Check your Microsoft account balance – your cash might be about to expire

How often do you look at your Xbox wallet? If you’ve not checked your Microsoft account balance for a while, you might want to hop online and remind yourself if you’ve any leftover funds waiting to be spent.

Your Microsoft account balance is used to buy Xbox Series X|S or Xbox One games from the digital Xbox store. But as Redditor Cg6554 recently pointed out, not all funds that are added to your digital wallet will last forever. 

They had the sad realization that their current balance was due to expire on July 9, giving them little time to decide what to spend their money on. If they hadn’t clocked the expiry date so soon, the funds might have disappeared before they could even be spent.

The post has generated a lot of discussion on the Xbox subreddit over account balance expiration dates. Some players have wondered how to check when their funds are going to disappear, and what they can do to stop them from expiring altogether.

How to check your Microsoft account balance

Fortunately, the whole issue is rather simple. Any money that’s been added to your account using a non-promotional method will last forever. If you’ve redeemed a gift card or added money directly to your account using a credit card, you can rest assured that the funds will be safe and sound for as long as Microsoft’s servers are active. Basically, don’t worry about it.

If you’re using a gift card, however, do double-check. Gift cards bought from third-party retailers often have added restrictions, which limit how long after their purchase the codes can be redeemed. Make sure to redeem them in good time so you don’t accidentally surpass their expiration date.

Things get a little trickier when promos come into the mix. If you’ve added funds to your account by redeeming points through Microsoft Rewards, you do need to watch out. 

The Microsoft Rewards loyalty program lets users earn redeemable points for using various Microsoft services – such as searching with Bing, or taking a daily quiz. Earn enough points, and you can exchange them for a slew of Xbox perks. Right now, you can redeem 6,300 points to net a £5 Xbox gift card, the value of which will be added directly to your Microsoft account. 

But stay alert, though, because funds added through Microsoft Rewards don’t last forever. You’ll only have 90 days to spend the gift card before it expires. This is likely why Redditor Cg6554’s funds are expiring. 

If you want to find out when your balance is due to expire, head on over to the Payment and Billing section of your account. You should see a ‘manage’ option in the top right corner. Click that to open a sidebar and display all of your funds. If any portion of your balance is due to expire, it’ll be shown below. Make sure you spend that money before the listed date, otherwise it’ll evaporate into the aether.