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Chase Ultimate Rewards points do not expire due to inactivity. However, there are a couple of situations that can lead to you losing all your points.
First, if you close your account, the balance of points in your account will be forfeited after a period of 30 days. However, you can preempt this and transfer your points to another partner or another Chase card. More about this below.
Chase also gives itself the right to close your account and cause you to forfeit all of your points if you misuse the program or if you fail to pay your balance. As Chase puts it:
Your points don’t expire as long as your account is open; however, you’ll immediately lose all your points if your account is closed for program misuse, fraudulent activities, failure to pay, bankruptcy, or other reasons described in the terms of the Rewards Program Agreement.
How to Earn Chase Ultimate Rewards Points
You have a wide range of options to earn Chase Ultimate Rewards points. You can do so via spending on consumer, small business credit cards, and even cashback cards if you have the right combination of cards. Credit cards that earn fully-transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards points include:
If you hold any of the above fee-paying Ultimate Rewards card, you can also convert cashback earned from the following cards to points at a rate of 1 cent of cashback = 1 point.
- Chase Freedom Flex℠
- Chase Freedom Unlimited®
- Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card
- Ink Business Cash® Credit Card
This list is not exhaustive. Read our complete guide to cards that earn Chase Ultimate Rewards points to find out which cards earn points — including those that are not taking new applications — and those earning cashback that can be converted to points.
- Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. That's $750 when you redeem through Chase Ultimate Rewards®.
- Enjoy benefits such as a $50 annual Ultimate Rewards Hotel Credit, 5x on travel purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards®, 3x on dining and 2x on all other travel purchases, plus more.
- Get 25% more value when you redeem for airfare, hotels, car rentals and cruises through Chase Ultimate Rewards®. For example, 60,000 points are worth $750 toward travel.
- With Pay Yourself Back℠, your points are worth 25% more during the current offer when you redeem them for statement credits against existing purchases in select, rotating categories
- Count on Trip Cancellation/Interruption Insurance, Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver, Lost Luggage Insurance and more.
- Get complimentary access to DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2024.
- 5X points on Lyft rides through March 2022
- 5X points on travel purchased through Chase
- 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
When Do Chase Ultimate Rewards Points Expire
The primary way that Chase points expire is 30 days after you do close your card account. However, according to the Chase Ultimate Rewards Agreement, you will lose all your Ultimate Rewards points in the following situations:
- Failure to make your minimum payment within 60 days of the due date.
- Filing for bankruptcy.
- Engaging in fraudulent activity related to the account or program.
- Churning accounts to generate points.
- Using manufactured spending techniques to create points.
- Buying or selling points.
- Transferring points to ineligible parties.
- Failing to comply with the Chase Ultimate Rewards agreement.
- If Chase believes you have misused your points, including using a third-party partner program.
How to Keep Your Chase Points From Expiring if You Close a Chase Card
If you opt to close your account, you will have 30 days to use your points before they are forfeited. However, you have a few options:
- If you hold more than one Chase Ultimate Rewards earning card and are only closing one, you can combine the points earned on that card with another Chase Ultimate Rewards card. By doing so, you transfer the points at risk of expiring to a card that you're going to keep. To do so, you'll need another Ultimate Rewards card account in your name.
- If you only have one Ultimate Rewards card, you can transfer points to someone else in your household — or a business co-owner in the event of a business credit card — who will still have an Ultimate Rewards-earning card.
- Transfer your points to your favorite frequent flyer program or travel partner to prevent them from being lost after 30 days. This is not ideal since it locks your points into a program and most airline programs have expiration deadlines. However, it is better than losing them entirely.
The critical thing to remember is that you have 30 days to move your points. So it is best to do some planning before you close your account, so you know exactly where you will transfer your points.
Do Chase Points Expire Due to Inactivity?
Most airline and hotel loyalty program points expire after a period of inactivity. However, that is not the case with Chase Ultimate Rewards. You don't have to worry about Chase points expiring as long as you have an Ultimate Rewards-earning card open.
If you’re concerned about your points expiring or somehow losing your rewards, call the number on the back of your card to have Chase address your specific concern.
Our Take
Chase Ultimate Rewards are one of the strongest points currencies out there. Cardholders can earn Ultimate Rewards points through several cards. Plus, you have many ways to use them for travel rewards — either through the Chase travel portal or by transferring them to Chase's transfer partners. And, you don't have to worry about Chase points expiring as long as you keep at least one Chase Ultimate Rewards-earning card open.
The comments on this page are not provided, reviewed, or otherwise approved by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.
We like to hold the non-expiring UR points until we need to transfer for a trip we plan 🙂
I love the big signup bonus with Chase. My DIL was given a “we’ll think about it” response. Any idea why? She doesn’t have many cc’s in her history.
