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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.
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.
- 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
- 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!
The comments on this page are not provided, reviewed, or otherwise approved by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.