What happens to CVS ExtraBucks when the owner dies
CVS Pharmacy, Inc. ExtraBucks are forfeited under the program's terms when the account is closed
ExtraCare Customer Service
ExtraCare Program correspondence (no dedicated estates channel is published; the ExtraCare email form states CVS responds within two business days)
CVS Health Corporation, 1 CVS Drive, Woonsocket, RI 02895
There is no estate-claim timeline for ExtraBucks Rewards; they are non-transferable, have no cash value, and expire on their own schedule regardless of the member's status — 90 days after the end of the calendar quarter of issue for 2% back rewards, 30 days from issuance for Rewards at Pharmacy Pilot Program and Punch Card Offer rewards. CVS states expired coupons cannot be reissued, so the practical deadline is the expiration date printed on each reward. For ExtraCare Plus, cancellation must be completed at least three days before the renewal date to stop the next charge; benefits are provided until the effective date of cancellation and there are no refunds once a charge has processed. The ExtraCare Customer Service email form states CVS will respond within two business days. CVS publishes no service-level timeline for a prescription-records request, but the authorization form expires six months from the date it is signed unless a different expiration date is entered, so it should be submitted well inside that window.
Under CVS Pharmacy, Inc.'s terms, CVS ExtraBucks do not constitute property of the account holder and are forfeited when the account is closed upon death. There is no established process for transferring ExtraBucks to heirs or the estate.
Some families have reported receiving accommodations from CVS Pharmacy, Inc. customer service, though this is not part of the official policy.
What to do
When a CVS account holder dies, these are the steps to take:
- •Call 1-800-SHOP CVS (1-800-746-7287), TTY 711 — CVS names this line for cancellation in the ExtraCare Plus terms and on the ExtraCare overview page, and it does not require account credentials
- •If a surviving account holder has legitimate access to the account in their own right, CVS also offers self-service cancellation at https://www.cvs.com/extracareplus/cancellation, which routes through CVS account sign-in
- •Cancel at least three days before the renewal date — CVS states there are no refunds for membership fees after the recurring charge is processed, and benefits are provided until the effective date of cancellation
- •Note that the monthly $10 ExtraCare Plus bonus reward "expires at the end of your monthly benefit cycle," so it is not a balance the estate can bank while deciding
- •Mail: CVS Health Corporation, 1 CVS Drive, Woonsocket, RI 02895 — the address the ExtraCare Terms give "For questions or concerns regarding the ExtraCare Program," with telephone 1-888-607-4287 (TTY:711)
- •Email form: https://www.cvs.com/retail/help/extracare-contact-us.html, where CVS states "We will respond within two business days"
- •Phone: 1-800-SHOP CVS (1-800-746-7287) for ExtraCare, Monday to Friday 9:00 AM to 9:00 PM ET and Saturday to Sunday 10:00 AM to 6:30 PM ET, closed major holidays
- •CVS also publishes a general correspondence address on its Contact Us page: CVS Corporation, Customer Relations, One CVS Drive, Woonsocket, RI 02895
- •Complete CVS Pharmacy's Authorization for Disclosure of Protected Health Information (https://www.cvs.com/bizcontent/forms/CVS_Pharmacy_DISCLOSURE_AUTHORIZATION_FORM_v2.pdf) and select "My complete Patient Prescription Record (PPR), which reflects my prescription history and any other pharmacy services, including immunizations"
- •Sign on the "Signature of Patient/Personal Representative" line; the form directs anyone signing other than the patient to "print your full name and explain your authority to act on behalf of this patient (CVS Pharmacy may request additional paperwork)" — attach Letters Testamentary or Letters of Administration and a certified death certificate
- •Note the form's own limit: "This Authorization will expire 6 months from the date I sign it as shown below unless I enter a different expiration date"
- •Submit it by mail to One CVS Drive, MC-B120, Woonsocket, RI 02895, by fax to 401-652-1593, or by email to PrescriptionRecordSvcCenter@cvshealth.com (CVS notes email is not secure unless sent with technology that encrypts it)
- •For any other health-information right — an accounting of disclosures, or records held outside the pharmacy — write the CVS Health Privacy Office, One CVS Drive, Woonsocket RI 02895, PrivacyOffice@CVSHealth.com, 1-833-571-1784. CVS states it may charge a reasonable fee for a copy, as HIPAA and state law allow
Required Documents
- No documents are required to cancel ExtraCare Plus — CVS allows cancellation by phone (1-800-746-7287, TTY 711) without estate documentation
