NY State Senate bill S. 133B has been signed by Governor Hochul, the new rule goes into effect a year from now and adds a 90 day grace period for credit card rewards after an account is closed. The general purpose of the bill is described as follows:
The purpose of this legislation is to protect credit card holders from the unmerited cancellation of their reward points by creating a grace period for the use of reward points after the closing of a credit card account.
There is a significant clause where this 90 day grace period doesn’t have to be offered (emphasis ours).
establish a 90-day grace period (beginning on the day such notice is sent) for the use of accumulated credit card points, except in the case of fraud or misuse of the credit card or related awards program by the credit card holder
Misuse isn’t defined in the new law, so theoretically card issuers could claim misuse for standard credit card behavior to avoid this grace period. It’ll be interesting to see what actually happens in practice when the law goes live in a year.
Hat tip to imnion
Source: doctorofcredit.com