It depends
You will not lose any airline miles or hotel points already in your airline or hotel account by cancelling a card.
You do have to be careful with points issued by banks such as American Express Membership Rewards, Chase Ultimate Rewards points and Citi Thank You points because you can lose ALL the points in your account by cancelling them.
Overlooking Capetown, South Africa
Airline Miles & Hotel Points
Simply put, if you cancel an airline or hotel credit card, you will not lose the miles or points which are already in your airline or hotel loyalty program account.
For example, if you cancel your Chase United Airlines Plus credit card 10 months after getting the 30,000 mile sign-up bonus, you will not lose the 30,000 United miles which are already in your United Airlines account.
Often times, customer service representatives lead folks to believe that cancelling a card will result in you losing your miles. Sometimes the representatives try scaring you into keeping the card. It’s actually their job to convince you to keep the card. What the representatives are really trying to say is that you will lose the miles and points which haven’t yet posted to your account.
For example, let’s say that your credit card billing cycle is from August 20 to September 15, but you cancel your card on September 10th. In this case, you will lose the miles which you earned from August 20 up to September 10, and which would have posted to your account around September 15. This will include the 2x/3x spending. Most of us can afford to lose some points to avoid paying the annual fee.
Tip: Don’t do any spending on your card a month before you plan to cancel.
Most importantly, you won’t lose the miles and points which are already in your account.
That said, some cards do have provisions in the terms and condition to take back the sign-up bonus if you cancel the card in 3 or 6 months. I have never heard of this actually happening to anybody. I usually don’t
cancel a card for at least 9 months.
Miles & Points Expiration
However, the miles and points in your airline or hotel account will still be subject to the regular expiration policy of the airline or hotel. For example, United Airlines miles expire after 18 months. If you want to keep your miles from expiring, read this.
I use
Award Wallet to track the expiration of my miles and points. However, Award Wallet doesn’t track the expiration of some airline miles.
Bank Reward Program Points
You usually will LOSE the points earned from a banks’ own reward program which are already in your account, such as American Express Membership Rewards, Chase Ultimate Rewards points and Citi Thank You points, when you cancel a card. Unless, you transfer the points out or have another credit card which earns points in that program. You can transfer points online or by calling the banks.
The rules are a little different for each bank reward point program.
American Express Membership Rewards points
You will lose ALL your points, if you cancel a card which earns Membership Rewards points.
However, there are 3 ways to save your points already in your account.
1. Have Another Membership Rewards Card. You won’t lose your MR points if you have another American Express card that earns Membership Rewards points that is linked to the same Membership Rewards points account as the credit card which you cancel.
Sometimes, business and personal cards result in separate Membership Rewards accounts, so make sure that you have both your personal and business cards linked to only one Membership Rewards account.
2. Transfer to Airline Partners. Transfer your Membership Rewards points to airline or hotel partners before cancelling the card. You can even transfer Membership Rewards points to anyone else’s airline or hotel accounts.
3.
Grace Period.
The MR terms suggest that you have 30 days to transfer the points out of your Membership Rewards account if you cancel all your Membership Rewards cards, but have at least one open (non-Membership Rewards) American Express card.
American Express Terms:
If you voluntarily cancel enrollment in the program or cancel all Linked Accounts enrolled in the program but keep at least one AMEX Card open and in good standing, you will have up to 30 days from date of cancellation to redeem the points accrued in the program account.
This means you can cancel all your American Express Membership Rewards points, but still have 30 days to transfer points as long as you have another American Express card such as the Starwood or Hilton card.
Chase Ultimate Rewards Points
You will lose ALL the points in your account if you close a credit card which earns Chase Ultimate Rewards points. There is NO grace period to transfer the points out of your account after you cancel the card. You can’t transfer or use them immediately after cancelling. The points will be gone.
However, there are 2 ways to save your points.
1. Transfer your Ultimate Rewards points to airline or hotel partners before closing your card.
You can only transfer Ultimate Rewards points to airline or hotel partners if you have the Chase Sapphire Preferred, Chase Ink Bold, Chase Ink Plus, or JP Morgan Select. Not the Chase Freedom.
A chase rep told me that I would lose my points if I cancelled my southwest card. Is that true?
Hi Tina, sometimes the retention representatives use tricky language. Its their job to make sure you don’t cancel the card. What the rep meant by that statement was the points you spent in the past days of before the closing of your statement will be lost. All of the points in your Southwest account will NOT be lost.
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