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Update: Chase's Pay Yourself Back has been extended and expanded multiple times since this news post was originally published on September 29, 2020. Click here for the latest on Chase Pay Yourself Back.
With September ending and the last quarter of 2020 looming, we're faced with some good news and bad news. The bad news: after months of lockdown, traveling still isn't a viable option for many people. The good news: Chase sees this too, and is ensuring that your travel-centric credit cards continue to provide value as they did in the pre-COVID era (“P.C.E.”?). In response, Chase has extended its popular ‘Pay Yourself Back' feature, while also expanding it to include certain Ink small business credit cards and Freedom cards.
Chase ‘Pay Yourself Back' Overview
In May 2020, Chase unveiled the ‘Pay Yourself Back' feature in response to diminishing travel demand. It allows Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card and Chase Sapphire Reserve® cardholders to redeem points to offset purchases made at select merchant categories.
Initially, the categories included dining (including delivery and takeout), grocery stores, and home improvement stores. In July, Chase added select charities to the list of Pay Yourself Back-eligible transactions.
Points are worth 1.25¢ and 1.5¢ each for the Sapphire Preferred and Sapphire Reserve, respectively. For example, if you buy $150 worth of groceries on your Sapphire Reserve, this feature allows you to use 10,000 points (within 90 days) to offset the purchase.
Chase originally announced that this feature would end on September 30, 2020.
Extended and Expanded
In addition to pushing back the end date, Chase has also introduced the feature to select Ink and Freedom cards, with new deadlines dependent on the card.
Pay Yourself Back on Sapphire Preferred and Sapphire Reserve
- Available — through April 30, 2021
- Eligible Merchant Categories — grocery stores, dining (including delivery and takeout), home improvement stores (including Lowes and Home Depot), and select charitable contributions*
- Point Value — 1.25¢ per point for Sapphire Preferred cardholders and 1.5¢ per point for Sapphire Reserve cardholders
- Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
- Enjoy benefits such as 5x on travel purchased through Chase Travel℠, 3x on dining, select streaming services and online groceries, 2x on all other travel purchases, 1x on all other purchases, $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit, plus more.
- Earn up to $50 in statement credits each account anniversary year for hotel stays through Chase Travel℠
- 10% anniversary points boost - each account anniversary you'll earn bonus points equal to 10% of your total purchases made the previous year.
- Count on Trip Cancellation/Interruption Insurance, Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver, Lost Luggage Insurance and more.
- Complimentary DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees & lower service fees for a min. of one year when you activate by 12/31/27. Plus, a $10 promo each month on non-restaurant orders.
- Member FDIC
- Rates & Fees
- 5X points on Lyft rides through September 2027
- 5X points on travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 3X points on dining at restaurants worldwide
- 3X points on eligible streaming services
- 3X points on online grocery purchases (excluding Target, Walmart, and wholesale clubs)
- 2X points on all other travel
- 1X point per dollar spent on all other purchases
- Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
- $300 Annual Travel Credit as reimbursement for travel purchases charged to your card each account anniversary year.
- Earn 5x total points on flights and 10x total points on hotels and car rentals when you purchase travel through Chase Travel℠ immediately after the first $300 is spent on travel purchases annually. Earn 3x points on other travel and dining & 1 point per $1 spent on all other purchases
- Get 50% more value when you redeem your points for travel through Chase Travel℠. For example, 60,000 points are worth $900 toward travel.
- 1:1 point transfer to leading airline and hotel loyalty programs
- Access to 1,300+ airport lounges worldwide after an easy, one-time enrollment in Priority Pass™ Select and up to $120 application fee credit every four years for Global Entry, NEXUS, or TSA PreCheck®
- Count on Trip Cancellation/Interruption Insurance, Auto Rental Coverage, Lost Luggage Insurance and more.
- Member FDIC
- Rates & Fees
- 10X points on hotels and car rentals purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 10X points on Chase Dining (including prepaid reservations and prepaid takeout purchased through Chase)
- 5X points on airfare purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 3X points on all other travel
- 3X points on dining at restaurants
- 1X points on all other purchases
Pay Yourself Back on Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card and Ink Plus® Business Credit Card
- Available — … with no end date specified
- Eligible Merchant Categories — Select charitable contributions*
- Point Value — 1.25¢ per point
- Earn 90k bonus points after you spend $8,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. That's $900 cash back or $1,125 toward travel when redeemed through Chase Travel℠
- Earn 3 points per $1 on the first $150,000 spent on travel and select business categories each account anniversary year. Earn 1 point per $1 on all other purchases
- Round-the-clock monitoring for unusual credit card purchases
- With Zero Liability you won't be held responsible for unauthorized charges made with your card or account information.
