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The Chase Ink Business Preferred is a “Keeper”
If you are just getting started in miles and points, it may not be immediately obvious why your first card should in most cases be a Chase Ink Business Preferred card. You might initially be thinking that you can’t even get a business credit card, but there’s also a good chance that’s an incorrect assumption and that is why you should also read this article on the topic: Do You Need a Business to Qualify and Apply for a Business Credit Card?
But why am I saying that you both want to get this card early on in your miles and points journey and, quite possibly, keep it long term?
First, let’s discuss why you want to prioritize the Chase Ink Business Preferred early:
1) The card comes with a bonus that’s worth a minimum of $1,500. You get 120,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points when you $5,000 spend in the first 3 months. At a bare minimum, you could redeem these points in the Chase Travel Portal for $1,500 in travel (airfare, hotels, etc) where your points are worth 1.25 cents each.
However, as a Chase Ink card with an annual fee ($95) this card also allows you to transfer to a list of airline frequent flyer programs as well as hotels like Hyatt. You can often receive even more than $1,000 from these 80,000 points by transferring. I’d say that you’d expect to receive an average of at least $1,400 worth of value for those points if you spend a few minutes looking at the best ways to redeem, like via transfers to Hyatt.
2) The card is a business card, and therefore does not do two key things: a) it does not report your credit usage to your personal credit report (meaning that your business spend / credit line utilization won’t count against your credit score) and b) it will not impact your Chase 5/24 count. This is the main reason that I recommend starting with this card in this post:Your First Year of Rewards Credit Cards? Here’s a Guide.
Now, Why Keep the Chase Ink Business Preferred Credit Card long term?
– The main reason is that, as I mentioned above, this card is one of only 3 Chase cards that allows you to transfer your points out to partners. See: Chase Ultimate Rewards Points: How to Earn and Redeem with Transfer Partners [Comprehensive Guide]. The other two cards that allow this are the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card and the Chase Sapphire Reserve.
This is important because as you acquire other staple Chase cards which have no annual fee, like the Chase Ink Business Cash, the Chase Ink Unlimited Business Credit Card, the Chase Freedom Credit Card, and the Chase Freedom Unlimited Credit Card, keeping the Ink Business Preferred will enable you to combine all of those points and transfer them to airline/hotel partners.
– The Ink Business Preferred earns 3 points per $1 on the first $150,000 spent in combined purchases on travel, shipping purchases, Internet, cable and phone services, and on advertising purchases made with social media sites and search engines. (The limit applies each account anniversary year.)
For many business, that is a huge 3X category. I know many that max this out each year for 450,000 Ultimate Rewards points!
– You get Primary rental car damage insurance. (The rental must be for business purposes.) You might be surprised how few credit cards come with Primary Car Rental Insurance.
– Cell phone insurance (up to $600 after $100 deductible) is included free when you pay your monthly phone bill with the card. This makes it the best card to pay a cell phone bill with!
Why Might You NOT Keep The Ink Business Preferred?
If you already have a Chase Sapphire Preferred Card or the Chase Sapphire Reserve, then you already have points transfers unlocked.
Also, while the Ink Preferred earns 3X on travel, just like the Chase Sapphire Reserve, it does not earn 3X on dining like the Sapphire Reserve, or 2X on dining like the Chase Sapphire Preferred.
So, if you already have one of those Sapphire cards, you may well find the Ink Preferred benefits duplicative, especially if you don’t spend enough in the bonus categories that those cards don’t have (shipping purchases, Internet, cable and phone services, and on advertising purchases made with social media sites and search engines).
It doesn’t mean you shouldn’t still start with this card and earn 80,000 bonus points, but that’s the equation to consider in a year…
Learn more about the Chase Ink Business Preferred.
Thoughts?
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You can find credit cards that best match your spending habits and bonus categories at Your Best Credit Cards.
New to all of this? My “introduction to miles and points” book, MilesTalk: Live Your Wildest Travel Dreams Using Miles and Points is available on Amazon and at major booksellers.
