Update 3/27/23: After some concern that grocery redemptions are going away, it appears that Chase is extending all of the current Pay Yourself Back categories through 6/30/23. (h/t: DOC)
What is Chase Pay Yourself Back?
Chase has a useful benefit for select cardholders called “Pay Yourself Back”. The basic idea is that you can exchange your Chase Ultimate Rewards points for statement credits against certain categories of purchases. Here’s the link to use this feature yourself.
The best use for Ultimate Rewards points (besides transferring points to high value travel partners) is to book travel through the Chase travel portal. Sapphire Reserve cardholders get 1.5 cents per point value this way. Sapphire Preferred and Ink Business Preferred cardholders get 1.25 cents per point value.
The Pay Yourself Back feature does provide some value for everyday purchases, although it’s somewhat diminished with the new, lower redemption rates. For example, if you’re a Sapphire Reserve cardholder, you can use your card at grocery stores and later exchange your points to pay off those charges at 1.25 cents per point value.
Using these Pay Yourself Back categories, Chase’s Ultimate Rewards cards can become more like super-charged cash back cards. You’ll still have the ability to transfer points to travel partners, but you can also cash out points for certain charges instead.
Pay Yourself Back categories for eligible Chase credit cards
Sapphire Reserve
Redeem points for 1.25 cents each to pay back the following charges:
- Grocery Stores: Through 6/30/23
- Gas Stations: Through 6/30/23
- Select Charities: Through 6/30/23 (still at 1.5 cents per point)
American Red Cross, Equal Justice Initiative, Feeding America, Habitat for Humanity, International Medical Corps (also aiding efforts in Ukraine), Leadership Conference Education Fund, NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, National Urban League, Thurgood Marshall College Fund, United Negro College Fund, United Way, World Central Kitchen (also aiding efforts in Ukraine). - Annual membership fee: Through 6/30/23
- Expired Options:
- Restaurants and dining (12/31/22)
- AirBnB (12/31/22)
Sapphire Preferred
Redeem points for 1 cent each to pay back the following charges:
- Grocery Stores: Through 6/30/23
- Gas Stations: Through 6/30/23
- Select Charities: Through 6/30/23 (Still at 1.25 cents per point)
American Red Cross, Equal Justice Initiative, Feeding America, Habitat for Humanity, International Medical Corps (also aiding efforts in Ukraine), Leadership Conference Education Fund, NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, National Urban League, Thurgood Marshall College Fund, United Negro College Fund, United Way, World Central Kitchen (also aiding efforts in Ukraine). - Expired Options:
- AirBnb (12/31/22)
- Dining (includes restaurants and food delivery service): Through 9/30/21
- Grocery: Through 9/30/21
- Home improvement stores: Through 9/30/21
- Fund a vaccine ride with Lyft: Through 9/30/21
Freedom Cards (Unlimited, Flex, Visa)
Redeem points for 1.25 cents each to pay back the following charges:
- Select Charities: Through 6/30/23
American Red Cross, Equal Justice Initiative, Feeding America, Habitat for Humanity, International Medical Corps (also aiding efforts in Ukraine), Leadership Conference Education Fund, NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, National Urban League, Thurgood Marshall College Fund, United Negro College Fund, United Way, World Central Kitchen (also aiding efforts in Ukraine). - Expired Options:
- Dining (includes restaurants and food delivery service): 7/2/21 to 9/30/21 [Up to $250 in dining purchases]. Redeem for 1.1 cents per point.
- Fund a vaccine ride with Lyft: Through 9/30/21. Redeem for 1.25 cents per point.
Ink Business Preferred, Ink Plus
Redeem points for 1.25 cents each to pay back the following charges:
- Internet, Cable, Phone Services: Through 6/30/23
- Shipping: Through 6/30/23
- Select Charities: Through 6/30/23
American Red Cross, Equal Justice Initiative, Feeding America, Habitat for Humanity, International Medical Corps (also aiding efforts in Ukraine), Leadership Conference Education Fund, NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, National Urban League, Thurgood Marshall College Fund, United Negro College Fund, United Way, World Central Kitchen (also aiding efforts in Ukraine). - Expired Options:
- Select Advertising: Through 3/31/22
- Shipping Services: Through 3/31/22
- Home Improvement Stores: Through 6/30/21
- Fund a vaccine ride with Lyft: Through 9/30/21
Ink Business Cash, Ink Business Unlimited
Redeem points for 1.1 cents each to pay back the following charges
- Internet, Cable, & Phone Services: Through 6/30/23
- -Shipping: Through 6/30/23
Redeem points for 1.25 cents each to pay back the following charges:
- Select Charities: Through 6/30/23
American Red Cross, Equal Justice Initiative, Feeding America, Habitat for Humanity, International Medical Corps (also aiding efforts in Ukraine), Leadership Conference Education Fund, NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, National Urban League, Thurgood Marshall College Fund, United Negro College Fund, United Way, World Central Kitchen (also aiding efforts in Ukraine).
