Chase Business Card Bonus Categories: How to Maximize Your Rewards

Chase credit cards often provide excellent rewards and benefits, and their business cards are no exception. If you have one, two, three, or all four of the Chase Ink business cards, you know how valuable they can be for small business owners. With their earning potential on common business expenses, it’s easy to rack up valuable rewards in no time.

But is there a best practice for earning the most points possible with your Chase business cards?

In this guide, we’ll break down each card’s strengths and weaknesses and go over how to best maximize your spending with Chase Ink cards. This will help you use the Chase business card rewards categories to your advantage and earn the maximum amount of bonus points in the process.

Understanding the Chase Ink rewards categories

Chase offers multiple types of business cards, with some of their most popular options being the four Chase Ink business cards:

• Ink Business Premier^® Credit Card: Earn 5% cash back on travel purchased through Chase Travel℠; unlimited 2.5% cash back on purchases of $5,000 or more; unlimited 2% cash back on all other business purchases.
• Ink Business Preferred^® Credit Card: Earn 3X points on the first $150,000 spent in combined purchases on travel, shipping purchases, Internet, cable and phone services, advertising purchases made with social media sites and search engines each account anniversary year; and 1X points per $1 on all other purchases.
• Ink Business Cash^® Credit Card: Earn 5% cash back 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 on the first $25,000 spent in combined purchases at gas stations and restaurants each account anniversary year; and 1% cash back on all other purchases.
• Ink Business Unlimited^® Credit Card: Earn Unlimited 1.5% cash back on every purchase.

When you compare credit cards between the top issuers, Chase Ink business cards are among the best business credit cards available. Their lucrative earning potential and helpful perks can provide plenty of value for any small business owner. So let’s now dive into the details of each Chase Ink card and what their benefits and drawbacks are.

Ink Business Premier^® Credit Card

The Chase Ink Business Premier is a cashback credit card. It comes with a $195 annual fee. But its generous welcome offer can help offset this cost in your first year since you can earn $1,000 bonus cash back after you spend $10,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.

The Chase Ink Business Premier also enables you to earn 5% cash back on travel purchased through Chase Travel℠; unlimited 2.5% cash back on purchases of $5,000 or more; unlimited 2% cash back on all other business purchases.

As a cardholder, you can benefit from the complimentary cell phone protection, extended warranty protection, and purchase protection when you use your Ink Business Premier card. You also get trip cancellation and interruption insurance, roadside dispatch services, and an auto rental collision damage waiver.

One downside of the Chase Ink Business Premier is that it doesn't allow you to transfer the points you earn to other Chase cards or Chase's travel partners.

For more information about this card, read our Chase Ink Business Premier review.

Ink Business Preferred^® Credit Card

The Chase Ink Business Preferred is a travel rewards credit card. It has a $95 annual fee, but makes up for it with a generous 90,000 bonus points sign-up bonus after spending $8,000 in the first 3 months after account opening.

With this card, the Chase Ultimate Rewards points you earn are worth 25% more toward travel redemptions through the Chase travel portal. Your points can also be transferred to Chase transfer partners for increased flexibility. All cardholders receive trip cancellation and interruption insurance, roadside dispatch services, and an auto rental collision damage waiver.

Chase Ink Business Preferred bonus categories include 5X points per dollar spent on qualifying Lyft rides. This covers a wide range of common business purchases and travel purchases, so it should be easy to quickly earn rewards while spending for your business.

Keep in mind, the Chase Ink Business Preferred offers only an average 1X rewards rate on all other purchases, so it’s not the best card to use on non-bonus categories.

For more information about this card, read our Chase Ink Business Preferred review.

Ink Business Cash^® Credit Card

The Chase Ink Business Cash has a $0 annual fee and provides up to $750 after spending $6,000 in the first 6 months of account opening. Cardholders automatically receive an auto rental collision damage waiver, travel and emergency assistance services, and roadside dispatch services.

For its bonus categories, the Chase Ink Business Cash is a cashback card that earns best on purchases at the first $25,000 spent in combined purchases at office supply stores and on internet, cable and phone services each account anniversary year and then the first $25,000 spent in combined purchases at gas stations and restaurants each account anniversary year. Stick to the bonus categories with this card because it earns only 1% cash back on all other purchases.

For more information about this card, read our Chase Ink Business Cash review.

