If you think that you can combine points from various credit card accounts in order to build up your total points... BEWARE! Like many others, I thought I had enough points to book two round trip tickets last summer for my wife and I. I was shocked to find that it was somehow going to take 120, 000 points and $328 cash. How is this possible, I wondered? Well I gave that idea up and just purchased the tickets. A few months later I noticed the "Transfer Points" link on the rewards home page. " Great, here is a way to get enough points if we decide to go somewhere" I thought.

This is what it says: "More points equal greater rewards. If you have more than one rewards account, you may be able to combine your points for better rewards or even share your points with friends and family. Now, the flexibility of transferring points makes rewards even better."

What it doesn't say is that is a scam to make your points expire in 90 days instead five years. There is a disclaimer not at the beginning of the process or in the middle of the process, but at the very end, as you are clicking to transfer the points. It says "these points will expire on... and a date (which is 90 days from that moment -- if you're paying close enough attention)"

I guess I'm just stupid, because I didn't do the math or pay that much attention to the actual date, because after all in the "FAQ" and Rules sections it says that points expire five years from date earned, with no disclaimer that says "Unless you transfer them, then it's 90 days".

Here's the bottom line: You have 90 days to use these points, and if you do not, they are gone forever. I have been trying to get them back for five months and was told today that nobody on the face of the earth can restore them, because I requested the transfer. I've cashed out all my points on three my cards on some junky merchandise and closed them out. I have also closed my business, personal, and merchant accounts with BOA. It is a first class pain in the neck, and I never got my 30, 000 points back, but I somehow feel slightly better. I hope BOA misses me, but I doubt it.