Update, 6/30: Q3 categories will be announced tomorrow, if you want to take advantage of Q2 categories you’ll want to do that today!
Originally posted on 1/1/23:
Back in May 2020, Chase added the ability to pay yourself back.
Pay Yourself Back was then made into a permanent feature of the Ultimate Rewards program, but the categories will change periodically.
Unfortunately, the program is being devalued for Sapphire cardholders. Chase telegraphed this last week by jumping the gun on PYB value changes, which gave people time to cash out at the old rates.
The points value for Sapphire Reserve goes down from 1.5 cents to 1.25 cents. You can still redeem points for travel at a value of 1.5 cents each and you can earn more than that via mileage transfers.
The points value for Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card goes down from 1.25 cents to 1 cent. You can still redeem points for travel at a value of 1.25 cents each and you can earn more than that via mileage transfers. You can always get cash for your points at a value of 1 cent each, making this program pointless for that card.
Ink cards retain their value of 1.25 or 1.1 cents each through at least 6/30.
Here are the updated categories for Q1/Q2:
- Sapphire Reserve
- Points are worth 1.25 cents each when redeemed for statement credits after using your card at gas stations and groceries, and the card’s annual fee through 6/30.
- Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
- Points are worth 1 cent each when redeemed for statement credits after using your card at gas stations and groceries through 6/30.
- Chase Ink Business Preferred and Ink Plus
- Cardmembers who utilize Pay Yourself Back can redeem points worth 1.25 cents each on business expenses related to internet, cable, phone services and shipping through 6/30.
- Chase Ink Business Cash and Ink Unlimited
- Cardmembers who utilize Pay Yourself Back can redeem points worth 1.1 cents each on internet, cable, phone services and shipping through 6/30.
- Charitable Giving
- Points are worth 1.25 cents each when redeemed for donations to select charities for all Freedom, Sapphire, and Ink cardmembers. Points redeemed for donations are worth 1.5 cents each for Sapphire Reserve cardmembers. This is valid throughout 2023. Readers report getting this value for some non-listed charities as well. Post your experience in the comments!
If you spend $300 on groceries or gas on Sapphire Reserve, you can use 24,000 points to offset that purchase and make it free. Plus, you’ll still earn the 300 points for the purchase, so you effectively used 23,700 points to offset the purchase. That means your points were actually worth 1.27 cents each.
If you spend $300 on internet, cable, or telecom on Ink Plus, you can use 24,000 points to offset that purchase and make it free. Plus, you’ll still earn the 1,500 points for the purchase, so you effectively used 22,500 points to offset the purchase. That means your points were actually worth 1.33 cents each.
If you spend $300 on shipping, internet, cable, or telecom on Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card, you can use 24,000 points to offset that purchase and make it free. Plus, you’ll still earn the 900 points for the purchase, so you effectively used 23,100 points to offset the purchase. That means your points were actually worth 1.3 cents each.
If you spend $300 on internet, cable, or telecom on Ink Cash, you can use 27,273 points to offset that purchase and make it free. Plus, you’ll still earn the 1,500 points for the purchase, so you effectively used 25,773 points to offset the purchase. That means your points were actually worth 1.16 cents each.
Will you still use Pay Yourself Back?
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65 Comments On "[Final Day For Q2 Categories] Here Are The Chase Q2 Pay Yourself Back Categories And Values"
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what does it mean to ‘use points to offset a purchase’?
Big hit to the program. Makes sense why they were easily approving business cards just now
Will not use pyb anymore
+1
It’s basically the end of PYB. Not worth it anymore.
Is there a list anywhere of the “select charities”? Any good ones on the list?
“Includes: American Red Cross, Equal Justice Initiative, Feeding America,GLSEN, Habitat for Humanity, International Medical Corps*, International Rescue Committee*, Leadership Conference Education Fund, NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, National Urban League, Out & Equal Workplace Advocates, SAGE, Thurgood Marshall College Fund, United Negro College Fund, UNICEF USA*, United Way, and World Central Kitchen*. (*Includes support for relief efforts in Ukraine.) Please donate directly to the charity’s parent organization. Local chapters may not be eligible for Pay Yourself Back.”
Meh. None of my favorites on that list.
Chevra Simchas Shabbos V’yom Tov of crown heights qualities as charity for PYB
I have personally used it many times
Cssy.org
Very interesting. How does that qualify?
Anything else like that?
I don’t know exactly
I once saw it show up as eligible and since then have used it repeatedly to redeem thousands of of dollars
I also know a local charity that qualifies. currently have a 25% rate on Ink card
which charity is this?
Ouch is right.
they should have this offer standard and have a rotation of categories where you can redeem at 1.5 besides travel meaning if you don’t spend in the bonus category you can always redeem at 1.25
No, I will not use this feature anymore.
If I made an Airbnd purchase on 12/31 will I still be able to use PYB since was a 12/31 purchase in 2022
We used it for Airbnb. Great deal.
