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Nick over at Frequent Miler posted some interesting information he received from a source over at Chase…that Chase is continuing to pursue limitations on internally transferring Ultimate Rewards between accounts – this was originally a rumor based upon a survey reported by DOC. I’d suggest reading either of their posts as they go into detail, but the long and short is that Chase may prohibit transferring 1:1 between Freedom, Unlimited, Preferred, Cash, Reserve, etc. The replacement program would create proportional transfers equal to the redeemable amount of a point at Chase Travel ( or even worse case just cash back for Freedom, Cash, etc).
Transferring between accounts is one of the most favorable aspects of the program, and why we advocate the practice of maximizing Freedom quarterly bonuses, etc. If they were to restrict those transfers I’d stop using Freedom. But, the future is uncertain and we want to hedge ourselves against the worse. So yes, you should go ahead and transfer as a precaution, but where will we be transferring ours?
I’ll be merging mine, but I don’t think I’ll be moving my points to Reserve
Simply put…I don’t know if I want to marry myself to the Reserve indefinitely. Lemme explain:
My thinking/strategy assumes that points remain universally transferrable to partners 1:1 ( Singapore, Korean, etc) – which is how I use my points, i.e. all current Ultimate Rewards point earning cards remain equal in their ability to transfer to partners.
It also considers my preference of redemption: I don’t exercise redemption at 1.5 cents, even though I hold a Reserve, as I prefer to aim towards aspirational redemptions that effectively get a much higher point valuation than 1.5 cents.
So yes, I know that Reserve effectively values Ultimate Rewards the highest for Chase Travel redemptions, and if this is your cup of tea, consider transferring them there, but I don’t, and I want to maintain the most flexibility. The future scenario has a lot of variables. The most important in my decision being: we don’t know if Chase will limit the TOTAL amount of points that could be moved between accounts, regardless of the ratio. If that happened, and you pre-emptively moved a lot of points to Reserve, you would be locked into having a Reserve for quite a long time, or risk having to make a forced transfer.
- For instance, if Chase limits the internal transfer amount to say 100k, and you don’t wish to keep your Reserve, but have a balance of 300k UR, you’d have a decision to make. Transfer 100k to say a Biz Preferred, and then either transfer the remaining balance to partners, cash out at 1.5 cents, or keep the card until your balance is transferred or exhausted.
As a result, I’m heavily considering a transfer to my Ink Business Preferred. A $95 annual fee is something I’m pretty comfortable being locked into, and if they devalued Ink Cash transfers, I’d probably cancel it for my both my businesses. All my Chase Business purchases would end up on my Ink Business Preferred.
This would then let me be a true Reserve free agent. If they keep the benefits of the card strong, I’d keep it, if not, I’d look elsewhere knowing full well I wouldn’t have to make a forced decision because of a large point balance.
Regardless of your decision, and I’d love to hear your strategies, it’ll be a sad day if/when Chase does this, but making a move to protect those valuable UR is a prudent one to make.
Afterall…if it never happens, you don’t lose anything by having consolidated points.
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.
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