My credit card reward points just expired without warning — is this normal?

Question

Hi all, I'm Karthik, working in Bangalore, earning around ₹80k in hand. I have an HDFC Regalia card and I had accumulated close to 12,000 reward points over like 8-9 months. Never really paid attention to the expiry thing. Last week I tried to redeem them for a flight booking and the app showed zero points. Called customer care and they said points expired after 2 years of the earning date — not card anniversary, individual transaction date apparently.

I had no idea each batch of points has its own expiry. I thought it resets annually or something. No email warning came, no SMS. Just gone. Lost maybe ₹3,000-4,000 worth of value roughly.

Is this standard practice across all banks? HDFC, SBI, Axis — do they all do this? And is there any way to get them back or at least complain somewhere official? Also how do people actually track this properly? Feels like a scam honestly.

Answer 1

Honestly, this happens to so many people and the banks know exactly what they're doing. Yes, it's completely standard practice — and yes, it's deliberately confusing.

HDFC Regalia points expire 2 years from the date of each transaction. So if you spent in March 2022, those points expired March 2024. Points earned in June 2022 expire June 2024. Each batch has its own clock. SBI Card points expire after 2 years too. Axis EDGE points are a bit different — some cards give 3 years, some categories expire faster. AMEX is actually better here, their Membership Rewards points don't expire as long as the card is active.

About getting them back — I'll be straight with you. Very slim chance. You can escalate to the nodal officer at HDFC (details on their website under grievance redressal). Write a formal complaint mentioning no prior notification was sent. Sometimes if you're a long-standing customer with good spend history, they'll restore as a goodwill gesture. Don't call customer care again — that's a dead end. Email the nodal officer directly.

You can also file a complaint with RBI's Banking Ombudsman if HDFC doesn't respond in 30 days. The ground would be unfair practice — no adequate notification before expiry. Won't guarantee a refund but creates pressure.

For future tracking — this is what most people get wrong. They assume the points dashboard shows expiry dates clearly. It usually doesn't. What you should do:

- Download your HDFC SmartBuy or Rewards portal statement every quarter
- Set a calendar reminder every 18 months to force-redeem something, even just Amazon vouchers or statement credit
- For Regalia specifically, keep your annual spend above ₹5 lakh — you get milestone benefits and it keeps you engaged enough to notice points

One more thing — partial redemption is underused. You don't have to save for a big flight redemption. Redeem ₹500-1000 worth every few months as cashback or vouchers. Points sitting idle are points at risk.

My honest suggestion: switch some spending to AMEX Gold or ICICI Amazon Pay card where the rewards structure is simpler and more transparent. Regalia is a great card but the points system genuinely requires active management.

Answer 2

Karthik I feel your pain but I'm going to slightly push back on the 'it's a scam' framing — though I understand the frustration completely.

The expiry terms are in the Most Important Terms and Conditions document you agreed to when you got the card. Banks are technically covered. The real problem is nobody reads that document and banks don't remind you proactively. That's a fair grievance.

But here's where I disagree with the usual advice people give — don't waste energy on the nodal officer complaint expecting a refund. In my experience they restore points maybe 10-15% of the time and only for very high-value customers. Your time is worth more.

What I'd actually focus on is changing which card you use for which spend. Regalia's reward rate is decent but the redemption options are clunky and points management is genuinely painful. If you're spending ₹80k-1 lakh a month across categories, look at Axis Atlas or Tata Neu HDFC card — both have simpler, more flexible reward ecosystems.

Also — and this is the thing people completely overlook — reward points are never actually 'your money' sitting somewhere. Legally they're a loyalty program benefit, not a financial instrument. SEBI and RBI have no direct regulation mandating minimum expiry periods for credit card points. Banks can technically change terms with notice. So the best strategy is always to treat unspent points as a ticking liability, not an asset.

Redeem early, redeem often. Never hoard points chasing a big redemption. That's the only real lesson here.