Is The Chase Ink Business Preferred Card Really Worth It?
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When shopping for a new credit card or deciding whether or not to keep an existing card, you’ll probably find yourself asking the question, “Is this card really worth it?”
Not all credit cards are right for everyone, and not all cards are worth their annual fee. Credit cards these days can offer so many perks and awards, it can be hard to answer that simple question.
In this post, I’m going to help answer that question for one of the most popular credit cards for business owners — the Ink Business Preferred® credit card.
Table of contents
Table of Contents
Key Benefits of the Chase Ink Business Preferred
There are a lot of options when choosing a small business credit card. You might be curious to know if the Ink Business Preferred is a good option for you. Let’s take a look at some of this card’s key benefits now.
Chase Ultimate Rewards
The Ink Business Preferred earns valuable Chase Ultimate Rewards points. These points can be used to book travel through the Chase travel portal or you can transfer them to Chase’s hotel and airline partners.
With this card, you can earn 3 points per dollar spent on the following categories (up to $150,000 in combined spending annually).
- Travel
- Shipping purchases
- Internet, cable, and phone services
- Advertising purchases made through social media sites or search engines
Plus, you’ll earn 1 point per $1 on all other purchases.
25% More Value When Booking Travel Through the Chase Travel Portal
Chase Ultimate Rewards points are generally worth 1 cent per point when used to book travel through the Chase travel portal. But, when you have the Ink Business Preferred, they’re worth 25% more!
Hot Tip: Chase Ink Business Preferred card holders get 1.25 cents per point in value when booking travel through the Chase Ultimate Rewards travel portal.
Purchase Protection
The Ink Business Preferred purchase protection covers new purchases against damage or theft for 120 days. This benefit covers up to $10,000 per claim with a maximum of $50,000 per year.
Cell Phone Protection
This benefit will protect your cell phone, plus the cell phones of those employees listed on your monthly bill, against loss or damage. To activate this benefit all you need to do is pay your phone bill with your Ink Business Preferred — don’t forget, you’ll also be earning 3x points.
Each claim has a $100 deductible. Claims are capped at $600 each and you can submit up to 3 claims per year.
Trip Insurance
Trip insurance is something that many of us won’t pay for, but it’s a nice perk to have built into your credit card. The Ink Business Preferred offers trip cancellation and interruption insurance.
This means that you’re covered if your trip is canceled or cut short by illness or severe weather. You can be reimbursed up to $5,000 for pre-paid, non-refundable expenses like tickets, tours, and hotels.
Car Rental Insurance
If you’re renting a car with your Ink Business Preferred card for business purposes, you’re eligible for primary car rental insurance. This means you don’t have to file a claim with your other insurance first. This coverage provides reimbursement for theft or damage for most cars up to the actual cash value of the car.
To activate this coverage be sure to pay for the entire rental with your Ink Business Preferred, and decline the collision insurance provided by the rental agency.
Free Employee Cards
The Ink Business Preferred is a great choice for small business owners because you can get cards for your employees at no additional charge.
The annual fee for this card is $95, but being able to add authorized users for free can make the cost well worth it. Keep in mind, though, that you’re responsible for their spending, so only add trusted employees to your account.
How Much Value Can You Get out of the Ink Business Preferred?
Now that you know about some of the benefits of the Ink Business Preferred, let’s take a look at how much value each of these benefits actually brings to the table.
Sign-Up Bonus
It’s no secret that a credit card’s sign-up bonus can be tremendously valuable. The Ink Business Preferred is no exception. The generous sign-up bonus you can earn adds tons of value to the card and offsets the annual fee for a number of years.
Here are the details on the current sign up bonus:
| Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card - This is our #1 recommended business card and right now comes with a 100,000 sign up bonus after you spend $15,000 on purchases in the first 3 months after account opening. This bonus is worth $1,250 when you redeem through Chase Ultimate Rewards for travel purchases (flights, hotels etc). Pay your cell phone bill with this card to receive up to $600 in cell phone insurance coverage per year. The Ink Business Preferred also offers a lot of card benefits for business owners. Earn 3x on the first $150,000 spent on travel and select business categories each account anniversary year, plus 1x on all other purchases—with no limit to the amount you can earn. All for an annual fee of $95. |
Ultimate Rewards Points
Chase Ultimate Rewards points are one of the most popular transferable point currencies for a reason — they’re easy to use, flexible, and can get you lots of free travel.
First, points earned through your Ink Business Preferred card can be used for booking travel through the Chase travel portal. Here they’re worth a straight 1.25 cents per point.
That’s a pretty good value, but if you want even more value, consider using one of Chase’s transfer partners. You can often get 2, 3, or more cents per point in value when transferring to a hotel or airline partner.
