How to turn chase points into cash?

For avid Chase credit card users, the measure of success is found in redemption. And while Chase does offer numerous ways for rewards members to redeem their points, is redeeming chase credit card points for cash worth it? Or, as is the case with so many other credit card rewards programs, should cardholders consider other redemption avenues if they want to maximize the value of their points.

If you’re considering redeeming your Ultimate Rewards for cash back, you may want to think again. When converted to cash, points maintain a value of 1 cent per point. That means 1,000 points converts to just $10, and though that’s more attractive than some other major credit cards (some of which offer a .5 cent per point redemption rate), it remains one of the least lucrative ways to use your points.

Ultimate Rewards points can also be redeemed for gift cards, and Chase currently partners with a variety of retailers. Unfortunately, if you weren’t enticed by the cash redemption rate, then gift cards are likely to leave you equally disappointed.

Most gift cards offer the same rate; however, cardholders will occasionally have the opportunity to take advantage of gift card deals, which can sweeten the reward ever so slightly. Apple gift cards, for example, were available at a discount, with a $10 gift card only requiring 900 points (.011 cent per dollar).

Rewards members have yet another option to redeem their points as Chase’s partnership with Amazon extends beyond gift card opportunities. Those who have an Amazon account (or an Amazon credit card through Chase) can also use their points to do some online shopping by linking their Chase card with their Amazon account.

Is it the best way to use points? Not necessarily, as point values are similar to those associated with cash back and gift card redemptions – less than 1 cent per point. Additionally, though thousands of items qualify for this redemption option, the final call is made by Amazon, meaning not all products are eligible.

Though travel booked through the Chase site might be a great option for specific cardholders, those with premier cards, like the Chase Sapphire Preferred and Ink Plus cards, might find the best way to get the most value out of their points is to transfer them to one of Chase’s 13 travel partners. Ultimate Rewards points transfer to partner airlines and hotel groups at a 1:1 ratio, which typically means a much stronger conversion when compared to any other redemption offer.

However, keep in mind that this option is limited to those with a premier Chase card. If you find yourself in this position, then you may want to consider asking for an upgrade and transferring your Freedom points to the premium card.

If you're looking to cash out your points, check into Chase's Pay Yourself Back® program. The conversion rate varies based on the card. If you redeem for cash back, you can use the money to travel, shop, dine out or give it to charity.

There are a few facts of life — never wake a sleeping baby, always say yes to homemade cake and you can never, ever have too many Chase Ultimate Rewards points.

This transferable points currency gives you access to some of the best hotel and airline transfer partners in the business, as well as the easy-to-use Chase Travel portal that allows you to cover a wide variety of different costs for your trip, including car rentals, hotels, flights, tours and activities, as well as some everyday expenses.

Despite increasing competition from American Express Membership Rewards, Citi ThankYou points and Capital One miles, Chase Ultimate Rewards maintains its place as one of the most valuable points currencies on the planet. Plus, thanks to the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card’s current welcome bonus of 60,000 points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first three months from account opening.

If you’re ready to get serious about traveling more for less, here’s everything you need to know about Chase transfer partners and the best ways to redeem your Chase Ultimate Rewards points.

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TPG values Ultimate Rewards points at 2 cents each, which is what you should aim for when redeeming them. The actual value you get from these points depends on how you redeem them.

If you redeem your points for cash back or statement credits, each point is typically worth 1 cent. However, if you use your points to book travel through the Chase Ultimate Rewards portal or transfer them to a travel partner, you can often get a higher value per point.

You can use your Chase points for virtually any kind of travel booking: Flights, hotels, cruises, tours and rental cars. If you have a Chase Sapphire Preferred, your points are worth 1.25 cents each, while Chase Sapphire Reserve cardholders get a higher valuation of 1.5 cents per point. This is an excellent redemption option for folks who don't want to deal with complicated award program rules. It's straightforward and convenient.

If you want to truly maximize your Ultimate Rewards points, the best option is often to transfer them to one of 14 airline or hotel partners. From there, you can use them for premium travel bookings like first-class flights and luxury hotels. It's a good idea to compare your options to determine the best value for your points.

Here are some of the best ways to redeem Ultimate Rewards points for maximum value:

Knowing how to make the best points redemption at the best time is easy with the free TPG App! Download it for free today.

