Use It Or Lose It: Pay Attention to Calendar Year Credit Card Benefits About to Expire

The trend with miles and points credit cards over the past few years has been the introduction of high annual fee cards with lots of “perks” to offset those high fees. I’m not a fan. I’d rather just have no or low fees an skip most of those “perks”. But, it is what it is. And, my family has opened a few of those higher fee cards.

Many cards offer those yearly perks on a cardmember anniversary basis. So for example, if you open a new card in June, your benefits reset the following June.

Other cards offer benefits on a calendar year basis. American Express cards usually fall into this category, although other brands do as well. This means you have just a few more weeks to use those perks.

Using My Calendar Year Benefits

In the last few days, I’ve looked over all my credit card benefits to make sure I’m maximizing my calendar-year benefits. A few things I just booked:

• My husband and I dined at a nearby Resy restaurant to get the $100 credit on his Amex Platinum card
• Booked two nights at the Walt Disney World Swan hotel for next year using the Amex Platinum’s $300 hotel credit
• Paid for Main Cabin Extra seats on our upcoming flight on American Airlines with the Amex Platinum’s $200 airline incidental credit
• Purchased socks and hair accessories with the Amex Platinum’s $75 Lululemon credit
• Booked two nights at a hotel in Oklahoma for early next year with my Citi Strata Elite $300 hotel credit
• Purchased a flight on American Airlines with my $200 Splurge credit from Citi Strata Elite

I’m still contemplating using the Amex Platinum’s $50 Saks credit. Not surprisingly, it’s hard to find a “good deal” at Saks.

Are you using up your year-end credit card benefits in the upcoming weeks?