16 Billion Dollars of Loyalty Program Points Unused in North America

I read this article on Money Sense today (read news first), and according to my personal experience, it is very true that lots of Canadians don't bother use their points. 

There are a few tips on make the most of your points that I would like to address:

1. Pay attention to the expiry date. 

You never now how much points are wasted every year just because they are expired. In Canada, you should pay special attention to Aeroplan miles, which will expire if you don't have any "activities" in a year. There's one way you can avoid this easily: download "Carrot Rewards" on your smartphone and link your aeroplan card to this app. You can earn points by walking and answering questions every day. 





If you enter the refer code: xiaoyingw8064, you and I will get 100 aeroplan miles as a sign-up bonus. 

2. Make plans to redeem your points. 

If you don't have something in mind, you would never do it. I would recommend you create a note yourself to remind you of the points balance.

3. Try points before you spend money. 

The best way to spend points is by no means easy: for example, you can use your Membership Points earned with Amex cards to cover your spending at the value of  1 cent per point, but it is the worst way to use your points. 

I would recommend using your points toward travel: take myself as an example here, if I use my airmiles for groceries, I have to use 95 miles to redeem 10 dollars. Instead, if I redeemed a reward ticket, I can easily burn 1500 air miles to redeem a 400 dollar flight.