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Offers for the Ink Business Cash® Credit Card, Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card, Ink Business Premier® Credit Card and Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card are not available through this site. Some offers may have expired. Please see our card marketplace for available offers
- 5% cash back on travel purchases through the Chase Travel℠ portal
- 2.5% cash back on purchases of $5,000 or more
- 2% cash back on all other purchases
Chase has finally opened up its latest Ink card for public applications. The new Ink Business Premier® Credit Card launches with a $1,000 cashback bonus for new card members, a massive offer that can provide an excellent return on your business expenses.
If you like to keep your rewards strategy simple and you can put a lot of expenses on your card, the new Ink Premier has the potential for big returns. However, most small business owners will get much more value from the existing suite of Ink cards for reasons we'll cover below.
Let's dive into the Chase Ink cards to see which card provides the best return for your business.
$1,000 Cash Back With the New Ink Premier Business Card
Chase has launched the new Ink Premier card with a valuable $1,000 cashback bonus after you spend $10,000 on the card in the first three months from account opening. The minimum spending requirement sits right in the range for similar offers on small business cards and will net cardholders an additional $200 (minimum) cashback—taking your total haul for the welcome offer to $1,200.
This card has effectively been designed with big spenders in mind, delivering an uncapped 2% cashback return on all spending—and a 2.5% return for transactions over $5,000.
There is no cap on either of these earning rates, provided you can pay your balance in full each month. Your earning potential is unlimited.
But, there is a big drawback to the new Ink Premier.
Unlike the other Ink cards, Chase's latest business card does not earn transferrable points. You can't combine your rewards with any of the other cards in the Chase Ultimate Rewards family, and no matter what other Chase cards you hold, you can't transfer points earned on this card to airline and hotel partners. That means you cannot get outsized value from your rewards by making clever redemptions.
That's why we think most small business owners will do far better with one or more of the other Ink Business cards.
Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card
Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card
Annual Fee$0
Welcome Bonus
Earn $750 bonus cash back after you spend $6,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
The best business card to earn Ultimate Rewards on non-bonus purchases, you receive a $750 cash back bonus after you spend $6,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. Earn 1.5% back on all business expenses.
- Earn unlimited 1.5% cash back on every purchase made for your business
- Earn unlimited 1.5% cash back on every purchase made for your business
If you compare the Ink Unlimited and Ink Premier strictly from a cashback perspective, the Ink Unlimited is a clear winner for any business with less than $3,000 per month in expenses they can charge to a credit card. That's up to $36K per year:
- Ink Unlimited: $3K x 1.5% = $540 – $0 (annual fee) = $540
- Ink Premier: $3K x 2% = $720 – $195 (annual fee) = $525
Redeeming rewards earned on the Ink Unlimited for a statement credit will return more cash to your account on $36K a year in spending once you factor in the annual fee on each card.
The real upside of the Ink Unlimited is that it allows you to combine rewards with points earned on other Chase Ultimate Rewards cards.
If you hold a Chase Sapphire Reserve® (Rates & Fees), a Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card (Rates & Fees), or Ink Preferred , you can transfer points earned with the Ink Unlimited to Ultimate Rewards airline and hotel partners and potentially get much more value from your rewards—That's not an option with the Ink Premier.
The Ink Unlimited also features a monster welcome offer for a no-annual-fee card, dishing up $750 cash back (issued as 75,000 Ultimate Rewards points) after you spend $6,000 in the first three months.
Combining Ink Cards For Maximum Returns
Depending on your spending patterns, two other Ink Business cards can help to maximize your returns.
Ink Business Cash® Credit Card
Ink Business Cash® Credit Card
Annual Fee$0
Welcome Bonus
Earn $350 when you spend $3,000 on purchases in the first three months and an additional $400 when you spend $6,000 on purchases in the first six months after account opening
Features a up to $750 cash back signup bonus, and you earn 5% cash back on a select range of business expenses on the first $25,000 spent each year.
- 5% cash back on the first $25,000 spent in combined purchases at office supply stores and on internet, cable and phone services each account anniversary year
- 2% cash back on the first $25,000 spent in combined purchases at gas stations and restaurants each account anniversary year
- 1% cash back on all other card purchases with no limit to the amount you can earn
- 5% cash back on the first $25,000 spent in combined purchases at office supply stores and on internet, cable and phone services each account anniversary year
- 2% cash back on the first $25,000 spent in combined purchases at gas stations and restaurants each account anniversary year
- 1% cash back on all other card purchases with no limit to the amount you can earn
The perfect companion card to the Ink Unlimited, the Ink Cash features higher earning rates on select bonus categories than the Ink Unlimited, but a base earning rate of only 1 point per dollar on non-bonus spending.
- 5x on the first $25,000 spent in combined purchases at office supply stores and on internet, cable, and phone services each account anniversary year
- Earn 2x on the first $25,000 spent in combined purchases at gas stations and restaurants each account anniversary year.
- Everything else earns 1x
Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card
Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card
Annual Fee$95
Welcome Offer
Earn 90,000 bonus points after you spend $8,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
The most valuable Ultimate Rewards signup bonus on offer and our top pick for small business rewards cards. Business owners earn 90,000 bonus points after you spend $8,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. Plus, earn up to 450,000 points per year on a wide range of 3X bonus categories.
- 3X points per $1 on the first $150,000 spent in combined purchases on travel, shipping purchases, Internet, cable and phone services, advertising purchases made with social media sites and search engines each account anniversary year
- 1X point per $1 on all other purchases
- 3X points per $1 on the first $150,000 spent in combined purchases on travel, shipping purchases, Internet, cable and phone services, advertising purchases made with social media sites and search engines each account anniversary year
- 1X point per $1 on all other purchases
The closest Chase gets to a premium Ultimate Rewards business card, the Ink Preferred delivers a huge 90,000-point signup bonus and charges a $95 annual fee.
Cardholders get excellent earning rates, and you can transfer points earned on the card to airline and hotel partners without the need to hold any other card.
- 3x points per $1 on the first $150,000 spent in combined purchases on travel, shipping purchases, internet, cable and phone services, advertising purchases made with social media sites and search engines each account anniversary year
- Everything else earns 1x
When you boil it down to cost versus reward, you could hold all three of the other Ink cards and earn transferrable Ultimate Rewards points across a range of business expenses, for less than half the cost of holding the Ink Premier.
Final Thoughts
Earning $1,000 cash back from a single signup bonus is an excellent incentive, rivaling the best cashback offers we’ve seen on business cards when you factor in the minimum spending requirement.
For business owners who don’t want to juggle multiple rewards cards and bonus categories, the simplicity of a pure cashback card can be a real asset, producing consistent and predictable returns on business expenses.
However, even though the Ink Premier provides a great return on spending, the no-annual-fee Ink Unlimited will be a far better value for all but the biggest spending small businesses.
For rates and fees of the cards mentioned in this post, please visit the following links: Chase Sapphire Reserve® (Rates & Fees), and Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card (Rates & Fees)
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