American Express® EMI

In these Terms and Conditions, the following terms shall have the following meanings:

1. Credit Card is a physical or virtual payment instrument containing a means of identification, issued with a pre-approved revolving credit limit, that can be used to purchase goods and services or draw cash advances, subject to prescribed terms and conditions. Below is the list of credit cards issued by American Express Banking Corp. (“AEBC”) in India.

• The American Express Smart Earn Credit Card 
• The American Express Gold Credit Card
• The American Express PAYBACK Credit Card
• The American Express Platinum Reserve Credit Card 
• The American Express Platinum Travel Credit Card 
• The American Express Membership Rewards Credit Card

2. Charge Card is a type of credit card where the user has to pay the billed amount in full on due date after the billing cycle, and no rolling over of credit to the next billing cycle is permitted. Below is the list of charge cards issued by American Express Banking Corp. (“AEBC”) in India:

• American Express® Platinum Card
• American Express® Gold Card
• American Express® Green Card
  

3. "Cardmember" shall mean the holder of a Credit Card.

4. "EMI" shall mean a facility wherein purchase(s) of Rs. 5000 and above are converted into Equated Monthly Installments ("EMI") at a rate as communicated at the time of availing the product.

The present Terms and Conditions are to be read in conjunction with, and not in derogation of, the Cardmember Agreement and nothing contained herein shall prejudice or affect the Terms and Conditions of the Cardmember Agreement. Unless otherwise specified, the words and expressions used herein shall have the same meaning as in the Cardmember Agreement.

Detailed Terms & Conditions

1. Eligibility

1.1 The EMI facility is open to select American Express Credit Cardmembers. This facility is not available to American Express Charge Cardmembers. The Bank reserves the right to decide the eligibility as per internal policy and guidelines.

1.2 Only Basic/Supplementary Credit Cardmembers can make a request for conversion of a charge into EMI. The Cardmember can convert any charges above Rs.5, 000 included in any statement into EMI before the Payment Due Date of the statement in which the transaction is billed. Only for Amazon.in, charges of Rs. 3,000 or above can be converted into EMI before the payment due date of the statement in which the transaction is billed.

1.3 American Express reserves its absolute right and discretion to approve or decline any request for EMI. It is further clarified that transactions under certain merchant categories especially Gold and Jewellery related transactions or any other transactions prohibited under law cannot be converted into EMI.

1.4 When you make a purchase under EMI, the available credit limit on your American Express Credit Card Account shall be reduced by an amount equal to the Principal and total interest but your account statement for any month will reflect only the Installment amount due from you for that EMI transaction during that month.

1.5 All EMI conversion request(s) will be completed within 7-10 working days from the date of placing the request(s).

1.6 Cardmembers can, at any point in time, avail upto six charges/transactions for conversion into EMI, subject to availability of credit limit.

1.7 Only the complete charge / transaction amounts are eligible for the EMI and any requests for part of the charge or clubbing of multiple charges into EMI are not allowed.

1.8 Existing outstanding balances from transactions already converted into EMI, cannot be converted into EMI.

1.9 You will not earn MR points on EMI transactions on Smart Earn Credit Card on Point of Sales effective 1st February, 2020

1.10 Effective March 15, 2020, you will not earn Membership Rewards^® points on any EMI option selected from a merchant's website e.g. online shopping with Amazon or Flipkart etc. and on any EMI option selected at Merchant's terminal e.g. a Chip and PIN transaction at Croma retail store etc. At the same time, you would continue to earn Membership Rewards® points on all EMI transactions through American Express® SafeKey and on all EMI conversions done post purchase.

2. Interest and Installments

2.1 The "EMI" interest charges on EMI transaction is charged at a rate communicated to you at the time that you avail the facility. We reserve the right to change the offered EMI interest rate from time to time and furthermore, reserve the right to simultaneously offer different EMI interest rates for purchases and different items that differ based upon communication channel and media.

2.2 Any change in the EMI interest rate shall not affect EMI transactions already getting billed on the card prior to the effective date of that change.

2.3 For EMI requests received at Point of Sale, the monthly installment amount mentioned on payment charge slip (at offline merchants) or payment confirmation page (at online merchants) are only indicative and may vary after actual EMI Plan conversion. Please refer to the monthly installment amount for EMI Plan as mentioned in your Card Account. The EMI conversion may take 7-10 working days from the date of purchase.

