Link: Apply now for the Ink Business Premier® Credit Card
The Ink Business Premier® Credit Card (review) is potentially an extremely lucrative business card, though it’s totally different than the rest of the Chase Ink Business card lineup. While I’ve written a detailed review of the card, in this post I wanted to look at the card more broadly, and talk about who should consider applying for it.
In this post:
Chase Ink Business Premier Card details
Let’s start by briefly recapping the basics of the Ink Business Premier Card. Here’s the card’s value proposition, in a nutshell:
- The card has a $195 annual fee, and there’s no extra cost to add authorized users
- The card has a welcome bonus of $1,000 cash back after spending $10,000 within the first three months; you’re eligible for the card (including the bonus) even if you have other Chase Ink cards
- The card offers 5% cash back on travel purchased through the Chase Travel Portal, 2.5% cash back on purchases of $5,000 or more, and 2% cash back on all other purchases, with no foreign transaction fees
- Unlike other Chase Ink Business cards, the rewards on this card can’t be converted into Chase Ultimate Rewards points, so you can primarily redeem the rewards as cash
Should you apply for the Chase Ink Business Premier Card?
If you have a business that spends a ton on credit cards (especially large transaction amounts) and you want to earn cash back rewards, then the Chase Ink Business Premier Card is incredible. Being able to earn 2.5% cash back on business purchases of over $5,000 is unrivaled. It used to be that a card offering 2% cash back was industry leading, so to see a 2.5% cash back card on large purchases is exciting.
In fairness, the card has a $195 annual fee, so you have to make sure you’re recouping that. To crunch the numbers:
- Let’s assume you could earn 2% cash back with a card that has no annual fee
- Here you’re earning an incremental 0.5% back on purchases of $5,000+, so you could earn back that $195 annual fee with $39,000 in spending on purchases of $5,000+
- For businesses that spend a lot, the math very much checks out here, in my opinion
To frame this in the context of the competitive landscape, how does this compare to what’s otherwise the best cash back business card? The Capital One Spark Cash Plus (review) has a $150 annual fee, and offers a flat 2% cash back on all purchases, with no foreign transaction fees. On top of that, the card offers a $150 annual cash bonus when you spend $150,000 on the card during an account anniversary year, so that bonus will more than offset the annual fee for big spenders.
While this is also a cash back card, the benefit is that cash back can be converted into travel rewards in conjunction with another Capital One travel card, like the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card (review).
If you frequently make purchases in transactions of $5,000 or more, then I think the Chase Ink Business Premier is the better option. Meanwhile if you frequently make transactions in smaller increments than that, then I think the Capital One Spark Cash Plus is a better option.
What about for those looking to earn travel rewards? This is where the rest of the Chase Ink Business card lineup comes into play, as it’s pretty hard to beat:
- The Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card (review) has a $95 annual fee, and offers 3x points on the first $150,000 of combined purchases per account anniversary year on travel, shipping, internet, cable, phone services, and advertising purchases made with social media sites and search engines
- The Ink Business Cash® Credit Card (review) has no annual fee and offers 5x points on the first $25,000 of combined purchases per account anniversary year on office supply stores, internet, cable TV, mobile phones, and landlines, and 2x points on the first $25,000 of combined purchases per account anniversary year on restaurants and gas stations
- The Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card (review) has no annual fee and offers 1.5x points on all purchases
Personally, I greatly value being able to earn travel rewards, so I prefer the strategy of earning Ultimate Rewards points, rather than cash back. However, understandably a lot of others would rather just earn cash back that they can spend however they’d like.
Bottom line
The Chase Ink Business Premier Card is a unique business card. The $195 annual fee card offers a welcome bonus of $1,000 upon completing spending, and offers at least 2% cash back on all purchases, and 2.5% cash back on purchases of over $5,000.
This is the best business credit card for those looking to earn cash back, who also make large purchases, as earning 2.5% cash back is unrivaled. However, for those of us who like to collect points, rewards on this card can’t be transferred to Ultimate Rewards airline and hotel partners.
What do you make of the value proposition of the Chase Ink Business Premier Card?
Excellent review! Your analysis of the Chase Ink Business Premier Card’s features and rewards helps in making an informed decision. Appreciate the detailed perspective.
What Frank said.
Cash back on a tax-deductible business purchase offsets the business deduction taken on the purchase (i.e., the cash back is in effect taxable.)
Not a great deal, especially when taking into account the time and energy to account for the cash back.
Pass.
To answer the question: no. Fidelity 2% card has no annual fee and no foreign transaction fees. You have to spend roughly $40k in $5k+ purchases to overcome thus card's $195 annual fee. Punt.