Chase Ultimate Rewards

Undoubtedly, the Chase Ultimate Rewards program stands as one of the most highly regarded travel rewards programs among points and miles and enthusiasts, and this popularity is well-justified. However, as Canadians, acquiring our initial Chase card will require a significant investment of time and effort. Nonetheless, this endeavor has the potential to pay-off many times over.

Boasting an impressive array of credit cards and valuable transfer partners, Ultimate Rewards offers Canadians an opportunity to access many loyalty programs not available north of the border. 

Once you’ve established a US credit history with your first US-issued American Express card and Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN), you’ll be set to make the jump into the Chase credit card ecosystem. 

Let’s take a look at how to accumulate Ultimate Rewards and explore all the different options we have in maximizing their value.

Understanding Chase’s 5/24 and 2/30 Policies

Before we go any further, it’s critical to be aware of some policies that are in place to limit your ability to be approved for many of Chase’s cards. Although these policies have never been officially published by Chase, they are known in the points and miles community as the “5/24” and “2/30” rules.

5/24 Rule

To qualify for many of Chase’s cards under the 5/24 rule, you must not have opened five or more personal credit cards from any US-based bank within the past 24 months. This means that you must be under 5/24 to be approved. While not every one of Chase’s credit cards is subject to the 5/24 rule, all of the cards that will be discussed in this guide are subject to Chase’s 5/24 rule.

2/30 Rule

Much like the 5/24 rule, Chase enforces a 2/30 policy as well. This implies that you will only be approved for at most two new Chase credit card accounts within a 30-day period.

What Accounts Add to Your 5/24 and 2/30

• Any personal credit cards opened with any bank within the past 24 months, regardless of their current status, including those that have been closed.
• Because authorized user cards are reported on personal credit files in the US, holding any authorized user cards from another individual’s personal credit card opened in the preceding 24 months will count towards your 5/24.
• Certain retailer-specific store cards opened within the past 24 months. Ex. Macy’s credit card.

What Accounts Do Not Add to Your 5/24 and 2/30

• The majority of small business credit cards from most issuers do not count towards your 5/24 status. However, it’s important to remember that Chase business cards are still subject to approval under the 5/24 rule.
• Credit cards that you apply for but are denied do not affect your 5/24 standing. Only credit card applications that are approved will be added to your 5/24 count.

Optimal Strategy to Navigate Chase’s 5/24 Rule

With all of that in mind, here’s some guidance to help with planning out your Chase credit card strategy.

• Put applications for personal Amex cards on hold. Once you’re eligible for Chase cards, consider holding off on opening any additional personal credit cards from other lenders until you’ve acquired the Chase cards you want.
• Apply for Chase Business cards as soon as possible. If your goal is to acquire both personal and business cards from Chase, it’s advisable to transition over to business cards shortly after opening your first personal Chase card. As mentioned earlier, although the 5/24 rule applies to both business and personal Chase cards, obtaining a Chase business card doesn’t contribute to the 5/24 card limit in the same manner. This is because a Chase business card will not report to your credit file like a personal card does.
• Obtain either the Chase Sapphire Preferred or Sapphire Reserve as your first Chase card. To access any of Chase’s transfer partners, you’ll need one of these cards. Further clarification regarding this recommendation will be provided later on in this guide.

Depending on your travel goals, there of course will always be exceptions to these recommendations. If a “too good to pass up” welcome bonus comes around on a card you’re interested in, it’s usually worth burning a 5/24 slot on such offers. Examples of this would be 100,000+ MR on the Amex Gold, 150,000+ MR on the Amex Platinum or a new all-time high welcome bonus on the Amex Bonvoy Brilliant.

Acquiring Chase Ultimate Rewards

Chase issues seven different cards between their personal and business credit card offerings, all of which earn Chase Ultimate Rewards. Whether you’re interested in a personal or business card, one with a $550 annual fee or no annual fee at all, you’ll find a plethora of card options available. On top of this, Chase offers some of the best welcome bonuses in the entire industry, especially on their no-annual fee Ink Business Cards.

