Ink Business Premier® Credit Card Review [2024]: High Cost, But Worth It?

CREDIT CARDS - CASHBACK CREDIT CARDS
The Chase Ink Business Premier Credit Card offers elevated earning potential but has a $195 annual fee.
Updated March 28, 2024
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Ink Business Premier® Credit Card is a Chase card for small business owners who want to earn rewards on their purchases. It has elevated earning rates that benefit high-spending businesses. And if you spend enough, the $195 annual fee shouldn’t be an issue.

But in a big twist from existing Chase business cards, your rewards can’t be transferred to travel partners or other Chase credit cards. Let’s dig into the details of this Chase Ink Business Premier Credit Card review to see whether this card makes sense for your business.

Flexible Payment Options with Unlimited Rewards

5.0

Ink Business Premier® Credit Card

Current Offer

Earn $1,000 bonus cash back after you spend $10,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening

Annual Fee

$195

Rewards Rate

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

Benefits and Drawbacks
Card Details

In this Chase Ink Business Premier Credit Card review

Key takeaways

  • The Ink Business Premier® Credit Card can help small business owners earn rewards when they use this card for their business expenses.
  • This card helps you 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. It has an annual fee of $195.
  • You can earn $1,000 bonus cash back after you spend $10,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. This can help you earn significant value from the Ink Business Premier® Credit Card soon after qualifying for it.
  • This card’s rewards program supports various redemption methods, including cash back, travel, online purchases with Amazon and PayPal, gift cards, and Apple products. However, you can’t transfer your rewards to travel partners or other Chase credit cards.

Who should get the Ink Business Premier Credit Card?

The Ink Business Premier makes sense if you frequently have large business expenses over $5,000. This is because you can earn 2.5% cash back on purchases of $5,000 or more. This is an elevated earning rate you don’t typically see on many business credit cards.

But not every business owner spends in amounts of $5,000 or more, so this card and its $195 annual fee will not make sense for everyone. The 2% cashback earning rate on all other business purchases is decent, but other credit cards can offer similar earning rates at lower annual fees.

Card basics

Card type Business/Cash back
Credit card issuer Chase
Credit card network Visa
Annual fee $195
Welcome offer Earn $1,000 bonus cash back after you spend $10,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening
Reward rate 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
Recommended credit score Excellent, Good
Foreign transaction fee None

What we like about the Ink Business Premier Credit Card: benefits and perks

  • Generous sign-up bonus: Earn $1,000 bonus cash back after you spend $10,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
  • Earning potential: 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.
  • Flex for Business: Pay off eligible purchases over time with interest using your Flex for Business limit.
  • Redemption options: Redeem rewards for cash back, travel, online purchases with Amazon and PayPal, gift cards, and Apple products.
  • No foreign transaction fees: Avoid foreign transaction fees on purchases you make abroad.
  • Purchase protection: Receive cell phone protection, extended warranty protection, and purchase protection when you use your Ink Business Premier card.
  • Lyft: You'll earn 5% total cash back on qualifying Lyft rides.
  • Travel insurance and benefits: Receive trip cancellation and interruption insurance, trip delay reimbursement, baggage delay insurance, auto rental collision damage waiver, roadside dispatch, and travel and emergency assistance services.
  • Employee cards with no added fee: Add employee cards for no additional cost that include customizable spending limits, purchase alerts, and reporting. There’s no published limit on how many employee cards you can add to a Chase Ink Business credit card.

What we don't like about the Ink Business Premier Credit Card: drawbacks

  • $195 annual fee: You have to pay a $195 annual fee for the Ink Business Premier. Justifying this annual fee depends on how much value you get from this card. Many of the best business credit cards have lower or no annual fees.
  • Pay-in-full requirement: The Ink Business Premier is a charge card. Charge cards don’t have a preset spending limit and don’t allow you to carry a balance. Charges you make with your Ink Business Premier card should be paid in full monthly to avoid late fees. The only exception is eligible purchases using the Flex for Business feature.
  • No transfer partners or combining points: The Ink Business Premier Credit Card offers opportunities to earn Chase Ultimate Rewards points, but cardholders can’t transfer these bonus points to travel partners or to other Chase credit cards. This limits the available redemption options.

Earning & redeeming cash back

Best ways to earn

Categories Rewards rate
Travel purchased through Chase Travel℠ 5%
Purchases of $5,000 or more 2.5%
All other business purchases 2%

The best way to earn rewards with the Ink Business Premier is to use it as much as possible in its highest-earning bonus categories. This includes earning 5% back on travel purchased through Chase Travel℠.

You can also earn 2.5% on purchases of $5,000 or more when you use your Ink Business Premier for high business spending. For example, you can earn $250 in rewards when you make a $10,000 purchase using this rate. That’s why large purchases can help you earn more rewards than the 2% rate on all other business purchases.

