Planning ahead for your Amex Rewards points

Lifetime transfer options and steps to take now for American Express points

American Express logo

American Express Membership Rewards

Phone1-800-297-3276
WebsiteVisit website→

American Express deceased cardmember line (Corporate Cards: 1-888-297-3947, Mon-Fri 8:00 am-8:00 pm EST)

Phone1-800-266-7064
WebsiteLearn more →
HoursMon-Fri, 8:00 am-10:00 pm EST
Verified Jul 2026

American Express does not guarantee transfer of points after death. Lifetime planning provides options for managing points and controlling who has access to them.

How to protect your Amex Rewards points

Here are 7 steps to protect and manage your Amex Rewards points while the account is active:

1
Transfer points to airline and hotel partner programs during your lifetime. This is the single most important step. Once points are transferred to a partner loyalty account (Delta SkyMiles, Hilton Honors, etc.), they follow that program's rules, not Amex's. Points in partner accounts are generally more survivable than Membership Rewards points.
2
Add family members as Additional Card Members at least 90 days before you plan to transfer. Points can only be transferred to partner loyalty accounts held by the Basic Card Member or Additional Card Members linked for 90+ days.
3
Keep your Membership Rewards balance low by regularly transferring to partner programs or redeeming. A large balance of points that "are not your property" is at risk.
4
Inform your executor that the one-time redemption exists and which line requests it. Per the Terms the executor or personal representative calls 1-800-AXP-EARN (297-3276) for the points redemption; 1-800-266-7064 is the line for reporting the death. The redemption is not automatic and is not offered proactively.
5
Maintain at least one enrolled Membership Rewards Product. Points do not expire as long as an enrolled Product is open. Cancelling or unenrolling the last linked Product causes immediate loss of all points in the Rewards Account, so a final MR card is not closed without redeeming or transferring the balance first.
6
Keep the linked Product current. Per the Terms, points generally cannot be used, and the Rewards Account may be cancelled, while a Product is in restricted status, cancelled, past due, or has a returned payment outstanding. New York Card Members can continue to use points in those scenarios for 90 days by calling the number on the back of the Card.
7
Note your Amex account and card numbers for your executor. The one-time redemption process runs on the account details and the deceased-cardmember call, not on account credentials; account passwords do not need to be shared.

Family sharing

Membership Rewards points cannot be transferred between Amex accounts. All points belong to the Basic Card Member's Program Account. However, points can be transferred to airline/hotel loyalty program accounts held by the Basic Card Member OR any Additional Card Member who has been linked to the account for at least 90 days. This is the key estate planning mechanism: transfer points to a family member's frequent flyer account during your lifetime. Additional Card Members earn points into the primary member's pool but have no independent claim to the points.

Should you save your passwords for your family?

Some people store account passwords so a family member can sign in later. The practice has three practical limits:

  • Two-factor authentication often blocks it. Most accounts require a second factor — a code sent to a phone, an authenticator app, a passkey, or a physical key. A saved password alone frequently does not grant access, and the recovery codes that would are easy to lose or let go stale.
  • It usually conflicts with the platform's terms. Most operators prohibit account sharing and signing in as another person, including after a death. Stored credentials are not the operator's recognized access path, and using them can violate the terms of service.
  • Operators provide other paths. Where an operator offers a designation tool — Apple's Legacy Contact, Google's Inactive Account Manager, a beneficiary designation — that mechanism grants access the operator recognizes. A password manager's own emergency-access or legacy feature passes credentials through a controlled process. Digital assets named in a will or trust give a fiduciary authority under each state's Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act (RUFADAA).

An inventory listing the Amex Rewards account lets a fiduciary identify it and act on it through the operator's official channels.

Amex Rewards does not offer beneficiary designations, so there is no program-level mechanism for directing points to a specific person at death.

SimplyTrustSimplyTrust Editorial·

Sources

Data sourced from American Express primary sources (7 pages reviewed). How we research.