Question
Signed up for this card about 3 years ago. Was advised that points begin to expire after 3 years. No problem.
So far, I've racked up around 226,000 pts on this card. I was planning on using this for luxury hotels or TA/TP Flights. This past December, I noticed that there were some points that were going to expire. Around 25,000 total in Sept,Oct, Nov 2007. So I bought a ticket for my son for around 40K pt, assuming (stupid me) that this would use up the points that were to expire. A couple of days ago, I notice that points due to expire were still on the statement, so I called up the rewards desk to inquire. What they told me was astounding: In order to use the expiring points, you had to use ALL your points up. I asked them to make sure that this was truly their policy, because it was absurd not to be able to use the oldest points first. They transferred me to corporate, and I was told the same thing.
Is it me, or does this program make sense to anyone here?
As an aside, I was so frustrated with their program that I used all of the points for Mastercard gift cards-around $2200.00 worth, and won't use that card again, ever.
Answer
maybe it's because mbna got bought out by B of A?
Answer
Maybe, but MBNA has always seemed weak to me. The Amtrak card is a perfect example.