Ultimate Rewards or Cash Back?

Somewhat confusingly, Chase markets several of their personal and business cards as cash back cards. You’ll notice this as earning rates and welcome bonuses on these cards are advertised as cash back in dollars rather than points. 

Nonetheless, these cards do indeed earn Ultimate Rewards and Chase has simply set the value of each Ultimate Reward at a baseline of 1 cent per point. Therefore, a welcome bonus of $750 cashback, for example, is equivalent to 75,000 Ultimate Rewards.

In fact, you won’t see any reference to cash back on your Chase Ultimate Rewards dashboard. For example, on the account dashboard for a Chase Ink Cash Card, you’ll just see your points total displayed and you’re free to redeem these points at a value of 1 cent per point.

However, as we’ll discuss later, with the right combination of cards, it’s possible to transfer these points out to Chase’s airline and hotel partners for greatly increased value.

Credit Card Bonuses

The Chase Ultimate Rewards collection consists of five personal credit cards and three business credit cards. Welcome bonuses from these cards will be the primary avenue for accumulating Ultimate Rewards points in large sums. 

This is especially the case with the Chase Ink Business Cash and Chase Ink Business Unlimited cards. These two no-annual fee cards come with welcome bonuses of up to 90,000 Ultimate Rewards. While being approved for your first Chase business credit card will be tricky, such offers on a no-annual fee card are essentially unequaled in the entire credit card industry.

	Credit Card	Welcome Bonus	Net Value
	Chase Ink Business Preferred Credit Card	100,000 Ultimate Rewards	$1,605	Apply
	Chase Sapphire Preferred Card	60,000 Ultimate Rewards	$925	Apply
	Chase Ink Business Premier Credit Card	1,000 cash back	$805	Apply
	Chase Ink Business Cash Credit Card	750 cash back	$750	Apply
	Chase Ink Business Unlimited Credit Card	750 cash back	$750	Apply
	Chase Sapphire Reserve Card	60,000 Ultimate Rewards	$470	Apply
	Chase Freedom Flex Card	200 cash back	$200	Apply
	Chase Freedom Unlimited Card	200 cash back	$200	Apply

Credit Card Spending

Each Chase card has its own unique set of bonus categories, leading to varied earnings. To optimize your accumulation of Ultimate Rewards points, it’s crucial to strategically choose a combination of cards that maximizes rewards for every purchase you make.

One notable aspect of the Ultimate Rewards program is the ability to easily consolidate the points from all your Ultimate Rewards-eligible cards into one pool, thereby enhancing both your earning potential and the choices available for redemption.

We will delve into the subject of redemption possibilities shortly, but it’s important to note that these possibilities differ based on which cards you hold. For instance, holding either the Chase Sapphire cards or the Chase Ink Preferred is a prerequisite to maximizing your redemption options, including the ability to transfer your Chase points to airline and hotel partners.

The following outlines the earning rates on the seven Chase credit cards that accumulate Ultimate Rewards points:

Personal Cards

Chase Sapphire Reserve

• 5X total points on flights when you purchase travel through Chase Ultimate Rewards
• 10X total points on hotels and car rentals when you purchase travel through Chase
• 3X points on dining at restaurants, including eligible delivery services, takeout, and dining out
• 10X total points on Chase Dining purchases with Ultimate Rewards
• 1X on all other purchases

Chase Sapphire Preferred

• 5X total points on travel purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards
• 2X on other travel purchases
• 3X points on dining, including eligible delivery services, takeout, and dining out
• 3X points on online grocery purchases (excluding Target, Walmart, and wholesale clubs)
• 3X points on select streaming services
• 1X on all other purchases