Expired Options:
- Home Improvement Stores: Through 6/30/21
- Fund a vaccine ride with Lyft: Through 9/30/21
How to use Chase Pay Yourself Back
Note: This example is from the time when this feature first debuted. Grocery & dining purchases were both valid categories at that time and the redemption level was still 1.5 cents per point.
When I logged into my Chase account and browsed to Chase’s Pay Yourself Back page, I found a number of qualifying purchases. I had a couple of DoorDash purchases and a few grocery purchases:
I selected each of the above purchases and then had the opportunity to enter how much of each purchase should be paid back with points. In each case, I selected “Apply Max Value”. I was a little concerned that it might be better to pick a round number to get full point value, but that concern was unfounded. Chase rounded up the value of the points in my favor. Take, for example, the $283.60 grocery purchase at Plum Market. 28,360 cents divided by 1.5 = 18,906.67. One would expect Chase to round that up to 18,907 to determine how many points were required. Instead, they rounded down to 18,906. Cool.
Chase Pay Yourself Back FAQ
How often does Chase change the eligible categories?
Originally, Pay Yourself Back was offered only through September 30, 2020. Then it was extended through April 30, 2021. Now, Chase extends the program every quarter and with each extension we see some changes such as which types of expenses can be used.
Can I transfer points between Chase cards to get better redemption value?
Yes. Points earned on other Chase cards can be moved to your Sapphire Reserve or Ink Business Preferred account in order to get more value. So, if you consider that this feature makes it easy to cash out Sapphire Reserve points at 1.25 cents each, then we can calculate the cash back equivalent earnings of each Ultimate Rewards card by multiplying the earnings rate by 1.25. For example, the Sapphire Reserve card earns 3X for travel & dining, so it now earns the equivalent of 3 x 1.25 = 3.75% cash back for groceries and gas. Similarly, the Freedom Unlimited card earns 1.5X everywhere (in addition to its 3X and 5X categories), so by transferring those points to your Sapphire Reserve, it now earns the equivalent of at least 1.5 x 1.25 = 1.875% cash back everywhere.
Can I use Pay Yourself Back for purchases made on previous statements?
Yes, Chase’s Pay Yourself Back can be used for transactions within the past 90 days.
Do I earn points for purchases that are paid back using Ultimate Rewards?
Yes. Erasing purchases does not cause Chase to pull back the points earned on those purchases.
Where can I find more information about Pay Yourself Back?
Chase’s Pay Yourself Back FAQ Can Be Found Here.
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[…] Chase will give you $900 in free groceries (minus the credit card annual $95 fee). So, do the math! Chase “Pay Yourself Back” Complete Guide (Categories Extended). And please do not waste your points donating to charities this way, just donate cash to them (or, […]
What a downgrade. The benefit of this feature is that you can redeem equivalent to redeeming with Chase travel. The drawback is that the categories have become less useful. Redeeming for restaurants as that category was one that earned the most on the card was a good deal, but probably was too costly for the bank.
Chase made another change in the past week or two that again devalued this. My wife and I have many Chase cards and both have our own CSR (not just an additional card on one account). We also both have old Ink Cash cards for our businesses. Suddenly, this week we can no longer tranfer points from our Chase Ink Cash cards to any of our other cards–I cannot even transfer points to my other Ink business cards. I can still transfer from the Ink Business Ultimate card to any other account, but both of our Ink Cash cards are now orphaned as far as point transfers. Transfers for these cards has worked for many years until the past week or so.
Do you have an old Ink Plus card? The Ink cash card is still available. The Ink Cash card can transfer to the CSR.
