Chase Ink Preferred Card Review: Best Business Credit Card

Link: Apply now for the Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card

Nowadays small business credit cards are more competitive than ever before. Not only can they help you earn valuable rewards for your business, but in some cases business credit cards also offer valuable perks that can save you a lot of money and offer peace of mind with your purchases.

Chase Ink Business Preferred Card Basics For March 2024

The Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card is the all-around best and most well-rounded business credit card out there, in my opinion. The card has an incredible sign-up bonus, reasonable annual fee, excellent bonus categories, and valuable perks. So, let’s look at the details of the card.

Chase Ink Preferred Welcome Bonus Of 100K Points

The Chase Ink Preferred Card is offering an incredible welcome bonus of 100,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points after spending $8,000 on purchases within the first three months of account opening. While the card has had a bonus of 100,000 points for quite some time, the spending requirement was recently reduced significantly, from $15,000 to $8,000. So there has never been a better time to get this card.

This is a massive bonus, and one of the best credit card welcome bonuses out there. I value Ultimate Rewards points at 1.7 cents each, so to me those 100,000 points are worth a whopping $1,700.

Chase 5/24 Rule

Chase has something that’s known as the 5/24 rule. With this, you typically won’t be approved for the card if you’ve opened five or more new card accounts in the past 24 months. If you do apply for this card, make sure you’re under that limit. Here’s how to check your 5/24 status, and here are general rules on applying for Chase business cards.

Chase Ink Preferred $95 Annual Fee

The Chase Ink Business Preferred has a $95 annual fee, which is among the most reasonable annual fees you’ll find on a premium business card. You can add employees to your card at no extra cost, meaning you can also earn points for their spending at an accelerated rate.

Earning Points With The Chase Ink Business Preferred

One of the things that makes the Chase Ink Preferred Card so great is that it offers a lucrative points earning structure, as you can earn up to triple points on many purchases.

Chase Ink Preferred 3x Points Categories

The Chase Ink Business Preferred offers 3x Ultimate Rewards points in the following categories:

• Travel
• Shipping purchases
• Internet, cable and phone services
• Advertising purchases made with social media sites and search engines

Those are some extremely useful and widespread bonus categories for most businesses. The “travel” category covers all kinds of things, from flights to hotels to rental cars to parking to ridesharing.

A lot of businesses have internet and phone service expenses, so you can earn triple points in those categories as well. If you’re a business that spends a lot on social media or search engine advertising (i.e., Facebook or Google), that could pay off very nicely as well.

See here for an exact breakdown of what’s included in each category.

In my opinion there’s not a more well-rounded business card out there in terms of the rewards you’ll get, and this card “only” has a $95 annual fee.

Chase Ink Preferred $150,000 Annual Bonus Limit

You’re capped on earning 3x points with the Chase Ink Business Preferred on the first $150,000 spent in the above categories combined every account anniversary year. That means Chase isn’t using a January 1 through December 31 calendar, but rather it’s based on a rolling 12 months from when you opened your account.

Chase Ink Preferred No Foreign Transaction Fees

The Chase Ink Business Preferred has no foreign transaction fees, so it’s an ideal card for purchases abroad.

Redeeming Chase Ink Business Preferred Points

The Chase Ink Preferred Card earns Chase Ultimate Rewards points, and there are two ways you can efficiently redeem those toward travel rewards:

• Points can be redeemed for 1.25 cents each toward the cost of a travel purchase through the Chase Ultimate Rewards Travel Portal
• Points can be transferred at a 1:1 ratio to over a dozen airline and hotel partners

The Ultimate Rewards airline and hotel partners include the following:

In general my favorite use of Ultimate Rewards points is transferring them to airline and hotel partners, where you can get outsized value for aspirational redemptions. For example, you can redeem for first and business class tickets that would cost thousands and thousands of dollars if paying cash, or for luxury hotels that would cost $1,000+ per night.

Chase Ink Business Preferred Card Benefits

As you can see above, the Chase Ink Preferred Card offers an incredible sign-up bonus, and huge 3x points earning categories. But the benefits of this card go way beyond that.

Let’s look at some of the other benefits the Ink Business Preferred offers, ranging from rental car coverage to an amazing cell phone protection plan (in all cases you’ll want to consult your cardmember agreement for full details).

Chase Ink Preferred Cell Phone Protection

With the Chase Ink Business Preferred, get up to $1,000 per claim in cell phone protection against covered theft or damage for you and your employees listed on your monthly cell phone bill when you pay it with your Chase Ink Business Preferred. You can have a maximum of three claims in a 12 month period with a $100 deductible per claim.

