Travelers who diligently earn miles/points through the diligent purchase of cheap travel options such as cheap airplane tickets, discount hotel rooms, and cheap vacation packages do not have to let frequent flier miles and credit card points they earn expire with their passing.
Annually American travelers earn up to three trillion miles/points through the purchase of travel and use of credit cards. Loyalty programs for airlines, hotels, and credit cards do not have to be lost with the death of the original member of those programs.
Most travel and credit card programs allow participants to will their points. Although the process takes time (necessitated by calling customer service representatives and faxing necessary documents such as a death certificate and letter from the executor) transferred points, depending on the amount, can be quite valuable.
If surviving family members do nothing after a person dies, the value of the miles/points will be lost.
The average American family is signed up for 18 loyalty programs. Those families typically earn about $622 annually from points and miles.
Travelers who wish to leave their points/miles to heirs need to decide whether they should be specifically mentioned in a will. By doing so, it ensures that the points/miles will go to whom intended, but may result in the person inheriting the miles paying additional taxes and sometimes results in a slowing of estate distributions.
Most experts recommend that award programs be listed in a separate document instead of a will. It is important that they are documented and include the account number and email address associated with each program.
Non-airline loyalty programs appear to have more restrictions relating to inheriting points. For example, the Marriott Rewards program only allows spouses or domestic partners to inherit points. American Express credit card rewards program required the estates executor to call before it sends a package of required forms.
Prior to contacting a loyalty program concerning the transfer of points due to a death you should make certain you have printed copies of the deceased death certificate, the deceaseds loyalty account numbers, address, and email associated with the account. Make certain you know your own account number where you want the miles/points transferred.
Typically programs do not require seeing a will, but most ask for a letter from the executor which specifies that you are the beneficiary of the deceased loyalty programs.
Dont give up if you are initially turned down. So long as you have the proper paperwork and insist on speaking to increasingly higher levels of management, your persistence should pay off in most instances.
www.cheapfares.com