Card Question: Do You Need to Have a Chase Sapphire Card Before Getting the Chase Ink Cash? Card Question: Do You Need to Have a Chase Sapphire Card Before Getting the Chase Ink Cash?

Card Question: Do You Need to Have a Chase Sapphire Card Before Getting the Chase Ink Cash?

Bonus Points

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Both the Ink Business Cash® Credit Card and the Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card offer valuable signup bonuses.

$900 is an excellent sign-up bonus — particularly for a $0-annual fee card. However, you can get even more value from this sign-up bonus by combining the rewards earned through the Ink Cash or Ink Unlimited with Ultimate Rewards points earned through a Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, Chase Sapphire Reserve®, or Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card.

By combining points with one of these cards, you'll transform the $900 sign-up bonus into 90,000 Ultimate Rewards points that can be transferred to 14 airline and hotel Ultimate Rewards transfer partners.

But what if you don't already have a Sapphire Preferred or Sapphire Reserve? Do you need to get a Sapphire card first to take advantage of this opportunity? That's the question one AwardWallet reader posed to us in a comment:

If I sign up for [an] Ink card now, and sign up for Chase Sapphire Reserve card in 3 months, will I be able to transfer these points at that time? Or do I need to have an existing Sapphire [card] account when applying for the Ink card?

That's a great question. The short answer is that the timing doesn't matter — as long as you wait until after you open an eligible card to redeem your points.

You can accumulate non-transferrable Ultimate Rewards points in your Ink card account as long as you want. Then, as soon as you get a qualifying card, you can transfer these earnings to that card to transform them into more valuable and fully-transferrable points.

Combine Chase Ultimate Rewards points from Ink Cash to Chase Sapphire Preferred

In short, you can earn points now with no annual fee and then boost the value of those points later.

Ink Card Earning Rates

In addition to the $900 (90,000 bonus points), you will earn Ultimate Rewards points on everyday spending on these Ink cards. However, the earning rate varies by card.

With the Ink Unlimited, you'll earn an unlimited 1.5% cash back on every purchase. Meanwhile, the Ink Cash earns rewards at the following earning rates:

  • 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

With the right card combo, that means you can earn 5x fully-transferable Ultimate Rewards points on spending on the Ink Cash.

Bottom Line

The good news is that you don't need to already have an eligible Chase card — like the Sapphire Preferred or Ink Preferred — to eventually turn the sign-up bonus into transferrable Ultimate Rewards points.

You can get the sign-up bonus now and continue earning points through either card with no annual fee. Then, when you're ready to use these points toward travel, sign up for the Sapphire Preferred or Sapphire Reserve and combine your points to transform them into fully-transferrable points.

Ink Business Cash® Credit Card
Ink Business Cash® Credit Card
Annual Fee$0
Welcome Bonus Earn $900 bonus cash back after you spend $6,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening
Features a $900 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.
  • Earn $900 bonus cash back after you spend $6,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening
  • 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
  • Earn 2% cash back on the first $25,000 spent in combined purchases at gas stations and restaurants each account anniversary year. Earn 1% cash back on all other purchases
  • Round-the-clock monitoring for unusual credit card purchases
  • With Zero Liability you won't be held responsible for unauthorized charges made with your card or account information.
  • No Annual Fee
  • Redeem rewards for cash back, gift cards, travel and more through Chase Ultimate Rewards®.
  • 0% introductory APR for 12 months on purchases
  • Member FDIC
  • 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
Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card
Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card
Annual Fee$0
Welcome Bonus Earn $900 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 $900 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 $900 bonus cash back after you spend $6,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening
  • Earn unlimited 1.5% cash back on every purchase made for your business
  • No Annual Fee
  • Redeem rewards for cash back, gift cards, travel and more through Chase Ultimate Rewards®.
  • Earn rewards faster with employee cards at no additional cost. Set individual spending limits for greater control.
  • Round-the-clock monitoring for unusual credit card purchases
  • With Zero Liability you won't be held responsible for unauthorized charges made with your card or account information.
  • 0% introductory APR for 12 months on purchases
  • Member FDIC
  • Earn unlimited 1.5% cash back on every purchase made for your business

Got a card question? Feel free to leave a comment below, and we will do our best to answer your question. And we may just expand on the answer in a future Card Questions post!

5 / 5 - (2 votes)
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