We may receive a commission when you use our links. Monkey Miles is part of an affiliate sales network and receives compensation for sending traffic to partner sites, such as CreditCards.com and CardRatings. This relationship may impact how and where links appear on this site. This site does not include all financial companies or all available financial offers. Monkey Miles is also a Senior Advisor to Bilt Rewards. Terms apply to American Express benefits and offers. Enrollment may be required for select American Express benefits and offers. Visit americanexpress.com to learn more Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
If you’re unfamiliar with Chase “Pay yourself back” it’s a promotion Chase has been running that allows cardholders to wipe charges off their bill with their points. The amount you can “pay yourself back” depends on the normal redemption rate you card would have in Chase Travel. If you have a Chase Sapphire Reserve, then you can wipe qualifying charges off at 1.5c per point, if you have the Chase Sapphire Preferred or Chase Ink Business Preferred, you’d be able to do so at 1.25c. Earlier today, Doctor of Credit broke the news that the annual fee was added as a qualifying charge for the Chase Sapphire Reserve.
Annual fee has been added to Chase Sapphire Reserve “Pay Yourself Back”
I don’t carry a Reserve, but for those I know that do…it has been added as an option to pay yourself back.
Pay Yourself Back has been extended to 9/30/21 across all cards
However…both my Chase Sapphire Preferred and Ink Business Preferred do not have the annual fee option as a qualifying charge
I do carry Chase Sapphire Preferred and Ink Business Preferred. Currently, the annual fee is not showing up as a qualifying charge. Perhaps that will change, but at least in my account, I don’t have that as an option.
My feeling is this will probably be updated in accounts aside from Chase Sapphire Reserve, but currently mine aren’t showing the annual fee option
Do I use this feature?
I don’t. Personally, I try and get at least 2 cents per point when redeeming for either hotels or airfare via transfer partners. But, if you’re looking to use up your points, this is another way you can make use of them to save money you know you’d have to spend ordinarily.
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Welcome Offer
Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 2x on all other travel
- 10% Anniversary Bonus
- Every year you keep the card, your total spend will yield a 10% points bonus. If you spend $10k in a year, you’ll get 1k bonus points
- Chase Sapphire Preferred continues to redeem at 1.25c in the Chase Travel℠ and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver ( primary ), purchase protections, etc.
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- Redeem in Chase Travel℠ for 1.25 cents per point
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Get complimentary access to DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2027.
- $95 Annual Fee
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is exceptional starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex® and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash® , Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.
The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.