Key takeaways
- The Ink Business Preferred Card offers a low annual fee and an impressive bonus, two substantial benefits for a business rewards card.
- This card also allows cardholders to earn a 25 percent bonus for points redeemed toward travel through the Chase Travel℠ portal.
- In addition, cardholders can transfer their rewards to top travel loyalty programs and take advantage of other benefits, like trip cancellation or interruption insurance.
If you’re a small business owner who wants to earn travel rewards, the Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card is one of the best options on the market, especially for frequent travelers.
With the Ink Business Preferred Card, you can earn 3 points per dollar on travel and select business spending — and your point value increases by 25 percent when you redeem your points for travel through Chase Travel℠. Add in a lucrative welcome bonus, the ability to transfer your rewards to top travel loyalty programs and top-tier trip protection, and it’s easy to see why the Chase Ink Business Preferred is a favorite among business travelers.
The Ink Business Preferred card includes a $95 annual fee, so before you apply, make sure you’ll get that much value (and more) out of the card each year. This benefits guide may help you decide whether the Ink Business Preferred card is right for you.
Ink Business Preferred Card features
Earning rate
The Ink Business Preferred Card earns 3 points per dollar on the first $150,000 spent annually on combined purchases in the following categories:
- Travel
- Shipping purchases
- Advertising purchases made with social media sites and search engines
- Internet, cable and phone services
These reward categories make the Ink Business Preferred card a top business travel card and an excellent choice for any small business owner who regularly advertises online or ships products to customers. You also won’t be charged foreign transaction fees, making this ideal for international travel and business transactions.
You can also earn 5 points per dollar on Lyft rides through March 2025. All other purchases earn 1 point per dollar, and points never expire as long as your account remains active.
Welcome bonus
In addition to the ongoing rewards categories, cardholders can earn a welcome bonus worth as much as $1,800, according to Bankrate’s valuations.
If you spend $8,000 on purchases in the first three months of card membership, you’ll receive 90,000 bonus points. These points are worth $900 if redeemed for cash back. However, since your point value increases by 25 percent when you redeem your rewards for travel through Chase Travel℠, your welcome bonus could be worth as much as $1,125 in travel purchases — like airfare, hotels or car rentals. The value can increase even further with the right redemption with one of Chase’s transfer partners.
Spending $8,000 in three months may be difficult for some small business owners. If you don’t regularly spend that much on your business, you might not be able to take advantage of this substantial bonus — so keep that in mind before you apply.
1:1 point transfer
Many Chase Ink Business Preferred cardholders will want to take advantage of the 25 percent point bonus they’ll receive by redeeming their points for travel through Chase Travel℠ — but if you’d rather transfer your points to another travel loyalty program, Chase gives you the option to transfer your Ultimate Rewards points at a 1:1 ratio. That means that one Chase point equals one partner point.
Here’s a list of the participating Chase transfer partners:
- Aer Lingus AerClub
- Air Canada Aeroplan
- Air France/ KLM Flying Blue
- British Airways Executive Club
- Emirates Skywards®
- Iberia Plus
- JetBlue TrueBlue
- Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
- Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards®
- United MileagePlus®
- Virgin Atlantic Flying Club
- IHG® One Rewards
- Marriott Bonvoy®
- World of Hyatt
Ink Business Preferred Card benefits
The Ink Business Preferred Card has one of the top travel benefit packages, purchase protection and many helpful accounting tools. Keep in mind for almost all of the travel-related benefits, you’ll need to book with your Ink Preferred Card to be eligible for coverage. When submitting your claim, you’ll often need receipts for purchases you’re seeking reimbursement for and proof of the disruption to your trip. It’s also a good idea to familiarize yourself with the limitations of coverage so you aren’t surprised during the process, which can be lengthy.
Trip cancellation or interruption insurance and trip delay reimbursement
If your trip is canceled or cut short by illness, severe weather or another covered situation, you can request reimbursement for prepaid, non-refundable travel expenses, such as flight tickets, hotel rooms, meals and transportation. Your insurance covers up to $5,000 per person and $10,000 per trip, with a maximum of $20,000 per 12-month period. Also, if a covered hazard delays your trip by more than 12 hours, you can be reimbursed up to a maximum of $500 for each covered ticket for reasonable expenses.
Baggage delay and lost luggage
If a common carrier delays or misdirects your baggage for more than six hours, you can be reimbursed up to $100 per day for a maximum of five days for any essential items you’ll need to purchase as a result of the delay. If a common carrier damages or loses your luggage, you’re insured for up to $3,000 per person, with a $500 per item limit on some more expensive items.