Wow, that’s awful. I’m done with pay yourself back. Was great while it lasted.
My sapphire preferred was already only 1 cent per point last week
Not worth it anymore tbh. Will stay away
Any way to write in to complain
Thumbs down
Will not use anymore since I can easily cash out for travel instead.
I cashed out on about $1,500 worth of purchases from my reserve portal while I could still get the 1.5 rate. I’ll save the rest of my points for travel, especially now that I’m getting 180,000 points from two new ink cards that I’ll be transferring to my reserve account.
Nope. Will not be using PYB any more. Will still use my points at 1.5 to purchase flights through Chase portal but any rate less than 1.5 is simply not worth it.
Huge blow to the value of Chase’s rewards program.
I only used PYB when I needed to meet the initial spend threshold to get my 80,000 bonus points.
We’re talking about 1.0 – 1.5 cents. Big whoop.
I use for most of my purchases what I believe is the best cash-back card. It’s the PayPal CashBack Mastercard (I don’t recall seeing it covered here on DD). I get 2-4% cash back consistently. I also use my 2 Discover cards for their rotating 5% categories (many other cards offer similar program) and a CapitaOne card that gives 3% for phones services and for groceries (BTW, Bingo is no longer considered a grocery store).
No worries about devaluation, how to best cash out, losing points, yada yada yada.
Cash is King.
Why not Citi Double Cash? 2% cash or 2 miles per dollar everywhere.
PayPal Cashback Mastercard (PPCM?) is a MINIMUM 2% cash back, with an extra 1% bump if using that card by paying through PayPal (so now that’s 2% or 3%). Then around the beginning of November through the end of December they were giving another 1% “holiday bonus”. So that was 3% or 4%. CASH.
CASH is KING.
Sounds good for PP when that’s not a Freedom category or other bonus category, but still don’t see why Double Cash isn’t better for non-PP purchases that don’t fall into better bonus categories.
Also, PP via Freedom Q4 was much better than the holiday bonus.
I’m not referring to straight PP going through a quarterly bonus category (which I do with Discover).
I’m talking about PP’s branded PayPal CashBack Mastercard, which is used as a regular credit card (I loaded it on my GPay, which sometimes gets me some double-dipping cash back perks). It’s 2%-4% cashback, straight up. No gimmicks, no worries about using it at the wrong time or cashing out the wrong way, etc.
Again, 2% on Citi DC beats 2% cashback easily as DC gives you the option of cash or miles.
3% on PP purchases is good, but is beat by Freedom 5x when that has a bonus.
PP Mastercard also takes up a 5/24 slot and has no signup bonus.
True, PPMC has no sign-up bonus. I got it when my credit score was so low (under 550; now I’m BE”H around 800), no one else would give me a regular credit card. I actually started with PP cashback debit card, which gave me the 2% cash back and it didn’t pull the money from my connected bank account for at least a day or two. And then my bank (Chase) gave me until 11pm to cover any overdraft. I later “graduated” to the PPMC regular credit card.
Regarding 5/24: PPMC may be a business card, so maybe it doesn’t take up 5/24 (it’s been years since I got it so I don’t remember and back then I didn’t care). But won’t DC also take up a 5/24 slot?
How much are DC miles worth, lowest and highest value? Would it average above the 3%-4% that PPMC gives without going through hoops?
How does PPMC give you 3-4% back on non-PP purchases?
Like I said, it’s fine for PP purchases, for when Freedom isn’t bonusing PP purchases.
But I don’t see the use case for other purchases.
Sorry, I meant 2%-4%. PPMC is PayPal’s Cashback Mastercard (PPMC or PPCBMC?). It’s a regular traditional plastic credit card that you use at store terminals or online checkout. For that, PayPal gives you unlimited 2% cash back.
If the online checkout offers PayPal checkout, you can opt for that and then in PayPal you choose your PPMC. That would bump you up another to 3% cash back. And before the holidays, PP was giving an extra 1% cashback bonus (so 3% for traditional card usage and 4% for using your PPMC through PayPal checkout).
Bottom line for PayPal CashBack Mastercard:
Traditional usage = 2% cash back (sometimes 3%)
With PayPal checkout = 3% cash back (sometimes 4%)
Yes, there may be other cards to get a little more in certain situations, but I found nothing as simple as PayPal CashBack Mastercard.
Citi DC earns 2% cash back, which you can use for miles 1:1 that can be worth twice as much.
I don’t see why you would use the PPMC for regular purchases over that.
Miles don’t entice me that much because I don’t travel a lot. When I do, I’m pretty good at getting some nice deals (like the time I paid $168 TOTAL for SEVEN round-trip NYC-MIA tickets. Or the time I paid $190 total for 2 round-trip tickets to Las Vegas, coupled with $65/night at the Palazzo).
But I’ll definitely look at the Citi DC card. Do you have a referral link?
