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Is Chase’s Pay Yourself Back Feature Worth It? [Detailed Guide]

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Key Takeaways

  • Chase Pay Yourself Back allows cardholders to redeem points for statement credits on select categories like gas and groceries, offering up to 1.5 cents per point for Sapphire Reserve users.
  • The program offers greater flexibility, as points can be redeemed for everyday expenses rather than just travel bookings.
  • For frequent travelers, transferring points to airline partners may still provide higher redemption value, but Pay Yourself Back is an excellent option for those looking for immediate savings.

Over the last couple of years, since COVID-19 began impacting the global travel industry, banks and credit card issuers have started offering ways to keep their travel-focused credit cards relevant.

American Express worked to boost the value proposition of its cards by offering new statement credits. And Chase came out with its own set of benefits — one being particularly interesting. Known as Pay Yourself Back, this feature is designed to increase the flexibility of your points by allowing them to be used to offset expenses.

In this guide, we’ll dissect the program and examine the pros and cons of using your rewards in this way. We’ll compare this benefit to those offered by Chase’s competitors and determine whether it’s worth taking advantage of.

What Is Chase Pay Yourself Back?

Chase’s Pay Yourself Back feature provides a way to use your Ultimate Rewards points to pay for existing purchases in select categories, effectively behaving as a statement credit to save on purchases. This is in addition to the many other fabulous ways to redeem Ultimate Rewards points for travel.

What Can I Use Pay Yourself Back For?

The rate you can redeem your points through Pay Yourself Back varies depending on which card you hold. Let’s look at the rates and eligible categories for the cards that offer the Pay Yourself Back feature.

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Chase Card

Category

Redemption Value

Chase Sapphire Reserve®

Eligible charities through January 31, 2025

1.5 cents per point

 

Gas stations, utilities, insurance, fitness clubs and gym memberships, and $550 annual fee through January 31, 2025

1.25 cents per point

Eligible charities through December 31, 2024

1.25 cents per point

Eligible charities through December 31, 2024

1.25 cents per point

 

Eligible charities through December 31, 2024

1.25 cents per point

Aeroplan® Credit Card

Annual fee (within 90 days of billing), plus travel purchases, grocery stores, and dining through December 31, 2025

1.25 cents per point for annual fee and travel, 0.8 cents per point for grocery stores and dining

Southwest credit cards

Annual fee (within 90 days of billing) through December 31, 2024

1 cent per point

United credit cards (with an annual fee)

Annual fee posted within the previous 90 days (no deadline yet; only on cards with an annual fee), and eligible United airfare transactions made within the last 90 days (all United credit cards are eligible)

1.5 to 1.75 cents per mile on annual fee; 1 cent per mile for United airfare

Disney credit cards

Airline purchases made directly with airlines (Disney® Premier Visa® card only) and select locations in U.S. Disney parks, Disney store and outlet locations in the U.S., DisneyPlus.com, Hulu.com, and ESPNPlus.com

1 cent per point

Donations to the following charities qualify for Chase Pay Yourself Back:

  • American Red Cross
  • Equal Justice Initiative
  • Feeding America
  • Habitat for Humanity
  • International Medical Corps
  • International Rescue Committee
  • Leadership Conference Education Fund
  • Make-A-Wish
  • NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund
  • National Urban League
  • Thurgood Marshall College Fund
  • United Negro College Fund
  • UNICEF USA
  • United Way
  • World Central Kitchen

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How Do I Use Pay Yourself Back?

The easiest way to use Pay Yourself Back is by logging in to your Chase Online account using your username and password. Once logged in, click the Rewards button to be taken to the Ultimate Rewards portal.

Next,  you may need to choose the card you’d like to redeem Ultimate Rewards points from. In this example, there’s only 1 card in the account. So, you can simply click the Convert to Cash dropdown to Pay Yourself Back.

