Losing someone is hard enough without having to work out which calls to make and what paperwork to prepare. If the person who died held an American Express card – a Platinum, Gold, Everyday, or any other Amex product – their account needs to be formally closed, any outstanding balance settled through the estate, and any Membership Rewards points handled before the account is gone.
This guide covers the whole process: how to contact American Express’s bereavement team, what documents you need, what happens to any debt or credit balance, how supplementary cardholders are affected, and what to do about Membership Rewards points. Where American Express has a specific policy, the source is cited directly so you can verify it.
Quick reference:
- Phone: 0800 917 8020 (free from UK landlines and mobiles)
- Email: ukbereavementsupport@aexp.com
- Hours: Monday–Friday 8am–9pm, Saturday 9am–6pm, Sunday 10am–6pm
- Documents needed: Death certificate, Bereavement Notification form, and – if there is a credit balance over £1,000 – the will and grant of probate
- Response target: Within two weeks of Amex receiving all documents
How to notify American Express of a death
American Express has a dedicated bereavement support team. There are two main ways to get in touch: by phone or by email. There is no online self-service form to complete on the website, but American Express does provide a downloadable Bereavement Notification form that you fill in and return.
By phone
Call 0800 917 8020. Lines are open Monday to Friday 8am–9pm, Saturday 9am–6pm, and Sunday 10am–6pm. The number is free from UK landlines and most mobile networks.
When you call, you do not need all your documents to hand. The team will take the basic details – the deceased’s name, date of birth, and card number if you have it – and explain exactly what to send and how.
By email and form
Download the Bereavement Notification form from the American Express bereavement support page at americanexpress.com/icc/bereavement.html. Complete the form with details of the deceased and your own contact information, then email it along with a copy of the death certificate to:
American Express accepts the death certificate as a PDF, JPEG, or PNG attachment. Once all documents are received, a member of the bereavement team will contact you by email or letter within two weeks.
By post
If you prefer to write, the postal address is:
American Express Services Europe Limited
UK Bereavement Support Team
1 John Street
Brighton
East Sussex
BN88 1NH
Allow longer for a postal response, particularly if sending original documents – send certified copies by post where possible, and keep the originals.
Which method to choose
| Method | Best for |
|---|---|
| Phone | Urgent queries, large outstanding balances, complex situations |
| Email with form | Most straightforward cases – creates a written record |
| Post | Those who cannot use email or need to send original documents |
(Source: American Express UK bereavement support page, last verified May 2026.)
What documents you will need
American Express requires two core documents in every case, with additional paperwork depending on the account’s credit balance.
Always required:
- Death certificate – an original or certified copy. American Express accepts scanned copies sent by email (PDF, JPEG, or PNG).
- Completed Bereavement Notification form – downloaded from americanexpress.com/icc/bereavement.html and returned by email or post.
Required only if there is a credit balance over £1,000:
American Express’s own documentation states that if there is a credit balance on the account in excess of £1,000, you will also need to provide:
- A copy of the will (if one exists)
- Grant of probate or letters of administration
If the account is in debit (i.e., there is money owed rather than a surplus), these additional documents are not required. If the account has a small credit balance of £1,000 or less, they are also not required. You only need probate documentation if Amex would be paying money out to the estate.
Your own details:
The Bereavement Notification form asks for your full name, date of birth, address, phone number, and your signature – so American Express can confirm who they are dealing with and how to contact you.
If you need additional certified copies of the death certificate, they cost £12.50 each in England and Wales and can be ordered from the General Register Office at gov.uk/order-copy-birth-death-marriage-certificate. Order several when registering the death – financial institutions, solicitors, and government departments each typically want their own copy.
(Source: American Express Probate and Bereavement Notification document, last verified May 2026.)
What happens to the account
Once American Express receives notification of the death, they will close the account – including the main card and all associated cards. Here is what that means in practice.
Account closure and outstanding balances
American Express closes the account once bereavement is confirmed and the required documents are received. Any outstanding balance on the card becomes a debt of the deceased’s estate.
In the UK, credit card debt does not pass to surviving family members unless they were a joint account holder on the same account. A supplementary cardholder (also called an additional cardholder) is not a joint account holder and is not personally responsible for the primary cardholder’s balance. The debt is settled from the estate’s assets.
For more detail on how credit card debt is handled as part of estate administration, see our guide to what happens to credit card debt when someone dies.
If the estate cannot pay the full balance
If the estate does not have enough assets to cover all debts, creditors – including American Express – are paid in a legally defined priority order. Unsecured credit card debt sits below funeral expenses, secured debts, and certain preferential creditors. If the estate is insolvent, American Express may write off the balance. Surviving relatives are not required to contribute from their own money.
For guidance on whether you need probate to deal with the estate, see our page on do I need probate.
If the account is in credit
If the deceased had overpaid their card and the account shows a credit balance, that money belongs to the estate. American Express will pay it back – but if the credit balance exceeds £1,000, they will require the will and grant of probate before releasing it.
Supplementary cardholders
If the deceased was the primary (main) cardholder, all supplementary cards linked to the account will be cancelled when the account is closed. Anyone who held a supplementary card will need to arrange their own credit card.
If the deceased was a supplementary cardholder only – not the primary account holder – contact American Express to have their card removed from the account. The primary cardholder’s account remains open, and the primary cardholder is responsible for the full balance.
| Situation | What happens |
|---|---|
| Deceased was the primary cardholder | Account closed; all supplementary cards cancelled |
| Deceased was a supplementary cardholder | Their card cancelled; primary account remains open |
| Outstanding balance on primary account | Becomes a debt of the estate; family not personally liable |
| Credit balance over £1,000 | Amex requires will and grant of probate before releasing funds |
(Source: American Express UK bereavement support page, last verified May 2026.)
