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Chase offers three different cards for small businesses in its Ink portfolio: Chase Ink Business Cash, Ink Business Preferred and Ink Business Unlimited. All the cards are solid offerings, but for small businesses that are new, the Chase Ink Business Cash is one of the best because of it offers a $750 welcome bonus and has no annual fee. You can always upgrade once the business is off the ground.
- Chase Ink Business Cash Overview
- How does the Chase Ink Business Cash compare to other cards?
- Does this card have rental car coverage and other hidden benefits?
- Does Chase Ink Business Cash earn you Ultimate Rewards points?
- Our Recommendation
- FAQs:
Chase Ink Business Cash Overview
Chase Ink Business Cash offers cash back on business purchases, a welcome bonus, and protections and benefits, along with the option to redeem points for cash or transfer them to an Ultimate Rewards card that will allow the cardholder to transfer points to airlines or use in the Chase travel portal. . Let’s have a look at the offerings.
Intro Bonus offer
- $750 bonus after spending $7500 in the first three months.
- Increase the value of the sign-up bonus by redeeming through the Ultimate Rewards Portal.
Cashback
- 5% cash back at office supply stores and on the phone, landline and cable bills.
- 2% cash back at gas stations and restaurants.
- 1% cashback on everything else.
- Raise the cashback value by redeeming through the Chase rewards portal.
Additional Perks
- Primary collision coverage on car rentals for business purposes.
- Purchase Protection and Extended Warranty Coverage.
- Roadside Emergency Dispatch service.
- Travel and Emergency Assistance Service.
The Ink Cash is a no-annual-fee card which offers 5% cash back at office supply stores and on utility bills, 2% at gas stations and on dining, and 1% on all other purchases. You’ll earn the $750 bonus after spending $7,500 within the first three months. This bonus is equivalent to 75,000 ultimate rewards points (more on that below) which can be redeemed for an even higher value if you combine it with one of the bank’s premium personal cards (Sapphire Preferred or Sapphire Reserve).
The Ink Portfolio of Cards
Although compared to the Ink Cash, the Ink Preferred only gives you a 3% cashback in travel, telecommunications and advertising it does come with a 100,000 point bonus. Also, it does come with the unique benefit of cell phone protection against theft and damage up to the amount of $600 per claim.
| Chase Ink Business Cash | Chase Ink Business Preferred | Chase Ink Business Unlimited | |
| Annual fee | $0 | $95 | $0 |
| Type of card | Visa Signature | Visa Signature | Visa Signature |
| Sign-up bonus | $750 bonus cash back after you spend $7,500 on purchases in the first 3 months after account opening | 100,000 bonus points after you spend $15,000 on purchases within the first 3 months of account opening That’s $1,000 cash back or $1,250 toward travel rewards when you redeem through Chase Ultimate Rewards® | $750 bonus cash back after you spend $7,500 on purchases in the first 3 months after account opening |
| Cashback | 5% cash back at office supply stores and on the phone, landline and cable bills 2% cash back on gas stations and restaurants 1% cashback on everything else. Multiply the cashback value by redeeming through the Chase rewards portal | 3x points on the first $150,000 spent in combined purchases (Travel, Shipping purchases, Internet, Cable and Phone services, and on Advertising purchases made with social media sites and search engines each account anniversary year). 1% cashback on everything else Double the cashback by redeeming through the Chase rewards portal | Earn 1.5% Cash Back rewards on every business purchase. |
| Foreign transaction fee | 3% of each transaction in US dollars | None | 3% of each transaction in US dollars |
Chase Ink Business Cash car rental insurance and other benefits
All the cards in the Chase Ink portfolio offer Primary rental car coverage, Purchase Protection, Extended Warranty Protection, Roadside Dispatch, and Travel and Emergency Assistance Service. In particular, Primary rental car coverage is a nice perk that only comes with certain cards. If you do get into an accident this would cover you without you having to worry about going to your existing car insurance (Which is the case with the secondary coverage benefits offered on most cards).
| Benefits | Chase Ink Business Cash | Chase Ink Business Preferred | Chase Ink Business Unlimited |
| Purchase Protection | 120 Days , coverage upto $10,000 per claim and $50,000 per account. | 120 Days , coverage upto $10,000 per claim and $50,000 per account. | 120 Days , coverage upto $10,000 per claim and $50,000 per account. |
| Extended Warranty | Additional one year on eligible warranties of three years or less. | Additional one year on eligible warranties of three years or less. | Additional one year on eligible warranties of three years or less. |
Travel and Accident Insurance | Coverage up to $ 500,000. | Coverage up to $ 500,000. | Coverage up to $ 500,000. |
| Auto Rental CDW | Primary Coverage | Primary Coverage | Primary Coverage |
| Trip Cancellation/Interruption Insurance | No Coverage | Up to $5,000 per covered trip | No Coverage |
| Roadside Dispatch Service | 24/7, 365 days. | 24/7, 365 days. | 24/7, 365 days. |
| Baggage Delay Insurance | Over 6 hours,$100 per day, maximum 3 days. | Over 6 hours,$100 per day, maximum 5 days. | Over 6 hours,$100 per day, maximum 3 days. |
| Lost Luggage Reimbursement | up to $3,000.00 each individual. | up to $3,000.00 each individual. | up to $3,000.00 each individual. |
| Trip Delay Reimbursement | No Coverage | Over 12 hours or overnight stay,covers up to $500 each person. | No Coverage |
Does Chase Ink Ultimate Rewards earn you more points?
