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Frequent Miler on the Air · Monday, August 10, 2026

Award Certificates and Credit Card Returns

Tim addresses a question about whether award certificates or rewards might be clawed back by credit card companies. He states that in his experience, this is not something that happens, though he advises against intentionally structuring spending to trigger such awards, as issuers might disapprove.

The tape

2 quotes
And to my knowledge, like those sorts of things like when it actually goes to your account. I've never heard of an award getting taken from somebody's account and giving back to the credit card company. But I don't know that that has happened, but I've never heard of it before.
Tim
Now I agree with Nick, I don't know that you should make a rule of trying to do that like trying to do that intentionally as a way of creating spend because eventually your issuer will probably not like you.
Tim
Heard on Frequent Miler on the Air — “How would you rank premium economy cabins? | Ask Us Anything | Ep89 | 8-5-26, published Monday, August 10, 2026. Heardvine summarizes and quotes with attribution and timestamps, and links to the original everywhere.
Transcribed via Gemini audio transcription · $0.06
Award Certificates and Credit Card Returns — Heardvine