- No documents are published for ExtraBucks Rewards, because CVS states rewards do not constitute property of any ExtraCare member and there is no estate-claim process
- For a prescription record: CVS Pharmacy's Authorization for Disclosure of Protected Health Information, signed on the Patient/Personal Representative line with the signer's full name printed and their authority to act explained
- Certified copy of the death certificate (for the prescription-records request, and to accompany any goodwill request to ExtraCare)
- Letters Testamentary or Letters of Administration, or other evidence of authority to act for the estate — CVS Pharmacy states it may request additional paperwork from anyone signing the authorization on a patient's behalf, and CVS's Healthcare Practices notice states a personal representative "may be required to produce evidence of authority to act on your behalf"
- The ExtraCare card number or the phone number linked to the ExtraCare account — CVS's ExtraCare email form requires one or the other to locate the membership
Timeline
There is no estate-claim timeline for ExtraBucks Rewards; they are non-transferable, have no cash value, and expire on their own schedule regardless of the member's status — 90 days after the end of the calendar quarter of issue for 2% back rewards, 30 days from issuance for Rewards at Pharmacy Pilot Program and Punch Card Offer rewards. CVS states expired coupons cannot be reissued, so the practical deadline is the expiration date printed on each reward. For ExtraCare Plus, cancellation must be completed at least three days before the renewal date to stop the next charge; benefits are provided until the effective date of cancellation and there are no refunds once a charge has processed. The ExtraCare Customer Service email form states CVS will respond within two business days. CVS publishes no service-level timeline for a prescription-records request, but the authorization form expires six months from the date it is signed unless a different expiration date is entered, so it should be submitted well inside that window.
Frequently asked questions
CVS's ExtraCare Terms and Conditions state that participation in the ExtraCare Program is personal and non-transferable, that membership is nontransferable and nonsalable and limited to one account per individual, and that rewards have no cash value and do not constitute property of any ExtraCare member. There is no transfer right and no estate-claim process, so unredeemed ExtraBucks are forfeited in practice. A survivor can still write to CVS and ask, as a goodwill matter, whether the balance can be reissued or honored for a named family member. CVS's own help center notes that its agents can move a balance from a lost card to a new card, so the mechanism exists — but nothing in the terms obliges CVS to use it here, and it decides such requests at its discretion.
CVS states that 2% back ExtraBucks Rewards expire 90 days from the end of each calendar quarter following their date of issue — the quarters ending March 31, June 30, September 30 and December 31 — and that members must redeem rewards before their stated expiration date. Rewards issued under CVS's Rewards at Pharmacy Pilot Program expire 30 days from issuance, and Punch Card Offer rewards expire 30 days after issuance with unused Punches forfeited on expiration. CVS's help center states that expired coupons cannot be reissued. The clock runs on that schedule regardless of the member's status, so an unused balance lapses on its own after a death, and once it has lapsed there is nothing left to ask about.
No. CVS states that rewards and benefits available via the ExtraCare Program "have no cash value; are not redeemable for cash, gift certificates or gift cards; are purely promotional; and do not constitute property of any ExtraCare member." They cannot be cashed out, converted to gift cards, or listed as an asset of the estate.
It keeps billing. ExtraCare Plus costs $5 per month or $48 annually plus applicable taxes, and CVS states membership "requires recurring charges to your payment card and automatically renews until canceled." An executor should cancel it. CVS states memberships cannot be canceled in store; the published channels are a call to 1-800-SHOP CVS (1-800-746-7287, TTY 711) or the online cancellation page at cvs.com/extracareplus/cancellation, which requires signing in to the member's CVS account — so an executor without that access should use the phone line rather than the decedent's credentials. Cancel at least three days before the renewal date. There are no refunds for membership fees after a recurring charge has processed, and benefits run until the effective date of cancellation.
