Chase Ink Business Preferred review: The best business card — now with a highest-ever 100k point bonus

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If you have a small business (or even just a side gig), the Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card should be at the top of your list of cards to get. It’s one of the best Chase credit cards, and comes with an unprecedented welcome bonus that can earn you a dream vacation. You’ll earn 100,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points after spending $15,000 on purchases in the first three months of account opening. That’s by far the highest bonus we’ve seen for this card!

The Ink Business Preferred also offers a ton of perks to make your business life much, much simpler, including cell phone insurance and travel and purchase protections like primary rental car insurance when renting for business purposes (which can save you $15+ per day). You’ll also earn bonus points for many common small business purchases such as travel, shipping, internet/phone/cable and advertising.

It comes with a $95 annual fee, but I’ll show you why that’s an insanely reasonable price for this powerhouse card.

Chase Ink Business Preferred review

Current bonus

Right now, you can earn an intro bonus of 100,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points after opening the Ink Business Preferred Credit Card and spending $15,000 on purchases in the first three months of account opening. At the moment, it’s the highest offer on any of the Chase Ultimate Rewards-earning cards. And if you think you may have trouble meeting the higher minimum spend, we have a guide for creative ways to meet minimum spending requirements, think paying your taxes, car payments and more.

We estimate that Chase points are worth an average of 2 cents each, though it depends on how you redeem it. This 100,000 point bonus can easily be worth $2,000 in travel.

Benefits and perks

You can make your life easier by taking advantage of the Ink Business Preferred benefits and perks available to you as an Ink Business Preferred cardmember, because these can save you tons of time and money.

Strong earning rate

As a small business owner, it makes good sense to earn rewards for expenses you run up on a daily basis. With the Ink Business Preferred Credit Card, you’ll take the sting out of your expenses, because you’ll earn bonus points for many different purchases:

• 3 Chase Ultimate Rewards points for every dollar you spend on travel, shipping purchases, internet, cable and phone services, and advertising purchases made with social media sites and search engines (up to a maximum of $150,000 in combined purchases per account anniversary year)
• 1 Chase Ultimate Rewards point per dollar on all other purchases
• 25% bonus when you redeem points through the Chase Ultimate Rewards travel portal

Read our post about how to earn Chase Ultimate Rewards points for more details.

Cell phone insurance

The Ink Business Preferred offers up to $1,000 in cell phone insurance for you and any employees listed on your monthly bill after paying a $100 deductible, so your net savings could be as much as $900.  There’s no separate registration process to be covered.

There are some exclusions. For instance, lost phones are not covered, and covered phones must have been purchased new. But considering how expensive cell phones are nowadays, this is a fantastic benefit to have and could save you some serious cash if your phone is accidentally damaged.

Primary rental car insurance

The card also provides primary auto-rental insurance when you rent a car for business purposes, as long as you decline the Collision Damage Waiver (CDW) through the car rental agency. This can end up saving you a ton of money.

With primary rental car insurance coverage, you typically will not be required to file any insurance claim with your own car insurance company because the credit card insurance will generally pick up the bill for physical damage, towing charges and damages arising from theft.

Team member Harlan saved nearly $700 thanks to primary rental insurance from his Chase Sapphire Reserve® card when his rental car got dinged on the passenger side door. Instead of paying ~$700 out of pocket, he simply filed a claim with his credit card company and had it pick up the bill instead.

Extended warranty protection

When you purchase an eligible item with the card, you can receive up to an additional year of warranty coverage, provided the original manufacturer’s warranty is three years or less. This coverage has a cap of $10,000 per claim, and $50,000 per account.

Purchase protection

With extended warranty protection, if you purchase an item and it ends up being damaged or stolen, you could be covered for up to $10,000 per claim, up to a maximum of $50,000 per account. This coverage will protect you for 120 days after you originally purchased the item, and can save you some serious cash.

Many different items are covered. You can find the full list of details and exclusions in Chase’s Guide to Benefits.

Trip cancellation/trip interruption insurance

If you use the card to pay for your trip, you could be covered for up to $5,000 of expenses if your trip ends up being delayed or cancelled for reasons like weather, illness, or injury. Immediate family members and business owners also qualify for this coverage.

You’ll also be covered if your luggage is damaged or lost in transit. Coverage is limited to $3,000, although items like jewelry, watches, cameras, and other electronic equipment are capped at $500.

Free Ink Business Preferred cards for your employees

As you hire more employees and grow your business, you may find it convenient to provide business credit cards to trusted employees. This allows them further autonomy at work and saves you from headaches caused by managing petty cash or reimbursements.

