The COVID-19 pandemic brought the global travel industry to its knees in 2020. In response to the near-collapse of travel, many banks and credit card issuers have offered ways to keep their travel-focused credit cards relevant during these tough times.
American Express responded by offering new statement credits to boost the value proposition of its cards, and Chase also came out with its own set of limited-time benefits, and one of them is 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 take a look at all its ins and outs. We’ll compare this benefit to those offered by Chase’s competitors, and determine whether it’s worth taking advantage of or not.
What Is Chase Pay Yourself Back?
Chase’s rewards program is known as Ultimate Rewards, and there are tons of fabulous ways to redeem Ultimate Rewards points for travel.
But once the global travel industry was slowed almost to a complete halt, Chase began evaluating other ways to give its cardholders new options for using their points at a great value.
The result was Chase’s Pay Yourself Back feature, which provides new ways to use Ultimate Rewards points to pay for existing purchases in select categories, effectively behaving as a statement credit to save on purchases.
This program was launched on May 31, 2020, for the Chase Sapphire Reserve®, Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, and Chase Sapphire® Card (no longer open to new applicants). Since then, it has been extended to include the Chase Freedom Flex℠ Credit Card, Chase Freedom Unlimited®, Chase Freedom® card, Chase Freedom® Student Credit Card, Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card, Ink Business Cash® Credit Card, Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card, Ink Business Plus® Credit Card (no longer open to new applicants), and J.P. Morgan Reserve Card. Most recently, the Aeroplan® Credit Card has also been given this unique feature for redeeming Aeroplan points (rather than Ultimate Rewards points).
Note that each card has different categories for which the Pay Yourself Back feature applies, as well as different dates for its expiration.
What Can I Use Pay Yourself Back For?
The rate at which you’re able to redeem your points through Pay Yourself Back varies depending on which card you hold. Let’s take a quick look at the rates for the eligible cards.
If you hold the Chase Sapphire Reserve card, you can use Pay Yourself Back for purchases at Airbnb, dining (including takeout and eligible delivery services), select charities, and your annual membership with 50% more value (1.5 cents per point). Redeeming points via Pay Yourself Back for Airbnb, dining, and the annual fee is possible through June 30, 2022. For select charities, you can do so until December 31, 2022.
With the Chase Sapphire Preferred card, you can use Pay Yourself Back for purchases at Airbnb and eligible charities with 25% more value (1.25 cents per point). Pay Yourself Back redemptions towards Airbnb can be done through June 30, 2022, while those towards select charities can be done through December 31, 2022.
Those with the Ink Business Preferred card can redeem their points for Pay Yourself Back purchases towards internet, cable, phone services through June 30, 2022. Purchases with select charities are eligible through December 31, 2022.
If you have either the Ink Business Cash card or Ink Business Unlimited card, you can redeem your points via Pay Yourself Back for internet, cable, and phone purchases through June 30, 2022, with a 10% bonus (1.1 cents per point) or eligible charities through December 31, 2022, with a 25% bonus (1.25 cents per point)
Cardholders of the Freedom Flex card, Freedom Unlimited card, Freedom card, or the Freedom Student card can redeem points for purchases at eligible charities with a 25% bonus (1.25 cents per point) through December 31, 2022.
Finally, the Aeroplan card will soon allow you to use Pay Yourself Back to redeem your Aeroplan points at a rate of 1.25 cents apiece towards Air Canada flights and other travel.
How Pay Yourself Back Is Different From Other Chase Ultimate Rewards Redemptions
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 Ultimate Rewards travel portal.
Now that travel is still reduced for many, Pay Yourself Back enables you to a solid value for your points on non-travel purchases.
This is the best redemption value you can get without transferring Chase points to travel partners. Remember, too, that Ultimate Rewards points can still be redeemed at a value of 1 cent per point for cash-back.
How Do I Use Pay Yourself Back?
The easiest way to use Pay Yourself Back is by logging into your Chase Online account using your username and password.
Once you’re logged in, scroll down and click the Ultimate Rewards button to be taken to the Ultimate Rewards Portal.
Image Credit: Chase
Then, choose the card you’d like to redeem Ultimate Rewards points from.
Image Credit: Chase
Once you’re logged in, you’ll see a ≡ symbol in the top-left corner next to the Earn / Use button. Click the hamburger icon (≡), and you’ll see a banner appear on the left side.
Image Credit: Chase
Scroll down and click Pay Yourself Back under Gift Cards and above Transfer to Travel Partners.
Image Credit: Chase
You’ll be taken to the Pay Yourself Back landing page. Your eligible transactions will be displayed in a list.
Select the transactions you’d like to use Pay Yourself Back on.
You can view all of your eligible Pay Yourself Back purchases on its landing page. Image Credit: Chase
Scroll down and click Continue.
Once you’ve selected all your Pay Yourself Back transactions, scroll down and click Continue. 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 Max Value. Click Confirm & Submit to use your points.
Image Credit: Chase
You can also perform this same process through the Chase Mobile app.
Hot Tip: Keep in mind 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 the points are so valuable and so easy to earn!
As we’ve mentioned in our guide on the best credit cards for each bonus category, you’ll find that you can earn bonus points on most of the main spending categories out there.
These include, but are not limited to:
Is Chase Pay Yourself Back Worth It?
Normally, if you redeemed Ultimate Rewards points for a purchase, such as a restaurant meal, you’d get 1 cent per point at best. However, with Pay Yourself Back, Chase Sapphire Reserve cardholders now get 1.5 cents per point, which represents a 50% boost in redemption value.
That means that you’d use 10,000 points to cover an eligible $150 purchase instead of 15,000 points, resulting in a savings of 5,000 points.
As we 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 1.5x
You’d rack up 4,450 points after spending $1,400, which is worth $66.75 when using Pay Yourself Back. You’d therefore see a whopping 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 use the 4,450 points worth $66.75 from the example above on restaurant purchases, you will also earn either 3x points when using the Chase Sapphire Reserve card or Chase Sapphire Preferred card!
This means that you’ll end up earning 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 2.0 cents apiece, which means that your overall return on spending will be around 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.
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 usually come with restrictions, such as maximum-spending thresholds.
For example, the Citi® Double Cash Card offers 2x points (1x when you buy and 1x when you pay your bill) with no limits. However, the value of those points is typically around 1 cent per point, which is a ~33% reduction compared to the value you could get from Chase Pay Yourself Back.
You can 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 at the options.
Airline and Hotel Partners
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 redemption options you can make.
Here are Chase Ultimate Rewards’ transfer partners:
| Chase Airline Transfer Partner | Min 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 |
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.
In general, these kinds of redemptions will get 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’ll be worth just 0.8 cents apiece (meaning 100 points gets you $0.80), which is a terrible value.
Apple
You can redeem Chase Ultimate Rewards points at Apple as well — you’ll earn a fixed 1 cent per point in redemption value towards 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 choose to 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 $0.01. Cash-back redemptions may take up to 3 business days to post to your account.
Experiences
Chase Experiences are exclusive events that are 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’ll get 1 cent per point in value for purchasing gift cards. But, sometimes sales bump up 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 just can’t seem to find award availability, then you may want to use the Chase Ultimate Rewards 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 still down from pre-pandemic levels, cardholders can still use points at a high value for non-travel purchases.
And it really 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 Chase Sapphire® Card, Chase Freedom®, Ink Business Plus® Credit Card, and J.P. Morgan Reserve Card was independently collected by Upgraded Points and not provided nor reviewed by the issuer.
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