MMMondayMemo: When do points expire?

It’s MMMondayMemo: When do points expire?

Each Monday Miles has decided to drop a tip, hint, tutorial, trick that maybe you’ve missed or haven’t heard before. If you’re an expert in this field, some of these may be things you already know, but there are a lot of beginners out there who are just getting their feet wet. This week the Monkey Miles Monday Memo focuses on keeping your miles alive so that you can use them when you want!  MMMondayMemo: When do points expire?

Yes, your miles will expire if you don’t do something to keep them alive!

The two big exceptions to this rule are Delta and JetBlue. But who knows with Delta, they devalue without warning so I’d assume they would do the same thing with their mileage terms. Here’s a look some of the top programs and their transfer partners:

For MOST programs, activity will extend them.

That’s right, any kind of activity. Whether it be flights, dining, purchasing points, using a co-branded credit cards, etc. The clock resets with that activity. Pretty great really.

What are some easy ways to get activity without flying?

1.  Have a credit card

   • Many credit cards keep your miles alive without ever spending a dime on them. Even if they don’t, it’s very easy to just pay a parking meter or buy a coffee. That simple purchase will extend your miles.

2. Belong to a dining program

   • Dining programs earn you money every time you dine at a partner restaurant. The best part is you don’t have to do anything after you’ve registered your card. Just dine, charge, and collect the points on the back end. It’s a great way to double dip: you’ll earn credit card points as well as points with whichever program your dining account is partnered.

3. Purchase Points

   • If you’re really close to expiration, buy a 1000 points. Better to spend 30 or 40 bucks on buying some points than let all of them expire.

4. Transfer points

   • Transferring points from a partner program qualifies as activity.

5. Redeeming points

   • Just using your points restarts the clock on activity!

6. Shop through an award mall

   • Most programs have some sort of award mall portal. If you want to buy something online and the store is listed as a partner of the award mall that you need to extend points with… buy it through that portal. That will give you the activity you need to extend your expiration date.

7.  Credit your hotel stay to an airline

   • Many hotels are partnered with airlines. En lieu of earning hotel points you can earn airline miles instead. This will push your expiration date out as well.

• Best Starter Card

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Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card

4.8

 4.8/5

The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is a great starter card that earns Premium Ultimate Rewards that can be transferred into over a dozen partners many of which are US based including Hyatt, Southwest, United, IHG, and Marriott.

Welcome Offer

Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. 

Annual Fee

$95

Points Earned

Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards

Card Benefits

• 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
• 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
• 3x on select streaming services
• 3x on online grocery purchases
  • (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
• $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
  • The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
• 2x on all other travel
• 10% Anniversary Bonus
  • Every year you keep the card, your total spend will yield a 10% points bonus. If you spend $10k in a year, you’ll get 1k bonus points
• Chase Sapphire Preferred continues to redeem at 1.25c in the Chase Travel℠ and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver ( primary ), purchase protections, etc.
• Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
• Redeem in Chase Travel℠ for 1.25 cents per point
• No foreign transaction fees
• Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
  • Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
• Get complimentary access to DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2027.
• $95 Annual Fee

Monkey Miles Related Articles

• Full Review
• Best uses of Chase Ultimate Rewards
• Chase Application Rules
• Complete Guide to Chase Credit Cards
• Credit Card Spreadsheet with historical data on best offer

Is this the best ever offer?

We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.

Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.

Main Cast

Main Cast: 

Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.

Supporting Cast:

Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on. 

Quick Breakdown

The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is exceptional starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.

If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex®  and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash® , Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners

Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.