American Express Membership Rewards - Deceased Family Member-Can I Move AMEX MR points?

One would think as the moderator here, I'd either be able to:

A. Remember if this question was answered.

B. Be able to search appropriately for the answer.

Alas, I'm too stupid for either. If I have a deceased parent who has a large chunk of AMEX MR points, is there a way to transfer them into my name so we don't lose them?

It is difficult to lose a parent and you shouldn't have to think about these things at a time like this.

Officially...

If for any reason we cancel any Linked Account (including because of your death, bankruptcy or insolvency), any points accrued in your program account will be forfeited.

http://www.membershiprewards.com/catalog/splashtemplates/TermsSplash.aspx

In my one experience with American Express, after the death of my father-in-law, the only concern of the first level contact was to extract a promise of payment, and the account was immediately closed. His Amex balance was trivial and the card did not earn meaningful rewards. I learned from this and redeemed the rewards from his other cards before notifying the issuer. For example, we applied for a new account in my mother-in-law's name and activated it before notifying Citi that he had died. This allowed her to keep using her card in the interim.

Do you have online access to the account or (if you think there has never been online access) physical possession of the card?

dennis

The credit card companies including amex use the government SSDI database to close and lock down accounts to prevent fraud and identity theft.

It is difficult to lose a parent and you shouldn't have to think about these things at a time like this.

Do you have online access to the account or (if you think there has never been online access) physical possession of the card?

dennis

We have the physical card. Haven't tried to gain online access yet. It's probably not something I'd be overly worried about, but in this situation, we'll be traveling a good distance back and forth to wrap up his affairs. The mileage would pay for 8 tickets on JetBlue, which would severely cut down our expenses. My guess is that I could leave the account open and issue tickets from his AMEX MR points by transferring them to JetBlue.

We have the physical card. Haven't tried to gain online access yet. It's probably not something I'd be overly worried about, but in this situation, we'll be traveling a good distance back and forth to wrap up his affairs. The mileage would pay for 8 tickets on JetBlue, which would severely cut down our expenses. My guess is that I could leave the account open and issue tickets from his AMEX MR points by transferring them to JetBlue.

I really wouldn't suggest it. While the odds are very good that it will never be discovered, you would be opening yourself to charges of credit card fraud, which I believe is a federal offense.

Is it really worth the risk?

I have seen (in estates I have handled) MR points transferred from deceased husband to surviving wife. As I recall, it took a few calls to CS (with general questions, no specifics) before I was able to locate someone who knew what to do. I believe they required a death certificate and some sort of indication that the points were going to the right person. In this case, there was a similar situation -- wife needed to fly back from Europe to wrap up affairs, and there were sufficient points to help her get back and forth a couple of times.

I'm not sure whether parent-child transfer will work, but it sure sounds like you should try calling CS. YMMV, of course.

I really wouldn't suggest it. While the odds are very good that it will never be discovered, you would be opening yourself to charges of credit card fraud, which I believe is a federal offense.

Is it really worth the risk?
I'd love to see that article in the newspaper. "AMEX sues bereaved family members for using deceased's reward points in funeral arrangements."

I'd love to see that article in the newspaper. "AMEX sues bereaved family members for using deceased's reward points in funeral arrangements."

I think it would be closer to "Family members indicted for using deceased's credit card."

I'd love to see that article in the newspaper. "AMEX sues bereaved family members for using deceased's reward points in funeral arrangements."

In estates I have handled, the family has used the deceased's credit card for funeral expenses. Often it is the easiest way to get things paid so as not to delay funeral... Using points from the account probably takes it a step farther, but the logic certainly is the same...