Ink Business Unlimited^® Credit Card

The Chase Ink Business Unlimited is also a cashback card. It has a $0 annual fee and offers a $750 welcome offer after you meet the spending requirement of $6,000 in the first 3 months. Automatic travel benefits include an auto rental collision damage waiver, travel and emergency assistance services, and roadside dispatch services.

Unlike other Chase Ink business cards, the Chase Ink Business Unlimited has no bonus categories. Instead, it earns an unlimited 1.5% cash back on every purchase. This type of straightforward earning rate takes the stress out of credit card rewards because you don’t have bonus categories to keep track of. Instead, use your card for any business expense and you’ll earn 1.5% cash back.

If you only use this card, though, you’ll miss out on the increased rewards you could gain from the other Chase Ink business rewards categories.

For more information about this card, read our Chase Ink Business Unlimited review.

How to maximize spending with the Chase business cards

The best way to maximize spending with the Chase business cards is by using all four Chase Ink business cards together. Because it’s possible to have the four Chase Ink business cards at the same time, it makes sense to use each one to make business purchases in their specific bonus point categories.

You can also leverage Chase’s excellent benefit of being able to combine Chase points together. However, keep in mind that out of the four cards, the Chase Ink Business Premier is the only one that doesn't allow you to transfer points.

If you have the other three cards, you can combine the points in your Chase Ink Business Preferred account where all those points would be worth 25% more toward travel redemptions. This would make it a lot easier and quicker to earn enough points for your next trip.

As an example, here’s how much you could earn on annual business expenses if you were only using the Chase Ink Business Unlimited. This card pays you a 1.5% cashback rewards rate and therefore each reward is worth 1 cent.

Getting a $225 bonus cash back isn’t a bad return on $15,000 of business expenses, but you could do a lot better if you use the three Chase Ink business cards that enable point transfers to other Chase cards. Here’s what happens when you strategically spend with these three rewards credit cards on the exact same expenses:

In the second example, you end up with a cashback bonus of $545 from spending $15,000. But if you transfer all your points to the Chase Ink Business Preferred card and redeem them for travel, you’d get $681.25 in redemption value.

This is a difference of $320 or $456.25 from the $225 total you earned from just using the Chase Ink Business Unlimited. By using the Chase Ink business card that would earn the most points in each category, you have the potential to earn a lot more back.

How to redeem for cash back or Ultimate Rewards

Chase is flexible with its redemption options, so your cash back or Ultimate Rewards points don't have to be used for statement credits or direct deposits. Instead, you can redeem your cash back for travel through the Chase travel portal or you can simply transfer your rewards to another Chase card that earns points instead of cash back.

If you have multiple Chase cards, you can combine their rewards together in your online account. It only takes a few seconds to do and offers a few benefits:

• Quicker redemptions: You don’t have to wait for your rewards to build on one card when you can combine rewards from all your cards. The more points you have pooled together, the quicker you can redeem them for what you want.
• Increased redemption value: Points are worth 25% more toward travel redemptions with the Chase Ink Business Preferred. So if you transfer points from the Chase Ink Business Cash or Chase Ink Business Unlimited to the Chase Ink Business Preferred, their value instantly increases.
• Transfer partners: The Chase Ink Business Preferred also provides the option to transfer your points to travel partners like JetBlue, Marriott Bonvoy, and World of Hyatt. This offers a lot of flexibility for your points and some potentially great value if you find a good deal on airfare or a hotel stay.

Let’s say you have $50 worth of cash back, equal to 5,000 Ultimate Rewards points, on your Chase Ink Business Cash. You’d rather use your rewards for a hotel stay, so you transfer your points to your Chase Ink Business Preferred credit card. Now those points are worth $62.50 through the Chase travel portal. However, you can also transfer them to a hotel partner like the World of Hyatt loyalty program and get potentially even more value out of them.

For example, a one-night award stay at the Hyatt Regency Sofia in Sofia, Bulgaria, starts at 5,000 points. So you could transfer 5,000 points from your Chase Ink Business Preferred card to your World of Hyatt account and book an award night at the Hyatt Regency Sofia for $62.50.

The cash price equivalent for the same room and dates would be $278. That’s a difference of $215.50 ($278 - $62.50 = $215.50) between paying in cash and paying by transferring your Ultimate Rewards to your World of Hyatt account.

So if you want to put in a little more effort to get a lot more value, be sure to transfer your Chase rewards to a card like the Chase Ink Business Preferred to open up your redemption options, and also be sure to investigate opportunities to transfer those points again to the various Chase hospitality partners.

