Ink Business Premier℠ Credit Card Review
The Ink Business Premier℠ Credit Card a cash back-only credit card that does not earn Ultimate Rewards. Aside from a big cash back welcome and a niche targeted market on the earning structure this card doesn't offer much else. We will discuss the welcome offer, earning structure and give our overall thoughts in this Ink Business Premier℠ credit card review.
Current Welcome Offer
Currently, the Ink Business Premier has the following welcome offer:
- Earn $1,000 bonus cash back after you spend $10,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
- The annual fee for this card is $195 and it is NOT waived.
We want to reiterate that this card only earns cash back, even though Chase sometimes says Ultimate Rewards. These can not be unlocked by holding a Chase premium Ultimate Rewards earning card either (like some other products).
Chase Application Rules
Like other Chase cards, you will not qualify for this card if you have opened more than 5 credit cards with any bank in the last 24 months. It is worth noting that since this card is a business card it will NOT add to your 5/24 count, but you do need to be under it to get the card
Ink Business Premier Review: Earning Structure
The Ink Business Premier earns at the following rates:
- 5% back on travel purchased through Chase Travel℠ portal
- 2.5% back on purchases of $5,000 or more
- 2% cash back on all other eligible purchases
Card Benefits
The perks and benefits of the Ink Business Premier include:
- Up to $1,000 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 card (maximum of 3 claims in a 12-month period with a $100 deductible per claim)
- Trip cancellation/interruption insurance and trip delay reimbursement
- Baggage delay insurance
- Auto rental collision damage waiver
- No foreign transaction fees
ToP Analysis
The Ink Business Premier comes with a large welcome offer of $1,000. This is a hefty amount, despite the large minimum spend. But beyond the welcome offer, the card offers very little for most small businesses, especially since it is cash back and not Ultimate Rewards.
Like other transferrable points currencies, Chase Ultimate Rewards can regularly provide incredible value. This makes URs a much better return on spend than cash back. Therefore, we would not recommend spending much on this card after meeting the minimum spend.
The card's business are quite basic as the Ink Business Premier doesn't offer anything that you wouldn't see in another Chase card. That said, the Ink Business Premier's cell phone protection benefit is slightly better than that of the Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card credit card. The Ink Business Premier's offers coverage of up to $1,000 per claim, while the Ink Business Preferred offers coverage of up to $600 per claim.
Lastly, the card's earn structure does not justify its $195 annual fee. There are other cards that offer 2% cash back with no annual fee.
Who This Card Could Make Sense For?
This is a niche target market where this card could make sense. That is if your small business routinely has $5,000+ purchases. Earning 2.5% back on those could increase your returns compared to what you are already getting. You would need to have pretty substantial spend levels though. Just to cover the $195 annual fee you would need to have 8 such $5K+ transactions per year. If you can easily surpass that amount, or if 8 payments that is a weekly or monthly type of occurrence, then this could be a good option.
Ink Business Premier℠ Credit Card Review: ToP Thoughts
The Ink Business Premier is all about unlimited cash back at a 2% earn rate and with a good cash back welcome offer to boot. But paying an annual fee to earn cash back and not earning Ultimate Rewards makes little sense for most of our readers. As far as cash back cards go, you can get uncapped 2% earning with no annual fee. Heck, even the no fee Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card could end up giving you a better than 2% return for no annual fee if you unlock the Ultimate Rewards points that card earns. Getting 1.5x is not always worse than 2% cash back!
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