Don't Let Your Credit Card Rewards Expire
If your miles or points are expiring too soon, see if you can reset the clock by transferring some to another loyalty program.


If you’ve been racking up points on your favorite rewards card, now may be the time to use them. Depending on your card’s policy, you may lose points you haven’t redeemed if you haven’t used your card in a while. For example, Citi Double Cash rewards expire if you don’t earn cash back for 12 months by using the card or making payments.
Double check expiration policies on rewards cards that partner with travel programs. Because the pandemic kept a lot of folks grounded, many rewards programs extended their expiration deadlines, and you can expect additional extensions in 2022. The Marriott Bonvoy Boundless Visa, for example, extended the expiration of rewards for active and inactive accounts until March 31, 2022. Hilton Honors recently announced it extended its point-expiration date to December 31, 2022, and will allow elite members to keep this status through March 31, 2023.
If your miles or points are expiring sooner than you’d like, see whether you can reset the clock by transferring an amount to another loyalty program. For example, the Capital One Venture card allows cardholders to transfer miles to more than a dozen participating hotel and airline loyalty programs, including those of Air France, JetBlue and Wyndham Hotels & Resorts.

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Rivan joined Kiplinger on Leap Day 2016 as a reporter for Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine. A Michigan native, she graduated from the University of Michigan in 2014 and from there freelanced as a local copy editor and proofreader, and served as a research assistant to a local Detroit journalist. Her work has been featured in the Ann Arbor Observer and Sage Business Researcher. She is currently assistant editor, personal finance at The Washington Post.
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