--- title: "Expire and schedule store credit rewards in Account Funds" url: "https://kestrelwp.com/docs/account-funds-reward-expiration/" description: "Set when store credit rewards expire, schedule rewards, and choose how customers are emailed." published: "2026-10-06T20:26:46+00:00" modified: "2026-10-06T20:26:46+00:00" --- Every cashback and milestone reward in Account Funds has an **Expiration** tab, which decides whether the store credit it awards expires, and an **Emails** tab, which decides how customers hear about it. A reward can also be scheduled to run between two dates. Expiration applies to each credit a customer receives; scheduling applies to the reward itself. ## When you’d use this - Make reward credit use-it-or-lose-it, such as 90 days after it’s awarded. - Give holiday credit that must be spent by a set date. - Run a cashback promotion for a weekend without switching it on and off by hand. - Send a reward-specific email, or no email, when a reward pays out. ## Set when awarded credit expires Open the reward under **Account funds » Cashback** or **Account funds » Milestones**, and go to the **Expiration** tab. ![Account Funds: Set when awarded credit expires (edit "Loyalty cashback", Expiration tab)](https://kestrelwp.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/account-funds-af-14.png)### Award expires **Never expires** (the default), **After a duration** or **On a specific date**. ### Expires after Appears with **After a duration**. A number and a unit, **Day(s)**, **Week(s)**, **Month(s)** or **Year(s)**, counted from the moment each credit is awarded. With 90 days, credit awarded on March 1 expires on May 30, and credit awarded a week later expires a week later. ### Expires on Appears with **On a specific date**. All credit from the reward expires at the end of this date, whenever it was awarded. Once the date has passed, the reward can’t award credit that wouldn’t already be expired, so its status changes to **Depleted**. Each credit gets its expiration date when it’s awarded. Changing a reward’s **Expiration** tab affects credit it awards from then on, not credit customers already have; to change that, edit the credit’s expiration in [Account funds » Wallets](/docs/account-funds-admin-management/). ## How expiration works - Only credit with an expiration date expires, and each credit expires on its own date. The rest of the customer’s balance isn’t affected. - When a customer spends store credit, the credit that expires soonest is used first, so what expires is only what they haven’t spent. - Once a day, Account Funds finds expired credit and records a **Credit expired** debit for the unspent part. In **Account funds » Wallets**, the original credit shows the **Expired** status. - When you filter **Account funds » Wallets** to one customer, the **Expiring in 30 days** card shows how much of their balance is about to expire. - Credits you add by hand can have an expiration date too, set in the **Expiration** field when you add the transaction. If you’ve enabled **Store credit expiring soon** under **WooCommerce » Settings » Emails**, customers get one reminder before credit expires, 7 days ahead by default. Its **Notification period (days)** is covered in [Account Funds settings](/docs/account-funds-settings/#store-credit-expiring-soon). ## Schedule a reward In the reward’s **Details** box, set **Status:** to **Scheduled**. Two fields appear: ![Account Funds: Schedule a reward (edit "Launch bonus")](https://kestrelwp.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/account-funds-af-15.png)- **Starts:** the date and time the reward becomes **Active**. - **Ends:** the date and time it becomes **Inactive**. Either can be left empty for an open-ended window ("Leave empty for open-ended."). Click **Update** to save. Account Funds checks scheduled rewards every hour, so a reward can start or end up to an hour after the time you set. Until it starts, the reward shows **Scheduled** in the rewards list and awards nothing. If its end time has already passed when it’s checked, it goes straight to **Inactive**. Scheduling decides when a reward can award credit, and the **Expiration** tab decides how long that credit lasts. A weekend promotion might run from Friday to Sunday and award credit that expires 30 days later. ## Choose the reward emails The **Emails** tab sets how this reward uses the **Store credit awarded** email. ![Account Funds: Choose the reward emails (edit "Launch bonus", Emails tab)](https://kestrelwp.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/account-funds-af-16.png)### Email behavior - **Enabled (use global defaults)**: the default. The customer gets the **Store credit awarded** email as you’ve set it up under **WooCommerce » Settings » Emails**, combined with any other rewards they earned at the same time. - **Disabled**: this reward sends no email. - **Override (custom email content)**: this reward sends its own email, with the subject, heading and additional content below. ### Email subject Appears with **Override (custom email content)**. Replaces the email’s subject for this reward. Leave blank to use the default. ### Email heading Appears with **Override (custom email content)**. Replaces the email’s heading for this reward. Leave blank to use the default. ### Additional content Appears with **Override (custom email content)**. Replaces the text shown below the email’s message for this reward. Leave blank to use the default. The tab lists the placeholders you can use. If the **Store credit awarded** email is turned off for the whole store, the tab shows "The store credit awarded email is currently disabled. Enable it in the WooCommerce email settings to configure notifications behavior for this reward." For the email’s own settings, see [Store credit awarded](/docs/account-funds-settings/#store-credit-awarded). ## When a reward is depleted A reward’s status changes to **Depleted** when it reaches its **Maximum awards**, or when its **Expires on** date has passed. A depleted reward awards nothing more, and if you’ve enabled the **Reward status changed** email, you’re told when it happens. To bring a reward back, fix what depleted it: raise **Maximum awards** or choose to keep awarding indefinitely, or pick a later **Expires on** date or another **Award expires** option. Click **Update**, and the reward comes back as **Inactive**. Then set **Status:** to **Active** and update it again. ## Common issues ### Credit didn’t expire on its date Expired credit is processed once a day, so it can take up to a day to show. Account Funds runs the check as a scheduled action. If it’s overdue, look under **WooCommerce » Status » Scheduled Actions** for pending actions in the `kestrel_store_credit` group, and make sure your site’s scheduled actions are running. ### A scheduled reward didn’t start on time Scheduled rewards are checked hourly, so allow up to an hour. If it still shows **Scheduled**, check its **Starts:** time and the same scheduled actions as above. ### A reward with an expiration date shows Depleted Its **Expires on** date has passed. Choose a later date or another **Award expires** option, then reactivate it as described in [When a reward is depleted](#when-a-reward-is-depleted). ### I changed a reward’s expiration, but customers’ credit didn’t change Each credit keeps the expiration it was given when it was awarded. Edit individual credits in **Account funds » Wallets** to change them. ### A customer didn’t get the expiring soon email Check that **Store credit expiring soon** is enabled and that the credit has an expiration date. The email goes out once, **Notification period (days)** before the credit expires, so credit that expires sooner than that when it’s awarded gets no reminder. ### Customers don’t get an email for one reward Check the reward’s **Email behavior**. If it’s **Enabled (use global defaults)**, check that **Store credit awarded** is enabled under **WooCommerce » Settings » Emails**. ## Keep learning - [Set up cashback rewards in Account Funds](/docs/account-funds-cashback-rewards/) - [Reward signups and reviews in Account Funds](/docs/account-funds-milestone-rewards/) - [Account Funds settings](/docs/account-funds-settings/) (the four store credit emails) - [Manage customer balances in Account Funds](/docs/account-funds-admin-management/) (editing a credit’s expiration)