One of the reasons I am such a fan of Chase Ultimate Rewards points is that you can transfer your points to another person (although there are restrictions on who that person can be).  There are 2 ways you can share your Chase Ultimate Rewards points with another person. You can either transfer or combine your points to their Ultimate Rewards account or you can transfer your Ultimate Rewards points to their frequent flyer or hotel loyalty account. The process and rules for each are different and one is final whereas the other one is not.

Can You Transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards Points to Another Person?

Chase allows you to transfer your Ultimate Rewards points to another person’s credit card account – but only to one member of your household or owner of the company (for business cards). According to Chase.com:

“You can move your points, but only to another Chase card with Ultimate Rewards belonging to you, or one member of your household or owner of the company, as applicable. If we suspect that you’ve engaged in fraudulent activity related to your credit card account or Ultimate Rewards, or that you’ve misused Ultimate Rewards in any way (for example by buying or selling points, moving or transferring points with or to an ineligible third party or account, or repeatedly opening or otherwise maintaining credit card accounts for the sole purpose of generating rewards) we may temporarily prohibit you from earning points or using points you’ve already earned. If we believe you’ve engaged in any of these acts, we’ll close your credit card account and you’ll lose all your points.” 

There are a few reasons why you might want to transfer (or combine as Chase calls it) Ultimate Rewards points to a member of your household or owner of your company:

1) You are closing your only Chase credit card account that earns Ultimate Rewards points.  If you close a Chase credit card, you will lose your Ultimate Rewards points unless you use them or transfer them to another Chase credit card account that earns Ultimate Rewards points.

2) You don’t have a premium Ultimate Rewards card that allows transfers to airline and hotel transfer partners but a member of your household does. As most of you are aware, not all Ultimate Rewards points can be directly transferred to airline and hotel partners. Only “premium” cards (Chase Sapphire Preferred, Chase Sapphire Reserve, Ink Business Preferred, Ink Plus) let you directly transfer your Ultimate Rewards points to a travel partner.  If you don’t have one of these premium cards but a member of your household does, you can transfer your Ultimate Rewards points to them and they can book an award ticket or stay.  (For example a husband that has only a Chase Freedom card, can’t transfer his Ultimate Rewards points to United but he can combine them into his wife’s Chase Sapphire Preferred account and she can then transfer those points to United.)

How to Transfer or Combine Chase Ultimate Rewards Points to Another Person

The process to combine/transfer Ultimate Rewards points to another person’s account starts the same way you would combine points between your own Chase Ultimate Rewards accounts.  See How To Combine or Transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards Points Between Accounts for step by step instructions.

The process is identical except when you reach the screen below with all your Chase credit card accounts. On the bottom right, you will either see the account of your saved household member (if you have already saved it) or a spot to save it so you can make a transfer to another person.

For personal cards, you will see “Add household member” at the bottom right:

For business cards, you will see “Add household member/company owner” at the bottom right:

If you have not yet saved another person’s account, click on “Add household member” and you will see the screen below to add their credit card account number and last name.  You will also have to certify that the card belongs to a member of your household.  If this is a business account, you will have to certify that the card belongs to one member of your household or an owner of the company.

There is no minimum number of points to combine points between accounts and the transfer is instant. Combining Ultimate Rewards points between credit card accounts is not final – you can freely move points back and forth. If you moved points to a member of your household, they can log into his/her own account to move those points back to you.

Can You Transfer Ultimate Rewards Points to Another Person’s Travel Loyalty Program

Below are Chase rules for transferring Ultimate Rewards points to another person’s frequent flyer or hotel loyalty account:

•  The person has to be an authorized user on your card account. (Note that this is not a requirement to transfer Ultimate Rewards points to their credit card account.)
•  You may only transfer points to: one additional household member (for personal cards) or an owner of the company (for business credit cards).
•  Once you transfer points to an authorized user, that person will be the only authorized user on your account eligible to receive point transfers.
•  You can transfer points in 1,000 point increments.
•  All point transfers to travel partners are final.

One reason you might want to transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards points into another person’s frequent flyer program (rather than transferring points their credit card account) is if only one of you has a premium Ultimate Rewards card (Chase Sapphire Preferred, Chase Sapphire Reserve, Ink Business Preferred, Ink Plus) that allows for direct transfers to travel transfer partners.  For example, if a wife wants to use her Ultimate Rewards points to book a United flight for her husband, she would have to transfer points to his United account if he does not have a premium Ultimate Rewards card.

To transfer points to another person’s frequent flyer account, you follow the same steps that you would follow to transfer points to your own frequent flyer account except you would add in their frequent flyer number.  See How to Transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards Points to Travel Partners for a step by step guide on how to do this.