SPG is a hotel program, already mentioned in post #1. Points earned with an SPG credit card are automatically deposited in the cardholder's SPG account and the card issuer has no further involvement.
SPG (Starwood) transfers of points between same address members and then allows transfers to a large number of airline programs with a nice bonus if transferring 20,000 points (gets 25,000 miles on many airlines). This allows good earning and a great deal of flexibility. I understand that the UR program has a far more limited list of airlines that omits both American and Delta. Note that United has a transfer ratio of 2 SPG pts to 1 mile which is rather poor. In my experience transfer between SPG members has been instant and SPG to airlines takes about a week, but others have reported longer delays.