Chase Ink Business Preferred Review (100,000 Points!) [2020]

The Chase Ink Preferred is one of the most popular small business credit cards on the market due its high value potential, solid travel and purchase protections, and strong bonus categories. But is it truly worth all the praise or is this card a little overhyped? 

In this review article, I’m going to break down the Chase Ink Preferred and take a look at all of the value that this card has to offer and go over the benefits like the 100,000 point sign-up bonus, bonus spending, cell phone insurance, and a few others.

Be sure to check out the YouTube video at the end as well!

Sign-up bonus

The standard sign-up bonus for the Chase Ink Preferred is 100,000 points after you spend $15,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.

This is one of the most valuable credit card sign-up bonuses available.

Other Chase Ink cards have high offers of 50,000 points and the Sapphire Reserve offers a 50,000 point offer as well. So this is a significant increase from those offers.

With that said, there have been targeted offers that have gone out for 120,000 points after spending $5,000 in the first 3 months. Those were incredible offers but you pretty much just need a ton of luck to be on your side in order to receive one of those and only a small group of people received those.

Then there’s the 100K offer. This is an offer that has been available in-branch before but mostly to Business Relationship Manager (BRM) clients and only during certain times of the year (usually starting around March). BRM clients are business clients with high revenue around $1,000,000+.

I haven’t heard a lot about this recently so I wouldn’t get your hopes up for it.

Tip: Use WalletFlo for all your credit card needs. It’s free and will help you optimize your rewards and savings!

What can you do with 100,000 points?

Overall, I’d be very happy with the 100,000 point offer if that is all that I could find because that’s a lot of value. You could use those points in the Chase Travel Portal and redeem your points for $1,250 worth of travel or you could transfer them out to some of the transfer partners which are listed below.

These flexible redemption options make this one of the best travel credit card on the market!

Chase Ultimate Rewards Airlines

• Aer Lingus
• British Airways Executive Club
• Emirates
• Flying Blue (Air France/KLM)
• Iberia Airways
• JetBlue
• Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
• Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards
• United MileagePlus
• Virgin Atlantic Flying Club

Chase Ultimate Rewards Hotels

• World of Hyatt
• IHG Rewards Club
• Marriott Bonvoy

You can use your Ultimate Rewards to experience some of the top business class and first class cabins in the world. Here are a few specific examples of what you could do with your points.

Related: 12 Best Chase Ultimate Rewards First Class Redemptions

United

If you’re trying to fly internationally, 65,000 miles could cover you for a roundtrip in economy to Europe for a Saver award or a one-way business class award. You’d also have enough miles for a roundtrip in economy to Asia or a one-way flight in business class on a partner like EVA (worth $3,300+).

Southwest

80,000 points transferred to Southwest could get you very far, especially if you have the Companion Pass. You could easily score a handful of roundtrips around the country if you jumped on the right Wanna Get Away fares.

Singapore

You could use Singapore miles to book two roundtrip business class tickets on United to anywhere in the domestic US or from the US to Canada (worth $1,500+).

Virgin Atlantic

After meeting the minimum spend, you’d only be 5,000 miles short of being able to redeem a roundtrip business class ticket on partner ANA from Japan to the western US (worth $5,000+)!

Hyatt

100,000 points transferred to Hyatt could get you at least 4 nights at a solid property like the Park Hyatt Bangkok, 3 nights at a category 6 property, and after meeting your minimum spend, you’d only be a few thousand points short of having 3 nights a top category 7 property like the Park Hyatt Milan (worth $2,700+).

Bonus earning

The Chase Ink Preferred earns 3 points per $1 on the first $150,000 spent in combined purchases in the following categories each account anniversary year:

• Travel
• Shipping purchases
• Internet, cable and phone services
• Advertising purchases with social media sites and search engines

Travel

Travel is broadly defined and allows you to earn triple the points on all sorts of purchases. The Chase Sapphire Reserve also earns 3X on travel but it comes with a much higher annual fee of $550 so this is a strong perk for a card with a $95 annual fee.