PS I was able to “combine” my points using my Ink Cash and CSR this evening.
It says Ink “Business Cash”, but it is an old card. We have had these cards since they started issuing them (originally, it was just the “green” business card from Chase when we got them over twenty years ago). Over time, Chase converted them to the Ink “Business Cash” cards. It is the card that gets 5x on phone/internet/office supply stores.
I think some cards you may have to call the card services to have them manually transfer the points for you
Great info, AS ALWAYS. Do you have a similar guide on which cards allow transfer of points to partner airlines/ hotels?
I know these do:
CSR, CSP, the old Ink that’s no longer available.
Amex Plats, both EveryDay
The Chase Ink Preferred cards can transfer to partners. Capital One Venture cards and the Citi Premier card can transfer to their respective partners.
Any membership reward earning card can transfer to Amex’s partners.
Thank you!
Does anyone know if the PYB function on Chase’s United cards has also been devalued? When they first rolled it out, you could pay your annual fee on at least some of the cards using United miles at 1.5 cpp.
This is highway robbery! I signed up for this card with the huge fee and used it with the idea of using my points to pay myself back. So this is a 16% devaluation of my points’ nominal value. What’s next .75c per point?
I’m sure they’ve written the terms so they can do that; however they’ve created a fiat currency, advertised its valued and devalued it in a classic bait and switch! The telltale? NO categories for value (only charitable contributions) at the advertised 1.5cpp and ZERO notice.
Congress and the CFPB need to step in. Hell what does the Treasury think of companies creating what are effectively currencies? Probably ok while they weren’t being devalued. Time for the blind eye to stop.
I’m hopping mad and I’m sure I’m not the only one.
The only place this doesn’t totally suck is transferring from ink 5x on gift cards at office supply when $0 fee promos running, still get 6.25% instead of 7.5%
Dear Nick or Greg – we are only about 10 days away from the 50% Dining bonus on the Reserve expiring. Any idea if it will be extended again? Thank you
Reported elsewhere that it will be reduced to 25%. Grocery shopping added.
PS Rumor at the moment.
What did you buy for groceries $283
Getting pretty close to 9/30/22. Seems like the end is coming for CSR and restaurant payback at 1.5c/point.
This happens every quarter. In June, they didn’t announce the Q3 “extension” until 6/29. I wish they would do yearly extensions instead of quarterly and save the IT folks the headache.
If I were to upgrade from Ink Cash to Ink Preferred, would I be able to redeem via Pay Yourself Back at the higher rate for transactions that closed prior to the upgrade? I have several cell phone and internet bills from the past few months that are still eligible, and figured redeeming at the higher 1.25 cpp rate would offset the CIP annual fee. However, a Chase rep told me I’ll still only receive 1.1 cpp for previous transactions. That surprised me, so I’m looking for confirmation.
I know it’s possible with CSP to CSR, so in theory yes. I did a PC to CSR and was almost immediately able to do PYB at the higher rate, even before the new card arrived in the mail.
Pretty much a garbage list of charities plus Airbnb which is useless to me. Pathetic. Bring back useful everyday categories please.
Airbnb ain’t as bad as it looks. Just book an airnbn stay and then wait a few days and cancel (make sure it is a rental with full refund including fees). You will get the refund from airbnb and the original purchase will show as available for PYB. Done it myself
Do they actually check out any of those “select charities” Just one example is the Equal Justice Initiative. It’s a social justice group pushing for no jail time for offenders that break the law. They push this under the theory that it is not fair to people of certain races or low-income folks yet the Director CEO is getting rich. His latest salary is over $15,000,000 from this “charity”.
According to charitynavigator.org and ProPublica (two watchdogs of charities) the Executive Director does not take a salary from their work at EJI. The highest paid attorney makes about $100k which is not a lot for an attorney.
[…] booked a luau which cost about $300. We used Chase’s Pay Yourself Back (PYB) to get statement credits on groceries purchased, which in a roundabout way offset the cost of […]
…….. hmmmmm…. so no updates, just that still unspecified headline (with a now prescient “?”), chase extends something or other pay yourself back, but no idea for what. (and we’re at 9/30)
I guess we’ll see tomorrow!
For the Ink Business Preferred card the program has been extended until 12/31/2021. There was a banner on my online account page.
