Don’t freak out at the title:
Chase Imposes New Restriction on Points Transfers - VftW
[ETA: Weirdly, it looks like VftW pulled the above article and it’s no longer online. VftW cites OMAAT, whose article is still up and title is less clickbaity.]
Ultimate Rewards Transfers Restricted To Authorized Users - OMAAT
And DoC comes in as the voice of reason:
No, New Transfer Rules Have Not Been Introduced By Chase
• You can still combine UR points from different credit card accounts in your own name.
• You can still transfer UR points between Chase card accounts belonging to different persons in your household or co-owners of your business, and there’s no requirement that the person receiving points has to be an authorized user on your account.
• Previously you could transfer points to
your own airline or hotel loyalty accounts or to an airline or hotel loyalty account belonging to
one member of your household (such as a spouse) or, in the case of a business card, to
a co-owner of the business.
• Now in order to transfer points to a frequent flyer or frequent guest account belonging to a household member or a co-owner of the business
that person needs to be an authorized user on your card account.
I have to confess that I thought this was the rule all along, and that if you wanted to transfer UR points to another’s frequent flyer or hotel loyalty program, that other person needed to be an AU on your account. So these new terms aren’t really a big deal.
But this is a good reminder that Chase has been considering negative changes to its UR program for years, including possibly ending combining UR points between any Chase cards or between no-fee cards and annual fee cards, or UR points transfers within the same household. In summer 2017, Chase surveyed customers about these and other proposed negative changes to its UR program, and rumors Chase may end UR points pooling resurfaced in spring 2018. These are things that Chase has been considering for a long time!
See:
Chase Sends Out Survey Regarding Possible Changes To Transferring Chase UR Points For 1.5¢ Travel Redemptions
[Rumor] Chase To End Chase Ultimate Rewards Points Pooling
Remember, it is
highly recommended to transfer your (and any other player's) UR points when they post on any UR-card at the close of every statement onto the UR-card that gets you the highest redemption on the Chase travel portal, i.e., onto the CSR for 1.5 cpp redemption value or the CSP or CIP for 1.25 cpp redemption value. Make note of the statement closing date of all your UR cards, so when points post you can send them to your highest redemption UR card.