Can You Upgrade a Chase Card to Ink Business Preferred?

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The new Chase Ink Business Preferred card has fantastic perks like 3X points for travel purchases and up to $600 of cell phone protection insurance.

Because of Chase’s tougher application rules, most folks who have opened more than 5 cards in the past 24 months will likely not be approved for the Ink Business Preferred.

Instead, you can consider a product change.  This way, you’ll get the ongoing perks of the card.  But you will NOT earn 80,000 point sign-up bonus.

Depending on your spending habits, it might make sense to change to Chase Ink Business Preferred.  I’ll explain!

Upgrade to Chase Ink Business Preferred

Link:   Chase Ink Business Preferred

Link:   My Review of the Chase Ink Business Preferred

When you upgrade to Chase Ink Business Preferred, you’ll get:

• 3X Chase Ultimate Rewards points for every $1 you spend on travel, shipping purchases, internet, cable and phone services, advertising purchases made with social media sites, and search engines (up to a maximum of $150,000 in combined purchases per account anniversary year)
• 1X Chase Ultimate Rewards points on all other purchases
• 25% bonus for travel booked through the Chase Ultimate Rewards Travel Portal
• Up to $600 in cell phone insurance when you pay your cell phone bill with the card
• Ability to transfer points directly to Chase airline and hotel partners
• No foreign transaction fees

You’ll have to pay a $95 annual fee when you upgrade to this card.

Only certain Chase cards can be upgraded to the Ink Business Preferred:

• Chase Ink Cash
• Chase Ink Plus (no longer available to new applicants)
• Chase Ink Bold (no longer available to new applicants)

You can NOT upgrade other airline and hotel small business credit cards issued by Chase.  And you can NOT change any personal Chase cards, like Chase Freedom, to a small business card.

And you must have had the eligible card open for 1 year to upgrade.  Keep in mind, a product change with Chase is not guaranteed.  It depends on your account history and profile.

To upgrade, contact Chase at the phone number on the back of your current card.  Or send a secure message from your online account.

Should You Upgrade?

Upgrading will depend on your spending habits.  And if you’re impacted by Chase’s stricter application rules.

It could be worth upgrading if you spend a lot in the 3X bonus categories like travel and shipping.

Because you’ll earn 3X Chase Ultimate Rewards points on eligible purchases, up to a maximum of $150,000 per account anniversary year.  If you’re a big spender and spend the maximum, you’ll earn 450,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points.  That’s enough points for 15 free nights at the most luxurious Hyatt hotels!

And it’s more than if you spend the maximum on the 2X and 5X bonus categories with the Ink Plus (no longer available to new applicants) or Ink Cash.

Because the Ink Plus bonus applies to a maximum of $50,000 in purchases for each bonus category.  And Ink Cash applies to a maximum of $25,000 in purchases for each bonus category.

At the same time, if most of your spending is in 5X Chase Ink categories, you might not want to upgrade.  Because the Ink Business Preferred does NOT have a 5X bonus category.

Upgrading might be the only option for some folks who have lots of recent new credit cards.  Because if you’ve opened 5 or more credit card accounts (from any bank) in the past 24 months, it’s very unlikely Chase will approve you for the Ink Business Preferred.  There are a few exceptions.

And if you choose to upgrade, you’ll miss out on the 80,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards point sign-up bonus.  But this won’t prevent you from earning the bonus in the future.  Because you can cancel and re-apply for the card at a later date, which will be your first time to qualify for the sign-up bonus.

Upgrading also means you won’t have to worry about meeting the minimum spending requirements.  This is good news for folks working on large spending requirements for cards like The Business Platinum® Card from American Express.

Bottom Line

You might consider an upgrade to the Chase Ink Business Preferred if you’re impacted by Chase’s tougher application rules and can’t get approved for new Chase cards (with these exceptions).

When you upgrade, you’ll get perks like 3X Chase Ultimate Rewards points on travel and advertising purchases.  And up to $600 in cell phone insurance.  

But, an upgrade would mean losing the 5X bonus category from cards like the Ink Plus (no longer available to new applicants) and Ink Cash.  So do the math to see if the bonus earning makes sense.

And remember, you won’t get the 80,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards point sign-up bonus if you upgrade.

Are you thinking of changing to the Chase Ink Business Preferred?