me. She insisted that since my company is listed in HDFC, it is LTF. I’ll confirm once again while handover docs.
Now, I’m confused between Regalia and Diners Black(assuming they’ll provide LTF).
My Cibil is 800 and my yearly expense would be around 2.5L(~1.5l would go for LIC) and remaining would be for Fuel, Dining etc. Can you please suggest me which card would be more beneficial for me.
I have my existing CC with ICICI with the limit of ~1.5l and SBI is ready to provide me an card with ~5l limit( I have auto loan and Corporate CC with me).
Diners Black is the topmost, with 10X reward points. Go for it if you’re eligible.
You should ask to upgrade your ICICI platinum cc to coral cc as LTF to your relationship manager. I opened wealth management account and relationship manager told tht he can give coral cc as LTF so I applied for my first cc. The benefit over platinum is the lounge access and book my show offers.
Just got this card but Amex have given me a ridiculously low credit limit of 50k. Even HDFC gave me 1.5l. Wondering if it’s worth keeping this card.
Rohit,
Hold it. Amex Doubles your limit every 6 months on decent usage.
That will get you around 2L limit in a year 🙂
I have got this Amex card as Lifetime free card based on the promo available in the website. Verified the same with the customer care before using the card that it is indeed LifeTime free.
Given it is LifeTime free, I think if we spend around 96k for 24 months ( 4k every month), we end up with 24000(Bonus points) + 1920(1point for every 50) = 25920 points. We can redeem the 24000 points for INR 10,000 credit. Therefore the reward rate is R = (100*10000)/(96000*2) = 5.2% which seems good.
Is my understanding correct?
Yes, as long as you can exactly charge Rs.1000 every time 😉
But i suggest to use points asap. 2 Yrs is so long. They change plans, policies, point values every year or so.
@sid. Thanks man. You are doing a great job with this blog. One another question on HDFC regila. Where do i get the whole list of Partner merchants where INR 150 spent = 20 points ?
Regalia site itself would help 🙂
Any idea if supplement card on reward card also earn 1000 bonus points for 4 * 1000 Rs transactions, similar to primary card?
No, both on same a/c. Not counted separately.
I spend about 10 lacs per annum on credit card mostly wallets, food and other shopping expenses.
Is this a good CC? i want it LTF and my salary is 15+
You can look for better premium cards.
I received my Member ship reward card only on 22nd Feb 2017. So if i will swipe 4 times now (for minimum 1000 rs, will the calculation of Monthly rewards( 1000 MR point) be done at end of month (Feb 28th) or will it b considered on 22nd march 2017(when my card is a month old)?
ramu
Yes, its given for every calendar month.
What was the turn around time. From application to approval and final delivery
1.i have only 4 lak ITR if i apply amex card
2.if i will eligible or not and currently hold hdfc RegaliaF card with 1 lak limit
It will be difficult to get the card with this ITR. I’ll recommend that you hold on to the Regalia First Card and upgrade your relationship with HDFC in future.
They are offering this card lifetime free till 20th september 17. Only for applications received online.
And for salary > 12 LPA
I got a promotional mail offering me AMEX GOLD CREDIT CARD as Companion card for my Gold Charge card. I don’t see the reward structure of the Gold Credit card anywhere on the amex site. By reading your article I understand that this card is same as Membership Reward card. Hope I am right.
Whether the two card (Amex Gold Charge and credit card)will be treated as separate cards? Whether I will get 1000 points on swiping 1000 for 6 transactions separately on credit card too?
Hi Faisal,
Yes you swipe you charge card 6 times for ₹1000 and above and swipe ur MRCC for 4 times you are eligible for 2000 points in total.
Cheers,
Kiran
Amex seems to have launched a new everyday rewards card with annual fee of 499.i called CC and they confirmed it , any one has more details.
What is the ITR required by them for this new card?
Its Rs.4L, but please confirm while applying.
Thank you.
For amex eveeyday spend ITR of 4 lakh required…very basic card not much useful…nowadays please chevk your spam email they send you everyday email about this card…
Hi Dr hardik
Which one is best amex premium card?
Is it worth paying membership fees?
Why can’t i see this AmEx variant on their site?!
Hello Sid
Which card is better MRCC or gold charge charge card both has same joining and annual charges ?
Which amex card is best ?