Chase’s Pay Yourself Back feature: How to maximize cash back using your rewards
If Chase’s Pay Yourself Back hasn’t been on your radar in a while, it may be worth brushing up on this redemption option.
Not only has the option expanded to a broader list of Chase cards, but some redemption rates aren’t anything to sneeze at, especially as some airline mile devaluations have occurred when using the miles for more traditional uses. Chase offers this option on some cobranded credit cards, including Southwest Airlines cards and the Aeroplan® Credit Card.
To paint a picture of how this can be useful if you have a United credit card, you may be able to use the miles to offset the annual fee at a rate as high as 1.75 cents per mile, which is well above the rate at which TPG’s October 2024 valuations peg United miles for travel and worthy of your consideration. With the $525-per-year United Club℠ Infinite Card, you can offset the annual fee (and get a whole year of United Club access in the process) for just 30,000 United miles.
Moreover, many of these redemption options were set to expire at the end of September but are now good through the end of 2024.
Here’s everything you need to know about using Chase Pay Yourself Back.
What is Chase Pay Yourself Back?
In 2020, when most of the world wasn’t traveling, Chase initially introduced Pay Yourself Back as an ongoing redemption option within its Ultimate Rewards products to give cardmembers another choice in redeeming points. The categories have evolved over time, removing options such as grocery and home improvement stores and adding others.
In short, the Pay Yourself Back option allows cardholders of many Chase cards to use points at a redemption value similar to booking travel. This won’t typically give you the maximum value for your Ultimate Rewards points you can get with strategic use of transfer partners; however, it could be a good choice if you’re looking for a simple return or are sitting on a pile of points without immediate use.
And with some airline cards now eligible for Pay Yourself Back, the rate at which you can redeem for some categories is over the average return you’ll likely get when using the miles to book travel.
Related: The best Chase credit cards
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What purchases are eligible for Pay Yourself Back?
Here are the current categories eligible for Pay Yourself Back:
| Card | Redemption value | Current end date |
|---|---|---|
| Chase Sapphire Reserve® | Select charities: 1.5 cents per point
Utilities, insurance, gas stations, fitness clubs and gym memberships, and cardholder annual fees: 1.25 cents per point |
Dec. 31 |
| Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card | Select charities: 1.25 cents per point | Dec. 31 |
| Chase Freedom Flex®, Chase Freedom Unlimited® and Chase Freedom | Select charities: 1.25 cents per point | Dec. 31 |
| Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card, Ink Business Premier® Credit Card, Ink Business Cash® Credit Card and Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card | Select charities: 1.25 cents per point | Dec. 31 |
| Chase United credit cards (except no annual fee cards) | Cardholder annual fees and airfare tickets purchased through United: 1.5-1.75 cents per mile for annual fee redemptions, depending on the card
|
Ongoing; no specific end date |
| Aeroplan Credit Card | Travel purchases in the past 90 days and cardholder annual fee: 1.25 cents per point | Dec. 31 |
| Southwest Airlines personal and business credit cards | Cardholder annual fees: 1 cent per point | Dec. 31 |
| Disney credit cards | Purchases made at select U.S. Disney locations in Disney Parks and Resorts, Disney store and outlet locations in the U.S., shopDisney.com, DisneyPlus.com, Hulu.com, and ESPNPlus.com in the past 90 days: 1 cent per point | Ongoing; no specific end date |
The information for the Chase Freedom card has been collected independently by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.
The list of charities for Pay Yourself Back includes:
- American Red Cross
- Equal Justice Initiative
- Feeding America
- GLSEN
- Habitat for Humanity
- International Medical Corps
- International Rescue Committee, Inc.
- Leadership Conference Education Fund
- Make-A-Wish America
- NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund
- National Urban League
- Out & Equal Workplace Advocates
- SAGE
- Thurgood Marshall College Fund
- United Negro College Fund
- UNICEF USA
- United Way
- World Central Kitchen
Let’s say you had an eligible donation on the Chase Sapphire Reserve. For most purchases, you’ll get a $100 statement credit when redeeming 10,000 points. But for those same 10,000 points, you’ll get a credit of $150 when you redeem them for your eligible charity donation. You could likely get an even higher value by transferring your points to travel partners, but this redemption rate matches the rate offered on Chase Travel℠ redemptions for that card.
Requesting a credit
Requesting a credit through Chase’s Pay Yourself Back program is relatively straightforward. Log in to your eligible Chase account via the mobile app or desktop and select the “Pay Yourself Back” option in the redemption menu.
Next, you’ll see a list of eligible purchases for which you can redeem points. Points can be redeemed for purchases as far back as 90 days.
You can offset the full purchase amount, assuming you have enough points to cover it.
From there, you can confirm the redemption value and amount of points required and then choose to complete the transaction. Your statement credit should post within three business days.
Statement credit options on other purchases
Chase has long offered the option to redeem points for a statement credit — that’s not new. To do this, log into your Ultimate Rewards account, hit the drop-down menu and select “Cash Back.”
You’ll be given an option to enter the amount you’d like to redeem and where you’d like your rewards deposited. All cash-back redemptions are fixed at 1 cent per point, a little less than half of TPG’s October 2024 valuation for Ultimate Rewards and lower than any of the above Pay Yourself Back options.
Related: Points of View: Can I cash out my points, and is it worth it?
Even so, Chase’s traditional cash-back option is more generous than what you can expect from some other issuers. Here’s how it breaks down for some of the most popular programs and cards:
The information for the Citi Prestige card has been collected independently by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.
Bottom line
Chase’s Pay Yourself Back feature provides valuable flexibility for many cardholders. Ultimately, whether you should redeem your balance in this way depends on how you plan to use your points, how many you currently have and whether or not you’d benefit significantly from the statement credits.
Related: The best Chase cards