Chase Freedom Flex

• 5X points on rotating quarterly categories like gas stations, grocery stores and select online merchants on up to $1,500 in total combined purchases each quarter
• 5X on travel purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards
• 3X on dining at restaurants, including takeout and eligible delivery services
• 3X on drugstore purchases
• 1X on all other purchases

Chase Freedom Unlimited

• 5X on travel purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards
• 3X on dining at restaurants, including takeout and eligible delivery services
• 3X on drugstore purchases
• 1.5X on all other purchases

Business Cards

Chase Ink Business Preferred

• 3X on the first $150,000 spent in combined purchases on shipping, advertising, travel, internet, cable, and phone
• 1X on all other purchases

Chase Ink Business Cash

• 5X on the first $25,000 spent in combined purchases at office supply stores and on internet, cable, and phone services each account anniversary year
• 2X on the first $25,000 spent in combined purchases at gas stations and restaurants each account anniversary year
• 1X on all other purchases

Chase Ink Business Unlimited

•  Unlimited 1.5X on all purchases

Chase Trifecta: The Benefits of Holding Multiple Cards

If a significant amount of your daily spending will be incurred in US dollars, building yourself a Chase Trifecta as it’s known in the points and miles community, combines the power of three (or more) Chase cards for maximum earning potential.

However, due to a 3% foreign transaction fee on all of Chase’s no-annual fee cards, this type of setup will not be suitable if the majority of your spending will not be in USD.

A typical Chase trifecta that can provide you with optimal return on most of your daily spending might look something like this:

• Chase Sapphire Preferred for its 3X return on dining and 2X on travel
• Chase Freedom Flex for its quarterly rotating bonus categories
• Chase Freedom Unlimited for its 1.5X return on all other purchases

This example is just a single potential card combination; depending on your spending patterns, you can mix-and-match in any of the other Ultimate Reward earning cards. The goal of the Chase trifecta is to cover the majority of your daily expenditures, so adjust it to fit your needs. Just remember you need to hold either of the Sapphire cards or the Ink Preferred to access Chase’s transfer partners.

Using the above cards, you’ll earn multipliers in the following categories, and have the ability to redeem these points for a minimum of 1.25 cents per point in the Chase Travel portal or transfer them to Chase’s loyalty partners.

• 5X on travel purchased through the Chase Travel portal
• 2X on all other travel with the Sapphire Preferred
• 3X on dining with the Sapphire Preferred
• 5X on up to $1,500 in purchases each quarter in rotating categories with the Freedom Flex
• 3X on drugstore purchases with the Freedom Flex or Freedom Unlimited
• 1.5X on all other purchases with the Freedom Unlimited

A weak spot within the Chase portfolio is a dedicated card with a high return on spend in the grocery category. However, there are several cards in Canada that excel in this category to compensate for this.

For a total of just $95 USD in annual fees, this is a relatively low-maintenance setup to maintain a steady flow of Ultimate Rewards once you’ve earned the welcome bonus. 

Chase Offers

While Chase Offers don’t actually allow you to earn any Ultimate Rewards points, we’re all about maximizing every single credit card transaction. One of the many ways we achieve this is by utilizing statement credit offers from card issuers.

If you’re familiar with American Express Offers, the Chase Offers program operates in the exact same manner. Cardholders can add offers in their online profiles linked to their credit cards. These offers are tailored to each specific account and card. To illustrate, the Chase Offers available to one individual will contrast with those available to someone else. Consequently, the specific Chase Offers you might receive will vary.

Along with receiving regular emails notifying you of new or expiring offers on your account, you can find your Chase Offers directly from the homepage of your Chase account.

Chase Offers can range from businesses such as online retailers, travel, streaming, gas stations, services, dining, and more. 

To add a Chase Offer to your card simply select “Add to Card” and you’re all set. Take note of the expiry date and any terms related to each offer. From there, just use your card at the designated merchant and expect to see a statement credit reflected in your account within 7-14 days. Once an offer has been credited to your account, it will show up in the “redeemed” tab of your Chase offers page.

