How I Could Have Lost Over $15k In Free Travel

I was talking to my parents on Father's day being a good ol' son wishing my dad a great day, when somehow my parents and I got on the topic of spending my rewards points I have accumulated so I don't lose them. This caught be off guard. I asked, "Hold up, you can lose your rewards points?!?!"

This got me to do a little further digging for each of the rewards programs I currently have points on. Here is what I found through searches from my good friend Google:

Wow, thank goodness I looked up whether or not points expired. Would have sucked to potentially lose $15,000 worth of travel rewards.

Over the last year I have been experimenting with different rewards programs, as you can see above. I am currently renting hotels with Marriott when I travel for work. Now that I have done the research, I am going to mix in one stay with IHG and Hilton to ensure I won't lose my points!

Key Takeaways:

• Just because you earned the points, doesn't mean you get to keep them.
• Look up your rewards program to ensure you don't lose your points. A simple Google search of "Do IHG points ever expire?" should return what you are looking for.
• Beware of accounts where you get the rewards points, the card has an annual fee, and you don't renew the card at the end of the year. Use the points before the end of the year or you are better off keeping your account. There will be some dependencies on how many points you have

Take action and find out if any of your rewards points expire! All of this information is current as of June 2019. Please ensure you look up your program specifically at the time of reading this as I am sure some will change over the years!