When it comes to redeeming Ultimate Rewards points, you have three basic options: Cash back, Ultimate Rewards travel portal bookings and transfers to travel partners. The "best" option comes down to your travel needs. Points are here to save you money and you should use them when it suits you. That being said, you should aim for the highest value whenever possible. Here's a look at all of your options:

Transferring Ultimate Rewards to travel partners is, in our opinion, the best way to redeem your hard-earned points. Using Chase transfer partners is certainly your best shot at getting maximum value. You can transfer Ultimate Rewards points to 11 airline programs:

Chase also partners with three hotel programs:

All transfer ratios are 1:1 (though there are occasional transfer bonuses), and you must transfer points in 1,000-point increments.

If you want to learn some tips about redeeming points for the most value possible, you can check out our guide on Chase Ultimate Rewards sweet spots. We’ll break down some of these options below.

Related: Get more from your points with these 6 transfer bonuses

You can book travel through the Chase Travel Portal and redeem points for your plane tickets, hotel stays, rental cars or experiences at a fixed cash value per point.

As a holder of the Chase Sapphire Preferred or Chase Ink Business Preferred Credit Card, each point is worth 1.25 cents. If you have the Chase Sapphire Reserve, your points are worth 1.5 cents each toward travel redemptions in the portal. If you have a Chase Freedom Flex, Ink Business Unlimited Credit Card, Ink Business Cash Credit Card or Chase Freedom Unlimited, all points are worth one cent each.

To give you an example of how this works with an actual travel booking, here's a one-night stay at The Ramsey Hotel in Pigeon Forge, TN. The paid rate comes to $269 with taxes and fees. Those with a Freedom Flex, Freedom Unlimited, Ink Business Unlimited or Ink Business Cash card would need 26,900 points for this booking. Sapphire Preferred cardholders would need 21,520 points while Sapphire Reserve cardholders would redeem just 17,915 points.

If you have multiple cards that earn Ultimate Rewards points, you can combine your points into the account that gets the highest value for Ultimate Rewards bookings. For example, all of your points earned with the Chase Freedom Flex can be moved to your Sapphire Reserve account, thus increasing their value from 1 to 1.5 cents apiece.

It’s probably worth getting into the habit of combining your points every month or so, just in case Chase decides to change this policy in the future. This is especially important given that Chase has already made it more challenging to combine points with a household member.

If you can find inexpensive airfare in the Ultimate Rewards travel portal, it can make sense to use your points for these flights to save cash. In the eyes of the airline, tickets booked this way are essentially the same as a paid fare. This means you’ll earn elite and redeemable miles. Be careful to avoid basic economy tickets, unless you are okay with the restrictions they entail.

In the below case, spending 2,973 Ultimate Rewards points from a Sapphire Reserve account (1.5 cents each) to fly from Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) to Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport (FLL) isn’t too shabby.

CHASE.COM

You might also consider the travel portal option if you only have a handful of Ultimate Rewards points left, since Chase lets you redeem points to cover even just a portion of the trip cost. You then pay the remaining balance with cash.

Finally, this is a decent option for car rentals, non-chain lodging or when cash rates make spending points through transfer partners a bad value. The hotel options presented are quite varied, though be aware that if you book a hotel that participates in a major loyalty program through Chase Travel, you likely won't earn hotel points, nor will you be able to take advantage of any elite perks.

Theoretically, you can redeem points for a statement credit bank deposit at a flat rate of 1 cent each.

However, with Chase Pay Yourself Back, you can redeem points for cash back at a rate of 1.25-1.5 cents each, depending on the card you have. This redemption rate is valid on statement credits toward rotating purchase categories, such as dining.

You can also redeem points for gift cards at a rate of 1 cent per point. But you can do better with the program’s transfer partners and Chase travel portal bookings, assuming you like to travel. However, we know that needs can change, so these non-travel redemptions remain fall-back options when needed.

We’ve mentioned that transferring your Chase points to a travel partner is often your best bet if you want to get the most value out of your points, but now we’re going to show you why that’s true in many situations.

Here are some of the best ways to redeem Ultimate Rewards with airline and hotel transfer partners:

United doesn’t publish award charts anymore, which can be good or bad news, depending on your situation. Thankfully, awards on partners still follow unpublished award charts with set redemption levels, and United does not pass along fuel surcharges.