Chase gives its users multiple point redemption options. The value of 100 points is equal to one dollar. You can redeem the points through a statement credit or direct deposit. You could opt to get a gift card issued or shop online on Amazon.com or Chase Pay app.
To get the most value for the points you can redeem them for travel, airfares, and car rentals through the Chase Ultimate Rewards portal. The Ultimate Rewards points to increase the worth by 25%, 100 points which would normally be $1 now is $1.25 in value. If you have collected a lot of points then redeeming it for travel with increased point value would make a huge difference.
How does Chase Ink Business Cash compare to other business cards?
Chase Ink Business Cash compared to Capital One Spark Cash
At the start, we should mention that both cards feature a $0 annual fee.
Chase Ink Business Cash offers a welcome bonus of $750, while Spark Cash offers a welcome bonus of $500. However, the Ink business has a higher spending limit to receive the bonus at $7500 vs $4500 within the first three months of account opening.
Ink Cash offers a 0% introductory APR for 12 months on account opening on purchases (after that, 13.24%–19.24% variable APR), whereas with Spark Cash a variable APR rate applies from the get-go.
Chase Ink Business Cash compared to Capital One Spark Cash Select
If you compare Spark Cash Select to Ink Cash you may find that both have a similar spending limit of $3000 for bonus accumulation but you lose the bonus points with Spark Cash Select as you get a one time bonus of $200 vs $750 with Ink Cash. You have to spend within first three months of account opening to be eligible for a one time bonus.
As a business owner if 1.5% flat cash back appeals to you because you do not want to track various categories for spending then you may want to consider Ink Business unlimited instead of Ink Cash or Spark Cash Select.
Chase Ink Business Cash compared to Costco Anywhere Visa Business card
If you are likely to purchase a high volume of goods and office supplies from Costco then Costco Anywhere Business card is worthy of consideration. On the surface, this card appears to be a no annual fee credit card but it requires you to have an active Costco membership. The cost of a gold star or business membership for the new user would be $60 or $120 if you would opt for the executive plans.
Costco Anywhere Business comes along with cash back of 4% on eligible gas purchases for the first $7000 per year and thereafter the cash back value drops to 1%. You also get 3% on dining and travel and 2% on Costco purchases. Ink Cash in comparison gives 5% cash back on office supplies and utility bills. Costco Anywhere Business card does not charge you a foreign transaction fee. Based on the nature of the business and area of spending you can pick among them as both these cards address different requirements.
Why choose a business card?
There are a number of reasons to get a business credit card but the top two reasons are to help you keep your recordkeeping between your business and personal expenses separate and also help you to build business credit. Here are 4 reasons in more detail:
- When establishing your own business, the card used can have an impact on your savings. The cashback offerings are geared towards generating benefits for small business owners. The biggest concern for anyone running a company is maintaining separate books for personal and business expenses. Getting a business credit card will help you monitor your expenses and lets you analyze the areas of spending at a single place.
- Getting a business credit card will allow you to get an employee credit card for eligible employees in your company.
- A business card will allow you access to a higher credit line which can help your small business grow but be mindful when borrowing as the rate of interest is also high.
- Personal credit cards which are issued to individual report to consumer credit bureaus whereas many banks which issue business credit card report to commercial credit bureaus. Using a business credit card can protect your personal credit rating by maintaining separate accounts.
There are a few scenarios such as delinquency in payment when a bank may choose to report your business credit activity to the consumer credit bureau. The reporting may impact the small business owner who is the primary cardholder or/and has offered a personal guarantee for the business credit card. Therefore, it is important to understand the terms and condition of your business card, where your financial transactions are going to be reported and its implications.
Prerequisites for applying for business credit card
Before applying for a business credit card, you must gather all business-related information such as type of business, business ownership, tax id, and employer identification number, your credit score, annual revenue, and expense details. All banks would run a check to see if you meet their credit approval requirements before issuing a business card.
Chase Ink 5/24 rule
While applying for a Chase card personal or business it is essential to know that your approval may be influenced by the 5/24 rule. If you have applied for five or more credit cards within the past 24 months with any banks then you should avoid applying for a Chase card as they are likely to disapprove of your application. Also, the probability of approval is reduced if you have got two personal and one business card issued within a 30-day period from Chase.
Recommendation
If you don’t have a business card in the Ink portfolio the Ink Cash is a great card to start with as it doesn’t have any annual fees, it pays a hefty 50,0000 point sign-up bonus (worth $1000 if redeemed for ultimate rewards), comes with primary rental car insurance and is the only card that would earn you 5% cash back in an important category (office supplies and telecommunications).
If you already have Chase Ink Business Cash card we believe that combining it with Chase Ink Business Preferred would further increase your cash back as you would get 3% on advertising and travel along with a 80,000 point bonus along with complementary cellular phone protection.
If you prefer the simplicity of 1.5% cashback for all your purchases then the Ink Business Unlimited is the card for you.
Chase Ink Business Cash is a valuable card to possess to address your business travel and utility-based needs. You must have good credit score to be eligible for any of these Chase Ink cards. Your focus must be on timely repayments to maintain good credit standing post approval.