Earning and Using Chase Ultimate Rewards Points

One of the most powerful currencies in the points and miles world is the Ultimate Rewards (“UR”) points issued by Chase. There are many ways to both earn and redeem these points. While there are mainly only two ways to earn these points (spend on Chase cards and signup bonuses), there are many ways to redeem these points. It’s important to know the options you have when redeeming these points and the different avenues you can take to ensure you’re getting the best bang for your buck.

Earning Ultimate rewards points:

Anytime you spend money on your Freedom and Sapphire family of Chase credit cards, you are earning Chase Ultimate Rewards points. Sometime you may be earnings these points and not even know it based on how Chase advertises. The classic offer you may have seen is “earn $100 back when you spend $500 or more on a new Chase Freedom Card.” The thing that might surprise you is that you’re technically not earning $100 in rewards, but rather you’re earning 10,000 UR points. While you CAN redeem these 10,000 points for $100 statement credit, you’ll be doing so at the worst value you could redeem these points for (1 cent per point). What you do next is up to you.

The Freedom, Sapphire, and Ink family of cards that you can currently sign up for are made up of the following:

1. Sapphire Reserve - Earn 3x points on dining and travel. 1x on all other purchases.

2. Sapphire Preferred - Earn 2x points on dining and travel. 1x on all other purchases.

3. Freedom - Earn 1x back on all purchases, and 5x points on quarterly rotating categories (grocery, department store, gas, Paypal, to name a few) up to $1,500 in quarterly spend.

4. Freedom Unlimited (both personal and business versions) - Earning 1.5x back on all purchases. 

5. Ink Preferred (business) - Earn 3x points on the first $150,000 spent in combined purchases on travel, shipping purchases, Internet, cable and phone services, and on advertising purchases made with social media sites and search engines each account anniversary year. Earn 1x back on all other purchases

6. Ink Cash (business) - Earn 5x points on the first $25,000 spent in combined purchases at office supply stores and on internet, cable and phone services each account anniversary year. Earn 2x on the first $25,000 spent in combined purchases at gas stations and restaurants each account anniversary year. Earn 1x on all other purchases.

Using UR points:

There are currently many good uses for the UR points.

1. Use Chase’s Pay Yourself Back option. During the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, Chase realizes many users would not have many good uses for their UR points. As a result Chase introduces the Pay Yourself Back option for users to get increased value out of their UR points. Through September 30, 2020, Chase gave an increased redemption for users to use a statement credit on Grocery spend. For Freedom holders, the user would have an option to erase the grocery spend at one cent per point (aka not great value). Preferred card orders would get back 1.25 cents per point in redemption (not bad) and Reserve holder 1.5 (good). For those sitting on a Reserve card with a solid amount of points, this may be a good option as they are guaranteed 1.5 cents per point redemption. For all others, this is likely a pass.

2. Chase has created their own UR portal in which allows users to use their points for travel at an increased value. Chase has partnered with Expedia to allow you to book through the portal for all travel. The benefit here is that you can book travel that may not be associated with Chase as a portal. While Freedom users only earn the 1 cent per point value, Preferred holders will have points valued at 1.25 cents per point while Reserved holders will have 1.5 cent per point value.

3. Chase has partnered with the following travel partners that will allow users to transfer the UR points to travel partners. While the points transferred can typically increase the value of the points there are some things to keep in mind before transferring:

   1. You must hold and transfer points from a Sapphire or Ink Preferred card in order to transfer points. If you only hold a Freedom or Ink Plus card, you cannot transfer points. However, if you hold both a card that can transfer (Sapphire/Preferred) and a card that cannot transfer (Freedom/Plus) to partners, you can combine your points first into the higher tier card to allow more points to transfer. For instance, I typically transfer all the points I earn on my Freedom card to my Sapphire Reserve to get both increased value for Pay Yourself Back, Chase Portal, and unlock transfer capabilities to partners.

   2. Points transferred to partners CANNOT be transferred back. Repeat, once points are transferred from UR to the partner, they CANNOT be transferred back.

   3. Not all UR transfers to partners are instant. Some can take a few days to show up from your UR account to your partnered transfer account. The risk here is that availability may be available on a hotel or airline when you transfer points but could run out of availability by the time the points transfer. Some partners will hold the space for you while your points are in transfer, but that is on a case by case basis. You’re best off calling the partner prior to transfer before pulling the trigger and transferring the points. 

   4. All Chase transfer partners have a 1:1 transfer ratio, with a 1,000 minimum transfer and a 1 UR point may not result in getting 1 point of the partner currency.

   5. Don’t transfer points unless you have a specific redemption in mind. Transfer partner currency all have different values. While it is true you can transfer your points to partners, the new points currency you may be getting could be worth less. While you can unlock incredible value by transferring points to partners, some program has weak currency that will result in you breaking even or losing value in your points upon transfer. Be sure your redemption is worth the transfer.

Transfer Partners:

A great way to get increased value out of your UR points is to transfer them to one of Chase’s many partners. Chase currently has 10 airline rewards partners and 3 Hotel rewards partners you can transfer your points to:

Airline Transfer Partners Minimun Transfer Transfer Ratio Transfer Time

Southwest Airlines RR 1,000 1:1 Instant

United Airlines MileagePlus 1,000 1:1 Instant

JetBlue 1,000 1:1 Instant

Virgin Atlantic Flying Club 1,000 1:1 Instant

Aer Lingus AerClub 1,000 1:1 Instant

British Airways Executive Club 1,000 1:1 Instant

Iberia Plus 1,000 1:1 Instant

Flying Blue AIR FRANCE KLM 1,000 1:1 1 hour

Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer 1,000 1:1 1-2 days

Emirates Skywards 1,000 1:1 New in 2020

Hotel Transfer Partner Minimum Transfer Transfer Ratio Transfer Time

World of Hyatt 1,000 1:1 Instant

IHG Rewards Club 1,000 1:1 1 day

Marriott Rewards 1,000 1:1 2 days

As you can see from above, there are may ways to both earn, use, and transfer Chase UR points. The key is to determine which methods to earn and use is the best for you. If you have any questions don’t hesitate to reach out to me!