It’s worth noting that some other cards from Capital One and American Express can give you similar earning rates with a lower annual fee. These cards include:

  • Capital One Spark Miles for Business: $95 (waived first year) annual fee and offers 5X miles on rental cars and hotels booked through Capital One Travel, and 2X miles on every purchase, every day.
  • Capital One Spark Cash Plus: $150 annual fee and offers 2% cash back on every purchase, every day; plus 5% cash back on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel.
  • The Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express: $0 annual fee (terms apply) and offers 2X Membership Rewards points on everyday eligible business purchases up to $50,000 each year, and 1X points on eligible purchases after that.

Maximizing your redemptions

The Ink Business Premier has several redemption options:

  • Cash back: Receive a statement credit or a deposit into an eligible checking or savings account.
  • Travel: Use your points for flights, hotel stays, car rentals, activities, and cruises through the Chase Ultimate Rewards portal.
  • Online shopping: Use your points for online purchases through PayPal and Amazon or Apple product purchases through Chase.
  • Gift cards: Receive a gift card or certificate from one of the participating merchants.

In most cases, you get a value of 1 cent per point for your cashback rewards regardless of the redemption option you choose. So 10,000 points typically equal $100.

One exception is using Amazon’s Shop with Points program. This program only offers 0.8 cents per point. So 10,000 points equal $80 for this redemption option, which is much less valuable. That’s why it can make more sense to use the cashback redemption option and shop on Amazon using cash to avoid losing value.

Ink Business Premier Credit Card FAQ

Does Ink Business Premier cause a hard pull?

Yes, Chase typically performs a hard pull on your credit report if you apply for one of its credit cards, including the Ink Business Premier. Consumer data shows that Chase pulls credit report information from all three major credit bureaus but tends to use Experian the most. However, you may have Equifax or TransUnion data pulled depending on where you live.

Do Ink cards appear on personal credit reports?

No, business credit cards, including Ink cards, don’t typically appear on personal credit reports. There may be some exceptions to this rule, but you likely will not see any Chase Ink business cards on your personal credit report unless you’ve missed payments or debt was sent to collections.

Is it hard to get Chase business cards?

How hard it is to get a Chase business card depends on your credit score and several other factors. You typically need a good or excellent credit score to qualify for a Chase business card, which is at least a 670 on the FICO scoring range. Additionally, all Chase credit cards follow the Chase 5/24 rule. This unofficial rule means that Chase may not approve any new card applications if you opened five or more personal credit card accounts from any issuer in the past 24 months.

Can I add employees to the Ink Business Premier card?

Yes, you can add employees to the Ink Business Premier and other Chase Ink business credit cards for no additional cost. Any employee you add to a Chase Ink business credit card is designated as an authorized user on the account. This means they will have equal access to the card’s credit limits unless you set up individual limits.

What credit bureau does Chase use?

Chase uses all three credit bureaus to pull credit reports for potential customers. This includes Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion, but consumer data tends to lean toward Chase primarily using Experian. However, the specific credit bureau Chase uses for hard pulls typically depends on where you live.

Other cards to consider

If the Ink Business Premier doesn’t seem like the right fit for your small business, you can compare credit cards and their offers to find a better option. The following two cards can be good alternatives:

The Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card has a lower $95 annual fee compared with the $195 annual fee on the Ink Business Premier. Points on this card are worth 25% more toward travel redemptions in the Chase travel portal. Even better, you can combine points onto the Ink Business Preferred from other Chase credit cards and transfer your points to airline or hotel partners.

Find out more in our Ink Business Preferred review.

The Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card has a $0 annual fee and offers unlimited 1.5% cash back on every purchase. The Ink Business Unlimited makes more sense than the Ink Business Premier if you want a lower annual fee and don’t typically have frequent purchases that are more than $5,000. You can also combine the rewards you earn on the Ink Business Unlimited with other Chase credit cards, including the Ink Business Preferred and Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card.

Check out our Chase Ink Business Unlimited review.

Flexible Payment Options with Unlimited Rewards

5.0

Ink Business Premier® Credit Card

Why We Like It

Earn $1,000 bonus cash back after you spend $10,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening

See how these cards compare:

Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card
Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card
  • Earn 100k bonus points after you spend $8,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening
  • 3X points on travel and common business spending categories
  • Flexible redemption options
  • Additional employee cards at no extra cost
Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card
Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card
  • Earn $750 bonus cash back after you spend $6,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening
  • Unlimited 1.5% cash back on every purchase
  • Intro APR on purchases
  • No annual fee

Ink Business Premier® Credit Card: bottom line

The Ink Business Premier from Chase can be an attractive option for small business owners seeking to maximize rewards on their spending. With elevated rewards rates on travel and large purchases, a generous welcome offer, and an array of redemption choices, the card holds appeal.

However, you should keep in mind its $195 annual fee and the limitations on transferring rewards to travel partners or other Chase credit cards. If it doesn’t feel like the right choice for your needs, you can consider alternative Ink business credit cards from Chase, such as the Ink Business Cash or the Ink Business Preferred.

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