As you know, one of the main reasons to acquire Chase credit cards such as the Sapphire and Ink cards is to earn Ultimate Rewards (UR) points. I've been transferring UR points to travel partners such as airlines and hotels for years.
However, I've recently run into a problem that may limit the utility of my UR-earning Chase cards. While I carry the Sapphire Reserve card personally, I've also acquired the Chase Ink Business Preferred card for my business. My five staff who travel frequently are Authorized Users (AU) on my Ink card. They help earn points by spending and according to our travel policy, they are entitled to share in the use of the UR points we all generate.
The problem is that only one AU can be designated as a "Business Owner" for purposes of transferring points to travel partners. When I tried to transfer points to the airline and hotel member accounts of the other AUs, the system denied my request. I called a Chase CSR familiar with the Ultimate Rewards program, who told me that I cannot transfer points to the accounts of all my AUs. The reason given is that this limitation is intended to prevent fraud.
Excuse me?! I trust my staff to make charges on my credit card as AUs. But Chase doesn't trust them to handle UR points?!
Frankly, I've been a big supporter of Chase thanks to the flexibility of UR points. I switched our company credit cards from WF to Chase in order to earn UR points. But this situation severely limits the utility of our Chase Ink Business Preferred cards. There may be workarounds (such as my booking all travel for my staff) but the point is we shouldn't need a workaround. Chase needs to ease these unreasonable program rules to allow UR card holders to transfer points to the airline and hotel accounts of all AUs.
If Chase remains inflexible, I'll have no choice but to consider switching our company credit card program to AMEX cards that earn Membership Reward (MR) points.
Two questions:
- Has anyone else experienced problems transferring UR points to airline and hotel accounts of AUs on Chase personal or business cards?
- Does anyone know whether AMEX allows MR points to be freely transferred to airline and hotel member accounts of all AUs?
Don't know the answer, but I've worked for a lot of companies and unlike 20 years ago virtually none of them allow employees to arrange their own flights anymore and as such I guess I'm not seeing much reason for Chase to change policies.
I don't know what the fraud risk is other than perhaps earn points, transfer to someone else, and return the merchandise or otherwise get it refunded but someone might have a better idea on that front.
Yeah, they are all my points i’m not letting my employees use one on my URs or MRs........It’s bad enough running an “Adult Daycare” with everyone’s special needs for life balances these points are for my pain and suffering for running the business and putting up with all their crap. Oops, did I say this out loud......
Thank you Chase.
@redpat wrote:Yeah, they are all my points i’m not letting my employees use one on my URs or MRs........It’s bad enough running an “Adult Daycare” with everyone’s special needs for life balances these points are for my pain and suffering for running the business and putting up with all their crap. Oops, did I say this out loud......
Thank you Chase.
More or less what I did when I had Chase Ink. If anything, you can give a bonus equivalent to URs to your employees.
@ridgebackpilot wrote:As you know, one of the main reasons to acquire Chase credit cards such as the Sapphire and Ink cards is to earn Ultimate Rewards (UR) points. I've been transferring UR points to travel partners such as airlines and hotels for years.
However, I've recently run into a problem that may limit the utility of my UR-earning Chase cards. While I carry the Sapphire Reserve card personally, I've also acquired the Chase Ink Business Preferred card for my business. My five staff who travel frequently are Authorized Users (AU) on my Ink card. They help earn points by spending and according to our travel policy, they are entitled to share in the use of the UR points we all generate.
The problem is that only one AU can be designated as a "Business Owner" for purposes of transferring points to travel partners. When I tried to transfer points to the airline and hotel member accounts of the other AUs, the system denied my request. I called a Chase CSR familiar with the Ultimate Rewards program, who told me that I cannot transfer points to the accounts of all my AUs. The reason given is that this limitation is intended to prevent fraud.
Excuse me?! I trust my staff to make charges on my credit card as AUs. But Chase doesn't trust them to handle UR points?!
Frankly, I've been a big supporter of Chase thanks to the flexibility of UR points. I switched our company credit cards from WF to Chase in order to earn UR points. But this situation severely limits the utility of our Chase Ink Business Preferred cards. There may be workarounds (such as my booking all travel for my staff) but the point is we shouldn't need a workaround. Chase needs to ease these unreasonable program rules to allow UR card holders to transfer points to the airline and hotel accounts of all AUs.
If Chase remains inflexible, I'll have no choice but to consider switching our company credit card program to AMEX cards that earn Membership Reward (MR) points.
Two questions:
- Has anyone else experienced problems transferring UR points to airline and hotel accounts of AUs on Chase personal or business cards?
- Does anyone know whether AMEX allows MR points to be freely transferred to airline and hotel member accounts of all AUs?
It seems dumb to me to forbid you from letting your employees keep the points they've earned.
@SouthJamaica wrote:
It seems dumb to me to forbid you from letting your employees keep the points they've earned.
Exactly my reaction! If I trust them as AUs on my Chase Ink Preferred account (with an overall $100K SL), then you'd think they could be trusted to use the UR points I give them...!
