Details on Chase Ink Credit Card Bonuses

UPDATE: This offer has expired.

Yesterday I did a quick post on the sign up bonuses for the four Chase Ink cards: Chase Ink Bold, Chase Ink Plus, Chase Ink Cash and Chase Ink Classic credit cards! In this post I promised I’d give you some more detailed information on the in’s and out’s of these credit cards and the Chase Ultimate Rewards program. If you are already well versed on these cards and this program, you can probably skip this post! However, if you are new to the points and miles games, this post along with my Chase Ultimate Reward series will probably come in pretty handy. So here we go…. 

The Chase Ink Bold (application link) and Chase Ink Plus (application link) currently have a sign up bonus of 60,000 points while the Chase Ink Cash (application link) currently has a sign up bonus of 30,000 points (upon meeting the minimum spend requirement of $3,000 in the first three months).

All four cards are part of the Chase Ultimate Rewards program, however, this program has two types of accounts: accounts where points can be transferred directly to participating partner loyalty program and then the accounts that cannot and cash back is the best option. With these four cards, the Chase Ink Bold and Chase Ink Plus allow the direct transfers while the Chase Ink Cash and Chase Ink Classic do not. However, if you have an account in both, the points earned from the Ink Cash or Ink Classic can be transferred directly to an Ink Bold or Ink Plus account and then transferred to a loyalty partner program. You can transfer points freely between your and your partner/spouses account. Chase has started to close accounts where points where transferred between accounts of other friends/family members, so just keep that in mind.

One thing to note is that these Chase Ink are business cards (not personal), but with all Chase applications you can use your Social Security number if you do not have an EIN (Employer Identification Number). Your business also does not need to be registered and can be a sole proprietorship. If you do apply for one of the cards, there is a good chance you’ll need to call Chase’s Business reconsideration line just to answer some questions about your business. Feel free to email me with any questions about this!

Best redemption for Chase Ultimate Reward points:

I personally love the Chase Ultimate Reward earning credit cards as transferring the points earned to Hyatt, United, and British Airways at a 1:1 ratio is HUGE! There are more partners, but those are the top three in value (you can read more about the airline and hotel partners here).

Value of Chase Ultimate Reward points: 

I value Chase Ultimate Reward points that can be transferred directly to loyalty partners at 2 cents per dollar. This means that the 50,000 points earned from the Chase Ink Bold or Chase Ink Plus can be valued at $1,000. Although some might find a better or worse value, it really depends on how you redeem your points. If you do not want to be bothered with transferring the points and want to just redeem for any travel through Chase’s travel portal, points are worth a flat 1.2 cents a piece, so at the bare minimum you are getting $625 for these 50,000 points. For the accounts where you cannot transfer the points, you can redeem at a flat 1 cent per point – so for the 20,000 points it is worth $200 – unless you transfer those to another account and then worth more.

How many points do I earn per dollar when using these cards? ( you can read a detailed comparison in this blog post)

• Chase Ink Bold and Chase Ink Plus:
  • 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
• Chase Ink Cash and Chase Ink Classic:
  • 5x points per $1 on business expenses up to a maximum of 100,000 bonus points/$25,000 spent (business expenses include: wireless communication services, cable and satellite television and radio services, office supply stores and wholesale distributors of office supplies)
  • Chase Ink Cash: 2x points per $1 at gas stations, hotels and motels up to a maximum of 25,000 bonus points/$25,000 spent
  • Chase Ink Classic: 2x points per $1 at gas stations, hotels and motels up to a maximum of 25,000 bonus points/$25,000 spent
  • 1x points per $1 on all other purchases – no limit on points you can earn

So as you can see the nne of the biggest perks of these cards (although by no means the only reason for these cards) is the 5x points categories, specifically at office supply stores (i.e., Office Depot, Staples, etc.). If you plan on going big (although I recommend treading with caution), you can spend up to $150,000 per person if you have all four cards. My assumption is the average person won’t even come close to spending this much and the $50,000 capped spend for the Ink Bold and Ink Plus will do. If you are really looking to maximize your sign up bonus points, my personal recommendation is to get the Chase Ink Bold charge card and Chase Ink Plus credit card due to the 50,000 bonus points each (after meeting the minimum spend) and then downgrading one of them to the Chase Ink Cash or Chase Ink Classic. There really is no reason to pay more than one annual fee a year between all your Chase Ultimate Reward cards per family. Read this prior blog post about downgraded your Chase credit cards.

What are the differences between the four cards?

Chase Ink Plus credit card and Chase Ink Bold charge card are essentially 99.9% the same with a $95 annual fee (waived the first year), but with one difference – the Chase Ink Bold is a charge card where you must pay the balance in full each month, and the Chase Ink Plus is a credit card allowing you to pay the credit card over time (although there are high APR fees and I highly do not advise doing this!). Aside from that difference the cards are 100% the same with the exact sign up bonus, fees, and points earned on all spend.

Now, the Chase Ink Classic credit card and Chase Ink Cash credit card are also very similar in nature – both have no annual fee, a 3% foreign transaction fee, and do not allow you to transfer your points directly to loyalty partners. While both cards give you 2x points at gas stations, the Ink Classic also gives 2x points at hotels/motels while the Ink Cash gives 2x points at restaurants. If you are interested in either of these two cards, get the one where you spend more between restaurants and hotels/motels. Both cards earn you points (although Ink Cash is advertised as cash back), but as mentioned earlier you can transfer your points earned in these two accounts to another Chase Ultimate Reward account that allows direct transfers to airline and hotel partners (i.e., Chase Ink Bold, Chase Ink Plus, and Chase Sapphire Preferred).

If you are new to Chase Ultimate Reward points, check out this prior blog series to learn more:

• Introduction to Chase Ultimate Rewards Program
• Maximizing Chase Ultimate Rewards with Chase Freedom
• Downgrading your Chase Ultimate Rewards Card to Avoid the Annual Fee
• Best Redemption for Chase Ultimate Reward Points – Hotel Stays
• Best Redemption for Chase Ultimate Reward Points – Air Travel
• Chase Sapphire Preferred vs. Chase Sapphire
• Chase Ultimate Rewards: Sapphire Preferred vs. Ink Bold
• Top 10 Chase Ultimate Reward Questions