Do Credit Card Rewards, Points and Miles Expire?

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Credit card points and miles won’t expire as long as your account remains open. However, points and miles earned with airline and hotel loyalty programs do typically expire following a lack of activity.

Miles and points earned on co-branded hotel and airline travel rewards cards do expire usually if you are not active in redeeming them for 12 to 24 months, depending on the terms of the hotel or airline loyalty program. However, there are many ways you can keep your points and miles from expiring, including spending on your co-branded credit card (more on that below).

Note, these rules may be subject to change, so you should always double check whether the information on this page still holds true before committing to any financial decision.

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Do credit card points expire?

Rewards earned on general travel or cashback credit cards issued by the major banks typically don’t expire as long as your account remains open. For example, there is no Chase Ultimate Rewards® expiration and Barclaycard points don’t expire, either. The exceptions are Wells Fargo, U.S. Bank and Citi in specific cases (detailed in the second chart).

Do airline miles expire?

With most major airlines, your miles never expire — however, American Airlines and British Airways are the two major exceptions. Earning and redeeming miles on a semi-regular basis will keep your miles from expiring with these two programs.

Generally, any miles you earn and deposit into your frequent flyer account remain available even if you close your co-branded credit card.

Do hotel points expire?

Hotel rewards points typically expire if you are inactive in the program. The expiration is not based on when the points were originally earned. That means as long as you earn and redeem your points regularly, your points won’t expire. The inactivity period is generally between 12 months to 24 months.

Wyndham Rewards is one exception to this rule among major hotel programs — though you can keep points from expiring in 18 months with account activity, your rewards will expire after 48 months regardless of whether your account is active. (This is a major drawback of Wyndham Rewards.)

Similar to airline rewards, any travel points earned through a co-branded hotel card and then deposited into the loyalty program account remain active even if you close the card.

Other ways to lose your rewards

There are other ways you can lose your rewards, miles or points even if you’re part of a rewards program that has no expiration date. Here are situations to look out for if you want to keep your rewards.

• • Refunds or returns: If you return a purchase that earned rewards, your rewards account will be reduced accordingly after the return. If you redeemed those rewards before the return, your rewards balance could go negative until future earned rewards bring the balance back to zero.

• • Transfer points: Some rewards programs allow you to transfer points to hotel or airline loyalty programs. Once the transfer is complete, the rewards cannot be transferred back to the credit card rewards program and will be subject to the expiration rules of the new program.

• • Rewards program cancellation: Issuers generally can cancel their rewards programs at any time. They will typically send a notice about the cancellation and give you a short time to redeem any remaining rewards before they’re lost.

• • Late payment: Issuers generally will temporarily prevent you from earning or redeeming rewards if you miss a monthly payment. The issuer will reinstate the program, allowing you to earn and redeem points, once you catch up on your payments. In some cases, the issuer may charge a fee to do so.

• • Delinquent account: If you’ve missed several payments in a row and your account is 60 or 90 days past due, you may forfeit all your rewards permanently. Similarly, some issuers may cancel your rewards altogether if you file for bankruptcy, receivership, reorganization, liquidation, dissolution, or insolvency.

• Program or company (i.e. major airline) goes bankrupt: Even if the airline or hotel chain for which you have loyalty membership goes bankrupt, generally you should still be able to use your points or miles once the company returns to better standing.

How to keep points and miles from expiring

There are a number of simple ways to keep your points and miles from expiring:

• Use your points or miles

The No. 1 way to avoid losing your points and miles is to earn and redeem them. Making frequent, even small, purchases with your loyalty program will allow you to earn rewards and avoid losing your existing points and miles. Conversely, redeeming miles for flights, hotel stays, statement credits or any other of your program’s available redemption options will also register as activity on your account and keep you from losing your rewards.

• Use a co-branded credit card

Co-branded airline and hotel credit cards, like the Hilton Honors American Express Card, let you earn hotel loyalty program points every time you use the card. If you tend to fly with a particular airline or prefer to stay with a particular hotel chain, these types of credit cards can be incredibly useful. To prevent your points from expiring, all you need to do is make a purchase on your card.

• Shop through your loyalty program’s online shopping portal

Check to see if your airline or hotel loyalty program has an online shopping portal and use it to make a purchase. Not only can shopping portals save you money on purchases, but they’ll also earn you rewards points, preventing your existing points from expiring.

• Transfer points from another rewards program

Some rewards programs allow you to transfer your points and miles to other rewards programs: Chase Ultimate Rewards® and American Express Membership Rewards, for example. Say your JetBlue TrueBlue points are about to expire — all you need to do is transfer some of your Chase Ultimate Rewards® points over to your JetBlue account to generate activity and effectively reset the expiration period for that account. (Note, we don’t recommend transferring a large number of points unless you plan to redeem them soon.)

• Keep your account open and in good standing

In order to keep your points and miles from expiring, it’s essential to keep your account open and in good standing. This means paying off your balance in full and on time every month and avoiding closing your account in order to maintain your well-earned points and miles.

• Earn points through dining programs

Some loyalty programs allow you to earn points whenever you dine in or order takeout at restaurants affiliated with their particular dining program. Utilizing a dining program will allow you to earn points and maintain the active status of your points simply by eating out.