Membership Rewards points
This is one of the most important things to be aware of with an American Express account, and the aspect most likely to catch families off guard.
The problem with points on death
American Express Membership Rewards points are attached to the account, not the person. When the account is closed, any remaining points are cancelled – they do not pass automatically to a beneficiary or next of kin. The only option available to the executor or personal representative is to request a one-time redemption of the points before or as part of the account closure process.
The catch is how American Express redeems them. The standard redemption in these circumstances is as a statement credit, which is valued at approximately 0.45p per point – significantly below the value achievable through other redemption methods such as airline miles transfers (typically around 1p per point for Avios) or even gift cards (around 0.5p per point).
American Express’s terms explicitly state that Membership Rewards points cannot be transferred between accounts under any circumstances, including to a partner or next of kin who holds their own Amex account.
What to do
If the executor or family member has access to the deceased’s online account before formally notifying American Express of the death, it is worth checking whether any valuable transfer options are still available – for example, transferring points to a linked frequent flyer programme (such as British Airways Avios or Virgin Atlantic Flying Club) in whose name the deceased also held an account.
However, proceed carefully. Continuing to use or transfer assets from the account after death without proper authority can create legal complications. If you are acting as executor, you have authority to deal with estate assets. If you are not yet formally the executor, take advice from a solicitor before taking any action.
If the points are redeemed as statement credit, this reduces the outstanding balance (or results in a payment back to the estate if the account is in credit). It is not a worthless outcome – but it is less than the points could have been worth.
(Source: Head for Points – what happens to American Express Membership Rewards points when you die, October 2025; American Express Membership Rewards terms and conditions.)
Probate and thresholds
American Express does not require grant of probate as a standard part of the bereavement notification process. In most cases – where the account is in debit, or has a small credit balance – you can notify Amex and close the account using only the death certificate and the completed Bereavement Notification form.
Probate documentation is only required where there is a credit balance exceeding £1,000 on the account and American Express therefore needs to pay money out to the estate. In that situation, they will ask for:
- The will (if one exists)
- Grant of probate or letters of administration
This threshold applies specifically to the Amex account balance, not the value of the deceased’s estate overall. Even if the estate is worth considerably more, American Express’s threshold is specific to their own account balance.
If you are unsure whether you need probate for other parts of the estate – bank accounts, property, pensions, investments – see our guide to do I need probate.
(Source: American Express Probate and Bereavement Notification document, last verified May 2026.)
How long it takes
American Express states that once they have received all required documents, a member of the bereavement team will contact you by email or letter within two weeks.
In practice, the timeline depends on how quickly you can provide the documents and how straightforward the account situation is.
| Stage | Timeframe |
|---|---|
| Initial contact and sending documents | Whenever you are ready – no time limit |
| Amex response after receiving all documents | Within 2 weeks |
| Account closure in straightforward cases | Shortly after response |
| Cases requiring probate documentation | Longer – dependent on how quickly probate is granted |
If you have not received a response within three weeks of sending all documents, contact the bereavement team again by phone on 0800 917 8020 or email at ukbereavementsupport@aexp.com and reference your earlier submission.
(Source: American Express UK bereavement support page, last verified May 2026.)
Things to watch out for
Act on Membership Rewards before you call. Once American Express is notified of the death, the points will only be redeemable at statement credit rates (approximately 0.45p per point). If there are a significant number of points and you have proper authority over the account, consider whether transferring them to a linked airline programme first is feasible and appropriate for the circumstances.
Supplementary cards stop immediately. When the primary cardholder’s account is closed, all supplementary cards are cancelled without notice. If a family member relies on a supplementary card as their main card – for example, a spouse who did not have their own card – they should arrange an alternative before the account is closed.
Automatic payments will stop. Any regular charges to the Amex card – subscriptions, insurance premiums, direct debits – will fail once the account is closed. Go through the deceased’s statements to identify recurring charges and notify those organisations separately. Our guide to what happens to subscriptions when someone dies covers this in more detail.
You are not personally liable for the debt. Supplementary cardholders, spouses, children, and other family members are not responsible for the balance on the primary cardholder’s account unless they also signed the credit agreement as a joint borrower. American Express is a sole-account credit provider – there are no joint Amex accounts in the UK. Any outstanding balance is the estate’s responsibility.
Outstanding balance is paused, not written off. Notifying Amex freezes the account and stops new charges, but the outstanding balance does not disappear. The executor must include the Amex balance in the estate’s debt schedule and settle it through the normal estate administration process.
Keep the email for your records. Sending documents to ukbereavementsupport@aexp.com creates a written trail. Keep copies of everything you send and the timestamp of your email – useful if there is any dispute later about when notification was given.
Summary
To notify American Express of a death, call 0800 917 8020 (Monday–Friday 8am–9pm, Saturday 9am–6pm, Sunday 10am–6pm) or email the Bereavement Notification form and a copy of the death certificate to ukbereavementsupport@aexp.com.
You will need:
- The death certificate (original or certified copy)
- The completed Bereavement Notification form from americanexpress.com/icc/bereavement.html
- The will and grant of probate (only if the account has a credit balance over £1,000)
The account – and all supplementary cards – will be closed once Amex confirms the death. Any outstanding balance becomes a debt of the estate; family members are not personally liable. If the deceased had Membership Rewards points, ask the bereavement team about redeeming them as part of the closure process.
If the person who died held other credit cards, see our guides to notifying Capital One when someone dies and notifying Klarna when someone dies for those separate processes.