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Quick guide to setting up a Chase Ultimate Rewards account

  • Joseph Hostetler

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    Chase issues many of the most valuable best travel credit cards in the miles & points world. In fact, if you’re new to the hobby, we suggest you exclusively open Chase credit cards before you open any other rewards credit cards. That’s because the more personal cards you open, the harder it will be to open Chase cards.

    Opening a Chase Ultimate Rewards account is easy. I’ll show you how.

    My first travel credit card was the Chase Sapphire Preferred. It helped me reach Ireland for super cheap. (Photo by Madrugada Verde/Shutterstock.)

    Open a Chase Ultimate Rewards account

    Apply for a Chase credit card

    If you’re new to miles & points, we all resoundingly suggest you get the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card. It’s the best card for beginners and every single person on the team has it. Regardless of the card you apply for, you’ll then have all the information you need to enroll with Chase.

    Click “Sign-Up Now”

    On the Chase homepage, you’ll see a login box in the upper right corner. Below the big blue “Sign-in” button is a link that says “Not enrolled? Sign-up now.” Click that.

    Give personal information

    You’ll now need to give Chase the personal stuff. You can enter your card number (or application number) and Social Security Number to validate your enrollment.  Then choose a username.

    Verify your identity

    Chase will confirm your identity by either sending you an email or contacting you via text or a call. You’ll be given an identification code that will need to be entered on the next page.

    Create your password

    It’s now time to think of an impenetrable password (something that would make Dark Helmet proud), and confirm all your contact information. Then read and accept the terms & conditions, and you’re good to go!

    You’ll see your account on the right side of the page and if you’ve opened a Chase Ultimate Rewards points earning card like the Chase Sapphire Preferred or Ink Business Preferred Credit Card, you can quickly navigate to the Chase Ultimate Rewards site by clicking “Ultimate Rewards” on the right side of the page.

    You can then choose which card you want to view and proceed to the Chase Ultimate Rewards Travel Portal to redeem your points by transferring them to hotel and airline partners, or just “buying” travel with your points at a flat rate.

    Chase Ultimate Rewards points are our favorite points to earn

    Earning Chase Ultimate Rewards points is your key to unlocking incredible travel experiences. They’re our favorite transferable points because of their flexibility – you can redeem them for cash back, travel through the Chase Ultimate Rewards travel portal or (when you have an annual-fee Chase Ultimate Rewards card) transfer them to valuable travel partners like United Airlines and Hyatt.

    If you’re opening a Chase account, you should start with one of these cards:

    Let us know if you have questions and subscribe to our newsletter for more simple tutorials.

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    Editorial Note: We're the Million Mile Secrets team. And we're proud of our content, opinions and analysis, and of our reader's comments. These haven’t been reviewed, approved or endorsed by any of the airlines, hotels, or credit card issuers which we often write about. And that’s just how we like it! :)