Potential risk with Chase URs [Ultimate Rewards]

[VictoriaF]

I am crying "Wolf!" again.

Yes, it's another speculation. Yes, there are many reasons why it may never happen. And yes, there are some reasons it could happen. However, unlike my previous Wolf about the transferrability of Marriott/SPG points to airlines, in this case, the fix has no side effects.

Nick Reyes (Frequent Miler) has posted a leak that Chase may limit transfers of Ultimate Rewards (UR) points between premium cards and free cards, see https://frequentmiler.boardingarea.com/ ... transfers/ . Right after I've read it, I moved all my URs to the CSP (I don't have a CSR yet).

Victoria

[02nz]

I think this has a greater chance of turning out to be true than the SPG/Marriott rumor. Chase did customer questionnaires (around a year ago, IIRC) asking about possible changes like limiting transfers to "premium" cards or instituting a ratio that made UR points earned with "non-premium" cards less valuable.

[Freefun]

Thanks for the heads up. I transfer monthly anyway. Just got the freedom unlimited with 3x points or 3% back in the first year (seemed too good to be true).

[TravelGeek]

Thanks for the “crying”, Victoria. I move points earned with my Freedom Unlimited to my CSR every month, but I may need to look into accelerating my spend on my newly acquired Ink Cash business card to get the 50k point bonus asap.

If Freedom Unlimited points no longer transfer with full value (or at all) to CSR, I will have to look at other options for unbonused spend. Some sort of Amex MR play or simply a 2% cashback card.

[rjbraun]

Thanks for the heads up. I transfer monthly anyway. Just got the freedom unlimited with 3x points or 3% back in the first year (seemed too good to be true).

Nice. Is that offer by invitation only? SO recently "product changed" from Chase Sapphire Preferred to Freedom Unlimited. I wonder if there's anyway for him to get the 3x points promo added to his card ...?

[Freefun]

Thanks for the heads up. I transfer monthly anyway. Just got the freedom unlimited with 3x points or 3% back in the first year (seemed too good to be true).

Nice. Is that offer by invitation only? SO recently "product changed" from Chase Sapphire Preferred to Freedom Unlimited. I wonder if there's anyway for him to get the 3x points promo added to his card ...?

Public link. Try here. If you don't see 3x (see 150 bonus instead) try hitting refresh

https://creditcards.chase.com/cash-back ... unlimited/

Blogs have this offer and link as well. Here's one

https://www.uscreditcardguide.com/chase ... edit-card/

[Jags4186]

Just think! All we need is another recession and the banks will be throwing miles at us with abandon again!

[LadyGeek]

This thread is now in the Personal Finance (Not Investing) forum (credit cards). I also retitled the thread to help with the acronym.

[VictoriaF]

This thread is now in the Personal Finance (Not Investing) forum (credit cards). I also retitled the thread to help with the acronym.

Thank you, LadyGeek, and apologies for creating extra work for you.

Victoria

[Mudpuppy]

Doctor of Credit first floated this rumor about a year ago (edit: after the aforementioned surveys went out). I've been transferring my UR points monthly from my Freedom to CSR since then, but that's about it. I'll believe it when I see it at this point.

[UpperNwGuy]

Last week I saw the "3% cash back for the first year" offer on the Freedom Unlimited and was planning to apply for the card after my upcoming trip. My plan was to shift my non-travel spending to the Freedom Unlimited card and then transfer the points over to the Sapphire Reserve card, thereby increasing their value by 50 percent. Being able to transfer points between cards would be essential. However, if the ability to transfer is ending, I'll stick to my current credit card strategy of using the Sapphire Reserve card for travel and dining and a 2% cash back card from my credit union for everything else.

[student]

I also transfer monthly.

[mpsz]

I also transfer every few months... transferring monthly from now on.

My gut is that this will happen. Airlines and hotels devalue their points all of the time. This is the credit card equivalent of a devaluation.

But I think Chase would have to give something, or there would be a pretty sizeable exit. The Freedom Unlimited is completely worthless on its own. It would be hard to justify keeping the CSR vs something like the Citi Prestige which offers similar rewards but has much better perks, like 4th night free. The Freedom can stand on its own, but there's been some rumors Chase would close this card to new applicants and offer the Unlimited as the only Freedom card.

[veindoc]

You may be right. I tried to transfer UR just last week between freedom and reserve and it would not allow me to do on the website. I called customer service and he took care of it right away. But that was very puzzling to me at the time. Maybe a sign of things to come.

[TravelGeek]

You may be right. I tried to transfer UR just last week between freedom and reserve and it would not allow me to do on the website. I called customer service and he took care of it right away. But that was very puzzling to me at the time. Maybe a sign of things to come.

Doubt it. I just transferred points from my FU to my CSR on the site yesterday and it worked fine.

What problem exactly were you having?

[Mudpuppy]

You may be right. I tried to transfer UR just last week between freedom and reserve and it would not allow me to do on the website. I called customer service and he took care of it right away. But that was very puzzling to me at the time. Maybe a sign of things to come.

Doubt it. I just transferred points from my FU to my CSR on the site yesterday and it worked fine.

