Chase Ink Business Cash(R) Card Review: $750 Bonus, 5% Back Categories, No Annual Fee

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The Ink Business Cash(R) Card has a sign-up promotion offering a $750 cash bonus (75,000 Ultimate Rewards points) for new cardholders, along with 5% cash back and 2% cash back on select small business categories, all with no annual fee. Here are the details:

  • $750 bonus cash back after you spend $6,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening
  • 5% cash back (or 5X Ultimate Rewards per dollar) on the first $25,000 spent in combined purchases at office supply stores and on internet, cable and phone services each account anniversary year.
  • 2% cash back (or 2X Ultimate Rewards per dollar) on the first $25,000 spent in combined purchases at gas stations and restaurants each account anniversary year.
  • 1% cash back on all other card purchases with no limit to the amount you can earn.
  • Free additional cards for employees.
  • No annual fee.
  • Member FDIC

Ultimate Rewards points. The cash sign-up bonus actually comes in the form of Ultimate Rewards points at 1 point = 1 cent in cash. 75,000 points = $750 cash. This is similar to the situation with the Chase Freedom Unlimited.

If you have also have the Chase Sapphire Preferred, Chase Sapphire Reserve, or Ink Business Preferred Card, then you can pool all of your Ultimate Rewards points together (even with your spouse/partner as an authorized user) and either use the airline/hotel transfer partners or redeem using the new “Pay Yourself Back” tool for a 25% to 50% boost in value.

Leveraging the 5% back bonus categories. Putting all of your small business cell phone, landline, and internet bills on the card and getting 5% back is pretty handy. For example, even just $200 a month x 12 months x 5% back is $120 back a year without changing your spending habits. Now let’s take the office supply store category and the fact that you can buy gifts cards to Amazon.com and other retailers at such office supply stores like Staples and OfficeMax… now you can effectively discount many of your other purchasing needs by 5% as well. Putting those purchases on such gift cards upfront can also help you meet the spending requirement for the bonus.

Many people aren’t aware of the fact that they can apply for business credit cards, even if they are not a corporation or LLC. The business type is called a sole proprietorship, and these days many people are full-time or part-time consultants, freelancers, eBay/Amazon/Etsy sellers, or other one-person business owners. This is the simplest business entity, but it is fully legit and recognized by the IRS. On a business credit card application, you should use your own legal name as the business name, and your Social Security Number as the Tax ID.

Note that Chase has an unofficial rule that they will automatically deny approval on new credit cards if you have 5 or more new credit cards from any issuer on your credit report within the past 2 years (aka the 5/24 rule). This rule is designed to discourage folks that apply for high numbers of sign-up bonuses. This rule applies on a per-person basis, so in our household one applies to Chase while the other applies at other card issuers.

Bottom line. The Ink Business Cash Card has a large sign-up bonus and ongoing features of 5X/2X categories with no annual fee. This card is best if you have significant expenses in the special 5% and 2% categories above. If you have certain other Chase credit cards, you can transfer Ultimate Rewards points over to those cards and increase your value.

Also see: Top 10 Best Small Business Card Bonus Offers.

My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone, and has not been provided nor approved by any of the companies mentioned.

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Comments

  1. It says there’s a $95 annual fee at the link you posted. Does it get waived indefinitely?

  2. how do you combine points from a personal account such as a the Chase Freedom with the points in the Ink Plus(business)? I was not able to add the Ink Plus to my personal profile at chase.com; needed to create a different profile for the Ink.

    • I believe you must just transfer them between the separate accounts. You are allowed to transfer points for free and instantly between your own accounts, and also your spouse or domestic partner. From their site:

      “Can I combine the points I earn from other Chase Ultimate Rewards cards?

      Yes, you can move points, but only to another Chase card with Ultimate Rewards belonging to you, your spouse or domestic partner, as applicable.”

  3. How do you compare Ink cash card with the SPG Amex business card ? If you were to pick between these two, what would you keep ?

    • For a keeper card, it depends on your spending levels and your spending patterns. Ink Cash has no annual fee and 5% back on office supply stores and cell/landline/internet + 2% on gas and restaurants. SPG AmEx Biz has a $95 annual fee but I would value an SPG point definitely higher than 1 cent per point. So big spending amount across many categories, then SPG AmEx Biz wins. Smaller spending with a lot of office supply stuff (furniture, paper, printers, printer ink) or even just small spending on the 2% categories then the Ink Cash would win out.

  4. Do you know if you received a ink business bonus a few years ago if you would be eligible ?

  5. That’s a huge bonus for a “No Annual Fee” card

  6. Thank you for the article. I’m trying to refer my brother to the Ink Cash you’re recommending (I don’t qualify since I got mine last year) so he can get the $900 and I can at least get a $200 referral bonus. The referral link takes him to the old ($750 for spending $7500) offer. Do you have any idea why or how to fix it?

  7. In the fine print, Chase insists that you only use the business card for business expenses, and that you only use the bonus points for business purposes. I assume no one is following this request. Have you had any issues using the card for personal – not business – expenses and redeeming the points for personal benefit?

    • Never had any problems and I’ve had all the business cards, some more than once, using them for both business and personal purchases and redemptions.

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