Not seeing the Internet, Cable, & Phone Services category as a redeemable option on my ink plus card. anyone seeing it on theirs? would love to earn at 5x and redeem at 1.25x
I’m not seeing it either. I’ve emailed Chase to ask about it. My guess is that it starts July 2nd along with a new Freedom category (1.1 cents for dining)
[…] Back 功能现在可以用于给 CSR 信用卡抵消年费了，兑换比例仍然是 1.5 cpp。HT: FM。Chase […]
Greg – Unfortunately, the supermarket bonus points = 3X — appears to end on 4/30/21 as I have seen nothing that indicates that this, too, will be extended. Therefore, I likely will not be using my Reserve card for supermarket purchases, regardless of the ability to PYB being extended for such charges thru 9/31/21.
What about you? Will you continue to use the Reserve card for supermarket purchases despite it earning only 1 UR point/$?
It’s a tough call. I haven’t been using it anyway since getting the Platinum 10X deal. It might be worth moving to using it for all dining purchases even if it means giving up 4X with Amex Gold or 5X prestige.
Thanx. Not a fan of AMEX MR so not an issue for me. I think I will use Hyatt 5X thru June if it is not renewed — as looks likely, and then probably switch to my new Freedom Flex which carries the 5X for a year.
Do we have any idea if PYB has become a permanent feature of Chase cards? Possibly with a different category or different cash out rates after 4/30.
No word yet. Our guess is that it’ll stick around and they’ll change categories, but there’s been no info about it to my knowledge.
[…] Chase card also, the 75K bonus on either Ink card could be worth more than $900 or more than $1100 toward groceries or home improvement supplies. That is an amazing offer for a credit card with no annual […]
[…] Finally, keep in mind that some credit cards offer merchant-specific benefits and rewards. For instance, the Business Platinum card from American Express ordinarily offers a $100 statement credit for Dell purchases twice per year (once between January and June and once between July and December), but in 2020 it is offering a $200 statement credit for Dell purchases. You need to enroll before making a Dell purchase. The consumer version of the Amex Platinum card (which currently features the most incredible welcome bonuses we’ve ever seen for new cardholders) includes a $50 statement credit toward Sak’s Fifth Ave purchases twice per year (once from January to June and once from July to December). The Chase Sapphire Reserve Card’s annual $300 travel credit can be used at grocery stores and gas stations this year, which could be useful for buying a gift card that you use to make a purchase at the merchant of your choice (and that card is offering 3x points at supermarkets on up to $1,000 in purchases per month). Additionally, you can use the rewards earned on your Chase Sapphire Reserve to pay yourself back for purchases at grocery stores at a value of 1.5c per point — meaning that 10,000 Ultimate Rewards points could be used to pay yourself back for $150 in groceries (rather than the usual $100 statement credit for 10K Ultimate Rewards points). You could buy a gift card for a merchant where you wish to shop and then use points to pay yourself back. See Maximizing Chase pay yourself back for more — and note that this has been extended through April 30, 2021. […]
Can I buy a cellphone from Walmart or target and then use pay yourself back to cover the entire purchase? I know I can get one from Apple products directly through chase reward redemption for iPhone at 1.5x, however, this way seems like an even better method since I can also earn points on my purchase. Please let know. Thank you.
No, I don’t think Chase will consider Walmart or Target to be a grocery store. However, you can buy Apple gift cards at a grocery store and pay yourself back for that, then use those gift cards to buy the Apple products directly from Apple.
Do you know if Lidl, Aldi, and Costo gift cards work for this PYB feature on CSP? Costco calls its GC a Shop Card, would Chase view it as a regular GC? Does Cosco fall under the same category as WM and Target or grocery?
Since I’m a rookie at this game, but I’m waiting to get my new CSP CC, would this be a reasonable deal: Buy $1k of gift cards of Lidl and Aldi and use the bonus of 80k to erase the $1k charges? Not sure when I’ll resume travel, so the PYB for groceries seems reasonable to me, but maybe I’m missing something?
Thanks
I’d expect Aldi and Lidi to work, but I don’t have any first hand experience with them. Yes, I think it’s reasonable to use the points that way.
Hi Greg or Nick,
I read Nick’s post about CFU in which he shows buying a $1k Amazon GC at Whole Foods to stack bonuses (qtrly + bonus for groceries up to $12k).
