To track points and miles, give every loyalty program one row and six columns: program, balance, last activity date, expiration rule, expires-on date, and estimated value. It takes about ten minutes — and that expires-on date, not the balance, is what decides whether the points are worth anything.
Points and miles usually don’t expire on a date anyone told you about at signup. Many programs run on inactivity: go long enough without earning or redeeming, and the balance zeroes out. The window differs by program, and the warning — if it comes at all — lands in a promotions tab you don’t read.
This isn’t a fringe complaint. In its May 2024 findings on credit card rewards programs (opens in new tab), the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau listed revoked rewards — points that disappear when an account closes or an expiration policy kicks in — as one of four recurring problems consumers reported. That September, the CFPB noted the Transportation Department’s inquiry into the rewards programs of the four largest U.S. airlines (opens in new tab).
You’re not going to out-argue a loyalty program. You just need one file that knows when your clocks run out.
The Six Columns Every Points and Miles Tracker Needs
One row per program, six columns — nothing else. Everybody already knows the balance column. The other five are what protect it.
| Column | What goes in it | Why it earns its place |
|---|---|---|
| Program | One row per airline, hotel, and card program — including the ones you think are empty | Orphaned balances from a single trip years ago are the ones that expire |
| Balance | Today’s points or miles | The headline number, least useful alone |
| Last activity | The date of your most recent earn or redemption | What the clock counts from — not your join date |
| Expiration rule | The rule verbatim from the program’s terms — “24 months of inactivity,” “no expiry,” “expires with the account” | Rules differ and get revised; a copied rule beats a remembered one |
| Expires on | Last activity plus the inactivity window | The only column you act on |
| Est. value | Balance times a cents-per-point figure you pick | Which to rescue, which to let go |
That’s the entire system — no account numbers, no passwords, nothing worth stealing. A program you can’t summarize in one row is a program you don’t actually understand, and that’s how a balance dies.
The 10-Minute Setup: Where Each Number Comes From
Budget about a minute per program.
- Log in and grab two numbers. Go to each program’s site directly rather than through an emailed link. The balance is on the landing page; the last activity date is on the activity or statement page — the most recent line, either direction.
- Read the program’s own terms page, not a summary. Copy the rule verbatim into your sheet. Loyalty programs get rebranded, merged, and rewritten; a rule you half-remember from a travel blog three years ago is not a rule.
- Do the subtraction. Last activity plus the inactivity window is your “Expires on” date. Where the rule says no expiry, write “none”; where it expires with the account, write “account open.”
- Pick one valuation and use it everywhere. One cent or two — 40,000 points at $0.01 is $400 — applied the same way across every program, so a hotel balance and an airline balance compare in the same units.
- Sort by “Expires on,” soonest first. The top of that list is your entire to-do list.
Three Rules That Decide Whether Your Points Survive
- Activity resets the clock — but check what counts as activity. In inactivity-based programs, any qualifying earn or redemption pushes the date out again. What qualifies is where programs diverge: a small partner purchase resets the clock in some and does nothing in others. Note what counts for your program, then see how to keep airline miles from expiring for the ways to reset one.
- Card points and program points are two different currencies. Points inside a card issuer’s own program typically follow the account rather than a clock — close the card and the balance can go with it. Points already moved into an airline or hotel program follow that program’s rules instead. Same wallet, different failure modes, separate rows.
- Assume the warning email won’t arrive. That’s the whole reason the “Expires on” column exists. The CFPB findings above describe rewards being revoked on open, active accounts through expiration policies — often with no prior communication. A date in your own file is a warning system nobody can switch off.
Bonus Level: Turn Your Points List Into a Plan
Once the six columns exist, three upgrades cost almost nothing.
- Add an award goal. Name the trip, note the points it takes, subtract your balance. The gap tells you whether a program is worth feeding or worth spending down.
- Add annual fee dates. A travel card’s fee is a subscription with a renewal date — give it the same treatment a subscription tracker gives every other recurring charge.
- Keep it in a file you own. Every program’s app shows exactly one balance: its own. Aggregators that show all of them often want your program logins in exchange — the trade-off behind a spreadsheet vs. a points-tracking app. A file you keep shows everything and asks for nothing.
That’s what the Travel Points & Miles Rewards Tracker was built for: expiration flags, award goals that pull your balance to show the gap, a card fee calendar, and a dashboard totaling what the pile is worth. Same instinct as how to track every country you’ve visited — a scattered thing becomes an asset the moment it’s in one place.
The Takeaway
Points don’t vanish because you were careless. They vanish because the expiration clock is invisible and it runs in a program’s system rather than yours. Six columns and ten minutes move that date into a file you control — and a date you can see is a date you can beat.
Start with the program you haven’t touched in the longest time. That’s the row that needed this ten minutes ago.
Disclaimer: This post is for informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. Loyalty program terms, expiration rules, and card fees vary by program and change frequently — check your program’s current terms and consult a licensed financial advisor before making decisions based on this content.