You can book domestic one-way United awards starting at 5,000 miles each way, business-class awards to Europe start at 60,000 – 70,000 miles each way and award flights to Australia and New Zealand in business class for 80,000 – 90,000 miles each way.

If you are booking a trip that transits different regions (like North America to Europe), you can also build in a free flight segment (known as the Excursionist Perk). In a sample booking, we found a round-trip economy itinerary from Newark (EWR) to London (LHR) at 60,000 miles plus taxes.

Adding in a flight from London to Brussels and spending another week in Belgium costs the same number of miles (with fewer taxes) thanks to the Excursionist Perk.

Flexibility, the number of partners United has and the ease of redeeming MileagePlus miles makes United MileagePlus a popular choice among savvy Chase cardholders.

Related: How to get maximum value from the United MileagePlus program

TPG values Southwest Rapid Rewards points at 1.5 cents each, which is less than the 2 cents per-point value of Ultimate Rewards. So transferring to Southwest isn’t a great way to use your Chase Ultimate Rewards points. You can use your Chase points to book a “paid” Southwest flight by calling Chase Travel and booking over the phone, as the flights are not listed on the Chase Travel site.

However, there are a couple of scenarios where transferring points to a friendly carrier with no change or baggage fees makes sense. First, for inexpensive fares of $100 or less, Rapid Reward points can be worth as much as 1.7 cents per point, which beats the value you get when booking through the portal. Second, if you have a Southwest Airlines Companion Pass and are really getting two flights for the price of one award, then your points become worth as much as 3.4 cents per point for inexpensive fares.

Remember too that Southwest flights booked with Rapid Rewards points include free changes and cancellations, which gives you a ton of flexibility if the award rate drops after booking.

Related: Booking Southwest flights with Chase points

Singapore Airlines has a few things going for it as a potential airline transfer destination for your Ultimate Rewards. First, Singapore is one of the best airlines in the sky, with tremendous service and luxurious onboard products and experiences. And the carrier’s own premium-class products are typically only available through the KrisFlyer program, not with its Star Alliance partners.

Second, there is fantastic value in Singapore’s KrisFlyer program, with reasonable award charts, low fuel surcharges, routing rules that allow stopovers and the ability to combine multiple partners in one award.

Finally, the online award booking tool is intuitive and easy to use — though be aware that transfers typically are not instantaneous.

Here are some of our favorite KrisFlyer redemptions when using Chase Ultimate Rewards.

93,500 miles Sydney to Singapore one-way in the A380 First Suites

Saver Suites Class awards between Syndey and Singapore used to cost just 85,000 miles each way. That cost has since increased to 93,500 miles. Saver availability is hard to come by, but if you really want to try this coveted product, you can book an Advantage award for 155,000 miles each way.

107,000 miles Los Angeles to Singapore one-way in business for 17 hours on the A350

Pre-devaluation, a Saver award between Los Angeles and Singapore priced out at just 95,000 miles each way. The award has since increased to 107,000 miles but can be worth it for a whopping 17-hour flight.

Spain’s national carrier remains a mystery to many Chase cardholders, despite the significant value Iberia Plus can offer U.S.-based flyers. The carrier offers cheap economy and transatlantic flights on its own metal and routinely has promotions, making Iberia Plus practically irresistible for a quick hop across the Atlantic.

Without promos, transatlantic business class is priced based on a distanced-based award formula. One-way flights from Miami to Madrid on off-peak dates start at just 21,250 Avios in economy and 42,500 Avios in business class, for instance. There can be less than $100 in surcharges, depending on the class of service you book:

Prices get even more attractive, however, for shorter routes (based on distance in miles). For example, off-peak flights from Boston to Madrid require only 17,000 Avios in economy and 34,000 Avios in business each way:

There are multiple ways to use Virgin Atlantic’s loyalty program to unlock value. Thanks to its own distance-based formula, you can redeem miles to fly Delta domestic itineraries here in the U.S. starting at 7,500 miles per segment, potentially saving you thousands of miles compared to what Delta is asking for the same flight (though it’s worth noting that these rewards aren’t as valuable as they used to be).

