Chase Ink Plus 70,000 Point Offer Officially Ends October 19

UPDATE: This offer has expired. To see the most up to date offer for this credit card you can check out the promotions page.

Earlier this month, Chase came out with a 70,000 point offer for their Ink Plus® Business Credit Card. At the time, this offer had to no end date, but it is now officially expiring October 19, 2014. It did not end last week like many others wrote about (related blog post). So if you thought it ended, it did not, and there is still time to apply if you’ve been on the fence.

This is the highest online offer for this card thus far, so if you’ve been contemplating getting the card, now is the best time to pull the trigger. While I am not 100% sure, my assumption is that this card will go back down to it’s normal 50,000 point offer afterwards. Of course there will be another bonus for this card at some point in the near future, but there is no telling what that offer will be and when. This card also gives you access to the Visa Savings Edge Program that I wrote about a few weeks back.

I am personally a big fan of Chase Ultimate Reward points as they have a flexible program. You can either use your points through the travel portal or transfer them to a partner loyalty program at a 1:1 ratio with no fee.

• Using your points through the travel portal: When using your points through the travel portal, 70,000 points equals a fixed $875 towards travel! The best thing about going through the portal is that you will also earn points or miles when redeeming. This is the lowest value you should receive from this single credit card sign up, which is amazing in my opinion.
• Transferring your points to a partner loyalty program: You can transfer your points at a 1:1 ratio (with no fee!) to 10 loyalty programs. You can transfer as little or as many points as you want to each partner program. These partners include:
  • United
  • British Airways
  • Korean Airways
  • Southwest
  • Virgin Atlantic
  • Hyatt
  • InterContinental Hotels Group
  • Marriott
  • Ritz Carlton
  • Amtrak

How would I value 70,000 Chase Ultimate Reward points?

Last week I wrote a post on the best usage for redeeming your points with a partner program, so you can check that out here. Overall, I think United, Hyatt, and British Airways will give you the biggest bang for your buck. Korean Airways is also an interested and high value program, but definitely more challenging to use and not the easiest for the inexperienced points/miles person. When transferring points to these programs, you can easily get 2 cents per point value which means the 70,000 point sign up bonus could potentially be worth around $1,400! Many folks, however, will be able to get a slightly higher value, but that is when redeeming for business/first class or top notch hotels (i.e., Tokyo, Maldives, etc.)

Is 20,000 more points worth paying the annual fee the first year?

As I mentioned above, this offer is 20,000 more then the normal offer. Typically you get 50,000 points after meeting the minimum spend requirements, but for a limited time you can earn 70,000. The minimum spend requirement has stayed the same, but the key difference is that with this 70,000 point offer is that the annual fee of $95/year is not waived the first year. In the paragraph I talked about the “Pay for Points” option where you get 1.25 cents per point. This is the minimum value you should be getting for your points through this card. With that option, that means the 20,000 extra points is valued at a flat $250. This is clearly higher than the $95 annual fee making the 70,000 point offer significantly better. And for those that value their points at 2 cents per point, the extra 20,000 points is giving you another $400 in value.

What are the other benefits of these cards?

With this card you earn a nice number of bonus points with popular spend categories:

• Chase 5x points per $1 on business expenses up to a maximum of 200,000 bonus points/$50,000 spent (business expenses include: wireless communication services, cable and satellite television and radio services, office supply stores and wholesale distributors of office supplies)
• 2x points per $1 at gas stations, hotels and motels up to a maximum of 50,000 bonus points/$50,000 spent
• 1x points per $1 on all other purchases – no limit on points you can earn

Do I need to have a registered business to apply for the card? The short answer is no. You are able to apply for a card as a “Sole Proprietorship” and use your social security number. If you have any side businesses, even if they are not registered businesses, you can apply for a business card and use your name as the business name, if you want. For example, I applied and got approved for the Chase Ink Plus card prior to filling out all the paper for Deals We Like. Also, if you have multiple businesses, you might be able to get the card for each business.

Overall, I highly recommend this card. If you’ve been following this blog you are probably already well aware that the 5x points at office supply stores is huge! Remember, many office supply stores, such as Staples and Office Depot, sell many other items other then pens and paper! You can purchase iPads, paper towels, diapers, other merchant gift cards (i.e., Marriott, Southwest, Amazon.com, Bed Bath and Beyond, etc.). I even see that they are selling a hair straightening iron through Staples.com which will get you the 5x points! Being able to get 5x points on those purchases, plus your entire cell phone, cable, and internet bill is great!

If you are new to the Chase Ultimate Rewards program, you can read more about it in this prior blog series.