Pay Yourself Back Ultimate Rewards

On the Pay Yourself Back landing page, your eligible transactions will be displayed in a list. The list will show how many days you have to redeem your Ultimate Rewards points for each eligible purchase. Select the transactions you’d like to use Pay Yourself Back on by checking the box. Then click the Continue button.

Chase Pay Yourself Back Categories Charities July 2024
Some cards have just a single category: charities. Image Credit: Chase

Apply the cash value you’d like to use points for. If you want to use the maximum number of points possible, check off the box that says Apply Full Amount. Then click Redeem to use your points.

Chase Pay Yourself Back
Using points toward a recent purchase. Image Credit: Chase

You can also perform this same process through the Chase Mobile app.

Hot Tip:

Remember that you only have 90 days after your purchase posts to use Pay Yourself Back.

Best Ways To Earn Chase Ultimate Rewards Points

One of the best aspects of Chase Ultimate Rewards is that the points are so valuable and easy to earn!

As we’ve mentioned in our guide on the best credit cards for each bonus category, you can earn bonus points on most of the main spending categories out there.

These include, but are not limited to:

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Credit Card Name

Spending Category

Points Earned Per 1 Dollar Spent

Chase Sapphire Reserve card

Lyft

10x (through March 31, 2025)

 

Car rentals, hotels, and dining (booked through Chase Travel)

10x

 

Airfare (booked through Chase Travel)

5x

 

Dining

3x

 

Travel (not booked through Chase Travel)

3x

 

All other purchases

1x

Chase Sapphire Preferred card

Lyft

5x (through March 31, 2025)

 

Travel (booked through Chase Travel)

5x

 

Dining

3x

 

Online grocery purchases

3x

 

Select streaming services

3x

 

Travel (not booked through Chase Travel)

2x

 

All other purchases

1x

Freedom Unlimited card

Travel (booked through Chase Travel)

5%

 

Dining

3%

 

Drugstores

3%

 

All other purchases

1.5%

Freedom Flex card

Rotating quarterly categories

5%

 

Dining

3%

 

Drugstores

3%

 

All other purchases

1%

Is Chase Pay Yourself Back Worth It?

Typically, if you redeemed Ultimate Rewards points for a purchase, such as a restaurant meal, you’d get 1 cent per point at best. Ultimate Rewards points can also be redeemed at a value of 1 cent per point for cash-back.

However, with Pay Yourself Back, cardholders can get more value from their points.

Chase Sapphire Reserve cardholders, for example, get 1.25 to 1.5 cents per point, representing a 25% to 50% boost in redemption value. That means you’d use 10,000 to 12,500 points to cover an eligible $150 purchase instead of 15,000 points, resulting in a savings of 5,000 points.

Previously, the only way you could get up to 1.5 cents per point in redemption value was to redeem your points through the Chase Travel portal. This is the best redemption value you can get without transferring points to the Chase travel partners.

As mentioned above, the real power is when you consider how easy it is to earn lots of Chase Ultimate Rewards points.

To provide an example, let’s say you’ve spent:

  • $100 on Lyft rides on the Chase Sapphire Reserve card, earning 1,000 points at 10x
  • $1,000 on dining on the Chase Sapphire Reserve card, earning 3,000 points at 3x
  • $300 on all other purchases on the Freedom Unlimited card, earning 450 points at 1.5% (which you can convert to Ultimate Rewards points by holding the Chase Sapphire Reserve card)

You’d rack up 4,450 points after spending $1,400, which is worth $55.63 to $66.75 when using Pay Yourself Back. You’d therefore see a up to 4.8% return back on your spend! This dominates any of the other conventional cash-back rewards cards.

But Wait, There’s More!

You still earn points on purchases for which you use Pay Yourself Back!

For example, if you used the 4,450 points worth $55.63 from the example above on restaurant purchases, you’d also earn either 3x points when using the Chase Sapphire Reserve card or Chase Sapphire Preferred card.

This means you’d earn around 200 more points with the Chase Sapphire Reserve card or the Chase Sapphire Preferred card.