Delta One flights to Europe (excluding the U.K.) are a flat 50,000 miles for nonstop itineraries — though availability tends to be very scant. Instead, consider booking Air France flights in business class. On off-peak dates, flights from the U.S. to most of Europe are just 48,500 points.

Related: How to save thousands of miles on Delta One awards to Europe

Other partners, like ANA, have award charts so attractive they almost seem like a mistake. You can use 145,000 Flying Club miles to fly ANA first class round-trip from the West Coast to Japan and 170,000 miles round-trip from the central and eastern U.S. to Japan. Here is Flying Club’s award chart for ANA-operated flights:

Related: Partner award flights on ANA just got even better: One-way redemptions now possible

Virgin Atlantic also offers attractive fares on flights between the U.S. and UK, though taxes on the return flight are quite high. A one-way economy class flight from the East Coast is just 10,000 miles.

Overall, Flying Club presents a lot of different options to yield significant value from your Ultimate Rewards — even after the Delta devaluation from 2021.

If you need a short-haul, nonstop flight on a Oneworld partner, British Airways Avios can reward you with tremendous savings. Short-haul flights outside of North America that are less than 650 miles in length will cost you only 4,500 Avios. This is great for exploring Europe on partner Iberia, for instance.

In North America, short-haul flights start at 9,000 Avios for American Airlines-operated itineraries and can give you significant mileage savings over booking the same flight through American AAdvantage. Atlanta to Dallas costs only 9,000 Avios on a day when American may charge between 12,500 and 20,000 miles in its new dynamic pricing model.

BA also lowered the cost of Qatar Airways awards when the Doha-based carrier adopted Avios as its own loyalty currency last year, giving yet another great option for transferring your Chase points for a valuable award ticket.

That said, there are itineraries you don’t want to book with Avios, like long-haul British Airways flights or partner-operated flights that incur significant fuel surcharges. Stick to short hops on partner airlines or fifth-freedom routes in the Caribbean (such as Antigua to St. Kitts) and you’ll get great use of your Chase Ultimate Rewards points with British Airways.

Related: The ultimate guide to British Airways Avios

One of the best ways to use Ultimate Rewards points is to transfer them to World of Hyatt for low or high-category properties. Generally speaking, Hyatt points are worth more than Marriott Bonvoy and IHG points, so Hyatt is often your best hotel transfer partner within Chase Ultimate Rewards.

World of Hyatt also offers an extremely reasonable award chart for free nights, with award nights ranging from 3,500 – 45,000 points. Meanwhile, the World of Hyatt elite status perks are considered the best of any hotel loyalty program.

Related: What is World of Hyatt elite status worth?

If you’re looking at standard award nights, the program has value across the spectrum of properties. Category 1-5 properties, in particular, can offer some fantastic awards.

Examples include the Grand Hyatt Kauai (25,000 – 35,000 points per night), Hyatt Grand Cypress Orlando (12,000 – 18,000 points), Grand Hyatt Washington D.C. (12,000 – 18,000 points), Hyatt Regency Aruba (25,000 – 35,000 points) and Park Hyatt Mendoza (9,000-15,000 points).

Several Category 1 properties sell for over $100 a night (excluding taxes), so redeeming just 3,500 points for these on off-peak dates is usually a good decision. An example is the Hyatt Regency Downtown Tulsa, which is bookable for just 3,500 – 6,500 Hyatt points per night.

Even the higher tiers of the program have substantial value. For example, redeeming 35,000 – 45,000 points per night at the ski-out Park Hyatt Beaver Creek or 25,000 – 35,000 points per night at the Park Hyatt St. Kitts or Park Hyatt Maldives can make sense, since rooms at these luxury properties routinely sell for over $1,000 a night.

The last several years have seen massive growth in Hyatt's global footprint, thanks to the following new partnerships and integrations:

And the program isn't done yet, as it just announced plans to acquire another 1,500 luxury properties under the Mr. and Mrs. Smith brand — with the deal expected to close in June 2023.

Related: Getting elite-like perks at Small Luxury Hotels of the World

If you want to use your Chase Ultimate Rewards points and protect your cash, you can book all-inclusive resorts with Hyatt points in Mexico, the Dominican Republic and Jamaica. These resorts start at 12,000 points per night for double occupancy. Using points in this manner gets you a room and food, beverages, and some on-site entertainment (including kids clubs at the family-friendly resorts).

