What if Chase UR devalues?
 

Devaluing may means worse transfer ratio, transfer cap, remove transfer partner, etc. Considering Chase prompts the Ink cards so much, so do the bloggers, and of course this sub-forum is an explicit advocate as well. Do you think this day may come soon? What's your plan B?

Of course it will come. It is the way the world works. Bloggers (and FT) pushing thousands of new users to these programs, everyone loading up on massive piles of points, and all chasing the same limited number of seats - devaluation is inevitable (not just in Chase UR points, in all programs). The current situation is unsustainable.

I think it's naive to expect anything else.

Sure, FF programs will devalue for the reasons the previous poster mentioned, but I don't see any of the types of devaluations you mentioned happening to UR anytime soon for these reasons: (1) Chase needs to stay competitive; and (2) why work so hard to promote these UR card products and attract customers only to lose them by immediately devaluing the same product? Just doesn't make sense.

And to answer your question...

What happens if Chase devalues UR?

We all cancel our cards and move on to the next best thing.

what if the sky falls?....what if frogs had wings, would they still bump their butts when they hop?.....use points while you can, in any program it is unwise to stockpile tons of points. The object is not to say look how many points I have, it's to say look at what I cashed in all those points for.

At least there is a floor of 1 cent with UR which I can't ever envision being reduced. So that greatly reduces any risk of UR points. I have to imagine that Chase pays less than 1 cent per mile for most if not all of their partner's miles/points too which should help prevent any problems. I'd think deval worry comes from the partners themselves or reduced earning rates (ie 5x disappears).

Not a question of if, a question of when. All rewards and loyalty programs I have ever been in have eventually devalued.

Redeem early, redeem often.

^ :cool:

Moderator action
 

Thread transferred to the Ultimate Rewards forum because this topic is of general interest, not specific to manufactured spending.

Not necessarily, look at Barclays, their Arrival has .5cpp if you don't redeem for travel..

I doubt it will be serious if it occurs. Chase may eliminate some benefits (if an airline feels they're getting ripped off by chase), and probably cap some of 2x or 5x benefits. Ultimately Chase is paying the airlines for the reward redemption/miles, and the airlines feel pretty happy with that business.

It is pretty easy for the airlines themselves to alter the scheme, by requiring some sort of status to see certain flight awards, etc. That will leave some inventory open for their premium customers.

I'm more worried about losing the Ink card's 5x points on office supply stores...

The only real thing I can see happening is it dropping to a 2-3x bonus instead of 5x, but that's still a decent bonus.

UR value will decrease if United gets around to making their award program less valuable. For a lot of people, United is the real reason to be interested in UR points.

Yes but they've always had that I believe. Chase UR points have always been 1 cent when redeemed as cash, thus for them to retroactively make that change probably wouldn't hold up very well.