Ink Business Unlimited Credit Card — Full Review [2020]

As a business owner, you likely keep pretty busy and probably prefer a credit card that just keeps things simple.

If so, the Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card might be just the card for you. From zero annual fee to a flat cash-back rate, the Ink Business Unlimited card is a no-frills option that you don’t have to think twice about.

Read on to see if this card is a good fit for you and your business.

• 1.5% cash-back on all purchases
• No annual fee
• Earn flexible rewards
• Employee cards at no additional cost

• 3% foreign transaction fee

The Ink Business Unlimited card is perfect for business owners who want a simple earning structure and are not interested in paying a credit card annual fee. With 1.5% cash-back on all purchases — regardless of the category — with no caps and no annual fee, business owners looking for simplicity will love the card.

Hot Tip: Small business credit cards are not limited to business owners with a physical business location or even an LLC. If your business operates online-only, or if you provide freelance services, resell products, or anything in between, you could be eligible to apply for the card.

• You want a simple rewards structure
• You want to earn flexible points
• You want a no annual fee card

• You want a card that offers travel benefits and perks
• You do a lot of international business and need a card without foreign transaction fees
• You want a card that offers more bonus categories

Business Expenses

The best way to maximize your point earnings with the card is to use it for any and all business expenses you may have. This is because the Ink Business Unlimited card earns an uncapped 1.5% back on every purchase you make. There is never a need to worry about bonus categories, and the best way to rack up the points is to use your card as often as you need to.

Chase Shopping Portal

If you have business purchases that can be made online, consider going through the Chase shopping portal. Chase partners with dozens of merchants like Apple, Nike, and Samsung, and can offer anywhere from an extra 2x to 20x points per $1 spent.

Lyft Rides

Chase and Lyft have created a partnership that allows select Chase credit cards to earn additional bonus points on Lyft purchases. So, when you use your Ink Business Unlimited card to pay for your Lyft rides, you’ll earn 5% back/5x Ultimate Rewards points per $1 spent.

Refer-a-Friend Bonus

Select Chase credit cardholders are given the opportunity to refer their friends, family, or other business owners to apply for a Chase credit card and are rewarded when they do so.

So if you think the Ink Business Unlimited card might be a great fit for someone you know, you can receive up to 50,000 additional Ultimate Rewards points each year for referrals — 10,000 points per referral.

Referrals can be sent via email, social media, or by sending a direct link to the person you’re planning to refer.

Adding Additional Ultimate Rewards-Earning Cards

One of the best things about the Ink Business Unlimited card — its simple earning structure — could also be a bit of a downside for those who are looking to maximize their spending on the select categories they spend the most on.

However, by combining your Ink Business Unlimited card with another Ultimate Rewards-earning card, you can create a powerful points-earning combo that checks all the boxes.

For example, you could also hold the Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card that earns 3x Ultimate Rewards points per $1 spent on the first $150,000 spent in combined purchases on travel, shipping purchases, internet, cable and phone services, and advertising purchases with social media sites and search engines.

In this case, an optimal strategy would be to use the Ink Business Preferred card to earn 3x on all purchases falling within its bonus categories, and to use the Ink Business Unlimited card to earn 1.5% back on all other purchases.

Bottom Line: Pairing together credit cards that complement each other’s bonus categories and rewards ecosystems is a great way to maximize every dollar your business spends. 

Due to the flexible nature of Chase Ultimate Rewards points, you’re going to have plenty of redemption options. But which redemption options present you with the best value for your points?

Cash-Back

With the Ink Business Unlimited card being primarily a cash-back credit card, naturally, the most straightforward way of redeeming your points is for cash-back. This redemption method gives you a value of 1 cent per point.

You can receive your cash-back as a statement credit to offset purchases you’ve made with your card, or receive it as a deposit into a Chase business checking account that you have linked with your card account.

Gift Cards

Chase allows you to redeem your points for gift cards with over 150 different merchants at a rate of 1 cent per point — so a $100 Nike gift card would cost 10,000 points.

In this case, you really should just opt for cash-back instead. This way, you won’t tie your points to only be used with a specific merchant.

Shop With Points on Apple and Amazon

If your Ink Business Unlimited card is linked as a payment method on your Apple and/or Amazon account, you will have the option to use your points as the method of payment, instead of putting the charge on your card.

Again, your points are worth a fixed 1 cent per point with this method, so it doesn’t really make sense to redeem them this way unless you were planning to offset the purchase you’re making with a statement credit anyway.

Chase Experience Portal

Chase cardholders can use their points to book unique experiences through the Chase Experiences Portal, like courtside seats to a sporting event or backstage passes to a concert.

While these experiences are only available to Chase cardholders, it is generally better just book them with cash, since using your points will only earn you 1 cent per point in value.

Chase Travel Portal

With the Chase Ultimate Rewards travel portal, you can use your points to offset travel purchases on flights, hotels, rental cars, cruises, etc., at a rate of 1 cent per point.

Transfer to Airline and Hotel Partners (via a Premium Ultimate Rewards Card)

Those that hold a premium Ultimate Rewards credit card can combine the points earned from their Ink Business Unlimited card and transfer them to one of the Chase airline and hotel transfer partners.

The following cards provide access to Chase transfer partners:

• Ink Business Preferred card
• Chase Sapphire Reserve® Card
• Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card

This is by far our favorite way to redeem Chase Ultimate Rewards points as it allows you to get incredible value out of your points when redeeming them for first or business class flights or 5-star hotel stays.

Bottom Line: If you want to get the best value possible out of your Ultimate Rewards points, we highly recommend utilizing the Chase transfer partners. Otherwise, your next best option is to just take cold, hard cash-back. 

Blue Business Cash™ Card from American Express

The Amex Blue Business Cash card beats out the Ink Business Unlimited card in terms of cash-back rate by offering 2% cash-back compared to 1.5% cash-back.

However, the Amex Blue Business Cash card 2% rate is limited to $50,000 in purchases each year, whereas the Ink Business Unlimited card is uncapped.

Capital One® Spark® Cash for Business

The CapOne Spark Cash card also offers 2% cash-back on all purchases with no limits on the amount of cash-back you can earn. The card does charge a $95 annual fee, though, and you’re limited to cash-back redemptions, unlike cards that earn flexible rewards.