According to our valuations, Chase Ultimate Rewards points are worth around 2 cents apiece, which means that your overall return on spending would be about 6.6%! Plus, your return on spending could increase depending on which spending categories you use, which merchants you use Pay Yourself Back on, and more.

This is about as good as it gets, especially when it comes to transferable rewards points.

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How Does Chase Pay Yourself Back Compare to Other Cards?

Usually, the best cash-back credit cards earn around 2% cash-back at best. Some cash-back credit cards earn up to 5% cash-back, but they typically come with restrictions, such as maximum-spending thresholds.

For example, the Citi Double Cash® Card offers 2% cash-back (1% when you buy and 1% when you pay your bill, earned as ThankYou Points) with no limits. However, the value of those points is typically around 1 cent per point, which is about a 33% reduction compared to the value you could get from Chase Pay Yourself Back.

You can also leverage Bank of America Preferred Rewards to earn up to 3.5% cash-back on your spending, but this comes with a requirement to have at least $100,000 in assets with Bank of America.

Chase offers a seamless and frictionless way to get excellent redemption value on purchases within flexible categories. Therefore, Chase Pay Yourself Back is an excellent supplement to the rich Ultimate Rewards ecosystem.

Alternative Redemption Options

How does Chase Pay Yourself Back compare to other Chase Ultimate Rewards redemptions? Let’s take a look.

Airline and Hotel Partners

Singapore Airlines new A380 First Suite Double Bed
Singapore Airlines’ new A380 Suites, bookable with Chase Ultimate Rewards points, feature a double bed and separate lounge chair. Image Credit: Greg Stone

If you’re a points enthusiast, you probably already know that transferring flexible rewards points to airline partners to book the top international first and business class flights is one of the highest-value redemptions you can make.

Here are the Chase Ultimate Rewards transfer partners:

Airline Transfer Partners

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Chase Airline Partner

Minimum Transfer

Transfer Ratio
(Chase > Airline)

Transfer Time

Aer Lingus AerClub

1,000

1:1

Almost Instant

Air Canada Aeroplan

1,000

1:1

Almost Instant

Air France-KLM Flying Blue

1,000

1:1

1 hour

British Airways Executive Club

1,000

1:1

Almost Instant

Emirates Skywards

1,000

1:1

Almost Instant

Iberia Plus

1,000

1:1

Almost Instant

JetBlue

1,000

1:1

Almost Instant

Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer

1,000

1:1

1-2 days

Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards

1,000

1:1

Almost Instant

United Airlines MileagePlus

1,000

1:1

Almost Instant

Virgin Atlantic Flying Club

1,000

1:1

Almost Instant

Hotel Transfer Partners

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Chase Hotel Partner

Miniumum Transfer

Transfer Ratio
(Chase > Hotel)

Transfer Time

IHG One Rewards

1,000

1:1

1 day

Marriott Bonvoy

1,000

1:1

2 days

World of Hyatt

1,000

1:1

Almost Instant

To give you an idea of how valuable your points can be, you can book a ticket from New York (JFK) to Singapore (SIN) via Frankfurt (FRA) with a stopover in Singapore’s A380 First Class Suites for 132,000 Chase points transferred to Singapore KrisFlyer.

These tickets routinely sell for around $8,500 one-way, which nets you 6.4 cents per point in redemption value.

These kinds of redemptions would give you the best value for your points. However, if you don’t foresee international travel plans coming to fruition, it may not make sense to use points like this at this time.

Amazon

You can redeem Chase Ultimate Rewards points at Amazon when checking out, but they’d be worth just 0.8 cents apiece (meaning 100 points get you $0.80), which is a terrible value.

Apple

You can redeem Chase Ultimate Rewards points at Apple as well — you’d earn a fixed 1 cent per point in redemption value toward virtually all Apple products, such as iMacs, iPad, iPhones, Apple Watches, Apple TVs, Apple Music, and Apple accessories.

