Chase Ink Business Preferred Credit Card: Transfer Points or Redeem for Travel

The Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card from Chase is a good choice for business owners who travel relatively frequently. This business credit card offers decent rewards rates and perks, but it truly shines thanks to the point bonus when redeeming rewards for travel through Chase Ultimate Rewards — and its 1:1 transfer rate to Chase’s airline and hotel partners.

The point bonus makes it easy to earn above-average returns on your travel spending, while the transfer partners add considerable flexibility to the card. If Chase partners with your favorite airline or hotel, you can use your points to pay for a nights stay or airfare. Point transfers take a bit of extra work than simply redeeming points for statement credits, but you’ll be well rewarded for the effort.

The Ink Business Preferred is well worth the $95 annual fee if you find yourself taking regular business trips and looking for a credit card that can help cover some of the expense.

Read more: Chase Business Credit Cards

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Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card

Intro OfferEarn 100k bonus points after you spend $15,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. That’s $1,000 cash back or $1,250 toward travel when redeemed through Chase Ultimate Rewards®

APR18.24% – 23.24% Variable

Intro Purchase APRN/A

Recommended Credit Good, Excellent

Reward Rates

• 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 – with no limit to the amount you can earn

Annual Fee$95

Balance Transfer APR18.24% – 23.24% Variable

Balance Transfer Fee Either $5 or 5% of the amount of each transfer, whichever is greater.

Foreign Transaction Fees $0

Penalty APR Up to 29.99%

• 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 – with no limit to the amount you can earn

Rewards and redemption

You can earn 3x points per dollar for travel, shipping purchases, advertising purchases made with social media sites and search engines and internet, cable and phone services (on the first $150,000 spent in combined purchases each account anniversary year, then 1x). You’ll earn 1x point for everything else.

Once you’ve earned your rewards, you can redeem them for:

• Travel through Chase Ultimate Rewards (25% point bonus)
• Statement credits
• Gift cards
• Pay with points (through Chase Ultimate Rewards or with third-party merchants)

Chase Ultimate Rewards points are usually worth 1 cent each, but can be increased to 1.25 cents by redeeming for travel through Chase Ultimate Rewards. 

Cardholders are also able to transfer their points to Chase’s travel partners at a 1:1 rate (1 Chase point = 1 partner mile/point). Transferring points could get you an even better per-point value than other forms of redemption.

Take a look at Chase’s airline and hotel partners that cardholders are able to transfer their points to.

Chase has partnerships with a few of the biggest travel brands including United, Southwest, Marriott Bonvoy and World of Hyatt. If you have any upcoming business trips, it would be a good idea to use your Chase Ultimate Rewards points to cover all of or some of your hotel or airfare costs.

Chase Ultimate Rewards

Chase’s Ultimate Rewards platform allows cardholders to book all aspects of their travel, including airfare, car rentals and hotel stays. The platform is where cardholders can transfer their points to Chase’s travel partners or redeem points for travel for a 25% bonus. You can also use the rewards portal to use your points to pay for Apple products.

If you have multiple Chase credit cards, you’re even able to transfer points between the cards in the Chase Ultimate Rewards family.

Cards include the:

It’s worth noting that you can still transfer points from a business card, like the Ink Business Preferred, to a consumer card, like the Chase Sapphire Preferred, and vice versa.

Welcome offer

The Ink Business Preferred card offers new cardholders 100,000 bonus points for spending $15,000 in the first three months with the card. According to Chase, that would equate to a $1,000 value if redeemed for statement credits, or $1,250 if redeemed for travel through Chase Ultimate Rewards. However, you could potentially find an even higher value by transferring your points to Chase’s travel partners. 

The $15,000 spending requirement is a bit high for a card with a $95 annual fee, so cross-reference your monthly business expenses to see if your business would be likely to earn it.

Other card perks

In addition to its strong rewards program, the Ink Business Preferred offers business owners a handful of useful perks, including employee cards at no additional cost and a number of protections.

• Trip cancellation/interruption insurance: If your trip is canceled or interrupted due to a covered event, such as sickness, you could be reimbursed by up to $5,000 per person and $10,000 per trip. 
• Auto rental collision damage waiver: Get primary rental car coverage against damage and theft. Decline the rental car provider’s insurance offer and charge the full amount of the car rental to your Ink Business Preferred card. Because coverage is primary when renting for business purposes, you don’t have to have or buy a separate car insurance policy, and it pays out before any other coverage you might have.
• Roadside dispatch: If you run into car trouble while traveling, call 1-800-847-2869 for help. Roadside dispatch services may be able to help you with changing a tire, reviving a dead battery, or providing fuel delivery and lockout services.
• Cell phone protection: Pay your phone bill with the card and get up to $1,000 per claim in cell phone protection against covered damage and theft. You can have a maximum of three claims per year with a $100 deductible per claim.
• Purchase protection: Your new purchases are covered against damage and theft for 120 days. Coverage is up to $10,000 per claim and $50,000 per account.
• Extended warranty: If you have a US manufacturer’s warranty of three years or less on a new purchase, you could get it extended by an additional year.

Comparable cards

While the Chase Ink Business Preferred is a strong contender for a business travel card, there are others worth considering. If you don’t travel enough to take advantage of the Ink Business Preferred’s rewards and redemption, consider a business travel credit card without an annual fee.

Ink Business Cash® Credit Card

Another member of the Chase Ultimate Rewards family, the Ink Business Cash card is an alternative to earn a return on your business spending without an annual fee. It earns 5% cash back at office supply stores and on internet, cable and phone service (on the first $25,000 spent in combined purchases each anniversary year) , as well as 2% cash back at gas stations and restaurants (on the first $25,000 spent in combined purchases each anniversary year). It earns 1% cash back for everything else.

The Ink Business Cash lacks the 25% bonus for redeeming points for travel through Chase Ultimate Rewards as well as the 1:1 transfer rate to Chase’s travel partners, so its rewards may be less appealing for a business owner who travels frequently. The $25,000 spending limit on rewards also makes it better suited to small businesses who don’t spend much annually.

Capital One Spark Miles for Business

You can earn 5x miles per dollar for hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel with the Capital One Spark Miles for Business*, plus 2x miles per dollar for everything else with the Capital One Spark Miles for Business. It has a $95 annual fee ($0 intro annual fee for the first year) and offers mile transfers to Capital One’s travel partners as well as a few useful travel perks including an application fee credit for Global Entry/TSA PreCheck.

While it does offer mile transfers, the ratios to each will vary more so than the Ink Business Preferred, and Capital One features more international airlines and hotels. The application fee credit for either Global Entry or TSA PreCheck will save you time by skipping security lines at the airport and the rewards are simple. It offers fewer travel protections, but the bottom line is that it’s an uncomplicated travel card that offers solid perks for business people who travel on occasion.

FAQs

*All information about the Capital One Spark Miles for Business has been collected independently by CNET and has not been reviewed by the issuer.

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