In reality only a few programs will be affected by the proposal to make points expiry illegal + MORE Dec 2nd

Michelle Renee Dacyk, 39, Grand Prairie, Alta. (Photograph by Chris Beauchamp)
When I completed my masters degree two years ago the first question I asked myself was: “Now what?” I was an occupational therapist and had been in debt since age 18, having spent my money on cars, credit cards, lines of credit and even a mortgage. Still, I was fortunate. I had a five-figure nest egg from two previous employers sitting in a locked-in retirement account (LIRA) that I could access when I was 55. I also had access to a modest $20,000 cash payout.
But I was at a turning point. I couldn’t help thinking that there must be more to life than bills and debt. What I really wanted was a new adventure. So, I decided to go to a life coach. Those few visits helped me realize that what I really needed was to be in a profession with a purpose that also involved travel.

How I saved $5,000 a year »

Around this time is when I met a group of people who had started a crowdfunding website that encouraged women to create four-year projects on the subject of travel…

It has been quite the frenzy over the past 24 hours (we’ve completed 7 interviews and 1 more to go) in regards to the the proposed bill in Ontario that would make the expiration of points and miles illegal. In our post yesterday we wondered if the bill would cover both Expiry and Inactivity Rules or just Expiry. We hoped for the latter and Aeroplan reached out to us to let us know that:”as currently drafted, the proposed legislation carves out an allowance for activity policies such as Aeroplan’s.  It will only affect programs with date-stamping policies.  Aeroplan’s activity policy, which requires that members conduct one transaction every 12 months, whether swiping your card at a partner brand or redeeming for a gift card or a flight for example, will remain unchanged from this legislation”This is good news, if you have heard any of our interviews over the past day or so or later today you’ll know that we agree with inactivity rules but not mileage/point expiration. What this means is that if the bill does pass and becomes law in reality it only affects 4 Canadia programs and hitting only 1 hard…

News, Tips & TricksFirst off we want to thank everyone for participating in the Rewards Canada 15th Anniversary Celebrations! The past 5 weeks have been amazing with 5 contests, 1 booking promotion and 1 free points promotion.  Thank you also to all our sponsors: WestJet Rewards, Aeroplan, Points.com, Marriott, American Express and Starwood! Without them the celebration wouldn’t have been this successful!  Here’s to the next 15 years! The past 48 hours has seen a lot of press about the proposed point expiry legislation in Ontario! You know that AIR MILES Rewards Miles mean a lot to Canadians. I mean the program is ingrained in all of us, no other program has the feel and pull like they have or had. Even though they are getting the brunt of the bad press right now we actually have to thank AIR MILES for what they did to the loyalty industry in Canada. Before AIR MILES, loyalty programs were limited to frequent travellers and Canadian Tire Money collectors. Rewards Canada wouldn’t be here without such a large industry in Canada and that can be attributed to AIR MILES…

 I’m pretty sure most of you have seen this news that came out late Thursday afternoon! What a ride it has been over the past 9 or so month! After so much backlash, bad press, a class action lawsuit, the potential bill to make expiring points illegal and just a day before a scathing report to come out by CBC Marketplace, AIR MILES has finally succumbed to the pressure and dropped its very unpopular expiry rule (read the press release here). This is great news in that the expiry is gone but it may be a little too late for the company to save face.This is a win-lose for the consumer. A win in that those who haven’t redeemed and get to keep their hard earned miles. A lose for those who have rushed to redeem so that they don’t lose their miles and ended up redeeming for something they really did not want. Looking into the crystal ball there may be a change to the class action lawsuit now to cover this ‘forced hand’ by AIR MILES. There are also those of you have switched over to cash rewards, in our household we went from 100% dream miles to a 50/50 split in September and have already earned over 200 Cash Miles and redeemed twice although I would have preferred to earn and use those as dream miles…

Loyalty One, the company that runs Air Miles is cancelling its plan to allow reward miles five years or older to expire amid plenty of backlash from consumers and government bodies.
“There is uncertainty with provincial governments proposing or considering legislation across Canada so we have decided to cancel the expiry policy so that all Collectors, regardless of location, can be confident that their balances will be protected,” said Bryan Pearson, President and CEO, LoyaltyOne in a statement.
A committee in the Ontario legislature was nearing the final vote on the the Protecting Reward Points Act, which would’ve banned the expiry of points in all loyalty or rewards programs in the province.
The change is effective immediately, which means collectors no longer have to scramble in the coming weeks to use up their points by December 31, 2016, the original expiry deadline.
Aeroplan similarly reverted their mile expiry plan back in 2013 after negative feedback from customers…