Chase Ink Business Preferred: New Card Offers 80,000 Bonus Points

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The brand new Chase Ink Business Preferred offers 80,000 bonus Ultimate Rewards after spending $5,000 on the card in the first three months.

The card has replaced the Ink Plus, which you can no longer apply for. If you have an Ink Plus, at least for the time being, there are no changes to your card. This is a new product, though, so you can apply and be treated like a new applicant who is eligible for the card’s bonus even if you have an Ink Plus.

Beyond the sign up bonus, the card offers 3x Ultimate Rewards per dollar on a stronger range of business-spending categories than the Ink Plus did and up to $600 insurance against cell phone theft or damage (with a $100 deductible.)

Quick Facts

• Sign Up Bonus: 80,000 Ultimate Rewards after $5,000 in spending in the first three months
• Category Bonuses: 3x on travel; shipping; internet, cable, and phone services; and search engine or social network advertising
• Value of Ultimate Rewards: Worth 1.25 cents toward the purchase of any airfare or may other travel purchase OR can be transferred to seven airlines and four hotels for higher value
• Other Perks: Up to $600 per claim in cell phone protection against covered theft or damage for you and your employees
• Global Acceptance: Visa, chip technology, and no foreign transaction fees
• Annual Fee: $95
• Eligibility: Chase 5/24 Rule

Sign Up Bonus

The Ink Business Preferred offers 80,000 bonus Ultimate Rewards after $5,000 in purchases within the first 3 months of account opening. This is a bonus I value at $1,600.

Ultimate Rewards have two primary uses.

1. Use them like cash to purchase airfare, hotels, car rentals, and cruises with no blackouts.
2. Transfer them to miles with six airlines or four hotels. Then they are whatever miles or points you chose, subject to those rules.

If you use these like cash toward airfare, hotels, car rentals, and cruises, you will get 1.25 cents each of value, making the sign up bonus worth $1,000 toward travel without the hassle of searching for award space. When you redeem Ultimate Rewards like cash toward any flight, the operating airline sees you as a cash-paying passenger, so you earn miles for your flights.

As good as that sounds, don’t use Ultimate Rewards like this.

Instead of redeeming the points like cash, you can transfer your Ultimate Rewards to one of the 11 airline and hotel partners.

The airline partners are awesome because of their versatility. The partners include at least one member of each alliance plus Virgin Atlantic and Southwest. And they include at four programs with region-based miles, one with distance-based miles, and one with airline points. 

United miles are awesome for economy and Business Class awards with no fuel surcharges and great Saver award availability. Korean miles are awesome for the best First Class award space in the world or to fly Delta to Hawaii. Singapore miles are awesome to fly a double bed in the sky or to get to Hawaii or South America.

The most valuable hotel partner is Hyatt, but you’ll generally get more value transferring to airlines.

Overall, I value Ultimate Rewards at 2 cents each because of the transfer partners, so an 80,000 point bonus is worth $1,600 to me.

Category Bonuses

The Ink Business Preferred offers 3x Ultimate Rewards on travel; shipping; internet, cable, and phone services; and search engine or social network advertising up to your first $150,000 combined in those categories during your cardmember year.

I’m salivating at the prospect of 3 United/Korean/BA/Singapore miles per dollar in these categories.

Cell Phone Protection

Here’s what Chase’s site says:

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. Maximum of 3 claims in a 12 month period with a $100 deductible per claim.

Unfortunately I can’t find more information online other than: “Once your account is opened we will send you a Guide to Benefits, which includes a full explanation of coverages.”

It looks like a pretty great deal though. Just pay your cell phone bill with your Ink Business Preferred and get up to $500 in case of theft or damage ($600 minus $100 deductible.)

Fees

The Ink Business Preferred has no foreign transaction fees. It also has chip technology for global acceptance, so it’s a great card for overseas travel.

The card has an annual fee of $95, and the first one is due on your first statement.

Eligibility to Be Approved

If you have opened five or more new credit cards in the last 24 months, you will be denied for Chase cards, including the Ink Business Preferred. This is the so-called Chase 5/24 rule.

Bottom Line

I think the Ink Business Preferred is a must have for its sign up bonus, category bonuses, and cell phone insurance. The bonus points are worth $1,600 to me and the 3x category bonuses are in categories that are highly relevant to businesses.

If you aren’t limited by Chase’s 5/24 rule, you should get this card.