Chase Ultimate Rewards Handbook

 


EARNING CHASE ULTIMATE REWARDS POINTS

You can earn Chase points with any of the following credit cards.


PERSONAL CARDS

No Annual Fee Credit Cards
Freedom Flex
- 5 points on up to $1,500 on combined quarterly bonus categories
- 5 points on travel purchased through Chase
- 3 points on restaurants and drugstores
- 1 point everywhere else
Freedom Unlimited
- 5 points on travel purchased through Chase
- 3 points on restaurants and drugstores
- 1.5 points everywhere else

Annual Fee Credit Cards
Sapphire Preferred ($95/year)
- 5 points on travel purchased through Chase
- 3 points on restaurants, online grocery, and select streaming services
- 2 points on travel
- 1 point everywhere else
Sapphire Reserve ($450/year)
- 10 points on hotels and car rentals purchased through Chase
- 5 points on flights purchased through Chase
- 3 points on restaurants and travel
- 1 point everywhere else


BUSINESS CARDS

No Annual Fee Credit Cards
Ink Business Cash
- 5 points on office supply, internet, cable, and phone combined on the first $25,000 per cardmember year
- 2 points on restaurants and gas stations combined on the first $25,000 per cardmember year
- 1 point everywhere else
Ink Business Unlimited
- 1.5 points everywhere

Annual Fee Credit Cards
Ink Business Preferred ($95/year)
- 3 points on travel, shipping purchases, internet, cable, phone, advertising on social media and search engines combined on the first $150,000 per cardmember year
- 1 point everywhere else


One note about applying for credit cards with Chase is something known as 5/24.  This unpublished rule says that you can not have opened more than 5 new credit cards within the last 24 months.  If you have, Chase will deny your application.  For this reason, if you are new to the game, you should prioritize applying for Chase credit cards before applying for other bank credit cards and keep track of when you open new cards for your own record.


USING YOUR POINTS ON THE CHASE ULTIMATE REWARDS PORTAL

Each point you earn with the No Annual Fee cards can redeemed for 1 cent in cash back or for travel on the Chase Ultimate Rewards portal.

Each point you earn with a Chase Sapphire Preferred or Chase Ink Business Preferred card can be redeemed for 1 cent cash back or 1.25 cents for travel on the Chase Ultimate Rewards travel portal.

Each point you earn with the Chase Sapphire Reserve card can be redeemed for 1 cent cash back or 1.5 cents for travel on the Chase Ultimate Rewards travel portal.


TRANSFERRING POINTS BETWEEN ACCOUNTS

If you have both a no annual fee card and an annual fee card, you can transfer your points from the no annual fee card to the annual fee card to take advantage of the higher redemption value on the Chase Ultimate Rewards travel portal. 

It's also possible to transfer points with one person in your household for personal cards or another owner of the business for business cards.  So, if you only have a no annual fee card and your spouse has an annual fee card, it's possible to transfer points to your spouse, and then use the annual fee account to make a higher value redemption or to transfer points to partners as outlined next.


TRANSFERRING YOUR POINTS TO AIRLINE AND HOTEL PARTNERS

You need to have at least one of the annual fee cards above to be able to transfer your Chase Ultimate Rewards Points to Airline or Hotel partners which can make your points even more valuable.  Throughout the year they usually have bonus offers to redeem for more than the standard rate.  These offers will always vary, so there's no way to know for sure if any particular airline or hotel will have a bonus that year.

These include the following Airlines:
Air Lingus (1:1 per 1,000)
Air Canada (1:1 per 1,000)
Air France KLM (1:1 per 1,000)
British Airways (1:1 per 1,000)
Emirates (1:1 per 1,000)
Iberia (1:1 per 1,000)
JetBlue (1:1 per 1,000)
Singapore Airlines (1:1 per 1,000)
Southwest (1:1 per 1,000)
United Airlines (1:1 per 1,000)
Virgin Atlantic (1:1 per 1,000)

and Hotels:
Hyatt (1:1 per 1,000)
IHG (1:1 per 1,000)
Marriott (1:1 per 1,000)

By transferring to partners it's possible to get even more value from your Chase points than redeeming through the Chase Ultimate Rewards travel portal for a fixed value.  Of course this will depend on which partner you use and the redemption you are looking at.  So, before transferring your points to a partner, it's important to check the value you are getting to make sure it's actually a better value than just booking through the Chase travel portal.


In conclusion, there are valuable awards and benefits that make paying an annual fee worth it.  

The first benefit is the sign-up bonus when you open the card.  These usually range from anywhere between 60,000 to 100,000 points.  Since you can redeem these points through the Chase travel portal for either 1.25 cents or 1.5 cents, that equates to a redemption value between $750 - $1,500 depending on which annual fee card you have and the sign-up bonus you receive.  With the sign-up bonus alone you are already ahead of the cost of the annual fee!  

The second valuable benefit is being able to transfer your points to any of the travel partners that are available.  It's possible to get even better value by redeeming directly through one of the travel partners instead of redeeming through the Chase travel portal.

I believe anyone who takes a closer look at these options will find that they will be able to benefit and travel for less!

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