Your Ultimate Guide to Chase Ultimate Rewards®

Chase Ultimate Rewards® is one of the best credit card rewards programs out there.

It has flexible redemption options and multiple hotel and airline travel partners. Your reward points can get you nearly-free airline tickets, hotel stays, and even theme park tickets!

Chase offers multiple credit cards that let you earn Ultimate Rewards® points, but if you’re new to it all, it can seem overwhelming. Here’s how to earn, use, and maximize your Ultimate Rewards® points.

How Chase Ultimate Rewards® Work

To earn Chase Ultimate Rewards®, you need to have a Chase credit card. Points can be used for a variety of purposes, including:

• Travel rewards
• Cashback
• Gift cards
• Apple products
• Experiences
• And more

As you make purchases on your Chase credit card, points are added to your rewards balance. Points will accrue at different rates depending on the card you're using and the spending category. 

Your points can be accessed directly through your Chase account online or through the Chase mobile app.

You can redeem your points through the Chase Ultimate Rewards® portal or Chase Travel℠.

How To Earn Chase Ultimate Rewards®

You can earn Chase Ultimate Rewards® points by using one of several Chase credit cards, including:

• Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
• Chase Sapphire Reserve®
• Chase Freedom Unlimited®
• Chase Freedom Flex®
• Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card
• Sapphire Reserve for Business℠

These cards earn points for every purchase and some offer category bonuses that earn you additional points on specific purchases.

The best way to earn a lot of points quickly is to make sure you qualify for the welcome offer when you first sign up.

Other ways to earn include targeted bonuses (extra points for specific merchant spending) and points for referring others for a Chase card.

How To Use Chase Ultimate Rewards®

Chase offers one of the most flexible rewards programs, with many ways to use your points. 

Cash options

• Cashback: You can redeem your Chase points for cashback, with points worth one cent each. Simply choose the amount you want to redeem and receive a statement credit for that amount on your credit card. 
• Pay yourself back: You can get one cent per point by paying yourself back for purchases. Choose from a list of recent purchases and credit your account for that amount using points.
• Pay with points at checkout: Some online retailers (such as Amazon) allow you to use Chase Ultimate Rewards® points when checking out. This redemption option only offers about 0.8 cents per point, the worst value redemption Chase offers.
• Apple products: You can purchase Apple products directly using Chase Ultimate Rewards®, at a value of one cent per point.

Gift cards

You can redeem Chase Ultimate Rewards® to purchase gift cards at one cent per point. 

Chase also runs promotions that offer “discounted” gift cards, meaning you can get up to 1.25 cents per point (or more) on specific gift cards.

Chase Travel℠

You can book flights, hotels, rental cars, and other travel experiences through Chase Travel℠ with your points.

The value of your points when booking through Chase Travel℠ varies, depending on which credit card you use.

For example, the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card has a value of up to 1.5x on hotels and flights with select airlines and up to 1.75x on premium cabin tickets on select airlines when booking through Chase Travel℠.

But the more premium Chase Sapphire Reserve® and Sapphire Reserve for Business℠ both allow you to redeem your rewards at up to 2x value on rotating offers through Chase Travel℠.

For all other Chase Travel℠ bookings, points are worth $0.01.

Transfer partners

Perhaps the best value from Chase Ultimate Rewards® comes from their transfer partners.

Chase partners with 14 different airline and hotel brands, allowing you to transfer points directly to their loyalty programs.

Here are the airline and hotel partners currently available:

• Aer Lingus
• Air Canada
• Air France KLM
• British Airways
• Emirates
• Hyatt
• Iberia
• IHG Hotels & Resorts
• JetBlue
• Marriott Bonvoy
• Singapore Airlines
• Southwest Airlines
• United Airlines
• Virgin Atlantic

Some of the best redemptions are Southwest Airlines and Hyatt hotels. Depending on your booking, you can earn two or three cents per point, sometimes more. And for international travel, Air France offers great business-class transatlantic flights.

While most programs offer a 1:1 transfer ratio, Chase occasionally offers transfer bonuses, letting you get 25% to 30% more value from your Chase points transfer.

Family points pooling

Chase is one of the few points programs that lets you pool your points together with other members of your household.

There are strict terms for point pooling, though. If it's suspected you've falsely transferred points to another account outside your household, Chase might ban you from its program, revoke all of your points, and cancel your Chase credit cards. 

So make sure you only transfer points to another account that shares your home address.

How Much Are Chase Ultimate Rewards® Points Worth?

Ultimate Rewards® points vary in value, depending on how you choose to redeem them. 

On the low end, you can get 0.8 cents per point when redeemed at checkout through Amazon or PayPal. On the high end, you can get up to three cents per point (or more) when transferring to travel partners. 

Here's a quick breakdown:

• Checkout with Chase: 0.8 cents per point
• Cashback: 1 cent per point
• Gift cards: 1 to 1.25 cents per point
• Chase Travel℠: 1 to 2 cents per point (depending on credit card)
• Chase transfer partners: 1 to 4 cents per point (depending on redemption)

Here’s a quick look at how Chase compares with its chief competitors:

	Number of Transfer Partners	Travel Portal Redemption Value	Statement Credit Value
Chase Ultimate Rewards®	14	$0.01 to $0.02 per point	$0.01 per point
American Express Membership Rewards®	21	$0.007 to $0.01 per point	$0.006 per point
Capital One miles	15+	$0.01 per mile	$0.005 per mile
Wells Fargo Rewards	7	$0.01 per point	$0.01 per point
Citi ThankYou® Rewards	19	$0.01 per point	$0.01 per point

FAQs

TL;DR: Chase Ultimate Rewards®

If you have a Chase credit card, odds are you can tap into Chase Ultimate Rewards®. These are points that you earn from spending on the card, and you can redeem them for cashback, gift cards, travel, and more.

Just remember that it’s important to pay off your credit card in full every month, so you’re not paying interest to earn those rewards.

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Disclosure: Opinions expressed here are the author's alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, hotel, airline, or other entity. This content has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of the entities included within the post.