What problem exactly were you having?

I also transferred my Freedom UR points to my CSR UR points on the website within the past week without problems.

[THY4373]

Citi Prestige which offers similar rewards but has much better perks, like 4th night free

While we are on the subject of rumors. There are rumors again of the 4th night benefit being tweaked. Over on FT somebody got yet another survey recently and many of the questions were around limits on this feature. Honestly I don't see how it can be sustained in its current form. You probably have a small number of road warrior users who are using it several times a months and then a much larger number of users who only use it a few times if any per year. Also on TYP being the equivalent of UR really depends on how you use them. The TYP transfer partners are probably weaker on average than UR but certainly YMMV.

I am also not convinced Citi really wants to play in the luxury card market. The seem to continuously go through cycles of adding features, removing them because not profitable, and then repeating cycle again.

[rjbraun]

Thanks for the heads up. I transfer monthly anyway. Just got the freedom unlimited with 3x points or 3% back in the first year (seemed too good to be true).

Nice. Is that offer by invitation only? SO recently "product changed" from Chase Sapphire Preferred to Freedom Unlimited. I wonder if there's anyway for him to get the 3x points promo added to his card ...?

Public link. Try here. If you don't see 3x (see 150 bonus instead) try hitting refresh

https://creditcards.chase.com/cash-back ... unlimited/

Blogs have this offer and link as well. Here's one

https://www.uscreditcardguide.com/chase ... edit-card/

Thanks. Chase wouldn't bite. Not surprised, I guess. They said that the 3% promo applies to new card applications only. As SO "product changed" he doesn't qualify. Oh well. In the event the rumor of UR transfers getting cut proves to be true, we would likely curtail our Chase cards' activity anyway.

[VictoriaF]

Thanks for the heads up. I transfer monthly anyway. Just got the freedom unlimited with 3x points or 3% back in the first year (seemed too good to be true).

Nice. Is that offer by invitation only? SO recently "product changed" from Chase Sapphire Preferred to Freedom Unlimited. I wonder if there's anyway for him to get the 3x points promo added to his card ...?

Public link. Try here. If you don't see 3x (see 150 bonus instead) try hitting refresh

https://creditcards.chase.com/cash-back ... unlimited/

Blogs have this offer and link as well. Here's one

https://www.uscreditcardguide.com/chase ... edit-card/

Thanks. Chase wouldn't bite. Not surprised, I guess. They said that the 3% promo applies to new card applications only. As SO "product changed" he doesn't qualify. Oh well. In the event the rumor of UR transfers getting cut proves to be true, we would likely curtail our Chase cards' activity anyway.

One of the best sources of travel, credit card, and bank bonus information is Doctor of Credit. They have many original articles and link to important news from other bloggers. I am trying to review https://www.doctorofcredit.com/ once daily to keep on top of the news.

Victoria

[Freefun]

Thanks for the heads up. I transfer monthly anyway. Just got the freedom unlimited with 3x points or 3% back in the first year (seemed too good to be true).

Nice. Is that offer by invitation only? SO recently "product changed" from Chase Sapphire Preferred to Freedom Unlimited. I wonder if there's anyway for him to get the 3x points promo added to his card ...?

Public link. Try here. If you don't see 3x (see 150 bonus instead) try hitting refresh

https://creditcards.chase.com/cash-back ... unlimited/

Blogs have this offer and link as well. Here's one

https://www.uscreditcardguide.com/chase ... edit-card/

Thanks. Chase wouldn't bite. Not surprised, I guess. They said that the 3% promo applies to new card applications only. As SO "product changed" he doesn't qualify. Oh well. In the event the rumor of UR transfers getting cut proves to be true, we would likely curtail our Chase cards' activity anyway.

Sorry for that - should've mentioned that product changes almost never qualify for bonuses.

If you're ever near a chase bank stop in and make friends (bring donuts or whatever). Any kind of relationship may help. Banks sometimes have special CC offers. Also, chase private client isn't subject to 5/24 rules but this means you're parking lots of money with them.

[rjbraun]

Thanks for the heads up. I transfer monthly anyway. Just got the freedom unlimited with 3x points or 3% back in the first year (seemed too good to be true).

Nice. Is that offer by invitation only? SO recently "product changed" from Chase Sapphire Preferred to Freedom Unlimited. I wonder if there's anyway for him to get the 3x points promo added to his card ...?

Public link. Try here. If you don't see 3x (see 150 bonus instead) try hitting refresh

https://creditcards.chase.com/cash-back ... unlimited/

Blogs have this offer and link as well. Here's one

https://www.uscreditcardguide.com/chase ... edit-card/

Thanks. Chase wouldn't bite. Not surprised, I guess. They said that the 3% promo applies to new card applications only. As SO "product changed" he doesn't qualify. Oh well. In the event the rumor of UR transfers getting cut proves to be true, we would likely curtail our Chase cards' activity anyway.

Sorry for that - should've mentioned that product changes almost never qualify for bonuses.

If you're ever near a chase bank stop in and make friends (bring donuts or whatever). Any kind of relationship may help. Banks sometimes have special CC offers. Also, chase private client isn't subject to 5/24 rules but this means you're parking lots of money with them.

