Points Value Index
Points Value Index
How many cents is a credit card point worth? It depends on how you redeem it — and the issuers already publish most of the answer. The Points Value Index collects the cash-out rates, travel-portal rates, and transfer ratios that Chase, American Express, Citi, and Capital One print on their own pages, converts each to cents per point with the site’s formulas, and publishes the ranges as dated snapshots. No input is estimated: if an issuer does not publish a rate, the index says “not published.”
Latest snapshot: September 2026
| Currency | Cash-out ¢/pt | Travel portal ¢/pt | Airline transfer ratio | Break-even ¢ per airline mile |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chase Ultimate Rewards | 1.00¢ | 1.00–2.00¢ | 1 | 1.00¢ (vs cash back or Chase Travel standard, 1.00¢) |
| Amex Membership Rewards | 0.60¢ | 0.70–1.00¢ | 0.8–1.6 | 0.63–1.25¢ (vs flights via Amex Travel, 1.00¢) |
| Citi ThankYou Rewards | 0.50–1.00¢ | 1.00¢ | 0.56–1 | 1.00–1.79¢ (vs Citi Travel, 1.00¢ on every listed card) |
| Capital One miles | not published | not published | 0.6–1 | no published fixed rate; 1–1.67 × your own rate |
Read the full September 2026 snapshot → — findings, transfer ratios for 17 programs, every source with its check date, and limitations.
How the index works, in one paragraph
For each currency we read the issuer’s public pages on a stated date and keep only numbers the issuer prints as a rate, a ratio, or a dollar amount for a stated number of points. Each becomes cents per point (dollars ÷ points × 100). Ranges run from the lowest to the highest published rate across the cards and booking types the issuer lists. Transfers are reported as the published ratio plus a break-even — the value per partner mile at which a transfer only matches the issuer’s standard fixed rate (fixed rate ÷ ratio) — because what a partner mile is worth depends on the award you book. The full method is in each snapshot under “How this index is computed.”
All snapshots
- September 2026 — inputs checked September 15, 2026
Snapshots are dated and not silently edited; a change in an issuer’s published rates goes into a new snapshot.