But that’s the beauty. Choose 2% cash or miles at any time for redemption.
https://www.dansdeals.com/go/DoubleCashQS/
Unfortunately, this offer recently ended:
https://www.dansdeals.com/credit-cards/earn-rare-limited-time-signup-bonus-excellent-citi-double-cash-card-flexible-2-cash-back-2-miles-per-dollar-earnings/
“We’re talking about 1.0 – 1.5 cents. Big whoop.”
Nope, not really, sometimes it is a big whoop. It all depends where the points came from. For example, points from CFU earn 1.5/$, burn at 1.5x, is a net 2.25c/$. Beats double cash. Or for points earned on ink at office supply stores at 5/$, burn at 1.5x, net 7.5c/$. Way better than DC.
I don’t see the option to use points to pay yourself back for the annual fee at Chase Sapphire Preferred.
Considering that plenty of people signed up for the new ink card that’s straight up cash back there is no reason to think that chase didn’t use that as a litmus test for people being happy for 1 cent cash back on bills. Effectively a 90k signip bonus becomes like that 1k cash back card (and no fee) WITH added flexibility to also use as UR… smart business on their part.
Ink still gives more than 1 cent for PYB.
And you can still get 1.25/1.5 with travel or mileage transfers.
This is terrible.
Plan on ditching my two reserves due to this.
I don’t understand why you come out ahead when using pyb vs a statement credit if they are both the same 1 cpp on the preferred card in both cases you still have the points that were earned on the purchase?
+1
There no difference what so ever by using the cash back option or the PYBoptikn and then making the purchase on whatever card gives you maximum points.
Using your example of spending on Instacart on the SP, with the cash back option I would cash out 30000 points and get $300.
Spend 300 on Instacart and earn 930 points.
Net points 29070
The same exact net as PYB.
I am not getting the math. How is making a purchase and offsetting it at 0.01 better than making the purchase and getting cash at 0.01?
In some ways, if you have travel throughout the year isn’t this one more reason to use the venture X card which gives you two points for every dollar spent even though the redemption is at a penny for points against travel? Thoughts?
If you have Freedom/Ink Unlimited you earn at 1.5x and redeem at 1.5x with CSR for travel, so that’s 2.25%.
Or if you earn on Ink Cash at 5x and redeem at 1.5x with CSR for travel, that’s 7.5%.
But yes, Capital One only requires one card for 2% or 2 miles per dollar.
I have the ink unlimited.
I downgraded csr to freedom about a year or two ago. Now using the csp so only getting the 1.25 there. May come back to csr this year when I’m eligible for new bonus(?).
Chase has been a tough cookie for me to add more after getting so many.
Waiting on Re evaluation with chase for a second ink biz card matching one that you recommend that I already have. Say I have too much chase credit (though I have tiny utilization). I offered to move available from another card, but pending their decision. Great great score btw. Hope it comes through!
I’m disappointed but not upset. PYB is only 2 and half years old and was a good way for me to burn, but the original value of the program (Dan’s trifecta/quadfecta) is still intact. So I’ll go back to using UR for travel, whether through the portal or transferring miles. (Actually I might still use PYB at 1.25 for the CSR annual fee, lose a little value but psychologically satisfying.)
So what’s the point of pyb for sapphire preferred, u can redeem 1:1 for anything always??
Is capital one the only bank to offer the option of 2 points (transferrable) or 2% cash back for BUSINESS cards?
I believe that’s correct.
The flexibility of chase ultimate rewards is still the best overall.
Just hope travel always remains at 1.5
Amen. For now, this pretty much just returns things to what they were before COVID. Though Ink PYB can be worthwhile.
Not worth the PYB on Saphire Preferred at gas stations. I can get 5% cash back at any gas station with my Sam’s Club Plus Membership and card.
does airbnb count as travel when redeeming on my CSR @ 1.5 cpp?
I’m done with PYB now. Loved it while it lasted, I might downgrade my CSR now until my next big traveling.
I loved while it lasted, I cashed out over 10k the last two+ years with PYB
When booking travel with a sapphire reserve, should I book with points, or pay for airfare and than use pay yourself pack?
I thought I could use PYB option (Saphire card) on travel charge specifically to get the higher valuation. Just spoke to Chase rep, they said, Nope!
Only if I used the rewards pts to buy the tkts through Rewards.
Am I misunderstanding something?
Not understanding how PYB is better than cashing out on sapphire preferred
Not doing much traveling now (though I used any points I could for a recent trip), but if I only have the Preferred, a few Freedom (Unlimited, regular Visa, and Flex) and a few Ink Cash cards, is it worth paying myself back on some of the Ink Cash categories for the additional 10% (especially since I get the additional 5% back on most of those purchases)? Or better to hold on to the points, and try to redeem or pay back elsewhere?
Thanks!!
Is there a difference between points value with sapphire reserve and preferred when converting to miles? Also, I have almost a million points and want to take family to Israel. Any tips on how to maximize?
no difference
Dan,is there any chance they will bring back the 1.5 redemption rate for pyb for the CSR? I got so much out of those redemptions.