My question: How does he pay that particular statement? Cash out of his checking account or does he use UR points? If I understand correctly, he cannot use a PYB feature for groceries on CFU CC statement that is available on the CSP, right? If he indeed is using PYB to pay his bill, I’d love more instructions on how to do it.
It’s amazing how much revolving cash one must have in their checking account in order to use for various spend and bonus opportunities on the current new CSP and CFU offers alone in order to earn the max bonuses on both.
You’re right that Nick can’t use the Pay Yourself Back feature for purchases made on his Freedom card. I expect that he uses cash savings to pay the statement.
[…] Pay Yourself Back at full travel value: Use points to pay yourself back for grocery, dining, home improvement, and select charity spend. Details here. […]
[…] 今天各大美國博主（例如：FM、OMAAT）都在報道，Pay Yourself Back 功能將會延期至 2021.04.30，大家不必着急燒點數了。CSR和CSP的兌換類別和以前一樣，還增加了兌換指定慈善項目的類別。除此之外，10月1日起，此功能全面拓展至所有UR系列的個人卡和商業卡了，只不過Freedom系列和Ink商業卡系列的兌換類別都很渣渣，沒什麼實際價值，詳見各個卡 Pay Yourself Back 的兌換比例和類別章節。 […]
[…] a tedious process in paying $200 at a time, but well worth it for the points. Given that Chase has extended the Pay Yourself Back feature, the points earned at an Office Supply store can be worth 7.5% in cash when you redeem the points […]
Is there a restriction that only 1 redemption via Pay Yourself Back on Chase Sapphire over a 2-3 day period ? I did some on Friday night but the button is greyed out on the second screen and I cannot confirm and submit. Anyone else experience this ? I have enough points and have applied full amount to the appropriate transactions.
No I haven’t seen that happen
This is happening to me, too. Not sure why. Haven’t redeemed any points in more than a month.
So, we pay alot for advertising with our business. I put the charges on my Ink Business Preferred card. I was able to “wipe out” $1225 in advertising costs. Chase is paying 5 points per dollar on these so I think it was a good mood but I hate seeing so many of my points go away. Anyone else feel this way when using the pay your self back feature.
For those like me who have both the Chase Sapphire Reserve and the Chase Freedom Unlimited, what is the better play here when purchasing groceries with these 2 cards?
Bank (via transfer) the 1.5 UR points in the Chase Sapphire Reserve UR account when purchasing groceries with the Freedom Unlimited or purchase them straight away with the Sapphire Reserve and use Pay Yourself back for their cost?
If it helps, I have over 400,000 UR points in Sapphire Reserve account.
Thanks!
Do you have the first year 5X grocery offer on your Freedom Unlimited? If so, I’d use that to pay at grocery stores until either maxing it out with $12K grocery spend or until the deal runs out after 12 months. If you didn’t sign up recently for the Freedom Unlimited and are only earning 1.5X at grocery stores then I’d recommend using your Sapphire Reserve since you’d only be losing half a point per dollar. That’s not a big deal.
Thanks, Greg, your response has been mirrored by others and am already putting it into practice. If I had a new Freedom Unlimited, then it would be an easy choice, but I have had this for years. Thanks, again!
This is such a nice feature if you are near restaurants that have “pivoted” to grocery or take-out family meals. 3x bc they still code as restaurants then cash out at 1.5, bank the money and wait for better travel days to use on rental properties or independent hotels.
One question, if this promo is not extended and I make an eligible purchase on 4-30-21 will I have 90 days to pay myself back or does this end that day and I have <24 hours to take the credit?
My assumption is that you would have 90 days, but I’m not 100% sure.
