New York State signed a new law today that will protect cardholders’ credit card points. Banks will be required to ensure that users can continue to use the points earned on that credit card for 90 days after the account is closed. The law will officially take effect on December 10, 2022. However, if your points were obtained through fraud or similar means, they will not be protected.
Right now, Chase and AMEX do give people some time to keep using their points after account closure (about 30 days), while Citi does not seem to have a similar policy. Personally, I think providing a buffer period is very necessary—banks should not be able to just take the value away immediately. Hopefully this law will eventually be adopted nationwide to protect everyone’s credit card points.
