Chase Ink Business Preferred Card
Updated August 21, 2024.
The Facts
The Facts
- Annual Fee: $95
- Signup Bonus: 90,000 points ($1,125 in travel or 90,000 miles of United, British, Korean, Southwest, Hyatt, etc.) after spending $8,000 within 3 months of new account opening. Based on anecdotal reports, this card is subject to Chase's 5/24 rule (you won't be approved for this card if you have opened 5 or more new accounts within the past 24 months; any new account with any issuer will count, not just with Chase; new accounts include most credit cards and charge cards but exclude non-Chase business cards and store charge cards). Historical best bonus of this card: (1) 100,000 points with $8K spending requirement in 2023; (2) 100,000 points with $15K spending requirement in 2020-2022; (3) 80,000 points since introduced in 2016.
- Application Landing Page [Disclaimer: we will receive a referral bonus from Chase if you apply and are approved for this card. The signup bonus you will receive is the same as if you visit Chase's non-referral link].
- Rewards: 3x travel, phone / internet / cable services, shipping, and advertising with social media or search engines (up to $150,000 spent annually combined), and 1x everywhere else.
- Best Use of Ultimate Rewards (UR) points: The points can be redeemed for cash, merchandise, gift cards, or travel, at up to 1 cent per point. However, as a premium UR card, Ink Preferred has three premium redemption options that are not available on regular UR cards: (1) to redeem for travel through UR and get 25% bonus value, essentially making 1 point = 1.25 cents, (2) to redeem through "Pay Yourself Back" feature and get 25% bonus value for categories that are subject to change - current and previous categories include internet / phone / cable services, office supplies, advertising, shipping, home improvement, and charity, and (3) to transfer points into miles or points of frequent traveler programs. Please see our review on Marriott vs. MR vs. UR vs. TY vs. C1 vs. CR for detailed analysis of the five programs that allow mile/point transfer.
- Other Benefits: (1) Waived foreign transaction fees. Embedded EMV chip for foreign travel. (2) Primary rental car collision coverage.
- The History: in 2009, Chase introduced the Ink series which included Ink Classic, Ink Cash and Ink Bold. In November 2011, Chase had a major revamp of these cards. For Ink Classic/Cash, the one year free Priority Pass Select was removed. For Ink Bold, several changes occurred: the tiered points booster (1.3~1.475 point per dollar spent) was replaced with a 5-2-1 structure similar to Ink Class/Cash with a higher annual spending cap; zero foreign transaction fee feature was added; Priority Pass Select (later becoming Lounge Club) with two free passes was extended beyond year one. In mid 2012, Chase introduced Ink Plus, which was almost identical to Ink Bold - the only difference was Ink Bold was a charge card and Ink Plus was a credit card. In October 2014, Chase discontinued Ink Classic and Ink Bold for new applicants due to their resemblance to their siblings. In April 2015, Chase removed the Lounge Club membership benefit from Ink Plus. In November 2016, Chase introduced Ink Preferred and discontinued Ink Plus for new applications.
The Math
Ink Preferred vs. Ink Plus: Ink Preferred is a direct replacement for Ink Plus, as both carry the same $95 annual fee and both allow miles/points transfer and enhanced airfare redemption. With Ink Preferred, you lose 5x office supplies and 2x telecommunication and gas but gain 3x travel, shipping, and advertising. Which card is better largely depends on your spending pattern. In addition, as noted below, Ink Preferred complements Ink Cash very well, while Ink Plus doesn't.
Ink Preferred vs. Ink Cash: their bonus categories are mostly different, and they will actually make a great combo in your wallet, which wasn't the case before when Ink Cash and Ink Plus offered very similar bonus categories. Ink Cash has office supplies, and phone / internet / cable services as the 5x categories, and gas and dining as the 2x categories, while Ink Preferred covers travel, shipping, online advertising, and phone / internet / cable services as the 3x categories. If you only have Ink Cash and don't have a premium UR card (Sapphire Reserve, Sapphire Preferred, Ink Preferred), the 5x points equal to 5% cashback and are not bad at all, especially considering there is no annual fee. However, if you have a premium UR card, you may increase the value of the points earned from Ink Cash quite a bit, and based on our current valuation of 1.5 cents per UR point, 5x points equal to a whooping 7.5% rewards. It is highly recommended to make a combo of Ink Cash and Ink Preferred, as you will have two 5x, three 3x, and two 2x bonus categories, all of which could be very lucrative, for $95 a year. What is more, if you throw in the non-fee Ink Unlimited, you will make a terrific trifecta as Ink Unlimited will take care of general spending by returning 1.5x points (=3% travel rewards).