While Chase Offers don’t quite match up to the level of American Express Offers, as they only have the capacity to earn a modest statement credit. You’ll also notice that there aren’t very many merchants that participate compared to American Express; however, it’s still a good idea to regularly review the available offers on all your cards.

Chase Referrals

Referring your friends for a credit card with Chase is both simple and rewarding. Just visit the referral page, choose the card you’d like to recommend, and click the “Copy Link” button to share with your friend. Should your friend’s application for the card be approved, you’ll receive bonus points.

Sharing referrals between friends or a player two is a great way to boost your Ultimate Rewards balances with minimal effort. For referrals to the Sapphire Preferred card, you can earn up to 15,000 bonus points, while referrals to the Sapphire Reserve card can net you up to 10,000 bonus points. Business Cards offer a very enticing 40,000 Ultimate Rewards per referral. 

It’s important to note that the referral program has a yearly limit of five referrals per card, which means you can amass as much as 75,000 Ultimate Rewards points by referring friends to the Sapphire Preferred and a maximum of 200,000 Ultimate Rewards on Chase Ink Business card referrals.

Shop through Chase

The Shop through Chase online shopping portal provides an extra avenue for accumulating points in addition to the points you earn from your regular credit card earning rates. These added Ultimate Rewards come from your online shopping transactions. If you’re not acquainted with how shopping portals work, refer to our comprehensive guide. It will walk you through everything you need to know about earning extra points and miles when making purchases online.

Since Chase Ultimate Rewards is an exclusively US-based program, all of the links will redirect shoppers to the US version of the participating retailer’s website. However, once you’re on the retailer’s website, some will allow you to switch over to the Canadian website and place your order from there. This varies on a case-by-case basis and doesn’t apply to every retailer, so this will require some trial and error. Additionally, you’ll want to read over the terms and conditions of the specific retailer, as some merchants require purchases to be shipped to the US to qualify as an eligible purchase.

To earn Ultimate Rewards from your shopping, you must be logged in and begin your shopping trip through the Shop through Chase portal. Without doing so, you will not receive credit for your purchase.

To earn Ultimate Rewards while making online purchases at a particular retailer, just click on the green “Shop Now” button. This will redirect you to the retailer’s website, where you can proceed to complete your purchase. Do remember that shopping portals utilize cookies to track your purchases. To ensure accurate tracking of your activity, it’s recommended to disable any adblockers or other add-ons that might interfere with this process.

Chase Dining

Chase Dining is a perk and booking portal offered alongside specific Chase cards, including the Chase Sapphire and Chase Freedom cards. It’s worth highlighting that the optimal utilization of Chase Dining is primarily with the Sapphire Reserve card, which will be our main point of focus here.

There are two really interesting aspects about Chase Dining that make it worth knowing about. Firstly, there’s significant earning potential, especially when armed with the appropriate card. Secondly, if you’re into this sort of thing, the access to unique dining experiences not easily found elsewhere adds an extra layer of appeal.

Chase Sapphire Reserve cardholders will earn 10X Ultimate Rewards per dollar spent on all prepaid bookings via the Chase Dining portal. On the other hand, Sapphire Preferred cardholders only earn the normal base rate of 3X on dining.

With Chase dining, you can make dinner reservations at select restaurants, order takeout, delivery or events such as wine tastings or cheese making.

You can access Chase Dining from the sidebar of the Ultimate Rewards homepage.

From the Chase Dining homepage enter the type of service you’re looking for along with your location and date. The search results will show all the participating restaurants and events in your area.

Suppose you’re interested in the idea of an immersive 5-course dining experience, in which each table comes to life with an animated culinary journey.

Once you’ve made your decision, just click on the event, and you’ll be taken to the event page, where you’ll find all the necessary information for making a reservation.

