Chase's Pay Yourself Back Feature: How to Maximize Cash Back on Your Rewards

If Pay Yourself Back from Chase hasn't been on your radar for a while, it might be worth revisiting this redemption option.

Not only has the option been expanded to a broader list of Chase cards, but some redemption rates are nothing to sneeze at, especially since some airline miles have been devalued when the miles are used for more traditional purposes. Chase offers this option on some co-branded credit cards, including Southwest Airlines cards and the Aeroplan® Credit Card.

To get an idea of ​​how useful this can be if you have a United credit card, you may be able to use the miles to offset the annual fee at a rate of up to 1.75 cents per mile, which is well above the rate The October 2024 TPG reviews provide United miles for travel and are worthy of your consideration. With the $525 per year United Club℠ Infinite Card, you can offset the annual fee for just 30,000 United miles (while gaining access to United Club for a full year).

Additionally, many of these redemption options were scheduled to expire at the end of September, but are now valid until the end of 2024.

Here's everything you need to know about using Chase Pay Yourself Back.

What is Chase Pay Yourself Back?

In 2020, when most of the world wasn't traveling, Chase first introduced Pay Yourself Back as an ongoing redemption option in its Ultimate Rewards products to give cardholders another way to redeem points. Categories have evolved over time, removing options like grocery and hardware stores and adding others.

In short, the Pay Yourself Back option allows cardholders of many Chase cards to use points at a redemption value comparable to booking travel. This typically does not give you the maximum value for your Ultimate Rewards points that you can get through strategic use of transfer partners. However, it could be a good choice if you're looking for an easy return or are sitting on a pile of points that you can't use right away.

And because some airline cards are now eligible for Pay Yourself Back, the price at which you can redeem them for some categories is higher than the average return you're likely to get from using the miles to book travel use.

Related: The best Chase credit cards

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Which purchases are eligible for Pay Yourself Back?

Here are the current categories eligible for Pay Yourself Back:

The information for the Chase Freedom card was collected independently by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been verified or provided by the card issuer.

The list of charities for Pay Yourself Back includes:

• American Red Cross
• Equal Justice Initiative
• Feed America
• GLSEN
• Habitat for humanity
• International Medical Corps
• International Rescue Committee, Inc.
• Leadership Conference Education Fund
• Make-A-Wish America
• NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund
• National Urban League
• Out & Equal Workplace Advocate
• SAGE
• Thurgood Marshall College Fund
• United Negro College Fund
• UNICEF USA
• United Way
• World Central Kitchen

Let's say you received an eligible donation to the Chase Sapphire Reserve. On most purchases, you'll receive a $100 credit when you redeem 10,000 points. But for that same 10,000 points, you'll get a $150 credit when you redeem them for an eligible charitable donation. You could likely get even more value if you transfer your points to travel partners, but this redemption price is the same as the price offered in Chase Travel℠ redemptions for this card.

Apply for a loan

Applying for credit through Chase's Pay Yourself Back program is relatively easy. Log in to your eligible Chase account via the mobile app or desktop and select “Pay Yourself Back” from the redemption menu.

Next, you'll see a list of eligible purchases for which you can redeem points. Points can be redeemed for purchases of 90 days or more.

You can offset the entire purchase amount as long as you have enough points.

From there, you can confirm the redemption value and number of points required and then complete the transaction. Your account statement should be credited within three business days.

Statement credit options for other purchases

Chase has long offered the ability to redeem points for a statement credit – this isn't new. To do this, log in to your Ultimate Rewards account, click on the drop-down menu and select “Cash Back”.

You have the option to enter the amount you would like to redeem and the location where you would like to deposit your rewards. All cashback redemptions are set at 1 cent per point, which is slightly less than half of the October 2024 Ultimate Rewards TPG valuation value and lower than all of the Pay Yourself Back options above.

Related topics: Points of View: Can I cash out my points and is it worth it?

Still, Chase's traditional cashback option is more generous than what you might expect from some other issuers. Here's the breakdown for some of the most popular programs and cards:

The information for the Citi Prestige card was collected independently by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been verified or provided by the card issuer.

Conclusion

Chase's Pay Yourself Back feature offers valuable flexibility to many cardholders. Whether you should redeem your credit this way ultimately depends on how you plan to use your points, how many you currently have, and whether or not you would benefit significantly from the statement credits.

Related: The Best Chase Cards