I just want to make sure I’m not missing something- currently; if you use a sapphire reserve at a grocery store, you earn one pint- so, even if you pay yourself pack, the value of that point is 1.5 -;far less than other cards. Seems as if it only makes sense to use p y b on categories where you get enhanced points to begin with, like dining. Where the return is equivalent to 4,5. (I think that greg’s grocery purchases where from when chase had a temporary increase on points earned at grocery stores)
That’s correct, but if you think of it as a way to cash out points earned from other purchases, it’s not too bad. For example, assume you accumulate 50K points from 3X purchases (and from 3X and 5X purchases from other Chase UR cards), then you use your Sapphire Reserve for $750 in grocery purchases so that you can cash out your 50K points. Further, let’s say that you could have earned 5% back at grocery stores with some other card. So, for that $750 spend, you lost 3.5% (5% – 1.5% earned from Sapphire Reserve) = $26.50. Now you cash out your 50K points for $750 back. Subtract out the lost opportunity $26.50 and you’re left with $723.50. Cash out value then is $723.50 / 50,000 = 1.447 cents per point. If you compare to a 3% card instead of 5% card, then the cash out math works out to a cash out value of 1.4775 cents per point.
If you use 3X dining purchases to cash out, the math looks much better. If you compare to a card that offers 4.5% or less than you get the full cash out value.
They need to allow pay yourself back for travel. Then we could book travel with any provider instead of Chase Expedia. This would be way better especially if you need to change your plans.
I wouldn’t be surprised to see them switch to travel as a category once travel is a big thing again someday.
My guess is these categories are temporary and Chase is using a planned feature release trying to stay relevant like all travel cards now since no one is traveling. Once travel resumes, Chase will change the PYB categories on all cards to more travel related (Except freedom, I’m sure Chase can take a write off on their end for allowing fee free cardholders to cash out Charity at 1.25 CPP and that won’t expand) and this will be more like USB AR Real Time rewards. It just doesn’t make sense otherwise to allow cardholders to redeem points at “full value” for low margin transactions in such a broad selection of easy to spend categories.
Would love to be wrong though.
[…] offer on a Chase Sapphire Reserve card, you may even be able to reimburse your purchase with the Pay Yourself Back feature and still trigger this offer (YMMV). It may also stack with the 11% rebate offer for those in […]
[…] out this post on Frequent Miler for more about how Pay Yourself Back […]
[…] the increased annual fee would not otherwise be worth it for us). Looking forward, Chase’s Pay Yourself Back feature certainly has me intrigued and I think we’ll likely keep the Sapphire Reserve for at least […]
[…] also that since Chase is currently offering the Pay Yourself Back feature on Sapphire Preferred and Sapphire Reserve cards, these bonuses are even more valuable for many cardholders. For example, if you have a Chase […]
[…] use up my Chase points in a hurry, my first choice would be to go on a grocery shopping spree and pay myself back at a value of 1.5c per […]
[…] many cases, I think the best option at the current moment will be redeeming Chase Ultimate Rewards points to “pay yourself back” for groceries. Given that Chase is currently offering members with the Chase Sapphire Reserve card the chance to […]
Has anyone come across the problem of the “Confirm & Submit” button being grayed out at the end of th redemption process? Shows all my eligible charges and allows me to select max points but can’t complete redemption.
Awesome feature! Two questions; 1) if CC bill is paid in full every month, then would it have a credit amount for charges made in the past 90 days using this? 2) How do DoorDash credits play into this? Let’s say I already received the $60 credit in the past 30 days, then I now use the Pay Yourself Back feature on that charge, would I receive the credit again or do I now have a $60 credit on my CSR?
In both cases, you’ll get credit applied to your account. So, you’re likely to have a negative balance on your account. In your DoorDash example, you would get another credit and your account (if you have no other charges) would show a negative $60 balance.
Very interesting regarding the Doordash credit, do you of data points that show people using the credit 2+ times?
What about a Chase adding this (indefinitely) for erasing travel purchases (like Altitude reserve does I believe)? There is the annual $300 credit but this would add more flexibility. Would allow you to erase purchases you can’t Do via their portal (other parking, tolls etc) and things you do not want to do via portal (like hotel stays where status and earning are not recognized)
I really do hope that they do exactly that. That would make the Sapphire Reserve an unbeatable travel rewards card in my opinion.
[…] Chase “Pay Yourself Back”. Awesome new Sapphire feature! […]
[…] our most recent Frequent Miler on the Air, I made some points about the new ability to cash out Chase points at a value of 1.5c each via the current promotion. When we initially reported this (perhaps limited-time?) option to use points toward groceries and […]
Ann Arbor! Didn’t know you lived there. My hometown
Love this new feature. I’ve always sought ways to pay for taxes or fuel surcharges with Chase UR Points at 1.25 cpp. Now I can get a gift card purchase from the grocery store “erased” so I can use it to cover the charge. Not to mention the ability to buy Airbnb or Hotels.com gift cards as well.