You’ll also see the option to pay for Chase Dining with Ultimate Rewards at a rate of 1 cent per point. While this isn’t the worst possible use for your points, you’ll be leaving significant value on the table when doing so. 

Finally, remember to pay for your booking in advance. As mentioned earlier, to receive 10X Ultimate Rewards on Chase Dining with your Sapphire Reserve, you must prepay for the entire event via the Chase Dining portal.

Redeeming Chase Ultimate Rewards

For optimal utilization of your Ultimate Rewards points, we suggest focusing exclusively on using them for transfers to Chase’s airline and hotel loyalty partners. Opting to redeem your Ultimate Rewards points for alternatives such as statement credits, merchandise or gift cards will result in notably diminished value by comparison.

Combining Chase Ultimate Rewards Points

As mentioned earlier, many of Chase’s Freedom and Ink Business cards are marketed as cash back credit cards even though they actually earn Ultimate Rewards points. However, the points earned on these cards cannot be transferred out to any of Chase’s airline or hotel partners. Therefore, they can only be redeemed at a rate of 1 cent per point in the form of statement credits, travel purchases, merchandise, gift cards, etc.

Only the following three cards can transfer Ultimate Rewards points to Chase’s transfer partners:

• Chase Sapphire Reserve
• Chase Sapphire Preferred
• Chase Ink Business Preferred

So, what we need to do is combine the Ultimate Rewards points we’ve accumulated through Chase’s “cash back” cards to one of the aforementioned cards and you’ll unlock the option to transfer your points to an airline or hotel partner.

Combining your Ultimate Rewards points can be done on your Chase account page. Transfers between cards are simple and instant.

From the dropdown menu at the top of your Ultimate Rewards homepage select “Combine Points”

The following screen will display all of your current Ultimate Rewards credit cards and their respective balances. Just select the card containing the points you wish to transfer, followed by the card to which you intend to transfer the points to.

In this example, we’ll move 273 points from a Chase Freedom Flex to a Chase Sapphire Preferred. Instantly granting access to transfer an additional 273 points to Chase’s airline and hotel partners.

The following page will ask how many points you wish to transfer. Select “Review” once you’ve entered your desired amount.

Then one final page will ask if you’re certain you want to initiate the transfer. If you’re satisfied with everything, click “Submit” and your points will be moved instantly.

The final page will confirm that your transfer has been processed successfully and show the new points balances for your cards.

It’s possible to transfer your points between Ultimate Rewards accounts as many times and as often as you like. However, this is not the case when transferring points to an airline or hotel partner. Transferring points to any of Chase’s loyalty program partners is final and irreversible.

Transfer to Travel Partners

Transferring your Chase Ultimate Rewards points to another loyalty program and using them to book hotels and flights is without question the best way to maximize their value. You can see the current transfer ratios, including any bonus promotions, by viewing our Miles & Points Transfer Partner Tool.

Ultimate Rewards transfers at a rate of 1:1 to the following airline and hotel loyalty programs:

For most users, World of Hyatt will be the most sought-after transfer partner for Ultimate Rewards redemptions, with Chase being the only way for Canadians to accumulate a meaningful amount of World of Hyatt points.

That’s not to imply that certain airline partners would be a less favorable option for utilizing your points. Emirates Skywards and Singapore KrisFlyer are the best programs to book First Class flights with their respective airlines. Moreover, Air France/KLM FlyingBlue and Virgin Atlantic Flying Club are excellent options for accessing SkyTeam award flights.

While Air Canada Aeroplan continues to enjoy widespread popularity among Canadians, we recommend utilizing your Ultimate Rewards with loyalty programs not readily available within Canada. Despite Aeroplan being considered one of the best frequent flyer programs in the world due to their extensive list of partner airlines, Aeroplan points can be earned with relative ease through the various Canadian issuers. Therefore, exploring some of the other more difficult to attain loyalty program options might be more advantageous.