2.4 Once the EMI tenure has been chosen by you, the same cannot be changed

2.5 Effective 10 August 2023, Interest rate for Point of Sale for all merchants will be 14% per annum on 3, 6, 9, 12 months and 15% per annum on 18 and 24 months EMI tenure.

2.6 For transactions converted into EMI post purchase, the interest rate would be communicated to you at the time of conversion. Currently, the interest rate is 16%. Additionally, there's a one time processing fee of 2%.

2.7 Please note that EMI interest rates are subject to change. You may check the interest rate on merchant platforms for POS EMI and on our communication for Post Purchase EMI, prior to conversion of your transaction into EMI.

3. Payment and Prepayment

3.1 The cardmember needs to pay a fee of 2% of the transaction amount as the processing fee to avail this facility, unless expressly waived otherwise. This fee is applicable only on post purchase EMI conversion facility. In the event if any offer is applicable, this fee will be refundable and appear as statement credit within 30 working days. In certain cases, this may take up to 60 working days.

3.2 Beginning 10 August 2023, the Cardmember needs to pay a processing fee of Rs. 199 + taxes as applicable on all EMI transaction(s) converted at Point of Sale online or in-store. The processing fee will only get reversed if the transaction is cancelled or refunded by the merchant and cardmember requests for the foreclosure of the EMI transaction(s) within 30 days from the date of transaction(s).

3.3 After processing cardmember's request for conversion of transactions into "EMI", the amount shall be billed on the first Statement for the Credit Card that is generated post the conversion of transaction into EMI Plan.

3.4 The installment amount for each EMI transaction shall be paid in full each month, notwithstanding the minimum monthly payment requirements stipulated in the Cardmember Agreement. The aggregate of all EMI Installments amounts for any Billing Period will be added to the minimum monthly payment calculated for all other charges or outstanding balances for that billing period. We reserve the right to charge default interest on any unpaid or partially paid Installment Amount.

3.5 Any amount in excess of your full outstanding balance reflected in your current statement, will result in a credit balance lying in your card account and will not be applied to unbilled EMI installment amounts.

3.6 You may pre-pay the aggregate of all unbilled Principal Amounts in full (but not in part) by calling our 24/7customer care. A one time fee of 3% + taxes on the outstanding balance will be applied on foreclosure of the EMI facility taken after 10 August 2023.

3.7 Notwithstanding anything stated elsewhere, the Bank at its sole discretion reserves the right to off-set any credit balance on the card account against any due EMI Installment.

3.8 Upon pre-closure the entire outstanding amount will be billed to the cardmembers account statement. If the Cardmember chooses not to pay the entire amount and opts to revolve, the entire amount will attract applicable Card interest rate (APR) as specified in the monthly Statement of Account.

3.9 In case of full refund from the merchant, the Cardmember needs to contact the 24-hour customer care and should place a request for EMI cancellation within 30 days. In case of full refund from merchant, the processing fee charged for EMI conversion and foreclosure fee will get reversed.

3.10 Should you decide to cancel your Card Membership with American Express in future, please remember to call our 24 hours Customer Service to foreclose any EMI Plan running on your Card Account followed by closure of your Card Account.

4. Cancellation of EMI facility

4.1 In case your Credit Card Membership is terminated either by you or by us, including the event of delinquency, the aggregate of all unbilled Installments Amounts to be paid by you over the unexpired EMI term shall become immediately due and payable as one consolidated amount.

4.2 In the event the Cardmember wishes to cancel the EMI facility, the Cardmember must make the request for cancellation of the EMI before initial payment due date of that charge.

4.3 In the event of cancellation of EMI facility, if the balance in the Cardmember's account is revolving, then the remaining Principal amount (along with cancellation fee, if any) shall be added to the revolving balance and shall attract the credit card interest charges (APR) as specified in the monthly Statement of Account.

4.4 The Bank shall not entertain any requests by Cardmember for transferring from one EMI plan to another plan.

4.5 American Express reserves the right to foreclose the EMI and debit the entire outstanding amount if the earlier payments are overdue

5. Credit Limit Implications

5.1 The Credit Limit on the Credit Card shall be blocked to the extent of the full transaction amount plus total applicable interest. The Credit Limit will be released as and when the EMI is billed and paid for in subsequent months.

