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Chase's Ink business cards are some of the most sought-after rewards cards — for good reason. They offer an excellent return on spending, top purchase and travel protection benefits, and two of them don't even charge an annual fee. Best of all: Three Ink cards are currently offering incredible welcome bonuses, allowing business owners to earn up to 90,000 transferable points.
In this post, we'll compare all three cards' welcome bonuses and help you determine whether you could benefit from holding two (or more) of these top small business cards. And if you think you don't qualify for business credit cards, read on. You might be surprised.
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Chase Ink Business Cards: Lucrative Alone, Better Together
The Chase Ink cards do a great job of rewarding small-business owners for the purchases they make most. Each card has a unique value proposition, and the rewards you earn can be combined to help you reach your next redemption faster.
Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card
The Chase Ink Preferred is currently offering a record-high welcome bonus worth $1,125 when you book through Chase Travel℠. And savvy travelers can get even more value by transferring points to one of 14 airline and hotel partners.
- Earn 90k bonus points after you spend $8,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. That's $900 cash back or $1,125 toward travel when redeemed through Chase Travel℠
- Earn 3 points per $1 on the first $150,000 spent on travel and select business categories each account anniversary year. Earn 1 point per $1 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.
- Redeem points for cash back, gift cards, travel and more - your points don't expire as long as your account is open
- Points are worth 25% more when you redeem for travel through Chase Travel℠
- Purchase Protection covers your new purchases for 120 days against damage or theft up to $10,000 per claim and $50,000 per account.
- Member FDIC
- Rates & Fees
- 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 exact increase in value varies depending on the transfer details. My personal favorite use of Ultimate Rewards points is transferring to the World of Hyatt program. I always aim to use my points at a 2-cent-per-point value, but I've received outsized value in the past, like redeeming 24,000 points for a $2,000 hotel stay at the Hyatt House Augusta when I won Masters tickets this year. That's over 8 cents per point in value!
There are other amazing transfer options for Ultimate Rewards points that I've utilized in the past, like British Airways Avios for short-distance American Airlines flights from my hometown of Phoenix, Singapore Airlines business class from Houston to Manchester, England, and more.
In exchange for paying an affordable $95 annual fee, the transfer capability of the Ink Preferred provides a lot more value than the no-annual-fee Ink cards below. As we'll show, however, combining those cards with the Ink Preferred provides maximum earning power. This is why the Ink Preferred is my favorite Ink business card.
Related: Chase Ink Preferred full review
Chase Ink cards with no annual fee
Although Chase markets the no-annual-fee Ink Business Cash® Credit Card and Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card as earning cash back, they technically earn Ultimate Rewards points. Right now, the welcome bonus on Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card is up to 75,000 points (or $750 cash back). That's an excellent bonus for a card that doesn’t charge an annual fee.
- 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
- 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
- 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
- Rates & Fees
- 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 $750 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
- Rates & Fees
- Earn unlimited 1.5% cash back on every purchase made for your business
Used as standalone products, you can redeem these points at 1¢ apiece as a statement credit or through the travel portal. However, if you also hold the Ink Preferred, the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, or the Chase Sapphire Reserve®, you come away with multiple benefits:
- Combining points earned across all your Ultimate Rewards earning cards
- Redeeming any pooled Ultimate Rewards points for 25% more with the Sapphire Preferred or Ink Preferred or 50% more with the Sapphire Reserve through the travel portal
- Transferring points earned on any of the cards to partners to achieve the highest returns
In summary: If you hold an Ultimate Rewards-earning card that charges an annual fee, think of the sign-up bonus on the Ink Cash and Ink Unlimited as 75,000 transferable Ultimate Rewards points.
For more details, check out our full Ink Unlimited review and full Ink Cash review.
Perks and Benefits Across All Three Cards
Numerous travel perks apply to all three Ink cards, including:
Plus, all three cards provide primary rental car collision damage waiver (CDW) insurance when renting for business purposes and secondary coverage when renting outside of work. In addition to these common benefits, the Ink Preferred offers comprehensive insurance protections for trip delays, trip cancellation, and trip interruption. Additionally, make sure you carry this one when you travel overseas for business, as it doesn't charge foreign transaction fees.
Beyond these shared perks, each card has specific perks and earning powers all its own. You can find more details on their similarities and differences in our Ink business credit card comparison post.
- 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
- 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 unlimited 1.5% cash back on every purchase made for your business
Application Restrictions
All Ink cards are subject to Chase’s 5/24 policy. If you’ve opened five or more credit cards in the past 24 months (based on what's seen on your credit report), Chase won’t approve your application. The good news is the Ink cards won’t add to your 5/24 status, as they are business cards and won't show up on your personal credit report. Unlike Chase's Sapphire cards, there are no rules against obtaining bonuses on all three Ink cards.
Folks applying for Chase cards also should be mindful that you're unlikely to be approved for more than one business card in a 90-day period.
Related: Understanding Rewards Credit Card Application Rules and Restrictions
Do You Qualify for a Small Business Credit Card?
There are excellent earning categories and fantastic welcome bonuses on Chase's small business credit cards. Before you assume you aren't eligible for these business-oriented cards, understand that many activities qualify as operating a business. These can include selling handmade items on Etsy, reselling items on eBay, tutoring your neighbor's kid after school, or running a pet-sitting business. You don't need a storefront or a warehouse to qualify as a business.