See here for more details on the Ink Business Preferred cell phone protection plan.

Chase Ink Preferred Rental Car Coverage

The Chase Ink Business Preferred offers an excellent primary auto rental CDW (collision damage waiver) benefit:

• This is valid when renting globally for business reasons, and is valid outside the United States when renting for personal reasons as well
• Decline the rental company’s collision insurance and charge the entire rental cost to your card

See here for more details on the Ink Business Preferred CDW benefit.

Chase Ink Preferred Extended Warranty Protection

With the Chase Ink Business Preferred you can extend the time period of a United States manufacturer’s warranty by an additional year, on eligible warranties of three years or less.

See here for more details on the Ink Business Preferred extended warranty protection.

Chase Ink Preferred Trip Cancellation & Interruption Insurance

The Chase Ink Business Preferred offers potentially valuable travel coverage. If your trip is cancelled or cut short by sickness, severe weather, and other covered situations, you can be reimbursed up to $5,000 per trip for your pre-paid, non-refundable travel expenses, including passenger fares, tours, and hotels.

Is The Chase Ink Business Preferred Right For You?

While I think the Chase Ink Preferred is the most well-rounded business credit card out there, it’s not necessarily for everyone. So I wanted to look at some comparable cards and share my thoughts on which makes the most sense.

Comparison: Sapphire Preferred Vs. Ink Preferred

Since both are Chase cards and have “Preferred” in the name, I figured it made sense to compare the Ink Preferred to the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card (review). What’s different about these cards?

• The Ink Preferred is a business card, while the Sapphire Preferred is a personal card
• The Ink Preferred has a bonus of 100K points, while the Sapphire Preferred has a bonus of 60K points after spending $4,000 within three months (though with a lower spending requirement)
• The Ink Preferred offers up to 3x points on travel and other categories; the Sapphire Preferred has the advantage of offering 3x points on dining and online groceries, plus 10% anniversary bonus points
• The Ink Preferred offers cell phone protection, with the Sapphire Preferred doesn’t
• The Sapphire Preferred offers a $50 annual hotel credit, while the Ink Preferred doesn’t

I’m simply comparing these two cards because both have “Preferred” in the name, though I think the Ink Preferred is a significantly more well-rounded card.

Good Complements: Ink Cash & Ink Unlimited

While the Ink Business Preferred is Chase’s premium business credit card, there’s also the Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card (review) and Ink Business Cash® Credit Card (review). These two cards are excellent complements, and it can make sense to have all three (I have all three, for example).

The other two cards offer welcome bonuses of 75,000 points after spending $6,000 within 3 months, have no annual fee, and offer excellent bonus categories:

• The Ink Business Unlimited offers 1.5x points on all purchases, so this is one of the best business cards for everyday, non-bonused spending
• The Ink Business Cash offers 5x points on the first $25,000 of combined purchases per cardmember year on office supply stores, internet, cable TV, mobile phones, and landlines, and 2x points on the first $25,000 of combined purchases per cardmember year on restaurants and gas stations

See here for a full comparison of the three Chase Ink cards.

Want A Business Card Earning Cash Back?

While I think the Chase Ink Business Preferred is useful for most businesses, there is one exception. If you’re looking for a cash back business card, I wouldn’t recommend the Ink Business Preferred long term, as it’s more geared to those looking for travel rewards.

If you want to earn cash back, consider a card like The American Express Blue Business Cash™ Card (review), which has no annual fee (Rates & Fees) and offers 2% cash back on the first $50,000 spent every calendar year (after that 1%).

Alternatively, if you have a business with a lot of spending, consider the Capital One Spark Cash Plus (review) (Rates & Fees). The card offers a huge welcome bonus, unlimited 2% cash back, and an annual bonus of $150 when you spend $150,000 or more on the card.

Bottom Line

The Chase Ink Business Preferred Card is the single most well-rounded business credit card out there, in my opinion. The card offers a massive welcome bonus, incredible 3x points categories for common spending categories for businesses, and amazing protection, ranging from rental car damage to cell phone protection to purchase protection.

While I’d say this card isn’t worth it for someone strictly looking for cash back, otherwise you simply can’t go wrong with the Chase Ink Business Preferred, in my opinion.

Apply now for the Chase Ink Business Preferred with a bonus of 100,000 points!

The following links will direct you to the rates and fees for mentioned American Express Cards. These include: The American Express Blue Business Cash™ Card (Rates & Fees).