How Long Do You Have to Accumulate Your Travel Points

I have a friend who insists on paying for group meals with his credit card and the rest of us refund him. His goal, of course, is to “score all the points”. When I asked him how he maximizes all those hundreds of thousands of points (we eat out a lot), he talked about his grand plan to accumulate his points and take a big vacation… in five to seven years . That’s when I had to break the news: His plan was ill-conceived.

The truth is that accumulating travel points over the years is not as smart as it might seem. Let’s take a look at why you should always plan to redeem your points and miles fairly frequently so you don’t leave money on the table.

Redeem your points sooner rather than later

It may be tempting to accumulate points, in the belief that the more points, the greater the journey. However, as The Points Guy explains , your travel points and miles are almost guaranteed to depreciate in the long run. In other words: the sooner you can spend them after you earn them, the better the deal.

So, when should you use Travel Points? As we said earlier , one rule of thumb is to only accumulate points for things you plan to use in the next year or so . Otherwise, you may lose their value.

Consider a travel bonus card

If you are a regular traveler and serious about getting the best points for your lifestyle, you should look into travel reward cards. Two of the best examples are the Chase Ultimate Rewards and American Express Membership Rewards programs. Compare your options to various lists of the best ones, such as this one from Nerdwallet or this one from Bankrate . Just make sure you earn enough points and redeem them regularly to justify the annual card fee.

Otherwise, if you find your travel rewards gathering dust, you might be better off switching to a more flexible cashback credit card .

bottom line

Travel Rewards are one of the best ways to use your credit card points, but you have to use them regularly to get their full value. And given the state of airfare prices these days , it’s in your best interest to start planning your vacation as soon as possible. Don’t delay your joy and don’t let all your hard-earned points go to waste.