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Chase Ink Business Premier Review: Extra Cash Back on Big-Ticket Purchases

Review Updated
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Nathan Alderman
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Nathan Alderman
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The Ink Business Premier® Credit Card (see rates and fees) is Chase's most rewarding, and expensive, cash back credit card. It earns impressive cash back rates, especially on purchases of $5,000 or more, and offers one of the largest cash rewards bonuses we've seen. For those perks, Chase charges a $195 annual fee. Find out if this card is worth the cost in our Ink Business Premier® Credit Card review.

Bottom line: This business credit card has some serious cash back potential with its purchase rewards and sign-up bonus. However, redemption options are more limited than with other Ultimate Rewards credit cards.

Ratings Methodology

Ink Business Premier® Credit Card

Apply Now for Ink Business Premier® Credit Card

On Chase's Secure Website.

Rates & Fees External Link Icon

Ink Business Premier® Credit Card
Rating image, 4.00 out of 5 stars.
4.00/5 Circle with letter I in it. Our ratings are based on a 5 star scale. 5 stars equals Best. 4 stars equals Excellent. 3 stars equals Good. 2 stars equals Fair. 1 star equals Poor. We want your money to work harder for you. Which is why our ratings are biased toward offers that deliver versatility while cutting out-of-pocket costs.
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Rating image, 4.00 out of 5 stars.
4.00/5 Circle with letter I in it. Our ratings are based on a 5 star scale. 5 stars equals Best. 4 stars equals Excellent. 3 stars equals Good. 2 stars equals Fair. 1 star equals Poor. We want your money to work harder for you. Which is why our ratings are biased toward offers that deliver versatility while cutting out-of-pocket costs.
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Credit Score: Circle with letter I in it. Falling within this credit range does not guarantee approval by the issuer. An application must be submitted to the issuer for a potential approval decision. There are different types of credit scores and creditors use a variety of credit scores to make lending decisions.
Recommended Credit Score required for this offer is: Good (670-850)
Apply Now for Ink Business Premier® Credit Card

On Chase's Secure Website.

Rates & Fees External Link Icon

Credit Score Circle with letter I in it. Falling within this credit range does not guarantee approval by the issuer. An application must be submitted to the issuer for a potential approval decision. There are different types of credit scores and creditors use a variety of credit scores to make lending decisions.

Good (670-850)

Intro APR Circle with letter I in it. N/A

Purchases: N/A

Balance Transfers: N/A

Regular APR

Flex for Business Variable APR: 18.49% - 26.49%

Rewards Circle with letter I in it. Earn unlimited 2.5% total cash back on purchases of $5,000 or more and unlimited 2% cash back on all other business purchases.

N/A

Annual Fee Circle with letter I in it. N/A

$195

Welcome Offer Circle with letter I in it. Earn $1,000 bonus cash back after you spend $10,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.

Earn $1,000 bonus cash back

  • While the Ink Business Premier® Credit Card comes with a higher annual fee, we think its generous rewards and bonus potential make it worth considering for high-spending businesses. Designed for larger businesses, this card offers 2.5% cash back on purchases over $5,000, plus unlimited 2% cash back on other purchases. With one of the largest cash rewards bonuses available, it’s a strong choice for businesses with significant spending, offering both rich rewards and substantial earning potential.

    • Sign-up bonus
    • Cash back rewards
    • Free employee cards
    • Cellphone protection
    • No foreign transaction fee
    • Rewards can't be transferred
    • No 0% intro APR
    • Pay in full card
    • Annual fee
    • Earn $1,000 bonus cash back after you spend $10,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
    • Earn unlimited 2.5% total cash back on purchases of $5,000 or more and unlimited 2% cash back on all other business purchases.
    • Travel Benefits: Unlimited 5% total cash back on travel purchased through Chase Travel℠, No Foreign Transaction Fees and Trip Cancellation/Trip Interruption Insurance.
    • The only business credit card with 2.5% cash back on every purchase of $5,000 or more.
    • Get the buying power you need to make large purchases, cover monthly expenses and help your business grow. While you must pay your Pay In Full balance each month, this card has built-in flexibility. The Flex for Business feature allows for qualifying purchases to be paid over time with interest.
    • Purchase with confidence with built-in protections like Fraud Protection, Zero Liability Protection, Purchase Protection, Cell Phone Protection, and Extended Warranty Protection.
    • There's no additional cost for employee cards. Monitor spend with digital tools like purchase alerts, set spending limits, reporting, and more.
    • Member FDIC

How to best make use of the Ink Business Premier

If your small business is a big spender, or if you have a few big-ticket, one-time business expenses coming up, the Ink Business Premier® Credit Card could be the right choice. That's because this card is designed for extra cash back rewards on big purchases of $5,000 or more.