Here’s TPG’s guide to making the most of your Hyatt awards.

There are no “bad” redemptions if your points allow you to go where you want to go while keeping your cash safely tucked in your wallet. However, some ways of using Chase points aren’t as mathematically rewarding as others.

The following Chase transfer partners would require a unique circumstance for us to transfer Ultimate Rewards, such as needing to top off an existing account balance or a one-off example of where the program provides value. There are typically better ways to get points in these programs instead of transferring Ultimate Rewards.

Here is a quick synopsis of each:

The current version of the program has become too illogical to ever plan on using it consistently.

You can certainly get lucky and find a good redemption. For example, TPG Editor Nick Ewen snagged three one-way, business-class awards from Miami (MIA) to Venice (VCE) for 53,000 miles and ~$235 in taxes and fees back in 2019. However, it’s generally just too variable.

If you did need Flying Blue miles — perhaps to take advantage of the program’s monthly, discounted Promo Rewards or discounted awards for children — you should probably transfer American Express points. Make sure to avoid falling victim to phantom award space. The Flying Blue website often shows award space that isn't actually available. To avoid this, call and confirm with a phone agent before transferring points.

Related: Transferring Ultimate Rewards points to Flying Blue

There’s another version of an Avios program here, but nothing really enticing that’s worthy of an Ultimate Rewards transfer.

TrueBlue points are redeemed for JetBlue flights at a relatively fixed rate of 1.3 to 1.4 cents per point. With that redemption rate, there are just too many other valuable destinations for your Ultimate Rewards points. So unless you are topping off an award, this might not be your best transfer option.

You can also book JetBlue flights through the Ultimate Rewards travel portal and get a guaranteed 1.5 cents per point if you have the Sapphire Reserve in your wallet.

Top-tier properties in the IHG portfolio typically require 100,000 points per night, but we’ve seen examples of even higher pricing. It simply costs too much to book award nights in this program using Ultimate Rewards points. We generally believe that any other transfer partner is a better destination for your Ultimate Rewards points than IHG, especially since IHG sometimes sells points for just 0.5 cents each.

Note that IHG did just launch some notable updates to its program, but none of these move the needle when it comes to transferring your Chase points.

Related: IHG’s dynamic pricing goes wild, spiking award rates for some hotels

On a case-by-case basis, it could make sense to transfer Ultimate Rewards to Marriott to redeem for an award night. However, these awards can be quite pricey, and with the launch of dynamic pricing, it can be even harder to find value.

With many different Marriott cobranded cards, it’s too easy to earn the Marriott points you need without transferring them from Chase Ultimate Rewards.

There are many ways to earn Chase points at rates of anywhere from 1 – 10 points per dollar at a time depending on the specific Chase credit card you carry.

The first three cards below earn fully transferable Ultimate Rewards points all by themselves, while the remaining four are technically billed as cash-back credit cards.

However, if you have an Ultimate Reward-earning card, you can convert your Chase cash-back rewards to full Ultimate Rewards points. For this reason, it can make sense to have more than one Chase card in the family to maximize your earning and redeeming potential. For complete details on how this can work, check out TPG’s guide to transferring Chase points between accounts.

With that out of the way, here are the seven cards that allow you to earn Chase Ultimate Rewards points.

(Photo by John Gribben for The Points Guy)

Welcome bonus: 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first three months from account opening.

Why you want it: This is a fantastic all-around travel credit card. It earns:

The Sapphire Preferred has no foreign transaction fees and comes with many travel perks, including delayed baggage insurance, trip interruption/cancellation insurance and primary car rental insurance (find out how that can save you from a surprise last-minute $1,000 hotel bill.) To top it all off, Chase generally offers excellent customer service and reaching an agent is easy when you call the number on the back of the card.

Annual Fee: $95.

Read the full card review.

Official application link: Chase Sapphire Preferred.

Welcome bonus: 60,000 points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first three months from account opening

Why you want it: Put simply, for its earning power paired with travel perks that can easily cover the annual fee. It now accrues:

Other perks include an easy-to-use $300 annual travel credit, a fee credit for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck (up to $100 once every four years), and Priority Pass Select lounge access. This includes the ability to use your Priority Pass membership for discounted meals in airport restaurants. Cardholders also get primary car rental coverage, trip interruption/cancellation insurance and other protections.

