How to Use Statement Credits Before Your Card's Year-End Deadline
Check your tracker, match each purchase to its calendar or account-year cutoff, and buy early in December.
To use statement credits before your card's year-end deadline, check your benefits tracker now and make each qualifying purchase early in December. Statement credits are refunds posted to your card balance after an eligible purchase, not cash or points. Check which credits follow the calendar and which follow your account year.
Calendar and July–December amounts close on December 31, while some travel credits reset on your anniversary instead.
Verification note: Program terms and availability can change. This page was checked against linked sources on November 04, 2026.
Which credits end December 31?
American Express describes up to $200 per calendar year in automatic credits for eligible incidental airline fees, such as checked bags and in-flight food, charged by the one qualifying airline you selected, not for airfare, according to the American Express guide to the Platinum airline credit. That calendar-year structure makes December 31 the cutoff for any unused 2026 amount. The hotel credit has the same year-end pressure in the second half.
American Express describes up to $300 in credits for January–June and July–December, up to $600 per calendar year, for prepaid Fine Hotels + Resorts or The Hotel Collection bookings through Amex Travel, according to the American Express hotel-program terms. A July–December balance left unused at December 31 does not carry into January.
How do you use the airline amount in time?
Use it only for small extras from your selected airline. Eligible examples include a checked bag, a seat fee where covered, or food bought on the plane and billed by that airline. Airfare itself does not count.
A gift card, a ticket bought through another airline, or a charge from a travel agency also falls outside the rule.
- Open your benefits tracker and note the remaining airline balance.
- Charge one eligible incidental to the selected airline.
- Buy early in December so the credit has time to post.
- Save the receipt and watch statements into January.
How do you use the second-half hotel amount?
The hotel credit applies only to prepaid bookings made through Amex Travel. It covers Fine Hotels + Resorts and The Hotel Collection stays, within the $300 July–December limit. Book a stay with check-in and prepaid payment dated before January.
If your remaining amount is below the room cost, the credit still reduces the charge by that remainder.
- Check the remaining July–December hotel balance.
- Search Amex Travel for an eligible property.
- Choose a prepaid rate, not pay-at-hotel.
- Complete payment in December and keep the confirmation.
What if your credit follows your account year?
Some travel credits do not face a December 31 deadline. Chase says Sapphire Reserve's $300 travel credit applies automatically as statement credits against qualifying travel-category purchases, and it can be split across purchases until the $300 maximum is reached, according to the Chase explanation of how the Sapphire Reserve travel credit works. A $120 train ticket plus a $180 hotel bill, for example, would use the full amount in two steps.
Chase defines that $300 year as the 12 billing cycles from account open date through the first statement after the anniversary, not necessarily January 1–December 31, according to the Chase Sapphire Reserve 2025 Q4 offer details. Check the statement cycle dates in your account before rushing a December purchase you do not need.