In your example(s) with the Plum Market, there is a reference to “your 50% points savings” ??
I can’t seem to figure out what this is referring to.
I think you identified a mistake in their wording. With the Sapphire Reserve card your points are worth 50% more. That results in a 33% savings not a 50% savings.
And actually a 38% disc including the value of the points (5x groceries)
So, let me guess….meant to publish this Monday morning…. 🙂
Good guess, but no. I did have a different post ready to go for Monday morning until I realized a problem with it. Luckily Stephen had his awesome find ready to go! https://frequentmiler.com/ihg-sweet-spot-dynamic-pricing-4th-night-free/
what time of ms spending are you doing to earn all those points? 🙂
This seems way too good to be true.. the math just doesn’t make sense for this to not lead to some rather unpleasant changes down the pipe or a real tightening of chase’s fairly laissez faire attitude when it comes to churning and MS
1,292,864 points remaining? You must be doing some serious manufacturing spend.
So $450 AF for 90 days to cash out UR at 1.5cpp at Gas/Grocery/Home Improvement.
The CSR $450 AF. It’s at a loss till you cashout 10,000 UR for @ 1.5 cent (at a loss) Assuming you spend the $300 travel credit for groceries, etc but not exciting or business travel reimbursement arbitrage.
Only then are you actually cashing out at 1.5 cents at Gas/Grocery/Home Improvement. I only value doordash credit at $25-27.50 after tips and fees (even with Dashpass) Lyft pink I value for a few laughs.
Yet, grocery and home improvements are not very aspriational or bucket list items for most of us. That’s just part of our normal spend we do organically for points for aspirational type travel or meeting MSR.
I don’t see influencers Gramming trips to HD, IKEA, or Kroger – even for that rain fall shower head. Maybe spoofing a Bali trip at IKEA.
The tables have turned – I think AmEx pulled off a coup with thier EXTRA COVID19 credits – rather than a bonused UR burn exit avenue.
If I burned all my URs what’s keeping me around next AF?
Also CSR doesn’t have a free AU path just $75pp.
Plats can have AUs as gold for free (i.e. more spend) or as paid Plat cards for Amex lounges.
I think AmEx thought this out and Chase reacted and did so poorly without forethought.
Chase had the superior product – when travel was normal. I loved CSR. (PP).
Chases points liability on thier books was likely being inflated away and stagnant – and not a cost center (i.e. redemptions) but post redemption and no travel what’s keeping you on the hook for $450/$525 every 12 months?
Will Chase take back the points earned on purchases when you use Pay Yourself Back on those purchases? It wouldn’t make much sense, but I’d like to confirm that they won’t.
I don’t believe that they will but I’m waiting to see what happens with my points before I’ll feel confident about that answer.
Do we earn points for purchases that are paid back with this feature?
We are still waiting for confirmation about this, but it appears that you do still earn points, including bonus points (such as 3X for dining).
Greg, what do you normally buy at Plum Market Ann Arbor which you earn 15k+ points every couple days?
15K+ points is the number of points required to erase the charge, not how many points I earned. At 1.5 cents, 15K points erases a $225 charge.
Thank you. Greg Jr has a long way to learn. By the way, I really enjoy the weekly YouTube live and podcast. I listen every episode twice, sometimes three times!
I thought your discussion of this with Nick in your recent podcast was really good. Can you note where it is in the podcast ( what minute it begins)? Thanks!
Approx 22:29. Here’s a link to that spot in the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGn2piXzQUA
17:12 Chase’s big new COVID offer
Wow — 90 day look back is cool.
Greg — any sense if it will allow you to go negative in your account so that you would end up with a credit balance in the end? I don’t want to try but if so those with old 90 charges of significance are effectively getting almost true cash back on anything.
My assumption is yes, you can go negative. But I haven’t tried it.
I believe you can. I had a 20% off Sun Basket offer and bought a $100 GC to give as a gift. The 20% credit came in ($20) but I am still able to pay myself back on the $100 purchase (as they come up as 2 different line items). So…wait for the $20 credit, pay myself back on the $100 line item and have a credit balance.
Yes. Chase sends an email asking where to send the cash. Any bank ok.