6. Prior Agreement

6.1 These installment Payment Plan Terms and Conditions supplement the Cardmember Agreement.

6.2 American Express reserves its absolute right at any time to add, alter, modify or change or vary terms and conditions herein and such amendment(s) / modification(s) shall be binding on the Cardmember.

6.3 The cardmember shall renew the card forthwith in the event the period of the card expires during the tenure of the facility. In the event of failure of the cardmember to renew the card as stated above, the Bank shall be entitled to call upon the cardmember to forthwith repay the facility without prejudice to all rights and remedies against the cardmember.

Illustrative example of the amortization schedule:-

• Transaction amount converted to EMI: Rs. 12,000
• Interest Rate (indicative rate, the actual applicable rate might vary): 16% p.a. (1.33% p.m.)
  
• Processing Fee: Rs. 240 (2% of Rs. 12,000)
  
• EMI Tenure: 12 months
  

7. No Cost EMI

No Cost EMI is offered by certain merchants. Under this offer, Cardmember pays only the product price, equally divided over the repayment timeline. No cost EMI is available on select merchants on categories including mobiles, large appliances, laptops and much more. It is applicable on select sellers only. Cardmember can check the availability in the offers section on the product details page of the merchants.

Under this offer, American Express will charge full interest along with GST/taxes as applicable from the Cardmember. However, Merchant/Seller will give an instant discount equivalent to the interest chargeable at the time of purchase. Hence, effectively for Cardmember it would be a No Cost EMI. Please refer below illustration to understand No Cost EMI in detail:

Here's an illustration of how you can benefit with this
No Cost EMI Offer (Assumed tenure of 3 Months)

^* The monthly installment amounts are only indicative and may vary after actual EMI Plan conversion. Please refer to the monthly installment amount for EMI Plan as mentioned in your Card Account. The monthly installment amount is rounded up in order to bill amount in whole numbers. Any amount billed in excess due to rounding up of monthly installment would be adjusted in the last installment

# 18% Goods and Service Tax is applicable on the interest component

8. EMI on Total Billed Balance

8.1 To convert your latest Credit Card statement balance into EMI, SMS "AMEXCCBILL" << Last 5 digits of Card>> EMI tenure << 3/6/9/12/18/24 >> to 5616166 from registered cellphone number, chat with us via the Amex app or call the number at the back of your Card.

You can also submit the request online via https://go.amex/emibb Log in using your User ID and password, select the Card and the desired EMI tenure, then proceed to submit.

8.2 EMI conversion will be allowed only on total billed outstanding balance for eligible cardmembers. Any balance that is outstanding however, unbilled, will not be considered for EMI conversion. 

8.3 The Cardmember is required to pay the minimum amount due by the due date as shown in the Statement of Account 

In case the Cardmember has made a payment on the account prior to raising the request for EMI, which is higher than the minimum amount due then the same will get adjusted from the principal amount for EMI

Any payment/s made post raising the EMI request shall not be adjusted from the principal amount for EMI and shall be adjusted towards the next statement balance

8.4 Cardmember account should not be overdue & complete outstanding balance for the previous Statement of Account should have been paid in full 

8.5 Billed Balance EMI conversion request will be declined if there are any active EMIs on the card

8.6 Jewellery transactions will not be eligible for EMI conversion & Cardmember is expected to pay any such charge in full

8.7 A one time processing fee of 2% + GST will be applicable on the balance converted into EMI

8.8 An interest of 14% + GST per annum will be charged on the balance converted into EMI

8.9 Processing fee & interest rates are subject to change at the discretion of the bank. However, such changes will not apply/effect previously converted EMIs on the account

8.10 Only purchases done on the Card will be eligible for EMI conversion. All other charges such as Annual Fees, Late payment fees, convenience fees, etc. will not be eligible for EMI conversion and will have to be paid as per prevalent Terms and Conditions & Cardmember Agreement 

8.11 The EMI conversion request should be made within 10 days of statement generation. Please note, if the request is received post 10 days or near the payment due date, you may be levied with applicable Interest charges on account of complete payment not being received by the due date, since EMI conversion takes up to 7-10 working days.