Update, 9/2005: See the latest news here.
United Air Lines (UAL), the parent company of MyPoints, is “virtually certain” to declare bankruptcy, “probably this weekend.” (story here)
How’s that going to affect us? People holding points balances at MyPoints would be considered creditors, and bankruptcy protection protects a company from claims by creditors. We would most likely be written off — in other words, lose our points.
My suggestion? Redeem your MyPoints immediately. Don’t collect any more MyPoints until UAL declares bankruptcy and we find out whether MyPoints will continue operations.
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{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }
Becky–
I don’t think we need to respond this way. As people on the BigBig forums have been pointing out, bankruptcy often just means a company needs financial help to reorganize and become more viable. For example, KMart just declared bankruptcy and they are doing lots of advertising (and presumably, lots of business) now. If everyone cashes out it will just make things harder on the MyPoints staff and probably slow down the time to receive the awards. And if they are already bankrupt and it IS going to mean MyPoints is ending, then why would they even have the money to pay for whatever we might request now? Seems to me like a wait-and-see attitude makes the most sense.
I agree with Jennifer. Let’s wait and see. MyPoints has a good rep. let’s give them a chance and our support.
I’m sorry, y’all, but I still think cashing out of MyPoints (or trying to), and choosing to use another rewards program at least for the short term is the best thing to do. Maybe we won’t see those redemptions. But we’d be more likely to get something by attempting to redeem now, than by holding large balances and just hoping that the company will be around when we want to redeem later. K-Mart is hardly a bankruptcy success story — they are about to be delisted from the New York Stock Exchange because it deems trading the shares “inadvisable or unwarranted in the opinion of the exchange.” And that’s a full year after their bankruptcy reorganization. Last comment — it’s not MyPoints that’s declaring bankruptcy, it’s United AirLines. Their core business is the airline. They’re going to make changes to the company to make it more profitable. MyPoints is totally unrelated to the purpose of the overall company. Will UAL consider MyPoints to be crucial to their survival? What do you think?
I don’t know about mypoints going under, I think if mypoints is earning money for them then they would keep it. I’ve seen alot of programs go and lost a bunch of money that I had earned without any warning. I believe that if they were planning on closing mypoints that they would give us some type of warning. Mypoints is one of the few companies that I have faith in!
Any update on this situation? According to my MyPoints account, none of my points are scheduled to expire on New Year’s Eve, at least. I’ve cashed out my single largest chunk of points per Becky’s advice, but that redemption is currently “pending” according to the account statement. Any insights?
the pending is normal, it will probably read that way for a couple of days, i redeemed some points not too long ago and was surprised how quickly i got my target giftcards, so at this point i do’nt thing i would worry, also the mypoints site is very active with new points available for different things on a very regular basis, so they are getting new advertisers and i have been getting much more email worth points from them in the last week or so, overall it looks pretty stable for mypoints
renee
After reading this I cashed in some of my points for a Wal-Mart card and yesterday I received it. Mypoints paid within 4 days, now that’s a record.
Maybe the best thing to do is to do several programs in balance. They all have the risk of going by the wayside. It is tempting to really seek to pile up points in one program hoping for something big, but to get a $10 or $25 giftcard isn’t exactly a bad thing either.
I would look for other signs of trouble – if a program is in trouble almost certainly you will see a decline in the number of prizes available,
the ways you can get points, and the number of vendors they are working with. So far, Mypoints
looks healthy and doesn’t show any of those signs.
Well, Flooz certainly taught me a few things, and I’m more aware now, but I don’t have a problem with Mypoints so far.
I cashed in My Points and received 3 10 walmart g/c. It took only one week to receive them from my points and I live in Canada.
I have never had any problems with my points like some of the other programs on line.
Merry Xmas to all and a very Happy New Year
Well I don’t think United will go under, they just need to get their act together. I would, however be cautious with any point program. Wouldn’t it be better to periodically cash out for some gift certificates, rather than holding on to useless points?? I cash-out every few months just to be safe.
I am still waiting on a tower records certificate I redeemed my points for 3 months ago. i have emailed their help centre and they said they would hasten it along, but still haven’t seen it!!!
uh did anybody try contacting my points and finding out from the source? What is this source coming from??? I have had no problems with my points and just got my calling cards and waiting on two more!!
Be careful to watch your account at Mypoints. I have had them on several ocassions deduct points from my account and said it was “a site error”. The only way you can tell is by checking your weekly account balances. I have been trying to get them to correct an error that occurred in March and they have only compounded the mistake. In addition to that, they still owe me for 3-4 other purchases I have made. I tend to think that now they may be experiencing some financial woes. Several calls to them have gone unanswered and their Member Care line is a joke (it does not even work!). An email gets you an automated response that says they are working on the problem. I currently have a file on all the emails, with tracking numbers, that I have received. Just be careful and aware!