What makes World of Hyatt such a desirable transfer partner, especially for Canadians, is two-fold. First, World of Hyatt is one of the last major hotel loyalty programs that still publishes a standard award chart, which usually results in excellent value for your Ultimate Rewards when making a redemption. Second, is to even further diversify yourself against solely relying on Marriott Bonvoy for your hotel stays. With their inconsistent elite benefits and dynamic pricing, it’s become much more difficult to extract solid value from Marriott redemptions nowadays.

World of Hyatt redemptions really shine in very expensive cities at some of their top properties. Take for example Park Hyatt Vienna, which averages €630 ($960 CAD) per night.

As a World of Hyatt Category 7 you could instead redeem 30,000 World of Hyatt points for a free night, which results in a very satisfying 3.2 cents per point (CAD).

If you’re concerned about not having status with World of Hyatt and missing out on some perks, consider booking a stay at one of their Small Luxury Hotels of the World properties. World of Hyatt members are entitled to benefits such as free breakfast, room upgrades, and early check-in/late check-out, regardless of your status.

How to Transfer to Travel Partners

To start the process of transferring your Ultimate Rewards points to a travel partner, go to the Ultimate Rewards homepage on your account. Once there, click on “Transfer to Travel Partners” from the dropdown menu at the top of the page.

After that, you’ll see a list of all the possible transfer partners you can transfer your points to. Select the program you wish to transfer your points to and click on “Transfer Points”.

The following page will confirm the loyalty program details such as your name and membership number. If you’re transferring Ultimate Rewards to a program for the first time, you’ll be asked to provide your loyalty number associated with that program.

You will proceed to the next page where you can input the number of points you intend to transfer. Points must be transferred in increments of 1,000.

The final page will be a summary for you to review before you submit your request to transfer. If you’re happy with all the details hit “Submit”. Do remember that all transfers to a partner airline or hotel program are final.

Chase Ultimate Rewards Travel

Through the Chase Ultimate Rewards travel portal, you have the ability to book flights, hotels, rental cars, cruises, and other travel-related services. Depending on the Ultimate Rewards-eligible cards you currently hold will determine the value you’ll receive from your points when booking through the Chase Travel portal.

Credit Card	Value Through Chase Travel Portal
Chase Freedom Unlimited Chase Freedom Flex Chase Ink Business Unlimited Chase Ink Business Cash	1 cent per point
Chase Sapphire Preferred Chase Ink Business Preferred	1.25 cents per point
Chase Sapphire Reserve	1.5 cents per point

The Chase Travel portal is accessible from the dropdown menu at the top of the Ultimate Rewards homepage.

The Chase Travel portal looks just like any other online travel booking website, from here, you can book flights, car rentals, and more. Also, your current balance of Ultimate Rewards and their value is displayed. In the example below 39,908 Ultimate Rewards are worth $498.85 thanks to the Sapphire Preferred, which values each Ultimate Rewards point at 1.25 cents.

Search results will quote the cost in both cash and points.  

Once you’ve added your travel booking to your cart and proceeded to the checkout page, you’ll have the option of either paying with cash or points. Furthermore, if you don’t have enough points to pay for the entire booking – or only want to partially pay with points – you can allocate fewer points towards your booking and pay for the remaining balance with your credit card.

After you’ve settled on your payment method proceed through the subsequent pages to enter your traveler information and other relevant details to finalize your booking. Do keep in mind that several of the Ultimate Rewards earning cards earn 5X on travel booked through the Chase Travel portal.

Chase Pay Yourself Back

The Pay Yourself Back feature is available for numerous Chase cards, enabling cardholders to utilize points at a redemption value comparable to that of travel bookings. While this might not yield the highest potential value for your Ultimate Rewards points, it could be an ideal option for people looking for a very straightforward return on spend.

In its simplest form, Chase Pay Yourself Back is essentially a statement credit for certain charges. However, redemptions are quite limited, as only specific charges are eligible for Pay Yourself Back. However, it is possible to attain a slightly higher valuation on your points compared to a straight cash back.