Annual fee: $550.

Read the full card review.

Official application link: Chase Sapphire Reserve.

Welcome bonus: 100,000 points after you spend $15,000 on purchases in the first three months from account opening.

Why you want it: This is one of the best credit cards for small-business owners, earning 3 points per dollar on the first $150,000 spent in combined purchases on travel, shipping purchases, internet, cable and phone services, advertising made with social media sites and search engines each account anniversary year. You earn 1 point per dollar on all other purchases, and points don’t expire as long as your account is open. Points earned on the Ink Preferred can be transferred to multiple airline and hotel partners.

Annual Fee: $95

Read the full card review.

Official application link: Ink Business Preferred.

Now we get to the “cash-back” cards where you can combine your points with those from one of the three we’ve already detailed so that they become transferable as well.

Welcome bonus: $750 cash back after you spend $6,000 on purchases in the first three months from account opening. This can be the same as 75,000 points if you have another Ultimate Rewards-earning credit card.

Why you want it: Earn 5% cash back on the first $25,000 in combined purchases at office supply stores and on internet, cable and phone services each account anniversary year (then 1%). Earn 2% cash back on the first $25,000 spent in combined purchases at gas stations and restaurants each account anniversary year (then 1%). You can convert these earnings to Ultimate Rewards points if you have one of the three cards above.

Annual Fee: $0

Read the full card review.

Official application link: Ink Business Cash.

Welcome bonus: $750 cash back after you spend $6,000 on purchases in the first three months from account opening.

Benefits: Earn unlimited 1.5% cash-back rewards on every purchase. These cash-back earnings can be converted to Ultimate Rewards points if you have one of the three top cards listed above, which means your small business can essentially earn 1.5 points per dollar on all charges made with this card.

Annual Fee: $0.

Read the full card review.

Official application link: Ink Business Unlimited.

Welcome bonus: $200 (20,000 Ultimate Rewards points) after you spend $500 in the first three months of account opening.

Benefits: The card earns 5% back on select bonus categories, which rotate every quarter and apply on up to $1,500 in combined spending (activation required). Common past bonus categories include gas stations, supermarkets, restaurants, warehouse stores and department stores. You can convert these rewards to valuable Ultimate Rewards points if you have one of the top three cards listed above. Plus, earn 5% on travel purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards, 3% on dining at restaurants (including takeout and eligible delivery services) and 3% on drugstore purchases. Earn 1% on all other purchases.

Annual Fee: $0.

Read the full card review.

Official application link: Chase Freedom Flex.

Welcome bonus: Earn an additional 1.5% cash back on everything you buy (on up to $20,000 spent in the first year) – worth up to $300 cash back.

Benefits: The card earns 1.5% cash back (1.5 Ultimate Rewards points) on purchases. These earnings can be converted to valuable Ultimate Rewards points if you have one of the top three cards listed above. Plus, earn 5% on travel purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards, 3% on dining at restaurants (including takeout and eligible delivery services) and 3% on drugstore purchases. Earn 1% on all other purchases. The card also offers 120-day purchase protection and extended warranty protection.

Annual Fee: $0.

Read the full card review.

Official application link: Chase Freedom Unlimited.

It can definitely be worth it to use Chase Ultimate Rewards for travel, especially when you're able to save money. Generally, the best use of Ultimate Rewards is for travel, including premium cabin flights and luxury hotels. Regardless of how you use your points, it's a good idea to aim for 2 cents in value per point.

You can redeem Chase Ultimate Rewards points by logging into your Chase account and navigating to the Ultimate Rewards portal. Chase also has a landing page where you can log in to Ultimate Rewards directly. From there, you can choose whether to redeem points for statement credits, gift cards, travel or transfer partners.

You will generally get the most value from Chase Ultimate Rewards by transferring your points to one of 14 transfer partners for luxury travel. With the right partners, this can lead to 2 cents (or more) in value.