Thanks. Actually, we are near a Chase branch (multiple ones) and had soooo much trouble combining our UR points before one of us closed our Sapphire Reserve accounts that we did get to know a banker! Maybe we'll stop in one day to see if he can get us the 3% Freedom Unlimited deal.

I actually already am a Chase Private Client, though I stopped carrying the high account balance quite a while ago. Still wondering if or when they will downgrade my account. Most of my credit cards are with Chase, though (CSR, Chase Freedom, Chase Ink Business Cash, IHG Rewards). I pretty much use those if there's an economic incentive, otherwise I use my CapOne Spark card (2% cash back). I think I would need to regroup my credit limits for Chase to issue me another card, at this point. Ditto for SO who has Chase Freedom and Chase Freedom Unlimited (product changed from CSR and CSP), Chase IHG Rewards. We always pay our bills on time, so presumably that makes us a good credit from Chase's standpoint, though I guess not as profitable as if we incurred late fees!

[02nz]

Update on this: "no current plans" to take away the ability to combine points:

https://viewfromthewing.boardingarea.co ... ple-cards/

The source is a WSJ article (paywall). Here's the quote relevant to this issue:

JPMorgan executives debated whether to stop letting cardholders pool together points from multiple cards, according to people familiar with the matter. JPMorgan’s [spokeswoman Mary Jane] Rogers said the bank has no current plans to stop cardholders from pooling points.

I guess we're ok for now.

[Trism]

Update on this: "no current plans" to take away the ability to combine points:

https://viewfromthewing.boardingarea.co ... ple-cards/

The source is a WSJ article (paywall). Here's the quote relevant to this issue:

JPMorgan executives debated whether to stop letting cardholders pool together points from multiple cards, according to people familiar with the matter. JPMorgan’s [spokeswoman Mary Jane] Rogers said the bank has no current plans to stop cardholders from pooling points.

I guess we're ok for now.

Thank you for posting this update.

[DrGrnTum]

With the announcement of the new Chase Freedom Flex card and the changes to points earnings on the regular Freedom, I am wondering if maybe chase will indeed announce that points pooling will no longer be allowed.

When the Reserve first came out I read that Chase was overwhelmed by the signup response. When the two-year mark for eligibility to again sign up for the bonus was approaching, Chase changed the eligibility to four years. Now, as the four-year mark is approaching for all those initial signups, I am pretty sure Chase will soon be announcing changes to the Reserve and Preferred cards.

[UpperNwGuy]

With the announcement of the new Chase Freedom Flex card and the changes to points earnings on the regular Freedom, I am wondering if maybe chase will indeed announce that points pooling will no longer be allowed.

When the Reserve first came out I read that Chase was overwhelmed by the signup response. When the two-year mark for eligibility to again sign up for the bonus was approaching, Chase changed the eligibility to four years. Now, as the four-year mark is approaching for all those initial signups, I am pretty sure Chase will soon be announcing changes to the Reserve and Preferred cards.

The initial signups for the Chase Sapphire Reserve began on August 22, 2016, and the first annual fees were billed on September 1, 2016. I expected to wake up this morning to see this year's annual fee having posted to my account overnight, but it wasn't there. Something's up.

[cowdogman]

With the announcement of the new Chase Freedom Flex card and the changes to points earnings on the regular Freedom, I am wondering if maybe chase will indeed announce that points pooling will no longer be allowed.

When the Reserve first came out I read that Chase was overwhelmed by the signup response. When the two-year mark for eligibility to again sign up for the bonus was approaching, Chase changed the eligibility to four years. Now, as the four-year mark is approaching for all those initial signups, I am pretty sure Chase will soon be announcing changes to the Reserve and Preferred cards.

The initial signups for the Chase Sapphire Reserve began on August 22, 2016, and the first annual fees were billed on September 1, 2016. I expected to wake up this morning to see this year's annual fee having posted to my account overnight, but it wasn't there. Something's up.

Transaction date is the first of the month. Posted second of month. Annual fee should show up online tomorrow or Thursday. At least that's how it has worked for me.

[Workaholic]

With the announcement of the new Chase Freedom Flex card and the changes to points earnings on the regular Freedom, I am wondering if maybe chase will indeed announce that points pooling will no longer be allowed.

When the Reserve first came out I read that Chase was overwhelmed by the signup response. When the two-year mark for eligibility to again sign up for the bonus was approaching, Chase changed the eligibility to four years. Now, as the four-year mark is approaching for all those initial signups, I am pretty sure Chase will soon be announcing changes to the Reserve and Preferred cards.

Agreed. I'm sort of questioning the same. I mean if you're having a no AF card earn 3% on dining and you can transfer that to a points bank where you can redeem them for 4.5 cents, it seems like this could be quite costly for Chase if enough people utilize it. Not to mention if they transfer them to United or Hyatt where routinely you can get 2 cents per point in value or 6 cents total on a $0 fee card.

I just hope if they do go this route, Chase gives the consumers some advanced notice so they can reevaluate their cards and spending. This would be an unpleasant surprise to wake up to.