My favorite points programs are transferable points programs. These are programs that let the account holder transfer points to their choice of a number of airline and hotel programs. See: A quick guide to transferable points programs. My favorite transferable points program is Chase Ultimate Rewards…
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Complex Chase point transfer rules
In addition to allowing point transfers to a variety of airline and hotel program, Chase lets you transfer points from one card account to another, or from one person’s account to another, or from one person’s account to another person’s airline or hotel account. Chase has strict rules about these point transfers. In some cases, the point recipient must be a household member and an authorized user on your account. In some cases it’s possible to transfer points to someone outside of your household. When you move points from one Chase account to another, Chase calls this “Combine points”. When you move points from a Chase account to an airline or hotel loyalty program, Chase calls this “Transfer points”. Chase has different rules for combining points than for transferring points.
Chase point transfer rules made simple
To help explain Chase’s point combine and transfer rules, I teamed up with Travel Is Free to develop an infographic, shown below.
Additional details
Chase has more Ultimate Rewards cards than those shown above. Chase Sapphire, Ink Classic, and Ink Bold are no longer available to new applicants, but many people still carry these cards. Additionally, there’s the JP Morgan Palladium card, available only to Chase Private Client customers. Soon, Chase will also offer the Chase Freedom Unlimited card. Here’s how to read the above infographic for these cards:
- Sapphire (not Sapphire Preferred) and Freedom Unlimited follow the same rules as the Freedom card.
- Ink Classic follows the same rules as Ink Cash.
- JP Morgan Palladium follows the same rules as Sapphire Preferred.
- Ink Bold follows the same rules as Ink Plus.
Rules in text form, straight from Chase
Here are the rules as written on Chase’s website as of 3/7/2016:
Combine points personal cards:
You can move your points, but only to another Chase card with Ultimate Rewards belonging to you, or one member of your household. If we suspect that you’ve engaged in fraudulent activity related to your credit card account or Ultimate Rewards, or that you’ve misused Ultimate Rewards in any way (for example by buying or selling points, moving or transferring points with or to an ineligible third party or account, or repeatedly opening or otherwise maintaining credit card accounts for the sole purpose of generating rewards) we may temporarily prohibit you from earning points or using points you’ve already earned. If we believe you’ve engaged in any of these acts, we’ll close your credit card account and you’ll lose all your points.
Combine points business cards:
You can move your points, but only to another Chase card with Ultimate Rewards belonging to you, one member of your household, or your joint business owner, as applicable. If we suspect that you’ve engaged in fraudulent activity related to your credit card account or Ultimate Rewards, or that you’ve misused Ultimate Rewards in any way (for example by buying or selling points, moving or transferring points with or to an ineligible third party or account, or repeatedly opening or otherwise maintaining credit card accounts for the sole purpose of generating rewards) we may temporarily prohibit you from earning points or using points you’ve already earned. If we believe you’ve engaged in any of these acts, we’ll close your credit card account and you’ll lose all your points.
Transfer points to loyalty programs:
For Consumer Card accounts, you may only transfer points to yourself or one additional household member who is listed as an authorized user on your card account. For Business Card accounts, you may only transfer points to yourself or an owner of the company who is listed as an authorized user on your card account.
See more cool stuff
If you enjoyed this infographic and want to see more, see Travel is Free’s InfoGraphics page.