Chase Ultimate Rewards points are my favorite transferable points “currency.” These points can be earned by using a variety of personal and business credit cards. And thanks to great signup bonuses and generous spending categories, Ultimate Rewards points are easy to accumulate.
Let’s take a look at how you can combine Chase Ultimate Rewards points from multiple card accounts for maximum value.
If you have at least one Chase Ultimate Rewards earning card, it’s easy to combine multiple Chase card accounts.
Why Combine Chase Ultimate Rewards Points
While Chase might market some cards as “cash back,” you can actually earn Ultimate Rewards points with them. The Chase Freedom, Chase Freedom Unlimited, Chase Ink Business Cash and Chase Ink Business Unlimited don’t have an annual fee and can earn Ultimate Rewards points too (instead of cash back).
However, you do need at least one “premium” card (i.e. a card with an annual fee) to be able to redeem Ultimate Rewards for travel. Without at least one premium card in a household, the Ultimate Rewards points can only be used as cash.
My husband has the Chase Sapphire Reserve card and we combine all our Ultimate Rewards points under his account to get the best value and redeem them at 1.5 cents per point when redeemed for travel on the Chase travel portal. I had the card too when it first came out, but we didn’t feel like we needed two per family.
If you don’t have the Reserve card, but have the Chase Ink Preferred or the Chase Sapphire Preferred, then the points are worth 1.25 cents each on the travel portal.
Using Chase Ultimate Rewards Points
One of the best ways to use Ultimate Rewards points is to transfer them to one of Chase’s hotel or airline travel partners, such as World of Hyatt or United.
Another great way to use Ultimate Reward points is to redeem them for travel through Chase’s travel portal. I’ve booked many great independent hotels and even economy flights with my Ultimate Rewards points. Some might consider this a sub-optimal redemption, but I disagree. I think it’s a great use of Ultimate Rewards when you don’t want to spend cash on travel related expenses.
How To Combine Ultimate Rewards Points
If you only have personal Chase cards, all your cards will appear under one login.
If you have personal AND business cards, you’ll first have to create a business account login and then call Chase to combine all cards under one login. It takes just a few minutes and will allow combining points for the best redemption value.
You can also combine points with a household member. Both cardholders need to have the same address. I mentioned that my husband has Sapphire Reserve card, so when I want to redeem points through the portal, I first transfer my points to him.
Step 1
Log into your Ultimate Rewards account and you’ll see a screen that looks like this:
Step 2
Then, click on the card you’d like to transfer FROM, for example Chase Freedom, and you’ll see this banner on the top
Step 3
Click on See All on the far right and the banner will expand to include the option to combine points.
Then click on Combine Points and on the next screen choose to which card you want to transfer the points. You’ll also see an option to add a household member.
If you are adding a new household member, you can do this on the next screen. Now this part could be glitchy sometimes. So if you get an error message, just call the number on the back of your card, and the representative will be able to add a household member for you.
When I logged in under a different card that had points, I saw the Combine Points option was right there on the first screen. You can see on the screenshot below that the banner looks a little different.
After finalizing the points transfer, you should immediately see the Ultimate Rewards points reflected on the account you transferred to.
The Upshot
As you can see, combining Ultimate Rewards points for maximum value is easy and straightforward. My favorite ways of using Ultimate Rewards points include booking independent hotels through the portal. We often travel to destinations that don’t have a lot (or any) hotel chains, so I love having a good stash of Ultimate Rewards at my disposal. Transferring them to Chase Sapphire Reserve allows me to extract the max value out of my points.
What are your favorite ways to use Ultimate Rewards? Tell us about the gems you found and booked with Ultimate Rewards.
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