Related: How To Get a Business Credit Card in 3 Steps
Final Thoughts
If you're eligible for a Chase small business card, it's worth considering one or more of these Ink cards. These high-value cards can provide a huge return on your business spending and save lots of money on travel for your business.
The welcome bonuses on these cards offer outstanding value. In fact, you could get all three of these cards while only paying $95 in annual fees. That would allow you to earn strategically across all three cards, access Chase's transfer partners, have access to elevated redemption rates in the travel portal, plus earn three massive welcome bonuses. What's not to like about that combination?
For rates and fees of the cards mentioned in this post, please visit the following links: Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card (Rates & Fees), Ink Business Cash® Credit Card (Rates & Fees), and Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card (Rates & Fees)
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.
I don’t understand Chase’s spending requirements logic. The CSP card has a 60K bonus for $4K spending and an annual fee of $95.00. The INK Business Preferred offers 100K but you have to spend $15K and an annual fee of $95.00 to receive ONLY 40K more UR points than the CSP card offer. The IBP card should be somewhere around 175-200K if you are required to spend an additional $11K.
Ink Business cash & INK Business unlimited require $7.5K spending for a $750.00 bonus and no annual fee. Chase’s offers are all over the place but maybe that’s how they want it..
Yes, the spending requirements are not directly proportional to the bonus amounts. Chase and others set the spend in a way they think will attract the “right” customers. (i.e. higher spend for business cards).
Meanwhile, I wonder when the AMEX bonus points will be substantially increased to compensate for the Skypeosos “devaluations.” 🙂
I got the Ink Preferred when it was 80k points and thought that I had done very well. I guess it can always get better. I don’t think I am in the market for another one of the cards right now as they do have excellent point offerings but for daily spend, the categories aren’t ones which I use a lot.
“[T]here are no rules preventing you from obtaining all three Ink cards.” Is this correct? That wasn’t my understanding. Of course, if you have separate businesses, it’s possible, but that’s not what that sentence implies. Thanks.
The rules for Ink cards are different than other Chase card families. For example, the Southwest credit cards have the restriction:
“The product is not available to either (i) current Cardmembers of any Southwest® Rapid Rewards® Credit Card, or (ii) previous Cardmembers of any Southwest Rapid Rewards Credit Card who received a new Cardmember bonus within the last 24 months.”
But, the Ink cards have no similar restriction! The full text of the bonus terms are:
“100,000 Bonus Points
To qualify and receive your bonus, you must make Purchases totaling $15,000 or more during the first 3 months from account opening. (“Purchases” do not include balance transfers, cash advances, travelers checks, foreign currency, money orders, wire transfers or similar cash-like transactions, lottery tickets, casino gaming chips, race track wagers or similar betting transactions, any checks that access your account, interest, unauthorized or fraudulent charges, and fees of any kind, including an annual fee, if applicable.) After qualifying, please allow 6 to 8 weeks for bonus points to post to your account. To be eligible for this bonus offer, account must be open and not in default at the time of fulfillment.”
I’m still trying to figure out the best way to use my current stash Ultimate Rewards. Not interested in another card with an annual fee.
Can’t go wrong with transferring to Hyatt. Incredible value to be found there.
7500 is a huge spend for some in 3 months on a card. Great 100k sign up bonus though!
I believe the minimum spend for the Chase Ink Preferred was only $4500 the year I got the card. Next for me: Chase Ink Business Cash.
We need Chase to expand to Latam now, I don’t want to lose any more promotions.
Still couple of months to go to clear Chase 5/24 rule.
You’ll need a minimum of $7500 in spend for a place at that table.
Chase is really offering good cards recently
I have all 3 of these cards. I started a second small business. Is it possible to be approved for a second Ink Cash (for example) or should I cancel one before applying for it again? It’s been a year since I’ve applied for any cards.
Hey Jane, I believe it is possible to have the same Ink card for two different businesses, assuming the EIN (biz tax ID) is different. I’m not aware of a firm rule about how much time would need to have elapsed since you opened the card for your other business. I’d expect a call to Chase might be required, and they may ask for some details about the businesses. Would love to hear back about your experience if you move forward.
Very Interesting! Knowing how to combine rewards is always helpful.
IMHO Chase cards are still the best in combination for travel points
I think it is very unlikely Chase would approve a small business for all three cards. Thus, I think the Ink Preferred is the one to get given its benefits and the ability to transfer UR points to travel partners.
Robert, Chase might not approve all three cards if applied for in close succession, but they definitely allow qualified applicants – who space out their applications – to own all three cards simultaneously.
@Friode, thanks for perking up and confirming that one can indeed own all three cards at the same time. I totally understand @Robert’s hesitancy to believe this, but the terms are clear in that they don’t prohibit it and now we have real world testimony as well.
Say you want to apply for a Chase credit card and you have “locked” your credit reporting with the big three credit bureaus, do you have unlock all three or does Chase just use just one, specific bureau?
Hey Jeff, this is a hard question to answer definitively. As I understand it, a bank may pull from different bureaus for different cards. Sometimes, the state in which you live may also be a factor. For example, a bank might pull TransUnion for TX and CA residents, but Equifax for NY and FL residents.
You can find self-reported info about credit pulls for specific cards here: https://creditboards.com/forums/index.php?/creditpulls/