Frequent Miler is reporting that they have received a report from a trusted source indicating that Chase is actively looking at eliminating the ability to pool Chase Ultimate Rewards accounts between cards and households. The reason this is an issue is because that the points can be used for different things based on the card, for example:
- Chase Sapphire Preferred, Chase Sapphire Reserve, Chase Ink Plus/Bold/ and Chase Ink Preferred all give you the ability to transfer these points to travel partners at a 1:1 rate.
- Chase Sapphire Preferred makes points worth 1.25¢ each when redeeming via the Chase travel portal, Chase Sapphire Reserve makes them worth 1.5¢ each
Even though the Chase Freedom, Chase Freedom Unlimited & Chase Ink Cash cards are marketed as cash back cards they actually earn Chase Ultimate rewards points. For example the Chase Freedom Unlimited currently offers 3% back in the first year on all purchases, that’s actually 3x Chase UR points.
It’s important to note that currently it looks like Chase are still considering these changes rather than having formally decided to implement them. Chase sent out a survey last year regarding similar changes and some of the suggested changes were:
- “When you combine the Ultimate Rewards points on eligible Chase Cards they would retain their original redemption value – that is, when transferred the points would retain the redemption value of the product they were initially earned on. For example you would not earn a travel redemption bonus if your transfer from a no fee card to a Fee card.”
- “You can only combine Ultimate Reward points between no-annual fee cards or between annual fee cards. You cannot combine Ultimate Rewards points between a no-annual fee card and an annual fee card.”
- “You can combine Ultimate Rewards points on eligible Chase cards at a 3:2 conversion ratio. For example if you would like to transfer 15,000 points from your Freedom Unlimited card to your Sapphire Reserve account, your Sapphire Reserve would be credited with 10,000 points (a 3:2 ratio). The transferred points would be granted the redemption value and options of the account to which they are transferred into.”
Because of this I’d strongly recommend transferring points to your most valuable card immediately and then continue to do so on an on going basis. I suspect we will get some warning when/if these changes do come into effect (even if only through a leak) but I wouldn’t rely on it. We’ve also reached out to our own sources to find out more, but it’s possible they won’t know anything if it’s still in the planning stages.
anyon get error i tired moving points from my chase business ink to my wife’s chase reserve and it says “This card is not eligible to receive points from you at this time.”
Do you think there will be official notice given for this, or just an overnight kind of deal?
Definitely notice of 30-60 Days minimum.
Yeah, I think it was a IT issue, before I couldn’t now I could! I just moved my points!
Friday – 11:30a.m. ET – I just tried to move some points from my Wife’s account to Mine (Ink Cash to my Ink Business Preferred) and it Gave me a Error Message repeatedly. Moved them from her Ink Cash to her Business Preferred without any issues. I have the only Reserve Card. A temporary IT issue or ?? Never had this issue before.
Exactly the same issue. Tried the first time when this post came online and tried again today. Same unexpected error message.
Happened to call a CSR rep. today, for help with pooling from my Ink Cash account over to CSR. (something vague had gone wrong) He kindly made the transfer instantly (and manually). Amid a pleasant chat, learned he and his family also have the CSR — and much understand why it’s so popular…. Hazarded to ask him if he’d heard any rumors about Chase ending pooling any time soon. He was both shocked and adamant in doubting Chase would end the pooling…. (as that’s precisely why people would keep the card — he gets it) Hope he’s right.
I just moved my points. Thanks for the post!!
Right now I only use Chase cards. I have the CSR, Ink Cash, Freedom, and FU. Not being able to pool all the points together would be a huge mistake. Undoubtedly I’d stop using FU as my daily spend and go back to the Citi DC. I would hate to do this but I’d have to look into BoA and look into being a preferred rewards member.
I have the Sapphire Reserve, with only about 10K points left ( just booked biz class to Spain) and opened the Chase Business Ink 2 months ago – this has about 95K. I use both cards. Should I move the Ink the the Reserve?
This post gave me a heart attack. The way it looks on mobile for me is, “[Rumor] Chase To End Chase Ultimate Rewards Points”
I’m trying to transfer my points to my wife’s account and keep getting “An unexpected error has occurred”. ????? I’ve done it in the past. I was able to transfer points within my own account.
Did you recently replace her card for fraud? This happened to me recently, and the transfer didn’t work because the number of the stored card had changed.
Do you have her as AU on your account? If not you probably just need to call. Or transfer via your Ink Biz card (if you have her as AU there). Phone call will do that. But a person you are transferring points FROM needs to call.
Hopefully they don’t do this. In recent years I have cut back on churning and just earned points from spending on my cards. The point pooling was the best way to take all my different work spending and use for personal travel. If they get rid of it, I don’t really see the need to have the CSR anymore. It would, personally, lose a lot of value.
Plus, they would have to recognize that people use 3 or 4 different chase cards to pool their points. What would be the point of using those cards then. I would switch it to whatever earns the highest rate, instead of using what may pool the best.