If you’ve been collecting points and miles for any length of time, you’ve probably experienced a problem that sounds ridiculous to anyone outside this hobby: having too many points and miles and still wanting another credit card. 🙋🏻‍♀️

At some point, you look at your balances and realize you’re sitting on hundreds of thousands—maybe even millions—of points. You have enough for multiple family vacations, business-class flights, and luxury hotel stays, and yet when a new welcome offer appears, your first thought is, “Maybe I should get that one too.” I’m calling this “Piles of Miles Syndrome.” And I have it! 🤦‍♀️

 

 

Confessions of a Points Collector

The funny thing is that most of us got into points and miles because we wanted to travel more for less. Somewhere along the way, earning points became almost as fun as redeeming them. There is something satisfying about seeing a six-figure welcome offer, meeting a minimum-spending requirement, and watching those points hit your account.

The challenge is that points aren’t investments. They don’t earn interest. In fact, the longer they sit in your account, the more likely they are to lose value through program changes and devaluations. We’ve seen it happen with airlines, hotels, and loyalty programs across the board. That’s why earning points should always be tied to a plan for using them. (I know this, but still….)

That doesn’t mean you need to stop opening new cards. Welcome offers remain among the fastest ways to earn travel rewards. I know that the the better move might be to start spending more of my hard-earned rewards and maximizing daily spend instead of opening cards.

 

Rationalizing My Syndrome

Of course, there is another reason many of us keep opening cards even when we already have “piles of miles.” Our points aren’t sitting in one giant account. They’re scattered across airline and hotel programs, and some are transferable currencies. I may have a healthy balance overall, but that doesn’t mean I have enough Hyatt points for the next hotel stay I want to book or enough United miles for a specific business-class redemption direct from Denver.

 

 

In theory, I tell people all the time that points are meant to be used, not admired from a spreadsheet. I remind our community that points can be devalued and that memories are worth more than account balances. Then a new welcome offer comes along, and suddenly I’m convincing myself that I really do need another 100,000 points.

 

Bottom Line

So perhaps this is a little bit of a “do as I say, not as I do” situation. I absolutely believe you should earn points with a purpose and redeem them often. But if you see me getting excited about another card while sitting on a mountain of points, just know I’m still working on following my own advice.

So tell us: Are you currently in earning mode, burning mode, or are you sitting on a giant pile of miles and wondering if you really need another credit card?