Originally Posted by
rbw5t
So, I'm relatively new to FT, and this Chase closing accounts stuff has me spooked! I have a bunch of cards, which I use sparingly and (to my mind) appropriately. I.e., using a Marriott card for Marriott stays, United card for United flights, IHG card for IHG stays, etc. My Sapphire Preferred and Freedom are my usual go to cards. I have about 250k points (from my own monthly spend plus transfers from my wife's account). I know I'm probably going to eventually use the points for United, but don't have any redemptions now. I'd like to keep the points in UR for now, in case I want to use them for something else (I've gotten good value on an Amtrak sleeper car in the past, for example), but also don't want to risk losing them. Should I just transfer to United now and not worry about it, or is the risk of them being confiscated so low that it makes sense to preserve flexibility?
Any thoughts are much appreciated!
You should do what you're comfortable with. Perhaps if someone does something like selling points and gets caught red handed by chase, they'd do something worse. But here is my take/experience:
It's my perception/understanding that Chase began a different tact sometime last year where they no longer seize points- perhaps the byproduct of several people taking legal action. I don't believe I've heard of anyone having that happen in the past 6+ (maybe 9+) months. i believe everyone now gets the standard form letter saying you have 90 days from the date of the letter to tfr points.
As I think I posted, I got the 90 day letter and was able to transfer all of my points. I transferred most right away (bird in hand...) but left 90k or so until about day 85; as I was torn where to transfer. Those too transferred instantly on that ~85th day.
Worth repeating, I also got all of the points/miles that were in the middle of a billing cycle when I was shut down. ie: when those billing cycles closed, those points posted to my UR account (along with points from my Hyatt card posting to my Hyatt GP account, etc).