There are many benefits to booking through Chase Ultimate Rewards. If you're paying for travel, you'll earn elevated rewards through most Chase credit cards. If you're making point bookings through Chase Ultimate Rewards, you have the flexibility to stay at hotels that don't participate in a loyalty program. You also can enter your frequent flyer number on flight bookings and earn redeemable and elite-qualifying miles on your flights.

The best way to use Chase Ultimate Rewards is for sweet spot award redemption through transfer partners.

It's better to redeem Ultimate Rewards points for travel rather than cash. Depending on the type of Chase card you have, you'll typically get a much higher rate of return by redeeming points for travel.

The above strategies are just a sampling of the many redemptions available through the Ultimate Rewards program. If you have the Chase Sapphire Reserve, Chase Sapphire Preferred Card or Ink Business Preferred Credit Card, booking through the travel portal at a rate of 1.25 – 1.5 cents per point will be a solid baseline redemption for many travelers. However, to really get maximum value, look to utilize Chase transfer partners to book the flights and hotel rooms that otherwise would be outside of your means.

In any case, the Ultimate Rewards program provides a wide range of options to maximize your points and save you money — you just have to decide which ways to use Chase points are the most worthwhile to you.

If you’re new to the points and miles game, check out our Beginner’s Guide to learn more.

To get started with a cash-back redemption, you’ll need to login to an online Chase account that earns Ultimate Rewards. This includes cards from the Freedom, Sapphire and Ink families.

When you’ve arrived on your main rewards homepage, you’ll find a blue button on the top of your screen labeled Earn / Use with your available balance. Once you click on this button, another menu with your reward redemption options will appear. Toward the middle of the screen, you’ll see the option we’re looking for: Cash Back.

Converting your points to cash is a straightforward process. The valuation is simple to remember—one point is worth 1 cent—and there is no minimum redemption amount required. If you wish, you can cash out a single penny. Or, cash out your full balance (or anything in-between).

As you scroll down the page, you’ll see you have two options on how to receive your cash-back rewards. Choose from a statement credit or a deposit into your bank account.

If choosing a statement credit, the credit must be applied to the card you are redeeming your points from. Credits typically post to your account within three business days and will reduce the total balance on your card. Keep in mind, though, you’re still required to make a minimum payment each month even if you’ve redeemed cash-back rewards.

Depositing cash back into a bank account is your other option. Most likely, you’ll already have a bank account linked to your credit card account in order to pay your bill. That account will show as an option for cash-back deposits. However, you can add a new account if you prefer.

Similar to statement credits, you should see your cash-back reward in your bank account within three business days.

Both types of cash-back reward redemptions are final: once you submit your request, it cannot be reversed.

While cash back gives you complete flexibility in how you spend your credit, Ultimate Rewards provides a few other redemption options similar to cash. In some cases, these alternatives may yield more than one penny per point—making it worth the potential loss of versatility.

Ultimate Rewards has a long list of gift card awards to choose from. Some of these are purchased at the same rate as gift cards (1 cent per point). Others are available at up to a 10% discount. For example, 900 Ultimate Rewards points would be worth $9 in cash but could be worth a $10 gift card instead.

As of the time of this writing, sale gift cards included choices like Gap Brands (including Old Navy and Banana Republic), MGM Resorts and Spa Finder. The exact deals are subject to change.

If you find gift cards to businesses you shop with anyway, this can be a way to get more value from your points.

Ultimate Rewards cards also include a redemption option known as Pay Yourself Back. This is another form of statement credit but it only applies to select types of purchases. The benefit here is that your points are worth more when redeemed in this fashion—depending on the exact card you hold, your points could be worth 1.25 or even 1.5 cents each instead of a single penny.

Purchase categories rotate quarterly and vary by card. For example, in late 2022, points were worth 25% more, or 1.25 cents each, when applied toward Pay Yourself Back charity purchases on the Chase Freedom Flex℠*. On the Chase Sapphire Reserve®, a second category, Airbnb, was also offered and points were worth 50% more, or 1.5 cents each.

Learn more about this redemption option in our Pay Yourself Back guide.

Cardholders interested in cash back will appreciate how simple it is to redeem Chase Ultimate Rewards for statement credits or bank deposits. It only takes a few minutes to submit your redemption and rewards are processed quickly. Plus, Chase doesn’t require cash-out minimum thresholds which means you reap your rewards at any time of your choosing.