Redemption rates vary from 1 cent per point to 1.5 cents per point, depending on the eligible categories available on the card. 

Looking at a couple of charges on a Chase Sapphire Preferred, we can see that gas stations, grocery stores, and select charities are eligible categories for Pay Yourself Back. Gas stations and groceries redeem at a rate of 1 cent per point, while charities redeem at 1.25 cents per point. 

Requesting a credit through Chase’s Pay Yourself Back program is quite simple. From the Pay Yourself Back page you will find a list of qualifying transactions that allow you to offset those charges with points. Only purchases within the past 90 days are eligible for Pay Yourself Back.

If you have enough points, you have the option to deduct the entire purchase cost or opt for a partial amount to be redeemed. Once you’ve made your choice, the total amount of statement credit and points redeemed will be summarized at the bottom of the page. The statement credit will appear on your account within three business days.

The appeal of Chase Pay Yourself Back is quite limited due to only a select few categories being eligible for the program. However, Chase does offer another way to redeem your points for cash back or a statement credit, which isn’t restricted to eligible spending categories. 

Chase Cash Back

Chase Cash Back is an additional way to redeem your Ultimate Rewards at a rate of 1 cent per point. This time, without any limits on the eligible spending categories.

From the dropdown menu select “Cash Back”

From this page, you have two options for requesting cash back. You can redeem your Ultimate Rewards for a statement credit at a value of 1 cent per point. Or, you can request to have a deposit sent to your US-based checking account, also at a rate of 1 cent per point.

Although neither of the cash back options are a redemption we’d recommend, it is the most straightforward method to use if you’re just looking to cash out your points balance.

Chase Experiences

Chase Experiences provide exclusive perks to individuals holding Chase cards, encompassing an array of activities including sports events, concerts, fine dining, and more. 

The types of Chase Experiences you will have access to will vary and are dependent on which cards you hold. For example, an individual holding a Sapphire Reserve will receive access to additional events over another individual that only holds a lower tier Sapphire Preferred or Freedom Card.

Examples of past Chase Experiences are: movie and music festivals with access to Sapphire cardholder-only VIP lounges, VIP US Open tickets, VIP PGA Championship tickets or a chance to walk the red carpet at the Emmys and attend the afterparty.

You can pay for Chase Experiences with either cash or points. Redemption values are fixed at a rate of 1 cent per point. 

Pay with Points and Gift Cards

All the options we’ll cover in this section are the weakest value you’ll receive for your Ultimate Rewards, and should never be considered under any circumstance. Redemption values here range from 0.8 cents per point up to 1 cent per point. 

You can use your Ultimate Rewards when shopping at certain retailers and paying for merchandise with PayPal. Amazon and PayPal only offer a redemption value of 0.8 cents per point when using points to pay for your purchase.

If you did want to redeem points on a purchase from Amazon for example, you’d be much better off paying with your credit card to earn additional points on the purchase, and then just offsetting the purchase with a statement credit.

The same goes for Apple merchandise, which has their own built-in web store directly on the Ultimate Rewards website, it just makes more sense to use your credit card to complete the purchase and boost your points balance to help redeem for the cost of the item as a statement credit. Additionally, many of Chase’s credit cards come with the benefit purchase protection, which will protect your newly purchased item from damage or theft. Redeeming points on an item from Apple or Amazon does not come with these protections.

Last and most definitely least, we have gift cards as a redemption option for your Ultimate Rewards. Gift Card prices are set at a rate of 1 cent per point; however, Chase will often put gift cards from certain retailers “on sale” for a 10% discount off the purchase price. This translates into a $10 gift card for 900 Ultimate Rewards. 

As mentioned already the redemption options in this section should be avoided at all costs. Stick to transferring your points to Chase’s airline and hotel partners if you’re comfortable using other loyalty programs or use the Chase travel portal if you prefer a simpler approach. 

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