American Express Membership
Rewards Credit Card Review
American Express Membership Rewards Credit Card, also commonly known as Amex MRCC is an entry level credit card from American Express, which is known to have one of the best customer support in India. This card gives pretty good rewards when used properly. Let us see the details of this credit card.
Fee
Joining Fee
Rs 1,000 + GST (FREE if applied via referral link)
Annual Fee
2nd year onward Rs 4,500 + GST (1,500 + GST if applied via referral link)
Fee waiver: You get 100% fee waiver if you spend more than Rs 1.5L in the previous year and 50% fee waiver if you spend more than Rs 90K in the previous year.
Eligibility for Amex MRCC Credit Card
- Age: 18 years and above
- Annual Income: Greater than Rs 6 Lakhs per year (both salaried and self employed)
- Good Credit Score (CIBIL score above 750 should be good to qualify for this card)
- Should be a resident of Delhi/NCR, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Pune, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Indore, Coimbatore, Chandigarh, Ahmedabad, Surat & Vadodra. However, once the card is issued, you can change the address to different cities too.
American Express is generally very strict about its eligibility criteria. If you don’t have a credit history, your application would be rejected straightaway.
Benefits of Amex MRCC Credit Card
Welcome Bonus
2000 reward points if you spend at least Rs 5K in the first 90 days from the card issue date (applicable only when you apply through referral link).
Reward points
1 reward point (equivalent to Rs 0.25 when redeemed directly) for every Rs 50 spent.
Monthly rewards
You get 1000 bonus membership reward points when you use your credit card for a minimum of 4 transactions of at least Rs 1000 in a month. This bonus is applicable even on loading money to e-wallets.
Update: Starting April 1, 2021, you need to do 4 transactions of at least Rs 1,500 in a month to get the 1000 bonus membership reward points. Apart from this, you can earn 1000 bonus membership reward points when you spend Rs 20,000 in a month.
Amex Gold Collections
Once you have accrued a total of 18,000 or 24,000 membership reward points, you can redeem it for one of the rewards in AMEX 18 carat or 24 carat Gold collection given below.
Amex 18 Carat Gold Collection
- Statement Credit worth Rs 6,000
- Amazon Voucher worth Rs 7,000
- American Express Travel Voucher worth Rs 7,000
- Taj e-Gift Voucher worth Rs 9,000
Amex 24 Carat Gold Collection
- Statement Credit worth Rs 9,000
- Tanishq INSTA Gift Voucher worth Rs 10,000
- Taj e-Gift Voucher worth Rs 14,000
Zero Lost Card Liability
If your Amex Credit card is stolen and misused, and you report it within 3 days of the misuse, then your liability will be NIL. Even if the fraud transaction is reported after 3 days of the transaction, your maximum liability will be Rs 1,000.
Emergency Card Replacement
Doesn’t matter where you are in the world, if you lose your Amex Card, you will get a replacement usually within 2 working days, that too free of cost.
Restaurant Offers
You get up to 20% every time you dine at select restaurants.
Spend Based Offers and user specific offers
American Express comes up with user specific spend based offers regularly. In last 3 years, I’ve earned American Express Travel Vouchers worth Rs 20K (2*Rs 10K) with their spend based offers. Also, I’ve got many other user specific offers such as Bonus points/cashback on Amazon transactions, Marriott stays etc.
Drawbacks of American Express Membership Rewards Credit Card
I can think of only 2 issues with this card, given that this is an entry level credit card:
- No Airport Lounge access.
- American Express is still not accepted at all the merchants in India. So, you might have to carry one extra backup card in your wallet. However, they are increasing their acceptance rapidly.
Should you get it?
If you do just 4 transactions of Rs 1000 per month with this card, you’ll get 12960 reward points in an year (12000 bonus reward points + 960 normal reward points), which is equivalent to Rs 7,560 if redeemed for Taj vouchers using the AMEX 24 carat gold collection which translates to 15.75% returns. Even if redeemed for statement credit, it is equal to Rs 4,860 (approx. 3 times the annual fee if applied via referral link) which translates to a return of 10.125% which is great for an entry level card.
So, if you can do 4 transactions worth at least Rs 1000 per month, you should definitely get this card. I got the American Express Membership Rewards Credit card for lifetime free in a limited time offer in 2017, and use it mostly for adding money in my Paytm wallet which I use in shops or to pay bills. This was my first American Express Credit Card followed by the Amex SmartEarn Credit Card, a very basic credit card from Amex and the Amex Gold Charge Card, which gives bonus 1000 membership reward points on doing 6 transactions in a month.
Let me know your thoughts or queries on the American Express Membership Rewards Credit Card in the comments below. Want me to review any other cards? Let me know in the comments below or using the Contact Me section of this website.
Hi! I’m Gaurav, a Software Engineer by profession and a credit card enthusiast by heart. I love earning reward points and cashbacks from credit cards and giving ‘gyaan’ on credit cards and personal finance.