All points transfer at a 1:1 ratio with a minimum of 1,000 points to transfer. Most (not all) transfers happen almost instantly. You can transfer your Ultimate Rewards points to any of the following airline and hotel partners:
Chase Airline Transfer Partners
| Chase Airline Transfer Partner | Min Transfer | Transfer Ratio (Chase > Airline) | Transfer Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aer Lingus AerClub | 1,000 | 1:1 | Almost Instant |
| British Airways Executive Club | 1,000 | 1:1 | Almost Instant |
| Flying Blue AIR FRANCE KLM | 1,000 | 1:1 | 1 hour |
| Emirates Skywards | 1,000 | 1:1 | New, pending reports |
| Iberia Plus | 1,000 | 1:1 | Almost Instant |
| JetBlue | 1,000 | 1:1 | Almost Instant |
| Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer | 1,000 | 1:1 | 1-2 days |
| Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards | 1,000 | 1:1 | Almost Instant |
| United Airlines MileagePlus | 1,000 | 1:1 | Almost Instant |
| Virgin Atlantic Flying Club | 1,000 | 1:1 | Almost Instant |
Chase Hotel Transfer Partners
| Chase Hotel Transfer Partner | Min Transfer | Transfer Ratio | Transfer Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| World of Hyatt | 1,000 | 1:1 | Almost Instant |
| IHG Rewards Club | 1,000 | 1:1 | 1 day |
| Marriott Rewards | 1,000 | 1:1 | 2 days |
Let’s take a look at how much you’d need to spend on your Ink Business Preferred card to make up the $95 annual fee.
If you spent $7,600 in non-bonus categories each year you’d earn 7,600 Ultimate Rewards points which are worth $95. That’s only about $633 in spending each month.
But, let’s be real, of course you’re going to use those bonus categories!
If you spent $2,534 in any of the 3x bonus categories (travel, shipping, cable, internet, phone, and select advertising) yearly, you’d earn 7,602 Ultimate Rewards points which are worth $95. That’s only about $211 in spending per month. I bet most business owners spend more than that on their cable, phone, and internet bills alone.
Cell Phone Insurance
As a business owner, it’s good to know that if you or one of your employees loses or damages a cell phone, you’re covered. All you’ll need to pay is the $100 deductible, which is much easier to swallow than $500 or more for a new phone.
If you submit a cell phone claim even once, that more than covers the cost of the card’s annual $95 fee.
$330+ Value From the Ink Business Preferred Card
Let’s look at a realistic example of how much value you can get from this card. For this example, I’m not even going to take into consideration things like the sign-up bonus, car insurance, or purchase protection. Those benefits are great and absolutely add value to the card, but I like to value a card only by factors that I can control — how and where I use the card.
Here’s what a year might look like for a small business owner who holds an Ink Business Preferred card.
These estimates are very conservative — you may spend much more, which just increases the value of the card!
| Yearly Expenses | Cost per Year | Ultimate Rewards Points Earned | Minimum Value of Those Points |
| Cable, phone, and internet services ($250/month) | $3,000 | 9,000 | $112.50 |
| Social media and search engine advertising ($200/month) | $2,400 | 7,200 | $90 |
| Flights (2 roundtrip tickets per year at $400 each) | $800 | 2,400 | $30 |
| Hotel (2 trips, 5 nights each, $150 per night) | $1,500 | 4,500 | $56.25 |
| Miscellaneous/non-bonus category spending ($300/month) | $3,600 | 3,600 | $45 |
| Total | $11,300 | 26,700 | $333.75 |
This example is extremely low and we still have over $330 in value just from the Ultimate Rewards points alone. This number doesn’t take into account the sign-up bonus, purchase protection, cell phone insurance, or trip insurance.
As you can see, it’s very easy for a small business owner to get enough value out of this card to make up the annual fee and then some.
Bottom Line: You can easily get hundreds of dollars of value out of the Ink Business Preferred just through the Ultimate Rewards points you can earn from your everyday spending. Add to that all of the other perks like cell phone insurance, purchase protection, and a generous sign on bonus and this card easily becomes a great value for only a $95 annual fee.
Final Thoughts
The Ink Business Preferred is a favorite among small business owners. It comes with great bonus categories to help you earn lots of Ultimate Rewards points, great insurance options to protect you and your purchases, plus a great sign-up bonus to get you started.
This card isn’t just for big businesses. The minimal $95 annual fee makes this a solid choice for businesses of all sizes. The perks and benefits of the Ink Business Preferred card make it a strong contender to earn a place in your wallet.
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Is the 80k point sign up bonus on the Chase Ink Business Preferred a limited time deal? Will the bonus likely go up or down soon?
Hi Steve,
Chase has not provided any sort of timeframe as to if/when that sign up bonus would change. But keep in mind that sign up bonuses are subject to change at any time, and are entirely up the the issuing banks discretion.
With that said, the sign up bonus for the Ink Preferred has been 80k for quite some time now and doesn’t seem as though it will change any time soon.
Is the signing bonus based on the business EIN or SSN of the applicant? I’ve already had the Chase Ink and SW business card before, but I have a new LLC (it has its own EIN) and I’m considering getting the cards again. Would I qualify for the signing bonus?
Hi Val,
Yes, you can qualify for the bonus again if you are applying on behalf of a separate business with a separate EIN. Thanks for reading!
I already have multiple Chase Ink Preferred cards and would like to close one, the first biz card I ever got, because I’ve already had it more than a year and paid one annual fee on it. I’m closing it because I’d like to lower my total extended credit to possibly apply for another Chase card soon. My credit is currently very close to half my yearly income. I’ve already transferred the points from that card to another card. Are there any other downsides to closing the card? Thanks!