The Points Guy
The Chase Freedom technically earns Chase Ultimate Rewards points, not cash.
- I used to redeem the points I earned on my Chase Freedom card for cash back at a value of 1 cent per point, not realizing that the Freedom card actually earns Ultimate Rewards points, not cash.
- To get more value per point, I can transfer my points to my Chase Sapphire Preferred Card. Frankly, that sounds like a complicated pain ... but it was shockingly easy.
- It took me about three minutes, maybe less, to consolidate my points on my Sapphire Preferred Card, where they can now be redeemed at a value of at least 1.25 cents per point.
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For years, I applied the cash back from my Chase Freedom card to my credit card statement, to lower the next month's bill.
What a moron.
I'm kidding (a little), but the truth is that I wasn't getting the most value from my card all those years I was redeeming cash back. That's because the thing many people don't realize - I didn't until recently - is that while the Chase Freedom card is marketed as a cash-back card, it's really earning Chase Ultimate Rewards, the same currency earned by points powerhouses like the Chase Sapphire Preferred and Chase Sapphire Reserve.
What makes those two cards so valuable is when you redeem Ultimate Rewards through Chase for travel, each point from the Preferred is worth 1.25 cents, and each point from the Reserve is worth 1.5 cents. It's possible to get even more value by transferring those points to airline partners, but right off the bat, that's more value than the 1 cent each point is worth when you redeem it for cash.
I'm relatively new to rewards cards and couldn't justify the Reserve's $450 annual fee for the time being, so I opened the Sapphire Preferred over the summer ($95 a year) and got a sign-up bonus of 60,000 points once I spent $4,000 within the first three months.
After learning about consolidating points, I got curious and started poking around the Chase site. Less than three minutes later (I'm not exaggerating) all of my Chase points were in my Sapphire Preferred account, ready to be used for travel.
How to transfer your Chase Ultimate Rewards points between cards
1. Log into the Chase Ultimate Rewards portal with your account information
You can get to the portal from your account page. I clicked into my Freedom card (the card with the points I wanted to transfer) and opened up my Ultimate Rewards balance, highlighted here in red.
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2. Expand the Ultimate Rewards menu to see all your options
After looking over the menu options in the portal, I didn't see anything about transferring points, so I expanded the menu by clicking the icon on the right-hand side.
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3. Select 'combine points'
Bingo! The last hidden option was "combine points," which sounded like what I was looking for.
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4. Select which cards you want transfer points to and from
The site automatically surfaces any Chase cards you have that are currently earning Ultimate Rewards - for me, that was just two: the Chase Freedom and the Chase Sapphire Preferred. If I had a Sapphire Reserve, I would have consolidated all my points on that card to maximize value, but with only two cards my choice was easy.
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5. Select how many points you want to transfer
All of them, of course! I realized after doing this that I have another 3,000-plus points coming with my next statement (thanks, Q4 5% back from Paypal purchases), but it's so easy I'll just do it again.
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6. Confirm that you're moving the right number of points between the right cards
When you scroll down, the site confirms which cards you're using for this transaction.
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7. Confirm again, just to be safe
How refreshing to see that my points will be moved instantly - for most banking transactions, you have to wait a few hours or days, biting your nails (if you're anything like me) the whole time.
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8. Take note of your order number in case there's an issue
For me, there was no issue: When I logged back in a little while later, the points balance on my Freedom card was zero ... exactly what I wanted.
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Learn more about the Chase Freedom »
Learn more about the Chase Sapphire Preferred »
Learn more about the Chase Sapphire Reserve »
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