Chase has just announced they will let cardholders redeem Ultimate Rewards to cancel charges in certain spending categories. Until September 30th, you can use the Pay Yourself BackSM tool to choose an eligible purchase you made in the past 90 days, apply points for all or part of the purchase, and you’ll get a statement credit.
The spending categories eligible are:
- Grocery stores
- Dining (including restaurants, takeout, and eligible delivery services),
- Home improvement stores such as Home Depot and Lowes
The redemption value is the same as you were getting if booking travel through the Chase Ultimate Rewards portal.
- 1.5 cents per point for Sapphire Reserve cardholders
- 1.25 cents per point for Sapphire Preferred cardholders
If you have one of the two cards mentioned above, you can maximize the value of your Ultimate Rewards earned with all of your cards including the Freedom, Freedom Unlimited, Ink Preferred, Ink Unlimited and Ink Cash. These cards earn anywhere from 1.5 Ultimate Rewards points per dollar for all purchases to 5x Ultimate Rewards for specific categories. Earning 5 points per dollar and then redeeming points for 1.5 cents each provides up to a 7.5% return on some of your expenses if you have the right combo of cards. Not bad.
Here’s a step by step walkthrough on how to transfer points from an Ultimate Rewards earning card to either the Sapphire Preferred or Reserve when using a computer. I’m sure there’s a way to do it on the app but it might be easier on a mobile browser.
How To Transfer Points Between Chase Accounts
Log into the account where your points are the least valuable. That would be one of the no-annual-fee Chase cards.
When you have your account up, click on the link where it says “See Balance.”
You will be shown your current balance for that card. Click on “Redeem.” This will take you to the Ultimate Rewards page.
On the banner on top of the page, click on the arrow at the end of the Earn/Use box. The account balance for the account you’re logged into will be listed here.
Now you can see the “Combine Points” button in the second row.
This will bring up the transfer screen. You’ll need information from the credit card you want to transfer points TO when you get to this next part.
The card account you are logged into will be on the left. There should not be a card on the right unless you’ve done this before. The website will prompt you for the account number and the last name on the account you want to move your points into. Enter that and then click “continue.”
On the next screen, you’ll be asked how many points you want to move. If you’re doing this for the reasons listed above, you should move all the points from the no-annual-fee card. Just leave the “All my points” box checked.
The last step is the confirmation page. There’s a warning about the transfer being final and not reversible. Click on the “Confirm & Submit” button and you’re done.
The points should transfer between accounts immediately. If you log into the account you transferred points TO, the new balance should reflect the increase from the transfer. There’s one thing I need to stress if you are going to do this.
DO NOT CLOSE THE ACCOUNT YOU TRANSFERRED THE POINTS INTO!!!
Transferable points only stay active if you keep the account open. If you’re planning on closing the Chase “premium” card with the annual fee, don’t transfer points to it. When you close an account, any Ultimate Rewards points you have in the account are gone. There are things you can do to keep your points, but that’s for another article.
Final Thoughts
Is cashing out your Ultimate Rewards to pay for your dining, grocery shopping or home improvement expenses a good idea? That depends on how many points you have and if you have an upcoming need for them. This could also be a great option if you’re currently in a cash-poor but points rich situation.
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This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary
2 comments
I’ve seen all these links here about cancelling your grocery charges using Chase Saphhire Reserve Ultimate Rewards. However, when I go to my account (both Chase and Ultimate Rewards) I don’t see any links that allow me to cancel the charges using my rewards. Could you give a step-by-step guide on where to go to apply rewards to cancel the charges?
I found an article where Chase says the Pay Yourself Back tool will be going live on May 31. I’ll see how it works then and hopefully write about it.