Link: Ink Business Premier® Credit Card
The Ink Business Premier Card (review) is one of Chase’s newest business credit cards, and opened up to applicants in 2022. For those with businesses that spend a lot and want to earn cashback rewards, this is an amazing card. For those looking to earn travel rewards, there are probably better options out there. Let’s cover the basics of this card.
In this post:
Chase Ink Business Premier Card details
The Ink Business Premier Card belongs to Chase’s lineup of Ink business credit cards, though in many ways this card is completely different, as it in no way participates in the Ultimate Rewards program. Let’s go over the details of the card.
Ink Business Premier $195 annual fee
The Ink Business Premier Card has a $195 annual fee (including the first year), making it the highest annual fee Chase Ink business credit card. You can add employees to the card at no extra cost.
As a point of comparison, the Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card (review) has a $95 annual fee, while the Ink Business Cash® Credit Card (review) and Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card (review) have no annual fee.
Ink Business Premier $1,000 welcome bonus
The Ink Business Premier Card is offering a welcome bonus of $1,000 cash back after spending $10,000 on purchases within the first three months. While that’s a huge bonus, note that the $1,000 cash back can’t be converted into airline miles or hotel points, as I’ll explain in greater detail below. While the card offers a great cash back bonus, personally I value travel rewards points more.
That’s still a huge bonus, especially if you have a business and are looking for a cash back card.
Ink Business Premier 2-5% cash back
The Ink Business Premier Card has the following rewards structure:
- 5% cash back on travel purchases through the Chase Travel Portal
- 2.5% cash back on purchases of $5,000 or more
- 2% cash back on all other purchases
The card has no foreign transaction fees, so is good for purchases abroad as well.
The Ink Business Premier doesn’t earn points
This is the detail that’s going to be disappointing for those who like to earn travel rewards points. Historically it has been possible to convert cash back rewards from no annual fee Ink and Freedom cards into Chase Ultimate Rewards points, and in turn transfer the points to airline and hotel partners.
Rewards earned on the Ink Business Premier Card can’t be transferred to other cards, and therefore also can’t be converted into airline miles and hotel points. This is a major restriction for those of us looking to earn travel rewards.
My take on 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 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 to crunch the numbers on that:
- Let’s assume you could earn 2% cash back with a card that has no annual fee (which isn’t as straightforward as it sounds)
- 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
As mentioned above, you can’t convert convert that 2.5% cash back into 2.5x Ultimate Rewards points that can be transferred to airline and hotel partners, though:
- Since I value transferable points currencies at 1.7 cents each, there are still better cards for everyday spending for those of us who like to maximize travel rewards; the cards offering 2x transferable points offer the equivalent of a 3.4% return, by my valuation
- I’m not sure what to make of the precedent that this sets; Chase’s most premium Ink business card is also the first of the collection where points can’t be transferred to partners, so hopefully this isn’t a sign of things to come
- For that matter, I feel like this creates some product confusion; previously each card had its unique features, but there were still some things in common, while in this case the card is totally different in terms of the rewards structure
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, unfortunately rewards on this card can’t be transferred to Ultimate Rewards airline and hotel partners.
What do you make of the Chase Ink Business Premier Card?
Nope. Ink Preferred is the way to go right now.
Ben,
I applied yesterday for Citi Premier card and got instantly denied even though I have great credit and open, active accounts with Citibank. I found and called the reconsideration line phone number and the rep who answered said that Citibank wants me to wait until I receive the explanation letter in the mail before calling them and asking them to reconsider the application. I’ve never heard of this before and I don’t know...
Ben,
I applied yesterday for Citi Premier card and got instantly denied even though I have great credit and open, active accounts with Citibank. I found and called the reconsideration line phone number and the rep who answered said that Citibank wants me to wait until I receive the explanation letter in the mail before calling them and asking them to reconsider the application. I’ve never heard of this before and I don’t know what’s going on. Have you ever heard of this before?
I found out to late that the "points" weren't transferable to any program or person.
I guess I'll just have them send me a check and be done with it.... unless there is a good reason to keep it. I have the other Chase Business cards already.