Rewards credit cards can be a great tool for avid travelers and reward lovers, allowing them to earn (and spend) points and miles on travel and other purchases.
However, many incentive programs also provide you with alternative repayment options to give you more flexibility. And when it comes to flexibility, Chase Ultimate Rewards is one of the best rewards programs you can find.
In May 2020, Chase launched the Pay Yourself Back tool to offer even more repayment options to its customers. Pay Yourself Back allows cardholders to use points to pay for all or part of existing purchases in selected categories and receive a refund with a credit statement. When using this feature, cardholders will still earn points for their purchases, which makes this perk especially valuable.
In this guide, you will learn how the Chase Pay Yourself Back tool works and whether it is the best way to use your Ultimate Rewards.
How does Pay Yourself Back work?
Tool originally released for Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card as well as Chase Sapphire Reserve®but last October Chase also added it to other related Ultimate Rewards cards.
If you have an eligible card and want to use Pay Yourself Back, go to your account and go to the Chase Ultimate Rewards menu.
Once there, you’ll see a list of recent eligible purchases from the last 90 days. Select the ones you want to redeem and click “Continue” at the bottom.
Next, you will get the option to select the amount you want to redeem. As you can see from the example below, this can be part of a purchase, or you can check the “Apply maximum cost” checkbox to pay for the purchase in full. If you change your mind about a particular purchase, you can also remove it from the list at this point.
When you’re ready, click “Confirm and Submit” at the bottom. You’ll see a screen with a summary of the total repayment cost and a breakdown of each purchase.
You will also receive this summary by email and within the next three days you will see the credit statement reflected in your account.
What purchases are suitable?
In addition to adding more cards to this feature, Chase introduced new eligible shopping categories.
Through March 31, 2022, Sapphire card categories include Airbnb purchases and in-home purchases. Reserve card holders can also use their points for purchases in the restaurant category. These redemption options carry an increased reward rate for qualifying purchases of 1.5 cents per point for Sapphire Reserve cardholders and 1.25 cents per point for Sapphire Preferred members.
If you have an Ink Business Preferred® credit card or an Ink Business Plus® credit card (which is no longer available to new applicants), you can redeem points for purchases made at stationery stores, select promotional purchases, and internet, cable, and phone service. purchases by March 31, 2022 (with a redemption of 1.25 cents per point). Until December 31, 2022, cardholders will also receive 1.25 cents per point when they donate to eligible charities.
Eligible shopping categories vary by card, so you’ll need to confirm which categories are right for your particular card.
Is Pay Yourself Back a Good Redemption Option?
This high value is usually reserved only for travel purchases made through the Ultimate Rewards portal.
But we estimate that you’ll get even more value from Ultimate Rewards by transferring points to one of several Chase travel partners. For example, you can transfer points to Singapore Airlines for 2.36 cents per point or to World of Hyatt for 2 cents per point.
However, earning airline tickets through rewards may require some effort and flexibility, so you may prefer other redemption options. In this case, travel purchases through the Ultimate Rewards portal or Pay Yourself Back redemption will earn you the second best value.
Compared to the 1 cent per point rate you get when you exchange Ultimate Rewards for statement credits, Pay Yourself Back is a great redemption option.
Also, during times when you may not have travel plans for some time, being able to get a high-value statement credit on qualifying purchases is a great deal.
It’s not yet clear if the next set of eligible Pay Yourself Back categories will get the same amount of points, but this feature is still a good option, especially if you can keep the points you’ve already earned from purchases even after you use the tool Pay Yourself Back to cover them. In addition, the current categories make up a significant portion of many cardholders’ spending, and we expect Chase to continue to offer competitive options.
bottom line
The Pay Yourself Back feature is a great way to get even more bang for your buck with your Chase credit card rewards. While exchanging your points directly with travel partners can further boost your reward points, this tool can be especially useful if you don’t plan to travel in the near future but still want to get the most out of your Ultimate Rewards.
All Ink Business Plus® credit card information has been independently collected by CreditCards.com and has not been verified by the issuer.
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