What Earns 5x With Chase Ink Cash

I recently shared all the various streaming services that earn bonus points with your Chase Sapphire Preferred card. In that post I said I had never paid much attention to it since I earn 5x with my Ink+ (no longer available but the big brother to the Chase Ink Business Cash®). Many people in the ToP Facebook group seemed surprised by this so I figured it was time to do a post about what earns 5x with Chase Ink Cash. Especially since there are more options than you would expect with the categories not being well defined like other Chase cards are.

Updated 11/18/24: We had to make some adjustments to the list below

Ink Cash 5x Earning Categories

Anyone that has read our Chase Ink Cash review probably already has a good idea of what the earning structure for the card is. Just to be thorough, here are the bonus categories on the card:

• 5% back / 5x on the first $25,000 in combined purchases on the account during each anniversary (not calendar) year for the following categories:
  • Office supply stores
  • Internet
  • Cable
  • Phone Services
• 2% back / 2x on the first $25,000 in combined purchases on the account during each anniversary (not calendar) year for the following categories:
  • Gas stations
  • Dining
• 1% / 1x on everything else

The Chase Ink Cash 5x earning categories are what really draws people in and why they love this card. The problem is they are not super defined. We see Chase go into vast detail for the Sapphire Preferred streaming 3x earning and what is covered under the Ink Preferred's 3x travel category. For this card, they leave what earns 5x with Chase Ink Cash less defined and more vague over all. For example, what is really considered cable these days? With streaming and everything else, the line is kind of blurry for this one so we thought we would try to clear things up.

What Earns 5x With Chase Ink Cash – Recent Data Points

Now for the good stuff, let's take a look at what earns 5x Ultimate Rewards points (or 5% cash back) with the Chase Ink Cash. Some will be obvious, of course, but many will be less so. Hopefully this will help you make informed decisions on which is the best card to use for your purchases going forward.

• Office Store Websites
  • Everything sold inside office stores earns 5x with the Chase Ink Cash. But what about online? As long as it is sold by the office store site (Staples and Office Depot) then it should earn the points. There are some things sold, and billed, by third party vendors so you need to pay attention to that.
• Quill
  • This is an office supply store owned by Staples and everything on it earns 5x. There are also Chase Offers for this site at times which you will want to be on the lookout for.
• Streaming Services (AKA the new cable)
  • Netflix
  • Hulu
  • Sling TV
  • Tivo
  • Vudu
  • Sirius XM
  • Spotify
  • ESPN+
  • Paramount+
  • HBO Max (May be 1x earning now – need more data points)
  • Disney+
  • Discovery+
  • Peacock
  • **YouTube TV – the category is constantly changing each month so it is hit and miss
  • Philo subscription
• Fluz App
  • Some stores on here code will be considered cable, phone or office supply in nature.
• Microsoft's Website
• Spotify (not via PayPal)
• GoGo Wifi in flight on Southwest
• GoDaddy
• Cloudways
• Microsoft Website (YMMV)
• Microsoft Store
• Lulu.com
• Crunchyroll
• Tesla Connectivity

Earn 5x Ultimate Rewards: ToP Thoughts

As they say, knowledge is power and this should give you more knowledge as an informed consumer. If you notice anything else that falls into the 5x earning categories with the Chase Ink Cash that I missed, please let me know and I'll add it in. This is our only choice when credit card issuers are vague on defining their bonus earning categories. I'll keep this resource updated if any changes happen.

Let me know what 5x earning option with the Chase Ink Cash is most beneficial to your business over in the ToP Facebook Group.