Set a United Travel Bank Reminder so you don’t lose your funds

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Late last year, many of us loaded funds to the United Travel Bank as a way of banking airline credit since Travel Bank credits are valid for 5 years. However, The Points Pundit at Travel Update points out an important detail: if you do not have any Travel Bank activity for 18 consecutive months, your Travel Bank Cash is subject to expiration or forfeiture.

a white airplane on a runway

As The Points Pundit notes, United says the following in its Travel Bank terms and conditions:

As a general rule (and unless stated otherwise by United under the terms of a particular offer or the terms of certain qualifying activity as determined by United from time to time) all accrued TravelBank Cash in an Account is subject to expiration and/or forfeiture for any Member who fails at any time to engage in Account Activity (as defined above) for a period of eighteen (18) consecutive months. United may, but shall have no obligation to, send a Member a notification of TravelBank Cash nearing or subject to expiration.

The section defining account activity indicates that canceling / redepositing doesn’t count to extend that, so you’ll need to book a ticket or add cash every 18 months to keep from losing your United Travel Bank Funds:

“Account Activity” shall be deemed to occur when a Member either (a) accrues TravelBank Cash in such Member’s account in any manner recognized by TravelBank, including without limitation the use of a United credit card, or (b) obtains a TravelBank Award by the use of TravelBank Cash in the Member’s account. In cases where TravelBank Cash is for any reason removed from an account, as for example the use of TravelBank Cash for a TravelBank Award, and there is a subsequent cancellation of a transaction and a redeposit of the TravelBank Cash to the Member’s account, the cancellation of the transaction and redeposit of the TravelBank Cash to the account shall not qualify as “Account Activity.” Neither United’s correction of TravelBank Cash in an account nor Prohibited Conduct shall qualify as Account Activity.

That is an important distinction considering the fact that the Travel Bank shows a date 5 years in the future for newly-added funds.

a date and time on a white background

This won’t affect you for quite a while if, like me, you loaded funds in December 2020. However, I’ve just set a calendar reminder for May of 2022 to remind me to use it before the 18-month mark. I’m hopeful that I’ll be booking travel in the nearer-term. If and when I do, I’ll have to remember to set a new reminder.

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