Chase Cardholders: Ultimate Rewards Gift Card Redemption Discounts: Apple Expired

Damn I must have missed it. Kids Roblox game killing these gift cards fast…

To any newbies to the points game, redeeming your points for gift cards, physical items, or even statement credit is a poor use of points.

This is effectively 1.15 cents per point value (plus buying an apple product at MSRP), whereas flights or hotels, you can get ~1.8 cents per point valuation

Yeah I regret not buying an Apple Watch for my kid when they had 50% bonus value on the Chase Rewards site. Didn't realize it ended May 31, and hopped on June 1 pretty disappointed.

Any idea how often they bring that back?

Uhm, isn't 'Pay yourself back' better value?

Correct, you need a paid chase card for transfers. For most people the CSR is the best option as even reasonable use of a decent % of its benefits easily offset/make profitable the annual fee... example:

$550 annual fee
Minus
$20- 1/5th of the TSA/GE credit you use every 5 years
$300 travel credit that works on nearly anything vaguely travel related, even parking
$180 in $15/mo instacart credits
$99 Free Instacart plus membership
Free Dashpass ($100/yr) and $5/mo Doordash credits

So you're already at $209 PROFIT before you've looked at any of the other perks like:


Free priority pass access to airport lounges for you and 2 guests- and $56 credit per visit for you one guest at a couple dozen airport restaurants

Free primary rental car insurance (Amex gets like $25 per rental for this)

$10/mo Gopuff credit (this is more niche since it's usually only available in/near decent sized cities

$199/yr lyft pink membership (though I value this one a lot less than MSRP)

1.5 cents value in the travel portal for the rare cases the portal is better than point transfers (Southwest airlines being the most prominent example of this)-- also 1.5 cents for apple products a couple times a year BTW

3x on travel and restaurant spend (10x through the portal)

Plus the various travel/purchase protection perks... and of course the super valuable ability to transfer points to airlines... (and several times a year there's transfer bonuses too)

Uhm, isn't 'Pay yourself back' better value?

Looks great for people who travel. Are there any good paid cards for non travelers?

Last month it was 25% off the apple store

No purchase since the end of 2021 has appeared as available for the "Pay yourself back" feature. It looks like it might only be to charity organizations now. Have you used pay yourself back for any "regular" purchase in the last 1.5 years?

EDIT: Just saw killak's response after - I agree with this sentiment the original poster likely hasnt used pay yourself back in 1.5 years

My Pay yourself back category has never been anything other than charitable contributions. Any way to change or add to this?

Does this can be utilized later ?
Say get apple Gift card now and keep it to purchase new iPhone 15 in October...?

Travel partners point transfer.

My First Class United flight from San Diego to Geneva was 70k points for a $3,500 flight. Effectively 5 cents per point.

With this redemption on Apple, 70k points will get you an 11" iPad Pro or effectively $805.00.

A poor example if you don't travel and love electronics but, essentially, you get more bang for your buck when you redeem for travel.

Or you could save money by not flying first class

That's about 24 of travel time. You better include the cost of a day or two of lost wages if you are on vacation because that's how long it's going to take you to recover when you get to your destination if you fly coach.