Ink Preferred vs. Amex Business Gold: They are similar in that they both have powerful bonus categories and allow points to be either redeemed for fixed value airfare or transferred to frequent traveler programs. However, they do have major differences. First of all, Ink Preferred is $100 less expensive in effective annual fees. Secondly, they have different bonus structures: Ink Preferred offers 3x travel, advertising, shipping, and telecommunication, while Amex Business Gold offers 4x on two categories you spend most each month from: airfare, dining, gas, advertising, shipping, and computer. Lastly, even though their fixed value airfare redemptions are similar (1.25 cents for Chase vs. 1.33 cents for Amex), they have quite a few different transfer partners: Chase has United, Southwest, Hyatt, etc., while Amex has Air Canada, ANA, Cathay Pacific, Delta, Hawaiian, etc. (British, Singapore, Flying Blue, and Virgin Atlantic are the partners shared by both programs). So the bottom line is that each card has its own strength and it is up to your spending pattern as well as redemption need to decide which one to pick up.
The Conclusion
With the November 2016 revamp, Chase Ink Cards continue to impress and are considered among the best business cards for rewards. It is highly recommended that you make a combo of Ink Preferred and Ink Unlimited to boost the return on general spending, or an UR trifecta by adding Ink Cash to take advantage a total seven different bonus categories.
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Ink Preferred vs. Ink Plus: Ink Preferred is a direct replacement for Ink Plus, as both carry the same $95 annual fee and both allow miles/points transfer and enhanced airfare redemption. With Ink Preferred, you lose 5x office supplies and 2x telecommunication and gas but gain 3x travel, shipping, and advertising. Which card is better largely depends on your spending pattern. In addition, as noted below, Ink Preferred complements Ink Cash very well, while Ink Plus doesn't.
Ink Preferred vs. Ink Cash: their bonus categories are mostly different, and they will actually make a great combo in your wallet, which wasn't the case before when Ink Cash and Ink Plus offered very similar bonus categories. Ink Cash has office supplies, and phone / internet / cable services as the 5x categories, and gas and dining as the 2x categories, while Ink Preferred covers travel, shipping, online advertising, and phone / internet / cable services as the 3x categories. If you only have Ink Cash and don't have a premium UR card (Sapphire Reserve, Sapphire Preferred, Ink Preferred), the 5x points equal to 5% cashback and are not bad at all, especially considering there is no annual fee. However, if you have a premium UR card, you may increase the value of the points earned from Ink Cash quite a bit, and based on our current valuation of 1.5 cents per UR point, 5x points equal to a whooping 7.5% rewards. It is highly recommended to make a combo of Ink Cash and Ink Preferred, as you will have two 5x, three 3x, and two 2x bonus categories, all of which could be very lucrative, for $95 a year. What is more, if you throw in the non-fee Ink Unlimited, you will make a terrific trifecta as Ink Unlimited will take care of general spending by returning 1.5x points (=3% travel rewards).
Ink Preferred vs. Amex Business Gold: They are similar in that they both have powerful bonus categories and allow points to be either redeemed for fixed value airfare or transferred to frequent traveler programs. However, they do have major differences. First of all, Ink Preferred is $100 less expensive in effective annual fees. Secondly, they have different bonus structures: Ink Preferred offers 3x travel, advertising, shipping, and telecommunication, while Amex Business Gold offers 4x on two categories you spend most each month from: airfare, dining, gas, advertising, shipping, and computer. Lastly, even though their fixed value airfare redemptions are similar (1.25 cents for Chase vs. 1.33 cents for Amex), they have quite a few different transfer partners: Chase has United, Southwest, Hyatt, etc., while Amex has Air Canada, ANA, Cathay Pacific, Delta, Hawaiian, etc. (British, Singapore, Flying Blue, and Virgin Atlantic are the partners shared by both programs). So the bottom line is that each card has its own strength and it is up to your spending pattern as well as redemption need to decide which one to pick up.
The Conclusion
With the November 2016 revamp, Chase Ink Cards continue to impress and are considered among the best business cards for rewards. It is highly recommended that you make a combo of Ink Preferred and Ink Unlimited to boost the return on general spending, or an UR trifecta by adding Ink Cash to take advantage a total seven different bonus categories.
© 2011-2024 DrCreditCard.net All rights reserved.