Cash-Back

Earning cash-back is the easiest way to redeem your rewards. There are no restrictions, no gimmicks, and no catches.

Your Ultimate Rewards points are worth a fixed 1 cent per point, and you can request a statement credit or deposit your cash-back straight into a U.S. checking or savings account.

The minimum redemption amount is 1 point, or 1 cent. Cash-back redemptions may take up to 3 business days to post to your account.

Experiences

Chase Experiences are exclusive events curated and offered to cardholders, ranging from sporting events to concerts and even high-end restaurant reservations.

Points redeemed for experiences are worth a fixed 1 cent apiece.

Gift Cards

There’s a wide variety of gift cards for which you can redeem Ultimate Rewards points, including the Home Depot, Fanatics, Top Golf, iTunes, Chili’s, Safeway, Subway, Airbnb, DoorDash, and much more.

Most of the time, you get 1 cent per point in value for purchasing gift cards. But, sometimes, sales bump the redemption value to 1.1 to 1.3 cents per point.

Travel

If you’re looking to book flights and want to avoid paying cash, or if you can’t seem to find award availability, then you may want to use the Chase Travel portal.

If you have the Chase Sapphire Reserve card, your points are worth 1.5 cents apiece, and if you have the Chase Sapphire Preferred card, they’re worth 1.25 cents apiece.

Final Thoughts

Chase has given its cardholders yet another fantastic way to redeem Ultimate Rewards points. With travel recovering toward prepandemic levels, cardholders can still use points at a high value for nontravel purchases.

And it is a great value, too. When comparing it to other redemption scenarios for Ultimate Rewards points — and even some of the top cash-back cards on the market — Pay Yourself Back demonstrates its utility as a high-value use of your hard-earned points.

The information regarding the Ink Business Plus® Credit Card was independently collected by Upgraded Points and not provided nor reviewed by the issuer. 
The information regarding the Citi Double Cash® Card was independently collected by Upgraded Points and not provided nor reviewed by the issuer.
The information regarding the Chase Freedom Flex℠ was independently collected by Upgraded Points and not provided nor reviewed by the issuer.
The information regarding the Chase Freedom Rise℠ Credit Card was independently collected by Upgraded Points and not provided nor reviewed by the issuer. The information regarding the Discover® it Secured card was independently collected by Upgraded Points and not provided nor reviewed by the issuer. 
The information regarding the Chase Freedom® Card was independently collected by Upgraded Points and not provided nor reviewed by the issuer.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Chase Pay Yourself Back?

Chase Pay Yourself Back is a feature that gives cardholders of certain Chase-issued credit cards more options to redeem their Ultimate Rewards points.

Generally, using Pay Yourself Back will yield an increase in value for each point of 25% or 50% for purchases in select categories.

How long is Chase Pay Yourself Back available?

Chase Pay Yourself Back is available for purchases in select categories on a range of credit cards. Purchases in certain categories are eligible for Pay Yourself Back throughout 2024.

Is Pay Yourself Back worth it?

Pay Yourself Back is certainly worth it in many situations — you’ll get 25% to 50% more value for your Ultimate Rewards points in many purchase categories.

What purchases are eligible for Pay Yourself Back?

For the Chase Sapphire Preferred card plus the Ink cards, Pay Yourself Back works for eligible charities. Chase Sapphire Reserve cardholders can also apply the balance to their annual fee.

Which cards can I use Pay Yourself Back with?

Currently, you can use Pay Yourself Back with the following Chase cards:

  • Aeroplan card
  • All Southwest cards
  • All United cards
  • Chase Sapphire card (no longer open to new applicants)
  • Chase Sapphire Preferred card
  • Chase Sapphire Reserve card
  • Ink Business Cash card
  • Ink Business Preferred card
  • Ink Business Unlimited card
  • Ink Business Premier card

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About Stephen Au

Stephen is an established voice in the credit card space, with over 70 to his name. His work has been in publications like The Washington Post, and his Au Points and Awards Consulting Services is used by hundreds of clients.

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