Can you transfer from Ink to Sapphire? Thanks
Yes! We show the process here: https://awardwallet.com/blog/combine-chase-ultimate-rewards-multiple-credit-cards/
If the Ink isn’t showing up as an eligible account, you may need to link the cards by combining log-ins: https://awardwallet.com/blog/combine-chase-accounts-automated-process/
I’ve heard if the balance gets big enough, chase will terminate the account. Never happened to me, I don’t let my rewards get more the $500 before redeeming.
Thanks for the info, good tip on combining accounts to another card prior to closing an account.
I have the same question regarding the steps required to follow to transfer points to another card belonging to household member. Can anyone help? Thank u
The process is currently very much in flux right now. Chase recently removed the option to do so online, but reports from readers are that you can call Chase to request a transfer. It may be an anti-fraud measure that Chase is implementing.
The Chase card programs are usually pretty good deals. The 100k bonus points is about the best you’re going to get. And for those who feel $4k expenditure over three months is difficult, consider inquiring about ability to pay your Rent or Mortgage for a few months using a credit card, even if they impose a small fee! It really ends up being worth it. I pay a lot of utilities using my credit card, groceries add up, and other spends. So spending $4k over three months really isn’t that difficult for many people if you consider ways to use the card that you normally wouldn’t do. Cheers!
Yeah I do not have this problem. I don’t think that this would cross my mind since I use my cards way too often. lol! I love getting this points. I have plans for these points. Doesn’t everybody?
I got my first Chase Ink card just after takeover from legacy WAMU checking accounts. Still have Ink Plus, Ink Biz & Freedom helps get UR points.
May get another CSR sometime….
I would like to cancel my chase credit/debit card. I have requested this before but I keep getting mail on this card. thanks Tonny Rachal.
Love the CSR, so far…
Being able to not worry about my points expiring is one more reason to keep my Chase UR cc’s at the top of my wallet.
Great knowing I can group my points onto better cards
nice to know this
Thank you for the heads up. I don’t know if I will ever get rid of my chase card since I’ve really been able to use it for so many things! I just love the options I have using it! Cash, giftcards, using the points for travel, redeeming them at Amazon, etc. Just wonderful! I have been thinking about getting the freedom unlimited. What is Award Wallet’s option on which would be the best earner of points with chase? I use my freedom card really during the the 5% boost and then focus on everything else on my disney credit card. Would be it be better to have the freedom unlimited and divide charges between my disney and freedom unlimited or stay with the boost and disney card? I’m thinking for a trip it’ll be better to focus on my freedom card next time but well now I’m well into the disney build up. thank you for your thoughts!
The best earners are the Freedom Unlimited (1.5x points on everything) and the Sapphire Reserve (3x on travel & dining). Those two, in our opinion are the best cards for racking up Ultimate Rewards. The Disney card isn’t particularly rewarding with what you spend on it — you’re probably better off with even a simple 2% cash back card.
Sometimes it is advantageous to change the brand name on a card rather than cancelling it…for example “downgrading” a CSR to a Chase Freedom.
This strategy will do less damage to one’s credit score.
this is the same for United miles as long as you have a Chase United card
Marc, you need to use the United card — so a simple charge of a cup of coffee once in a while will work, but yes, effectively the same.
I guess I will keep my Chase Freedom card around then. Thanks for the information.
Didn’t know you could transfer points to another account, good to know!
Its really card to card under the same UR account. Not even a number like Amex.
Helpful article- how do you transfer the points to another card or household member? are there fees involved in that transfer? thanks
Jason, once you login to your account at UltimateRewards.com, if you hover over your balance in the top right-hand corner you should see a popup that comes out and it provides you an option to “Combine Points”.
The two cards I use the most: Chase Sapphire Preferred and the Chase Freedom Unlimited. Both GREAT cards, and because the Ultimate Rewards points transfer to so many airlines and hotels these are no-brainers!
Good to know! I was thinking of closing my Chase reward cards but didn’t realize I would lose all my points in that process so I will keep one account open.
Super helpful, we were about to close our freedom card. Good to know to transfer the points to our preferred card. Thanks!!
IMO everyone should have a couple of Freedoms, they and the Inks are the most robust earning UR cards Chase has. Two freedoms can easily earn 30k to 45k ea year even skipping a quarter. Like a mini signup bonus year in and year out.
Good to know! I don’t need to worry so much about award points expiring these days though with Award Wallet!
This article is a great primer for people (like me) who do not remember all the benefits of Ultimate Rewards points. These are more reasons why I am concentrating on bank points and not hotel points this year.