Conservative, honest valuations — the same ones the optimizer scores with

What are your points worth?

A point is only worth what you redeem it for. These are Credit Upside's conservative mid-range values for 25 major US rewards currencies — deliberately not the best-case numbers points blogs quote. A 1¢ value equals a plain cash-back point.

Updated 2026-09-16

Two points can be worth the same cent and still not be equal. A currency that reaches 25 airline and hotel programs gives you somewhere to spend it; one locked to a single airline doesn't. The partner counts below are the honest measure of that — Bilt Points leads with 18 airline and 7 hotel partners. Compare every program's partners →

Transferable bank points

Move to airline and hotel partners — the most useful kind, because one balance reaches many programs.

Program Our value Airline partners Hotel partners Cards that earn it
Bilt Points transfers → 1.80¢ 18 7 1
Capital One miles transfers → 1.30¢ 18 4 6
Chase Ultimate Rewards transfers → 1.25¢ 11 3 4
Amex Membership Rewards transfers → 1.10¢ 16 3 9
Citi ThankYou points transfers → 1.10¢ 13 3 3

Airline miles

Locked to a single airline and its alliance.

Program Our value Airline partners Hotel partners Cards that earn it
Alaska miles 1.40¢ 4
AAdvantage miles 1.35¢ 5
Aeroplan points 1.35¢ 1
JetBlue TrueBlue 1.30¢ 3
Avios 1.30¢ 3
United miles 1.25¢ 6
Southwest Rapid Rewards 1.20¢ 5
Flying Blue 1.20¢ 1
Delta SkyMiles 1.15¢ 7

Hotel points

Locked to a single hotel group.

Program Our value Airline partners Hotel partners Cards that earn it
World of Hyatt points 1.50¢ 2
Marriott Bonvoy points 0.70¢ 6
Wyndham Rewards 0.60¢ 4
Choice Privileges 0.60¢ 2
Hilton Honors points 0.50¢ 4
IHG points 0.50¢ 3

Bank rewards points

The bank's own points — redeem for travel or cash, but they don't transfer out.

Program Our value Airline partners Hotel partners Cards that earn it
Bank of America points 1.00¢ 6
U.S. Bank points 1.00¢ 5
Wells Fargo Rewards points 1.00¢ 2
Navy Federal points 1.00¢ 3
PenFed points 0.85¢ 2

Why our numbers are lower than the blogs

Points valuations you see elsewhere often reflect the best redemption a currency can produce — a perfectly-timed business-class transfer. Real people redeem all over the map, so we value every currency at a conservative mid-range instead. That means our "best card" rankings never crown a card just because it earns a flashy currency. Read the full methodology →

Which card should this spending actually be on? The demo re-scores a year of realistic spending against every card in a wallet — free, no signup. See it on sample data →

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