Here's a step-by-step breakdown of how small businesses can earn maximum cash back rewards with the Ink Business Premier® Credit Card.

1. Earn your welcome offer

The Ink Business Premier® Credit Card has one of the most generous welcome offers of any Chase business credit card: Earn $1,000 bonus cash back after you spend $10,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.

Many well-established small businesses should easily be able to earn this bonus cash back from their usual monthly business expenses. But this card might not be the best choice for startups, solo entrepreneurs, or newly launched LLCs with lower spending.

2. Use this card for big purchases ($5,000 or more)

Here's why this card is a great choice for big-ticket one-off expenses: It lets you earn unlimited 2.5% total cash back for purchases of $5,000 or more.

Here are a few situations when the Ink Business Premier® Credit Card could help you earn 2.5% total cash back -- assuming that each purchase adds up to $5,000 or more:

  • Purchasing business equipment
  • Buying inventory
  • Paying a supplier
  • Making major seasonal purchases
  • Procuring new office furniture
  • Renovating your retail storefront
  • Upgrading your company laptops
  • Paying for commercial auto insurance upfront for an annual discount

Let's say your business makes 20 big-ticket purchases of $5,000 each per year that qualify for this 2.5% total cash back. Based on $100,000 of total qualifying spending, you'd earn $2,500 of cash back.

3. Earn unlimited 2% total cash back on all other business purchases

The Ink Business Premier® Credit Card also earns unlimited 2% total cash back on all other business purchases of any size below $5,000. Even if you never use this card for any big-ticket items over that $5,000 limit, it can still be worth having in your wallet just for the unlimited 2% total cash back.

For example, if you spend $100,000 on this card in one year, you'll get $2,000 of cash back. That's more than enough to recoup this card's $195 annual fee.

4. Use your card for foreign transactions

Most of the other Chase Ink® credit cards charge foreign transaction fees. Good news: This one doesn't. That makes the Ink Business Premier® Credit Card great to use for international business travel or big purchases from international vendors and suppliers.

5. Get free employee cards

Just like other Chase Ink® business credit cards, the Ink Business Premier® Credit Card will allow your business to add employees as authorized users and use employee cards at no added cost. This way, you can combine the purchasing power of multiple authorized employees on one account, increasing your business's cash back rewards.

6. Earn 20,000 bonus points ($200 cash back) from referrals

Business owners know the value of referrals. How often has your business gotten a new customer from word of mouth? If you can spread the word about Chase Ink® business credit cards, it can be worth 20,000 bonus points ($200 of cash back).

That's right: Chase offers 20,000 bonus points for each successful referral of a business that gets approved for a new Chase Ink® business credit card. If you have a wide network of entrepreneur friends, putting in a good word for Chase Ink® cards can earn a total of up to 200,000 points per year (worth $2,000 of cash back).

Full Chase Ink Business Premier review

This credit card is a good fit for: Business owners with large expenses who want to save money by earning cash back.

Pros

  • Sign-up bonus
  • Cash back rewards
  • Free employee cards
  • Cellphone protection
  • No foreign transaction fee

Cons

  • Rewards can't be transferred
  • No 0% intro APR
  • Pay in full card
  • Annual fee

Top perks

This business credit card has several valuable features that can save you money.

$1,000 sign-up bonus

You earn $1,000 in bonus cash back with this Chase card after you spend $10,000 on purchases in the first 3 months. Overall, this is one of the most lucrative sign-up bonuses, and it gives the card a lot of upfront value.

Cash back rewards

The Ink Business Premier® Credit Card earns:

  • 5% back on travel purchases made through the Ultimate Rewards program
  • 2.5% back on purchases of $5,000 or more
  • 2% back on other purchases

One of this card's most interesting features is the 2.5% rate on purchases of at least $5,000. If your business frequently makes these big-ticket buys, then this could be one of the best credit cards for you.

Everywhere else, this card's cash back rate is reasonable, but unspectacular. There are other business credit cards that offer an unlimited 2% on purchases for a lower annual fee. The main draw is earning more on those big purchases. Business owners who frequently book travel through Chase Ultimate Rewards will also benefit from this card.

Want to see more options? Check out Motley Fool Money's top business credit cards.

Free employee cards

There's no additional charge to add employee cards to your Chase Ink account. Purchases made with employee cards earn the same cash back rate. Chase also has some useful digital tools to monitor and control employee spending, including purchase alerts and spending limits.

