The Ink Business Preferred℠ Credit Card currently has the highest sign-up bonus of any Chase Ultimate Rewards card. You can earn 80,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points after meeting minimum spending requirements.
I’ve asked the Million Mile Secrets team how they’d use this fantastic bonus. Here’s team member Joseph!
Joseph: Thanks, Daraius!Without a doubt, one of the best credit card sign-up bonuses at the moment comes with the Ink Business Preferred. You can use it for at least $1,000 in travel through the Chase Ultimate Rewards Travel Portal. And potentially much more when you transfer points to valuable airline and hotel partners!
I don’t have the Ink Business Preferred at the moment. But I’ll tell you how I’d spend 80,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points if I received the sign-up bonus today!
What WE Would Do With the Chase Ink Business Preferred 80,000 Point Bonus
I’ll Take the $1,000 in Travel
I do NOT currently have the Ink Business Preferred because I don’t feel I have anything in my life that I can truly call a small business. But qualifying for a small business card is really easy. You can sign-up as a sole proprietor with your Social Security Number!
As long as you have a for-profit venture, even something as small as selling items on eBay or tutoring students, you can open a small business card. I just haven’t gotten around to a side gig yet.
I love flexible points like Chase Ultimate Rewards points because of their 2 redemption options – valuable transfer partners and the Chase Ultimate Rewards Travel Portal.
I’ve definitely received oversized value for my points over the years by transferring them to travel partners like United Airlines and Hyatt.
But at this moment, I feel like I’d use my points in a different and much less impressive way.
1. Chasing Low Fares
When you redeem your points through the Chase Ultimate Rewards Travel Portal, they’re worth a flat 1.25 cents each (unless you also have the Chase Sapphire Reserve, which makes your points worth 1.5 cents each). This means the 80,000 point Ink Business Preferred sign-up bonus is worth $1,000 when you use your points through the Chase Ultimate Rewards Travel Portal (80,000 points X 1.25 cents each).
I find that I can often buy fares so cheaply that it does NOT make sense to redeem points for an award flight. And there have been lots of cheap fares to Europe, Asia, and the Middle East this year.
When you buy airfare through the Chase portal, you will also earn miles for your flight. So if I find a really long flight for cheap, I’ll buy the ticket through the Chase Ultimate Rewards Travel Portal, and credit the miles I fly to a useful airline.
For example, we saw extra cheap round-trip flights to India earlier this week! I’ve wanted to go to India since 2008 when my friend from Mumbai coerced me into watching a Bollywood movie. I’d love to visit New Delhi for myself, just to watch random pedestrians participate in complicated and unrehearsed dance choreography in the middle of the street.
I found a flight to New Delhi on China Eastern through the Chase Ultimate Rewards Travel Portal for ~$395 round-trip. I could buy the fare for 31,620 points (or 26,333 points if I also had the Chase Sapphire Reserve). And I could credit the miles I earn for the flight to Delta!
I’d earn ~10,000 Delta miles for a round-trip flight from New York to New Delhi, India, on China Eastern. That’s more than enough for a one-way flight from my home airport in Cincinnati to Calgary, Alberta, for a dream trek through Banff National Park!
Booking super cheap flights to exciting places through the Chase Ultimate Rewards Travel Portal is a great way to stretch points, and earn more at the same time. By the time I’d have spent the Ink Business Preferred sign-up bonus, I would likely have earned more than enough airline miles for another fun trip!
I’d get a lot of exciting travel from the Ink Business Preferred sign-up bonus because I’m willing to let the airfare deals guide my travels. And that may NOT be a strategy that many folks would follow.
2. Reserving Points for Unexpected Travel
While my primary goal for my Chase points would be to book cheap airfare, I also like having a small reservoir of points for unexpected events. So in the weeks and months I’m waiting for a fun, cheap flight to pop up, I’ll have peace of mind in knowing that if I want to go somewhere, I can.
For example, just last week I decided to book travel to South Carolina for an ideal view of the solar eclipse in a couple of weeks. The Hyatt House Charleston / Historic District was selling rooms for an outrageous +$500 per night (because of the solar eclipse), but I was able to book the room for just 12,000 Hyatt points per night. I would NOT have been able to do this if I didn’t have Chase Ultimate Rewards points sitting in my account, waiting for a spur of the moment trip!
However, if you use your points often, there’s no harm in keeping a few around for an emergency wanderlust trip! And Chase Ultimate Rewards points do NOT expire so long as you have a Chase Ultimate Rewards earning credit card.
Do What Makes YOU Happy
It can be difficult to pry yourself away from trying to find the BEST value per point, and just using your credit card rewards for what will make you the happiest. I’m less inclined to spend lots of points for luxury travel. Though it’s definitely a nice treat once in a while!
I prefer to use my miles & points to get the most travel, not the most glamorous. But for folks who have no problem keeping the miles & points flowing in, luxury travel is likely a preferable option!
Chase Ink Business Preferred Offer
Link: Chase Ink Business Preferred
Link: Review of the Ink Business Preferred
When you open the Chase Ink Business Preferred card, you’ll earn 80,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. You’ll also 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
- Up to $600 in cell phone insurance when you pay your cell phone bill with the card
- 25% bonus when you redeem points through the Chase Ultimate Rewards travel portal
- Primary auto rental insurance (CDW) when renting for business purposes, plus purchase and extended warranty protection
The card has a $95 annual fee, which is NOT waived the first year.
The Ink Business Preferred card is impacted by Chase’s tighter application rules.
So if you’ve opened 5+ cards from any bank (NOT counting Chase business cards and these other business cards) in the past 24 months, it’s unlikely you’ll be approved for this card.
Bottom Line
With the Chase Ink Business Preferred, you can earn 80,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months after opening your account. That’s an incredible sign-up bonus, and the highest of all Chase Ultimate Rewards points earning credit cards!
Team member Joseph would get Big Travel from the Ink Business Preferred sign-up bonus by using it to buy cheap long-haul flights to fun destinations through the Chase Ultimate Rewards Travel Portal. But there are plenty of other ways to use the bonus!
Your travel goals might be completely different. Chase Ultimate Rewards points are flexible, so whether you’d like to book 1 memorable Business Class flight, or visit multiple destinations in coach, do whatever makes you the happiest!
How would you spend the 80,000 point Ink Business Preferred sign-up bonus?