Travel accident insurance
Paying with your card also insures you against any accident that causes injury or death to you or an immediate family member. The common carrier loss of life benefit insures you for up to $500,000 while traveling on the common carrier. The 24-hour loss of life benefit insures you for up to $100,000 while traveling to and from your destination.
Auto rental insurance
The Chase Ink Business Preferred also offers an auto rental collision damage waiver that provides primary coverage and allows you to decline the rental company’s collision insurance when you charge the entire rental cost to your card. This could save you a lot of money if you rent cars regularly. It’s important to note that only cars rented for business qualify for coverage.
Emergency assistance and roadside dispatch benefits
You can also use Chase’s roadside dispatch service to help you deal with common roadside issues, such as flat tires or lockouts. Just be aware that Chase roadside dispatch charges a $59.95 fee per service call, so it might not always be the most cost-effective option.
You’ll also have access to other travel and emergency assistance services like:
- Emergency message service
- Medical referral assistance
- Legal referral assistance
- Emergency transportation assistance
- Emergency ticket replacement
- Lost luggage locator service
- Emergency translation service
- Prescription assistance
- Valuable document delivery arrangements
- Pre-trip assistance
Cell phone protection
Worried that your business cell phones might get damaged or stolen? Your Ink Business Preferred benefits include up to $1,000 per claim in cell phone protection against covered theft or damage. You’ll need to pay your monthly cell phone bill with your Chase Ink Business Preferred credit card for the coverage to apply, and you can take out a maximum of three claims in a 12-month period with a $100 deductible per claim.
Purchase protection
Chase’s purchase protection services provide peace of mind — so don’t forget to take advantage of them. Start by setting up personalized account alerts to keep track of your credit card activity, including unusual or potentially fraudulent purchases. If you suspect credit card fraud, contact Chase to lock your card — and use Chase’s zero liability protection to protect your business from unauthorized charges.
Use Chase’s purchase protection to file claims if eligible purchases arrive damaged or are stolen before your small business can receive them. Your new purchases are covered for 120 days against damage and theft for up to $10,000 per claim and $50,000 per account. You’ll also get extended warranty protection that extends the time period of a U.S. manufacturer’s warranty by an additional year on eligible warranties of three years or less.
Accounting tools
Small business owners know the importance of keeping good financial records, and this card is ready to help. Not only will you have 24/7 access to quarterly reports and account statements, but you can also integrate your card with popular bookkeeping software to streamline your accounting process and prepare for the upcoming tax season.
Employee cards
Want to delegate business spending to employees? Chase makes it easy by offering free employee cards. Your employees will be considered authorized users on your credit account, so you’ll be responsible for all purchases made on employee cards, but you can set spending limits to ensure there aren’t any surprises. Plus, you’ll earn rewards with every employee purchase.
Maximizing the Ink Business Preferred Card
If you want to maximize your business credit card rewards with the Ink Business Preferred, make sure you use it for as many 3X point opportunities as possible — whether you’re booking travel, paying your monthly internet bill or planning your next online advertising campaign.
When it comes time to redeem your points, you’ll maximize the value of each point — and thus each dollar you’ve spent — by using your points to book travel through Chase Travel℠. You’ll still get fair value redeeming points for cash back — each point is worth one cent each that way — but the 25 percent-point boost for travel through Chase Travel℠ makes each point worth 1.25 cents. Transferring to Chase’s partners can also provide outsized value with the right redemption.
If you have other Chase personal or business credit cards that earn Ultimate Rewards points or cash back, you can combine those rewards from cards owned by you or a member of your household with the Ink Preferred, which will essentially give that same 25 percent boost to all of your Chase cards. You can create a powerful Chase trifecta of cards to earn significant rewards across multiple categories.
The bottom line
Many small business owners can benefit from Ink Business Preferred Card, which offers everything from travel rewards to travel insurance, purchase protections and accounting resources. If you need more help before deciding which business credit card is best for you, we’ve got a guide to help you evaluate whether the Ink Business Preferred card is worth it.
Remember that no matter which small business credit card you choose, the best way to benefit your business is to use that credit card responsibly. We recommend establishing good credit before applying for the Ink Business Preferred card. If you’re not quite there yet, start by using our resources to build your credit score. That way, you’ll be better prepared to access the best business credit cards — and watch your business grow.
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