Link: Apply now for the Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card with 75,000 points ($750 cash back)
The no annual fee Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card (review) is a compelling business credit card, and is part of the Chase Ink Business card portfolio. The card has a welcome bonus of 75K points, and offers several valuable perks that make the card worth holding onto, from a great rewards structure, to rental car coverage.
In this post I wanted to cover the basics of getting approved for the Chase Ink Unlimited Card, and qualifying for the bonus. You might be surprised by just how many people are eligible for the welcome bonus on this card (even if you have or had the card), so let’s go over all those details. For what it’s worth, I picked up the card, and shared my experience getting approved.
In this post:
Chase Ink Business Unlimited eligibility requirements
There are often questions about what it takes to get approved for the Chase Ink Unlimited Card, including being able to earn the bonus. The good news is that this is quite straightforward, and a lot of people may not realize how few restrictions there are.
That’s not necessarily to say that getting approved for the card is super easy, but at least if you can get approved, earning the bonus is straightforward.
Who is eligible for the Ink Unlimited welcome bonus?
While other Chase cards have 24-month and 48-month rules regarding welcome bonus eligibility, that’s not the case with the Chase Ink Unlimited Card. If you look at the terms, you won’t see any major restrictions associated with earning the welcome bonus.
For one, you’re eligible for the bonus on this card if you have any other Chase Ink product, like the Ink Business Cash® Credit Card (review) or Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card (review).
It goes beyond that, though. You’re actually eligible for the welcome bonus on the Chase Ink Unlimited Card even if you’ve had that exact card before, and even if you have that exact card right now. Essentially as long as you get approved for the card, you can earn the welcome bonus on it.
If you have multiple businesses, it’s possible to get Chase Ink products for each of them. For example, many people have two Chase Ink Unlimited cards, with one being for a corporation, and the other being for a sole proprietorship.
There are even plenty of reports of people being able to pick up multiple of the same cards for the same business. After all, there’s potentially merit to keeping certain expenses separate, for accounting purposes.
Let me emphasize that a lot of the above is based on anecdotal reports. But as you’ll see with the offer terms, that doesn’t contradict anything published directly by Chase.
Do you need a business to get the Ink Unlimited?
The Chase Ink Unlimited Card is a business card, so you do need a business in order to get approved for the card (and you’re also supposed to use the card for business spending). However, you don’t necessarily need a corporation, and even having a sole proprietorship would make you eligible.
If you’re applying for the card as a sole proprietorship, you can use your name as the name of your business, your social security number as your tax identification number, etc.
What credit score do you need for the Ink Unlimited?
There’s not a consistent rule as to what credit score you need to be approved for the Chase Ink Unlimited Card, as credit score is one of only many considerations when being approved for a card. In general, I’d recommend having a credit score in the “good” to “excellent” range if you’re going to apply for this card.
Personally, I probably wouldn’t apply if my credit score were under 700, and ideally, I’d hope to have a credit score of 740 or higher. That being said, people with scores lower than that have been approved, and conversely, people with scores higher than that have been rejected. There are lots of factors that go into approval — your income, your credit history, how much credit Chase has already extended you, etc.
Does the Chase 5/24 rule apply to the Ink Unlimited?
Historically Chase has had what’s known as the 5/24 rule, whereby you often wouldn’t be approved for a Chase card if you’ve opened five or more new card accounts in the past 24 months. There are increasingly reports of this no longer consistently being enforced.
It’s hard to know for certain what’s going on here. Some people are definitely still getting rejected for Chase cards due to too many new card accounts, while others aren’t. Either way, it makes sense to apply for Chase business cards before applying for personal cards.
Chase Ink Business Unlimited approval FAQs
To answer a few more of the frequently asked questions when it comes to the Chase Ink Unlimited Card…
Is it hard to get approved for the Ink Unlimited?
Yes and no. There’s nothing that makes the Chase Ink Unlimited Card in particular hard to be approved for, but rather Chase is among the tougher issuers to get an approval from.
If you have a good credit score, a fair amount of credit history, and you’re under the 5/24 limit, you have good odds of getting approved for the card. Even if you’re over 5/24, you may still have good odds.
How long does it take to get approved for the Ink Unlimited?
Approvals on Chase credit cards could be instant, they could take a few days, or they could take a couple of weeks. In general I find that Chase doesn’t issue too many instant approvals, especially on business cards, so don’t be worried if you get a pending decision answer when you apply. That doesn’t at all mean you’re likely to be rejected.
Can you get the Ink Unlimited for multiple businesses?
It’s possible to get the Chase Ink Unlimited Card for multiple businesses, while earning the bonus on each card. So if you’ve already opened the card for one business you have, you could still open it for another. For example, this could work if you apply for one card as a sole proprietorship using your social security number, and one card as a corporation with your tax ID.
Can you get different Chase Ink cards?
Yes, it’s possible to hold all the “flavors” of Chase Ink cards, and you can in some cases even have multiple of the same cards, especially if you’re applying for the cards for different businesses.
What is the minimum credit line for the Ink Unlimited?
If you’re approved, the Chase Ink Unlimited Card will have a minimum credit line of $5,000. That’s because the card is a Visa Signature, and that’s the minimum credit line extended on Visa Signature products.
Which credit bureau does Chase pull from?
If you apply for the Chase Ink Unlimited Card, there’s not a single credit bureau that Chase always pulls from. It could be Equifax, Experian, or Transunion, depending on a variety of factors.
Is it bad for your credit score if you get denied for the Ink Unlimited?
What are the negative impacts of applying for a credit card and getting denied? The only downside is that there’s a new inquiry on your credit file, which could temporarily ding your score by a few points. While everyone’s situation is different, personally I wouldn’t consider that to be a big issue, as losing a few points temporarily shouldn’t have major implications, and of course there’s a lot of upside to getting approved.
If you get denied for the Ink Unlimited, can you apply again?
You sure can. If you’ve gotten denied for the Chase Ink Unlimited Card in the past, you could apply again. Just because you get denied once doesn’t mean you’ll be denied again, especially if aspects of your credit worthiness have improved (for example, if your credit score went up, the number of cards you opened in the past two years went down, etc.).
Does the Ink Unlimited earn cash or travel rewards?
There’s sometimes confusion about whether the Chase Ink Unlimited Card earns cash back or travel rewards. As you’ll see, the bonus is marketed as offering a certain amount of cash back.
In reality, each cent cash back posts to your account as one point, and then you can redeem those points for statement credits or other cash equivalents. In other words, $100 in accrued cash back would show in your account as 10,000 points, and could then be redeemed at any point for $100.
But this is also where these cards get interesting. Rewards can be converted into “premium” Ultimate Rewards points in conjunction with other cards like the Chase Sapphire Reserve® Card (review), and then you can redeem points for 1.25-1.5 cents each toward the Chase Travel portal, or you can transfer them to Ultimate Rewards airline and hotel partners.
Bottom line
The Chase Ink Unlimited Card is offering a great welcome bonus of 75,000 Ultimate Rewards points after spending $6,000 within the first three months. If you don’t yet have the card, there are so many great long-term reasons to keep it, including bonus points on all kinds of purchases, excellent travel coverage, and awesome points redemption opportunities.
Hopefully the above answers the question of who is eligible for one of Chase’s most lucrative business cards. If anyone has any other questions on Chase Ink Business Unlimited approval, please let me know.
What has your experience been with being approved for the Chase Ink Unlimited Card?
I have a business but may have to put medical expenses on the business card to meet the minimum spend. Have people done that?