Other things to consider

As you look to maximize your earnings with your Chase Ink cards, be sure to keep a few things in mind:

• Weigh the benefits. Consider the value each Chase Ink card brings to the table, both in earning potential and the perks provided. For instance, the Chase Ink Business Cash offers the best earning rate on phone services, but the Chase Ink Business Preferred provides cell phone protection. So which card should you use to pay your phone bill? Having your phone covered in case of damage or theft may offer a lot more value than the extra points you could earn from one card over another.
• Each card offers value. Just because the Chase Ink Business Preferred card has a $95 annual fee, doesn’t necessarily mean it’s better in every situation than the Ink cards that don’t charge an annual fee. The Chase Ink Cash card actually offers a higher earning rate on certain categories than the Chase Ink Business Preferred. Also, the Chase Ink Business Unlimited is the best Chase Ink business card of the bunch when it comes to purchases that don’t fall into any bonus category.
• Calculate the cost. It should be easy to see whether the $95 annual fee on the Chase Ink Business Preferred is worth it for you to pay each year. Take a look at your earnings on your Chase Ink cards and see whether you’ve earned enough to offset the annual cost. Chase Ultimate Rewards points can be redeemed at a rate of 1 cent per point, so you’d need to earn at least 9,500 points for $95 in cash back. For travel redemptions on the Chase Ink Business Preferred, you’d need to earn just 7,600 points to get $95 in value because points are worth 25% more.
• Compare the introductory APRs: The Chase Ink Business Unlimited receives a 0% intro APR on purchases for 12 months (then 17.74% - 23.74% Variable) and the Ink Cash receives 0% intro APR on purchases for 12 months (then 17.74% - 25.74% Variable). These intro APR rates can be helpful for business owners who need to make essential purchases but want to avoid paying interest on them for a while.
• Consider other Chase credit card offers. You may not need all four Chase Ink business cards if you already have other Chase credit cards. For example, the Chase Sapphire cards can also help you get great redemption value from your points. With the Chase Sapphire Reserve^®, you get a 50% bonus on travel redemptions through Chase Travel, whereas the Chase Sapphire Preferred^® Card offers a 25% bonus. If you also have a Chase Freedom Flex^® and Chase Freedom Unlimited^® for their earning potential, you may need only one or two Chase Ink cards to earn the most points in certain spending categories.

FAQs

Bottom line

Chase Ink cards are some of the best credit cards for small business owners looking to earn lucrative rewards on business purchases they’re already making. Because these cards offer high-quality earning potential on everyday business expenses, it’s easy to start racking up rewards, especially when you have more than one card from this credit card issuer.

The most valuable points-earning strategy with Chase Ink business cards is to use all four at once. The annual cost for all four cards is relatively low and you’ll have a lot more options when it comes to maximizing your earnings on different types of purchases.

Hot Welcome Bonus

Ink Business Preferred^® Credit Card

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Ink Business Preferred^® Credit Card

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Current Offer

Earn 90,000 bonus points after you spend $8,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening

Annual Fee

$95

Rewards Rate

3X points on the first $150,000 spent in combined purchases on travel, shipping purchases, Internet, cable and phone services, advertising purchases made with social media sites and search engines each account anniversary year; and 1X points per $1 on all other purchases

Benefits and Drawbacks

Benefits

• Generous welcome offer
• High rewards rate on common business expenses
• Flexible Ultimate Rewards points
• No foreign transaction fees
• Cell phone, purchase, and travel protections

Drawbacks

• Annual fee of $95
• $150,000 annual cap on bonus category spending
• No intro APR offer

Card Details

• Earn 90k bonus points after you spend $8,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. That's $900 cash back or $1,125 toward travel when redeemed through Chase Travel℠
• Earn 3 points per $1 on the first $150,000 spent on travel and select business categories each account anniversary year. Earn 1 point per $1 on all other purchases
• Round-the-clock monitoring for unusual credit card purchases
• With Zero Liability you won't be held responsible for unauthorized charges made with your card or account information.
• Redeem points for cash back, gift cards, travel and more - your points don't expire as long as your account is open
• Points are worth 25% more when you redeem for travel through Chase Travel℠
• Purchase Protection covers your new purchases for 120 days against damage or theft up to $10,000 per claim and $50,000 per account.
• Member FDIC