What happens to McDonald’s points when someone dies

“Points are not property and you have no vested right or interest in points. Points have no cash value. Points are not assignable or transferrable between online services accounts or otherwise, and points cannot be combined across accounts, regardless of who registered the account.”¹

When the online services account terminates for any reason, including when the member closes it or McDonald’s terminates it for a violation of the terms, all accumulated points expire immediately.¹

McDonald’s UK Rewards Terms (Section 20, "Death of account holder") state that a Rewards account terminates on the holder’s death, and that on notification McDonald’s closes the account and cancels all points in it.²

Points expire on the first day of the month after the sixth month from the day they were earned, so an unredeemed balance also lapses on its own over time.^{1, 3}

Under the US terms, account deletion can be requested through the Privacy Rights Center or by phone. Deleting the account terminates it and expires every point in it.¹

Forfeiture is the default, so a request to transfer or reinstate points for a survivor is a goodwill request. McDonald’s is under no obligation to grant it and may decline.¹

An Arch Card, McDonald’s separate gift card, has a balance that never expires and carries no fees; the cards are not refundable or redeemable for cash unless required by law.⁴

Arch Card gift card balance, transaction history, and freezing a lost or stolen card^{5, 4}