Sorry to hear this happened OP--I would be devistated if I had that much money just go straight down the drain!
I know this is a moot point--but how on earth did you manage to accumulate that many pts. on a 2% card? Over 10 years you must have litterally put ALL of you expenses on it to get to that amount.
I hope you can get this resolved in your favor.
BUSINESS 
@Anonymous wrote: "They said it was because of credit risk. Probably because of the dispute between my former landlord and me..."
Until you said this, I was in favor of the small claims court route.
Now, it sounds like they may have had grounds to be concerned per fine print T&C.
If you lose, small claims court would just set you farther back (attorney fees.)
Probably best to let it go; lessons learned for you and all of us.
@longtimelurker wrote:
As a general PSA, certainly amplified by this: In general, NEVER keep cashback points with an issuer, for two reasons.1) You never know when something like this can happen ...
2) You earn no interest ...
The exceptions is when there is some benefit in redeeming a certain larger amount, e.g. additional discounts on $100 gift cards.
For convertible travel points, UR/MR/TYP ... devaluation is a bigger risk, you may need to keep them with the issuer unless you know you will certainly redeem them for a particular partner.
Some excellent points here. That is one reason I am skeptical about cards that have minimum redemptions, even $25. They can take your money at any time and I'm sure people lose rewards more often than people think for a slew of reasons in the "fine print." Many issuers are not paying anywhere near the advertised cash-back or rewards rates by the time you add in lost points and fees people pay for interest charges, late payments, etc. And human nature is to think that those things will never happen to US, only to OTHER PEOPLE.
I considered that Fidelity card but researched ELAN FINANCIAL services and saw they had shady reviews with some clients. That turned me off. Over several decades of credit-seeking, I have learned that the customer service practices and reputation of any financial institution I'm going to deal with are just as if not more important than the financial details they promise such as benefits, fees, and rates. You have to be able to trust they will honor their commitments and not be a pain to work with.
I'm surprised Fidelity has kept them around because a card issuer can taint their parent company's reputation. Just wondering ... have you considered contacting Fidelity about the issues to put pressue on ELAN from the other side?
Also, I'm not familiar with this card's inner workings, but I thought the points usually got transferred to Fidelity investments. (I have read that you can also cash them in but for much less value like 1% instead of 2%.) Were you just letting them build up for some reason before transferring them over? If you had transferred them, ELAN couldn't have had access to them, could they?
Oh man, my heart aches for this loss!
That’s really awful and it sucks that rewards aren’t guaranteed. They can change the value of points, discontinue programs, refuse to pay out rewards any time. What a horrible lesson to learn. 
@Anonymous wrote:Oh man, my heart aches for this loss!
That’s really awful and it sucks that rewards aren’t guaranteed. They can change the value of points, discontinue programs, refuse to pay out rewards any time. What a horrible lesson to learn.
And OP's post today made me cashout these tiny amounts from:
AmX Magnate - $51.18 (statement credit)
Disco - $5.80
NFCU cashRewards - $6.10
It's too bad I couldn't cash out CitiDC (haven't reached $25 redemption yet) and CitiCostco (they payout in Feb)
It's so ridiculous but that $5 buys a Starbucks Venti coffee and I earned it. And that is what's so sad about OP's story. He already earned that money. It seems so unfair. It's kind of like--you worked a 40-hour week and got fired at 5pm on Friday; and employer said, oh yeah, we're not paying you for the hours you worked because you did so-and-so and we fired you. Yeah, we can imagine how that would go over.
Yeah, I know, I know--the do's and don'ts of employment law and credit cards terms of service are spelled out, but I just had to use an analogy.
@CreditInspired wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:Oh man, my heart aches for this loss!
That’s really awful and it sucks that rewards aren’t guaranteed. They can change the value of points, discontinue programs, refuse to pay out rewards any time. What a horrible lesson to learn.
And OP's post today made me cashout these tiny amounts from:
AmX Magnate - $51.18 (statement credit)
Disco - $5.80
NFCU cashRewards - $6.10
It's too bad I couldn't cash out CitiDC (haven't reached $25 redemption yet) and CitiCostco (they payout in Feb)
It's so ridiculous but that $5 buys a Starbucks Venti coffee and I earned it. And that's what so sad about OP's story. He already earned these monies. It seems so unfair. It's kind of like--you worked a 40-hour week and got fired at 5pm on Friday; and employer said, oh yeah, we're not paying you for the hours you worked because you did so-and-so and we fired you. Yeah, we can imagine how that would go over.
Yeah, I know, I know--the do's and don'ts of employment law and credit cards terms of service are spelled out, but I just had to use an analogy.
Unfortunatly, to me it's more like you stashed part of your wages in the "Active Employees Only Holiday Savings Plan"! OP was given the points and had the chance to redeem them, the problem was assuming that that would always be the case!
I am sympathetic, I once lost about $2500 in Amex cash back when they closed my card. This was one month rewards from MS, and so was much more my fault that the case of the OP!
@CreditInspired wrote: "It's too bad I couldn't cash out CitiDC (haven't reached $25 redemption yet) and CitiCostco ..."
I have the Citi Costco and generally have liked it. I don't have the DC.
But after joining MyFico and as I have looked over Citi's fine print in their DC and other cards, I have decided they put too many minefields in the way of redeeming points at the value that you expect to get. That applies to pretty much every card I studied so far. Basically, I don't trust them as much as I used to. It's almost like you have to be an attorney and watch every move you make to get the advertised rewards rates you expect to get.
For example, in the past, I have made the mistake of using my cash-back certificate at Costco towards purchases instead of just cashing it. FAIL!!! I just lost the 2% back on whatever the amount was that I purchased since I didn't use my card. (It's the same trick with how you lose 1% when you pay on the DC if you use rewards towards statement balance credit.) Citi has a lot of other caveats in their agreements, such losing all your accrued DC rewards if you have 12 months of inactivity on the card. And many other clauses that they hope people won't take the time to read and notice.
Bank of America used to have a $25 minimum redemption on their Cash Rewards card, but they dropped that. And rewards don't expire as long as the card is in good standing with BoA, Capital One, Discover, Chase, and most reputable card issuers. And for those that have expirations, four or five years is typical, not 12 months.
For anyone looking at any type of rewards card from any issuer, I highly suggest you take the time to make sure you read the fine print yourself (dont' just trust others recommendations), make sure you understand how the programs work, what their limitations are in relationship to other reward card options, and know how to avoid getting burned.