Shipping

If your business does a lot of shipping then this is a great way to capitalize on earnings. Other cards do offer bonus potential for spending on shipping though like the new Amex Business Gold Card.

That card allows you to earn 4X points on the 2 select categories where your business spends the most each month and it applies to the first $150,000 in combined purchases from these 2 categories each calendar year.

You can choose from the following:

• Airfare purchased directly from airlines
• U.S. purchases for advertising in select media 
  (online, TV, radio)
• U.S. purchases made directly from select 
  technology providers of computer hardware, 
  software, and cloud solutions
• U.S. purchases at gas stations
• U.S. purchases at restaurants
• U.S. purchases for shipping

The Amex Business Gold Card does come with a very high annual fee of $295, though, and it currently does not offer a standard welcome bonus of Membership Rewards.

Internet, cable and phone services

Getting 3X on internet, cable and phone services is certainly nice but there’s always the option of going with the Chase Ink Cash which offers 5X on the first $25,000 spent in combined purchases at office supply stores and on internet, cable and phone services each account anniversary year.

So if you really want to capitalize on these categories and your spend is somewhere around that $25,000 range, you might really consider using the Chase Ink Cash to maximize those categories.

The Ink Cash also earns 2X on the first $25,000 spent in combined purchases at gas stations and restaurants each account anniversary year. And the Ink Cash comes with no annual fee. 

Advertising

You’ll earn 3X on advertising purchases with social media sites and search engines which is great but again consider what you might be able to earn with the Amex Gold Business Card that offers 4X on those categories.

Everyday

For every purchase that does not fall into a bonus category you’ll earn 1X on that purchase. If you can do it, you might want to think about getting another card like the Chase Ink Unlimited or the Chase Freedom Unlimited since both of those cards earn 1.5X on all purchases with no limit.

Another contender might be the Amex Business Blue Plus which earns 2X on all purchases up to $50,000. That’s one of the best everyday spending cards though it is capped at that $50K mark.

Inside tip: The Chase Ink Preferred has coded as 3X for services like Plasiq and Venmo in the past so keep an eye out for that!

Can you use the Ink for personal use?

A lot of people wonder whether or not they can use their Chase Ink cards for personal spend.

The application states the following in the terms and conditions:

I certify, understand and agree that: 1) This is a business account which shall be used only for business purposes and not personal, family or household purposes;

So according to the terms this should be used for business purposes. However, if you’ve ever ran your own business or you’re an entrepreneur you know that it’s not always so black and white and personal and business expenses can overlap.

Also, the terms allow for primary rental car coverage while “renting outside your country of residence for personal reasons” so this seems contradictory.

Thus, I think that it’s perfectly fine to use your Ink card some expenses that could be considered “personal” and many people do this.

Just keep in mind that some consumer protections don’t apply when you use a business card so you could be losing out on some of those. Also, if you’ve structured your business entity to protect your personal assets, it’s always a good idea to keep your personal and business funds and transactions as segregated as possible. 

Cell phone protection

With the Ink Preferred, you’ll get up to $600 per claim in cell phone protection against covered theft or damage for you and your employees listed on your monthly cell phone bill when you pay it with your Chase Ink Business Preferred credit card. This is good for a maximum of 3 claims in a 12 month period with a $100 deductible per claim.

That $100 deductible cuts into the value of this benefit, especially because there are other (personal) cards that offer cell phone protection with a much smaller deductible. For example, Wells Fargo phone insurance is offered by certain credit cards and it will protect you up to $600 subject to only a $25 deductible.

Primary rental car coverage

This card is one of the few that offer primary rental car coverage.

This is huge because it means that you can avoid paying for rental car coverage when renting a car and save some money. But it also means that you can avoid filing a claim with your car insurance provider and avoid seeing an increase in your monthly premium. 

It is primary coverage while renting primarily for business purposes or when renting outside your country of residence for personal reasons or if you do not have automobile insurance.

You can read more about the rental car coverage here. 

Tip: Use the free app WalletFlo to help you travel the world for free by finding the best travel credit cards and promotions!

Annual fee

The annual fee is $95. In the past, some people have been able to use get the annual fee waived with in-branch offers so keep an eye out for those in the future.