With the Chase Ink Business Preferred, you can request free employee cards under your account. You can set individual spending limits for each employee to control their expenses, too.

Best of all, any purchases that your employees make with their cards will earn you points and product protection. This is a great way to accelerate rewards earning as a business owner.

How to redeem points

The welcome bonus alone is worth at least $1,250 in travel when you redeem your points for flights, hotels, rental cars and more through the Chase Ultimate Rewards Travel Portal, but it could be worth even more if you redeem your points through Chase transfer partners. You could get much more than $1,250 in travel by moving your points to partners like United Airlines and Southwest.

For instance, if you’re eyeing a trip to Seattle, you could transfer 45,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points to Hyatt for a six-night stay at the Hyatt House Seattle Downtown, saving you close to $1,800 (depending on your travel dates). Or you could transfer your points to airline partners, one of the best redemption options. Meghan transferred 35,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points to United Airlines for a  flight to Belize, saving her $700.

Read our post about the best ways to use Chase points.

Is the annual fee worth it?

The Ink Business Preferred has a $95 annual fee. However, given that the welcome bonus alone is worth at least $1,250, this makes the card well worth it for everyone for at least the first year.

For most people, the Ink Business Preferred is also worth keeping for the long run because the card comes with perks that could save you a lot of cash. If you normally pay for cell phone insurance, for example, the Ink Business Preferred is a no-brainer because you’ll receive automatic insurance when you pay your cell phone bill with the card. And if your rental car gets damaged, you could end up saving hundreds, if not thousands of dollars, just by having the credit card insurance cover the bill instead.

Other perks, like roadside assistance, extended warranty and purchase protections could also save you many thousands of dollars.

Who is the Chase Ink Business Preferred for?

The Chase Ink Business Preferred is a small business card. You won’t qualify for the card unless you have a for-profit venture.

Also, Chase won’t approve you for this card if you’ve opened five or more cards from any bank (not counting other Chase business cards and business cards from most other banks) in the past 24 months. We refer to this as the “Chase 5/24 rule.”

You can follow this post to count how many open credit cards you’ve acquired in the past 24 months.

Insider tip

Again, this is a small business card, so you’ll need to operate a for-profit venture to get it. However, you might qualify for a small business credit card without realizing it. Nearly every MMS team member qualified for a Chase Ink card because of side gigs, like reselling on eBay, freelance writing, running an Airbnb or managing vacation rentals.

You don’t need an EIN (Employer Identification Number) to apply for a small-business credit card. You can apply with just your Social Security number as a sole proprietor. Read our guide on how to complete a Chase business card application.

Pairing the Chase Ink Preferred with other cards

The Ink Business Preferred gives you a great return on select bonus categories. But there are similar no annual fee credit cards that provide tons of extra points for spending that the Chase Ink Preferred can’t. You can round out your wallet with one of the following cards.

If you’re looking for an easy approach, the no annual fee Ink Business Unlimited Credit Card offers an unlimited 1.5% cash back on every purchase for your business, on top of a $750 bonus cash back after you spend $7,500 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. There aren’t any categories to keep track of, so it’s a great pick if you’d rather keep it simple.

If you really want to rake in the rewards, check out the no annual fee Ink Business Cash Credit Card. It’s currently offering a welcome bonus of $750 bonus cash back after you spend $7,500 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. You’ll also earn:

• 5% cash back (5 Chase Ultimate Rewards points per dollar) on the first $25,000 spent in combined purchases at office supply stores and on phone, internet, and cable TV services each account anniversary year
• 2% cash back (2 Chase Ultimate Rewards points per dollar) on the first $25,000 spent in combined purchases at gas stations and restaurants each account anniversary year
• 1% cash back (1 Chase Ultimate Rewards point per dollar) on all other purchases

Bottom line

If you’re a small business owner, you should strongly consider the Ink Business Preferred Credit Card. As a cardmember, you’ll receive ongoing perks like cell phone insurance, roadside dispatch, trip delay insurance, and purchase protections that can save you hundreds, if not thousands of dollars, even if you only use the perks once.

You can qualify for the Ink Business Preferred Credit Card even if you don’t have a full-time business. Most for-profit ventures, like doing yard maintenance, driving for Uber or Lyft, and selling items on eBay are eligible businesses.

And the intro bonus of 100,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points after spending $15,000 on purchases in the first three months from account opening is worth at least $1,250 in travel — and potentially more when you transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards points to valuable travel partners like United Airlines and Hyatt.

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