Amex Stops Automatically Pooling Membership Rewards Points From New Cards

American Express has updated its Membership Rewards terms so points from new cards no longer pool automatically. Until now, every Membership Rewards card under the same login fed into one shared balance. Effective immediately, opening a new card creates a separate rewards account tied to that card.

You can still combine them. Amex lets you link some or all of your cards to the same Rewards Account through the "Manage Connections" option online or in the Amex app. Once linked, points from each card share a single balance.

Existing Amex cards don't appear to be affected by this change.

Andrew's Take

Most issuers already make you combine points manually, so this isn't shocking, but Amex's automatic pooling was a nice benefit. The bigger issue is that it's an easy step to miss, and if you close an unlinked card, your points go with it. The easy fix is to link any new Membership Rewards card as soon as you're approved.