Foreign transaction fees

This card has no foreign transaction fees.

Chase 5/24 rule

This card is subject to the Chase 5/24 rule which means that if you have been approved for 5 or more accounts in the past 24 months you won’t be able to get approved.

However, this card does not count towards your 5/24 status which means that you want to prioritize this card and make it one of the first Chase cards (or any cards) that you apply for.

Business needed

Some ask if they can get the Ink Preferred without a real business. Well, this is a business credit card so you will need a business to qualify.

The good news it that just about anything can constitute a business, including selling things on eBay, Craigslist, and doing things like tutoring, etc. If that’s the case, you would likely want to apply as a sole proprietorship.

Chase Ink Preferred Approval odds

You’re going to need a good to excellent credit score to get the Chase Ink Preferred. I’d prefer to have a score of 720+ with a solid few years of credit history to feel comfortable applying but there are a lot of factors at play with approval decisions so the exact score needed will differ with each situation.

Chase does like to see a good credit history so if your credit profile is very thin getting the Chase Ink Preferred could prove to be difficult to get.

Tip: If you don’t have a relationship with Chase you might consider opening up a Chase business account to start building that relationship.

It probably helps to have business income/revenue for your application but there are reports out there of people getting approved for Chase Ink Cards with very little business income at times (under $2,000 and even $0). Some will resort to a good-faith projection of their income for the upcoming year but you’ll have to decide with what you’re most comfortable with.

You also need to know how to handle a Chase business reconsideration phone call since that might be needed. Note the questions about revenue and profit that will likely come up.

Luxury Hotel & Resort Collection

The Luxury Hotel & Resort Collection is a network of over 900 luxury properties all around the world and it comes with the following elite-like benefits:

• Daily breakfast for two
• Complimentary Wifi
• Room upgrade (based on availability)
• Early check-in and late check-out (based on availability)
• Special benefit at each property

This benefit is not advertised for the Chase Ink Preferred but I was able to get access to the program with my Chase Ink Preferred. If you like to stay at luxury properties this program can save you a lot of money with its benefits. To learn more about this program click here.

Travel and purchase protections

For a card with only a $95 annual fee, the travel and purchase protections on this card are fantastic.

Trip cancellation and interruption

If your trip is cancelled or cut short by sickness, severe weather and other covered situations, you can be reimbursed up to $5,000 per trip for your pre-paid non-refundable travel expenses, including passenger fares, tours, and hotels.

This can be a life-saver when you’ve booked prepaid hotels or cruises or any type of tours and you’re forced to miss out on the trip due to something unexpected.

Trip delay

Covers you up to a maximum of $500.00 for each purchased ticket for reasonable expenses, on a one-time-basis, incurred if your Covered Trip is delayed by a Covered Hazard for more than 12 hours or requires an overnight stay.

Getting compensation for flight delays is never guaranteed and if the source of the delay is something like bad weather, you have very minimal chances of getting covered for things like lodging with most airlines. And even when you do get some benefits, it can often be for a hotel stay limited to about $100 per night and only a meal or two.

With this protection you can choose which hotels you want to stay at and have $500 to work with which is pretty generous.

Baggage delay

This covers you up to $100.00 per day for a maximum of five days and is limited to emergency purchases of essential items needed as a result of the delay including but not limited to: clothing, toiletries, and charging cables for cellular telephones.

Some Chase cards only provide coverage for three days so it’s great to get full coverage for up to five days with this card.

Purchase protection

Covers your new purchases for up to 120 days against damage or theft up to $10,000 per claim and $50,000 per account. Many cards limit this protection to only $500 or some other low amount so getting covered up to $10,000 per claim is pretty significant.

Extended warranty

Extends the time period of U.S. manufacturer’s warranty by an additional year, on eligible warranties of three years or less.

If you want to find out more about these protections, you can check out the benefits PDF.

YouTube

Final word

The Chase Ink Preferred stands out to me because of its high sign-up bonus, strong bonus earning categories, low annual fee, and solid protections. I think that it’s one of the best small business credit cards because of all of those reasons.