Purchase and travel protection

This Chase business card offers the following complimentary protections on eligible purchases:

  • Auto rental collision damage waiver that provides primary coverage when renting a car for business purposes
  • Purchase protection for 120 days against damage or theft, up to $10,000 per claim and $50,000 per account
  • Extended warranty coverage that adds an additional year to eligible warranties of three years or less

Cellphone protection

Cellphone protection is one of those underrated credit card perks. In this case, it applies for you and your employees listed on your monthly cellphone bill when you pay it with your Ink Business Premier® Credit Card. It provides up to $1,000 per claim in cellphone protection against covered theft or damage. There's a maximum of three claims per 12-month period and a $100 deductible per claim.

No foreign transaction fee

There are no foreign transaction fees on international purchases made with this card. If you or your employees go on business trips outside the United States, or buy goods routed through an international supplier, you won't need to worry about that extra charge many credit cards add.

Alternatives to consider

If you want more ways to redeem your rewards: The Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card is also a Chase Ultimate Rewards credit card with big bonus opportunities. But it has more flexible rewards points you can transfer to Chase's many airline and hotel partners or redeem with the card issuer's Pay Yourself Back program.

If you want to finance business purchases with no interest: The Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card has a 0% intro APR on purchases for the first 12 months. This makes it an excellent choice if you have some big expenses you won't be able to pay off in full upfront.

What could be improved

There are some notable drawbacks to this Chase credit card.

Rewards can't be transferred

If there's one big frustration with the Ink Business Premier® Credit Card, it's that Chase is much more restrictive than usual about how you use your rewards. Technically, the card earns Ultimate Rewards points you can redeem for cash back, travel, or other methods at a rate of $0.01 per point.

With most Chase Ultimate Rewards cards, you can move points between cards to open up more redemption options. This makes it beneficial to have multiple Chase credit cards. For example, with other Ink cash back cards, you could move rewards to a Chase travel card, and then be able to transfer them to one of Chase's airline or hotel partners. You could also potentially redeem them at a greater value toward travel purchases.

With the Ink Business Premier® Credit Card, your rewards are essentially locked to that card. That makes it a poor choice for travel enthusiasts who like the versatility of Chase Ultimate Rewards points.

No 0% intro APR

Many popular business cards offer a 0% intro APR on purchases. This is a valuable perk if you have costly purchases coming up you'd like to pay off over time. The Ink Business Premier® Credit Card doesn't have this. In fact, it's designed to be paid in full every month.

COMPARE TOP PICKS: Best 0% APR Credit Cards

Pay in full card

Even though this is a credit card, it's what Chase refers to as a Pay in Full card. This means you're expected to pay the balance in full every month, like you would with a charge card. There is some flexibility, though: You can pay off eligible purchases over time up to your card's Flex for Business limit.

This isn't necessarily a huge problem, as it's always best if you pay your credit card balance in full every month to avoid interest charges. But with this card, this best practice is a requirement. If that's not what you're looking for, keep exploring more credit card reviews to find one that's a better fit.

Suggested credit score

A FICO® Score of 670 or greater is suggested to apply for the Ink Business Premier® Credit Card. Most approved applicants have a credit score in the good credit to excellent credit ranges. There are exceptions, as your credit score isn't the only thing that matters when applying, but it is important.

Another thing that can affect your application is the number of credit cards you've opened recently. Chase has an unofficial application rule, popularly known as Chase's 5/24 rule. Applicants who have already opened five or more credit cards during the last 24 months rarely have success getting a new Chase card.

LEARN MORE: A Guide to Chase's 5/24 Rule

The Chase Ink Business Premier is right for you if:

  • Your business has high monthly spending and you're looking for an easy-to-use cash back card.
  • You often make purchases of $5,000 or more to maximize your cash back rate.
  • You prefer to settle your full card balance every month.

Our credit card methodology

At Motley Fool Money, we rate credit cards on a five-star scale (1 = poor, 5 = best). Our rating criteria includes rewards rates, welcome bonuses, fees, and perks like travel credits and 0% intro APR offers to evaluate our ratings.

We combine these factors with an evaluation of brand reputation and customer satisfaction to ensure you're getting the best card recommendations. Learn more about how Motley Fool Money rates credit cards.

FAQs

  • Yes, the Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card is a business credit card that doesn't have an annual fee. It earns a flat 1.5% back on all purchases and has a generous welcome offer and 0% intro APR period.

  • To decide if this card is worth its $195 annual fee, it's best to compare it with a no-fee alternative, like the Ink Business Premier® Credit Card, which earns 1.5% back. If we assume you spend in $5,000 intervals and earn 2.5% back, then the Ink Business Premier® Credit Card would be more profitable after $20,000. On the other hand, if your earn rate is mostly 2%, then this card would require more spending -- $39,000 -- before you come out ahead.