With most airlines, frequent flyer points expire. That could be either after a fixed amount of time, or in most cases, if your account has been inactive for a long time.

But what about credit card reward points in bank-operated loyalty programs such as NAB Rewards, ANZ Rewards or Amex Membership Rewards?

Using credit card reward programs gives you much more flexibility with your points. It gives you the option to transfer your points to different airlines, as you need them. It’s also a bit of an insurance policy against airlines changing reward pricing without notice. And by keeping your points with the bank until you need them, you can get around airline point expiration policies.

Obviously, though, this only works if your credit card reward points don’t expire… and the bank itself doesn’t change its redemption rates without warning.

So, in this article, we compare the points expiration policies of the different credit card reward programs in Australia. We also look at whether these loyalty programs must give notice before changing conversion rates or partners.

Comparison of credit card reward point expiration policies

These are the points expiration policies of the major Australian credit card reward programs:

In bank loyalty programs where credit card points don’t expire, you just need to remain an active cardholder with an account in good standing to avoid losing your points.

If you close your credit card account, you might forfeit any points that you haven’t already redeemed. But some banks, such as CommBank, Westpac and Virgin Money, may give you a few more months to use your points after cancelling your card.

Changes to conversion rates or partners

Of course, you don’t want a loyalty program to change the value of your points without notice.

Credit card reward programs do sometimes change the rates at which you can transfer your reward points to airline programs. But many will at least warn their members in advance, so they have a chance to withdraw their existing points beforehand.

Unfortunately, not all loyalty programs necessarily give advance notice before changing the number of points required for redemptions.

Although we can’t say for sure what loyalty programs might do in the future, we can look at what each program’s terms & conditions allow the bank to do. Below, you’ll find a summary of each loyalty program’s minimum notice period before changing the cost of redemptions.

We’ll preface this by saying that just because a loyalty program can change the value of its points at any time, doesn’t mean it necessarily will. Most banks give notice before making changes to transfer rates, even if they don’t have to. Not doing so would be unfair to existing members. But it has happened in the past.

List of program policies

Without further ado, this is what each program’s terms & conditions say about program changes:

Most of the programs that say they will give a period of notice before making program changes have exceptions in their terms & conditions for changes they consider to be non-material, as well as changes caused by third-party actions.

Do credit card points expire if you die?

Frequent flyer programs also have differing policies regarding what happens to your points if you die. With some airlines, you’ll immediately forfeit all of the points in your account. Other airlines allow the executor of your will to transfer the points to a family member.

So, what about credit card reward points? We checked the terms & conditions for each of the same programs…

Matt Graham

The editor of Australian Frequent Flyer, Matt's passion for travel has taken him to over 90 countries… with the help of frequent flyer points, of course!
Matt's favourite destinations (so far) are Germany, Brazil & Kazakhstan. His interests include economics, aviation & foreign languages, and he has a soft spot for good food and red wine.

You can connect with Matt by posting on the Australian Frequent Flyer community forum and tagging @AFF Editor.