- Redeem points for cash back, gift cards, travel and more - your points don't expire as long as your account is open
- Points are worth 25% more when you redeem for travel through Chase Travel℠
- Purchase Protection covers your new purchases for 120 days against damage or theft up to $10,000 per claim and $50,000 per account.
- Member FDIC
- Rates & Fees
- 3X points per $1 on the first $150,000 spent in combined purchases on travel, shipping purchases, Internet, cable and phone services, advertising purchases made with social media sites and search engines each account anniversary year
- 1X point per $1 on all other purchases
Pay Yourself Back on Chase Freedom®, Chase Freedom Unlimited®, and Chase Freedom Flex℠
- Available — starting October 1, 2020… with no end date specified
- Eligible Merchant Categories — Select charitable contributions*
- Point Value — 1¢ per point
*Current eligible charities include:
- American Red Cross
- Equal Justice Initiative
- Feeding America
- Habitat for Humanity
- International Medical Corporation
- Leadership Education Fund
- NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund
- National Urban League
- Thurgood Marshall College Fund
- United Negro College Fund
- United Way
- World Central Kitchen
- Earn 5% on up to $1,500 on combined purchases in bonus categories each quarter you activate
- Earn 5% on travel purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards
- Earn 3% on dining at restaurants, including takeout and eligible delivery services
- Earn 3% on drugstore purchases
- Earn 1% on all other purchases
- Intro Offer: Earn a $200 Bonus after you spend $500 on purchases in your first 3 months from account opening
- Enjoy 5% cash back on travel purchased through Chase Travel℠, our premier rewards program that lets you redeem rewards for cash back, travel, gift cards and more; 3% cash back on drugstore purchases and dining at restaurants, including takeout and eligible delivery service, and 1.5% on all other purchases.
- No minimum to redeem for cash back. You can choose to receive a statement credit or direct deposit into most U.S. checking and savings accounts. Cash Back rewards do not expire as long as your account is open!
- Enjoy 0% Intro APR for 15 months from account opening on purchases and balance transfers, then a variable APR of 18.99% - 28.49%.
- No annual fee - You won't have to pay an annual fee for all the great features that come with your Freedom Unlimited® card
- Keep tabs on your credit health, Chase Credit Journey helps you monitor your credit with free access to your latest score, alerts, and more.
- Member FDIC
- Rates & Fees
- Earn 5% on purchases through Chase Travel℠
- Earn 3% on dining at restaurants
- Earn 3% on drugstore purchases
- Earn 1.5% on all purchases
Our Take
Overall, given its popularity, I'm not at all surprised that Chase has opted to extend ‘Pay Yourself Back'. The feature's interface and usability are fantastic, leading me to assume that Chase devoted a fair amount of resources to its development. All that effort for a short-term offering never made sense, which is why I expected it to stick around.
Sapphire Cards
I am pleasantly surprised to see Chase sticking with the same 1.25$ and 1.5¢ point value for Sapphire cards. These rates match the value cardmembers receive when booking travel through the Chase Travel℠ Portal. That gives grounded cardmembers a great way of cashing out points when hotel and airfare bookings aren't an option.
Freedom Cards
The expansion to Freedom cards is intriguing, although this new option doesn't provide any additional value. The notion of cashing in Ultimate Rewards for charitable contributions is nice, but the rate is at the same 1 cent per point cash-out rate that you can get for other purchases.
Ink Cards
That leaves Ink Plus Card and Ink Preferred cardholders, who can offset select online advertising and shipping purchases. These are undoubtedly popular purchase categories among some small businesses—and for them, this feature could be massively valuable.
However, there are also many businesses that don't make a lot of online advertising and shipping purchases. Ergo, with limited categories, the value of this feature is equally limited for cardholders. But, maybe we'll see Chase adjust these eligible purchase categories more in the future.
How do you feel about Chase's ‘Pay Yourself Back' feature?
For rates and fees of the cards mentioned in this post, please visit the following links: Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card (Rates & Fees), Chase Sapphire Reserve® (Rates & Fees), Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card (Rates & Fees), and Chase Freedom Unlimited® (Rates & Fees)
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