You’ve worked hard to create that stockpile of points and miles and now you are wondering, “When do points and miles expire?” Let’s go over that!  If you know the rules, you can keep your points and miles from expiring pretty easily.

 

Transferable Credit Card Points

Here’s a breakdown of when the most popular credit card points expire, including: 

• Chase Ultimate Rewards®
• American Express Membership Rewards®
• Citi ThankYou® Points
• Capital One Venture Miles

 

Chase Ultimate Rewards®

Chase Ultimate Rewards® never expire as long as you have a credit card with Chase that earns them. Cards that earn Ultimate Rewards include card_name, card_name, and card_name. If you cancel your card and there are still points in that account, you will lose those points. There are ways to avoid this, though!

Your first option is to transfer those points to another card. Let’s say you don’t want your card_name anymore. First, you would transfer those points from that card’s account into another Ultimate Rewards®-earning card’s account, assuming you have one. After you move your points to another account, you can cancel your card or, better yet, downgrade to a no-annual-fee card like the card_name.

Another option would be to transfer your points to your spouse’s Ultimate Rewards® account before canceling your card. Or you could transfer the points into the account of a cash-back-earning Chase card like the Chase Freedom Unlimited®. But keep in mind that if you do this, those points will only be useable as cash-back points until you once again have another card that earns Ultimate Rewards® points, so you won’t be able to transfer your points to hotel and airline partners in the meantime. Alternatively, you could transfer the points to Hyatt or another travel partner before you cancel so those points can be used and not go to waste.

All information about the Chase Freedom Unlimited® has been collected independently by Travel Mom Squad. The Chase Freedom Unlimited® is no longer available through Travel Mom Squad.

 

American Express Membership Rewards®

American Express Membership Rewards® never expire as long as you have at least one of their cards that earn Membership Rewards. If you have a high-annual-fee card like the American Express® Gold Card or The Platinum Card® from American Express, you can always open a lower-fee card and keep those points. The American Express® Green Card has a lower annual fee, and you still earn Membership Rewards with it, making it a perfect downgrade card. Just make sure both cards are linked to the same Membership Rewards account. Another option would be to transfer those points to an airline or hotel partner before canceling.

All information about The Platinum Card® from American Express has been collected independently by Travel Mom Squad. The Platinum Card® from American Express is no longer available through Travel Mom Squad.

All information about the American Express® Green Card has been collected independently by Travel Mom Squad. The American Express® Green Card is no longer available through Travel Mom Squad.

 

Citi ThankYou® Points

Citi ThankYou® Points don’t expire as long as you have a card that earns ThankYou® Points. Are we seeing a theme here? They do allow you 60 days to use those points if you cancel their card, and if someone transfers ThankYou® Points to you, you must use those within 90 days.

 

Capital One Venture Miles

Capital One Venture Miles never expire as long as your card remains open. If you close your account, you will lose any unused miles. If you want to close your account, you can transfer your points to another person’s account, to another card that you have that earns Venture Miles, or to a transfer partner.

 

Airline Miles

You will not lose your airline miles if you cancel your airline credit card. They will stay in your frequent-flyer account even if your credit card is closed because the bank moves the points over to the airline account once you earn them.  But with some airlines, your miles can still expire if you go too long without any activity.

Fortunately, it usually takes one to three years of inactivity before this happens. And you often don’t even have to travel or use the miles to keep them active! By logging into your loyalty account, you should be able to see when your last date of activity was or when your miles are set to expire. If you find that your miles are expiring soon, you can usually do one of the following:

• Buy a handful of points to reset the “activity clock” and keep them active
• Use the credit card associated with the miles to reset the clock
• Shop in the airline’s shopping portal
• Transfer points from one of your transferable-point cards into your airline loyalty account

 

 

Let’s look at some common airline carriers and their expiration policies.

• American Airlines – 24 months
• Alaska Airlines – miles do not expire, but after 24 months of inactivity, your account may be locked, and you’ll need to reactivate it
• Delta Airlines – do not expire
• Frontier Miles – 12 months
• Hawaiian Airlines – do not expire
• JetBlue – do not expire
• Southwest – do not expire
• United Airlines – do not expire

 

Hotel Points

Like airline miles, you won’t lose hotel points if you cancel your credit card. Unfortunately, most hotel points have an expiration date of 12 to 24 months without activity in your loyalty account. Again, you can use the credit card associated with these hotels to reset the clock. If you have canceled your card, you can stay at the hotel, buy points, or transfer some points from one of your transferable point cards into your hotel account to reset the clock. Here are some of the expiration periods for the most popular hotel chains:

 

• Best Western – do not expire
• Choice Hotels – 18 months (you can purchase points)
• Hilton Hotels – 24 months (you can purchase points)
• IHG – 12 months (but no expiration for elite members)
• Marriott Bonvoy – 24 months
• Radisson Rewards – 24 months
• Wyndham – 18 months of inactivity AND 48 months after acquiring, regardless of activity
• Hyatt – 24 months

 

 

Bottom Line

I have had to purchase 1,000 points from a couple of reward programs now and then to keep my points stockpiles from expiring, and I’ve also used credit cards associated with others for small purchases to do the same thing. Both methods can keep your points from expiring—we work hard for these points, so we don’t want to lose them!  I have a lot of different points and miles in several accounts, so it is important to keep on top of your expiration dates and know when your points and miles expire. 

 

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