No. ExtraCare Plus members receive a monthly $10 bonus reward loaded to the ExtraCare account, but CVS states bonus rewards "are promotional, do not constitute property, have no cash value, are not redeemable for cash except as otherwise required by law," and are "Not transferable." CVS also states the bonus reward expires at the end of the member's monthly benefit cycle and is valid on a single transaction only, so it is not something the estate can collect or bank — it is one more reason to cancel the membership rather than let it keep charging.
CVS publishes no deceased-member process, estate-claim form, or bereavement channel for ExtraCare, and its terms contain no death clause at all. The published intakes are the ExtraCare Program address in the terms — CVS Health Corporation, 1 CVS Drive, Woonsocket, RI 02895, telephone 1-888-607-4287 (TTY 711) — the ExtraCare Customer Service email form at cvs.com/retail/help/extracare-contact-us.html, where CVS says it responds within two business days, and the ExtraCare phone line at 1-800-746-7287, Monday to Friday 9:00 AM to 9:00 PM ET and Saturday to Sunday 10:00 AM to 6:30 PM ET. Cancelling a paid ExtraCare Plus membership requires no estate documents at all; it can be done by phone.
This is separate from ExtraCare, and it is the part of CVS that holds something worth requesting. CVS Pharmacy is a HIPAA covered entity, and its Notice of Privacy Practices states: "Upon your death, we may share your PHI with a person allowed by law to act for your estate." CVS publishes an Authorization for Disclosure of Protected Health Information with a "Signature of Patient/Personal Representative" line; a signer other than the patient prints their name and explains their authority, and CVS may request additional paperwork such as Letters Testamentary and a certified death certificate. Selecting the complete Patient Prescription Record produces the prescription history and any other pharmacy services, including immunizations. Submit the form to One CVS Drive, MC-B120, Woonsocket, RI 02895, fax 401-652-1593, or PrescriptionRecordSvcCenter@cvshealth.com; it expires six months from signature unless a different date is entered. CVS states a reasonable fee may be charged as HIPAA and state law allow. This is a medical-records request on its own track — it is not part of a loyalty request, and a letter about ExtraBucks does not reach it.
Under the official terms, ExtraBucks have no value after the account holder dies. The only way to preserve the value of CVS ExtraBucks is to redeem, transfer, or share them while the account is active.
Sources
Data sourced from CVS Pharmacy, Inc. primary sources (10 pages reviewed). How we research.
ExtraCare Customer Service
ExtraCare Program correspondence (no dedicated estates channel is published; the ExtraCare email form states CVS responds within two business days)
CVS Health Corporation, 1 CVS Drive, Woonsocket, RI 02895
There is no estate-claim timeline for ExtraBucks Rewards; they are non-transferable, have no cash value, and expire on their own schedule regardless of the member's status — 90 days after the end of the calendar quarter of issue for 2% back rewards, 30 days from issuance for Rewards at Pharmacy Pilot Program and Punch Card Offer rewards. CVS states expired coupons cannot be reissued, so the practical deadline is the expiration date printed on each reward. For ExtraCare Plus, cancellation must be completed at least three days before the renewal date to stop the next charge; benefits are provided until the effective date of cancellation and there are no refunds once a charge has processed. The ExtraCare Customer Service email form states CVS will respond within two business days. CVS publishes no service-level timeline for a prescription-records request, but the authorization form expires six months from the date it is signed unless a different expiration date is entered, so it should be submitted well inside that window.
Is this your situation?
Get a complete guide for your specific circumstances.
More tools for handling this estate
Calculators and checklists for executors and trustees.
How Much Does Probate Cost?
Estimate attorney fees, executor fees, court costs, and timeline for probating an estate in your state. See if the estate qualifies for simplified probate procedures.
How Much Can an Executor Charge?
Calculate how much an executor (personal representative) can charge for administering an estate. See if your state has statutory fees or uses reasonable compensation.
Who Inherits Without a Will?
Find out who inherits your estate and how much they get if you die without a will. Based on your state's intestate succession laws.
What's Fair Trustee Compensation?
Find out what's fair compensation for serving as trustee. Compare family, professional, and corporate trustee rates based on your situation.
How Much Are Estate & Inheritance Taxes?
Calculate federal estate tax, state estate tax (12 states + DC), and inheritance tax (5 states) for an estate or trust.
How Many Death Certificates Do I Need?
Calculate how many certified death certificates you need based on the assets and accounts you need to close. See state-specific ordering information.
