Chase just launched a brand new credit card called the Chase Ink Business Unlimited Credit Card. It is a no annual fee business card offering a very generous sign up bonus. It is now the 5th card in the Chase Ink family, but only the 2nd card that comes with no annual fee. The Chase Ink Business Cash® Credit Card is the other no annual fee card and while the two have very similar offers, benefits, and fees, the number of points you earn on your purchases are very different. Both are great cards and I personally recommend getting one (if not both!) of these cards, but knowing which one to get is very important.
Key Link:
- Ink Business Unlimited Credit Card: Earn 75,000 Chase Ultimate Reward points after you spend $7,500 on the card within the first 3 months. No annual fee.
- Ink Business Cash® Credit Card: Earn 75,000 Chase Ultimate Reward points after you spend $7,500 on the card within the first 3 months. No annual fee.
Keep in mind that both cards advertise the bonus offer as $750 cash back, but you are actually earning 75,000 Chase Ultimate Reward points and you can then redeem your points for cash back if you desire. When you redeem your points this way, 75,000 points = $750, however, there are other options for redeeming/transferring your points that could give you a much better value (read below!).
Since both cards have no annual fee, you are not able to transfer your points directly to a partner loyalty program. But, if you have another “premier” Chase Ultimate Reward card (one that comes with an annual fee, i.e., Sapphire Preferred, Sapphire Reserve, Ink Bold, Ink Plus, Ink Preferred), you can transfer the points earned from one of these two cards to your other premier Chase card. From there you can then transfer the points to your desired partner loyalty program or book travel through the Chase Ultimate Rewards site (for example, with the Chase Sapphire Reserve when you book travel through the portal every point is worth 1.5 cents). If you are able to transfer your points to a partner loyalty program I put a 2 cent per point value on this. That means the bonus offer for each respective card is worth approximately $1,000 in my valuation!
Differences in the Points You Earn
Chase Ink Business Unlimited —With this card you’ll earn 1.5x points on every single purchase. There are no category bonuses and every type of purchase will earn the same 1.5x points. There is also no maximum on the number of points you can earn.
Chase Ink Business Cash —The number of points you earn depends on the type of purchase:
- 5x points at office supply stores, internet, cable, and phone services. This is capped at $25,000 spent per anniversary year.
- 2x points at gas stations and restaurants. This is capped at $25,000 spent per anniversary year.
- 1x point on all other purchases. No cap!
If you think you’ll be using the card quite often on those 5x categories then the Chase Ink Business Cash is a great option. I personally have other credit cards I use for these categories that earn the same bonus, so for me personally, I love the option of earning 1.5x points on all my purchases. The Chase Ink Business Unlimited card is a card I could easily use for my everyday purchases that do not typically come with a category bonus. I also put a huge value on Chase Ultimate Reward points and value them to be about 2 cents per point (since I transfer them to partner programs). That means I could get a 3% return on these everyday purchases, which is pretty great. Now, if you prefer cash back, then still getting a 1.5% return is great – especially on a no annual fee card!
The Similarities
The points earned on your purchases really is the only difference between the two cards. Aside from the no annual fee and sign up bonus, they both will give you:
- Employee cards at no additional cost – You can receive as many authorized user cards as you need
- Extended warranty protection – You’ll receive an extra year of a warranty on eligible items
- Purchase protection – Covers your new purchases for 120 days against damage or theft up to $10,000 per claim and $50,000 per account
- Auto rental collision damage waiver – You’ll receive primary coverage when renting for business purposes and you charge the entire rental cost to your card
Unfortunately though, neither card comes with Chase’s travel insurance (trip delay, baggage delay, trip cancellation, etc.). I personally recommend using a different Chase card for booking non-refundable travel just in case an issue arrises. Most (although not all) Chase cards that come with an annual fee provide this type of insurance as a card benefit.
Overall…
Both are great cards and the card to get really depends on the purchases you plan to make with the card. For a no annual fee card both cards are also offering a great sign up bonus. Remember though, these cards fall within Chase’s “5/24” rule, so if you are over 5 approvals within the past 24 months, Chase will automatically decline you for the card. The good thing though is that since these are business cards they will not count towards your “5/24” number. So always apply for business cards first!
Lastly, since these are two different Chase products, you are eligible for both cards and the respective sign up bonuses (upon account approval). Many times people like to have different business cards to separate expenses. You also do not need to have a registered business to apply. You can use your social security number and apply under as a “Sole Proprietorship.”
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My wife was turned down on a ink business preferred card because they said she did not have a tax id number. we were under the impression that if she put down we were sole propreitorship, and entered social security number that would be all that was needed. instead we were declined. Do you know of another way around this? we meet all other requirements.
thank you
JN
@JN – Did you try calling the reconsideration line?
yea we did, they still said they needed a tax id number. does this sound correct?
Technically, an SSN is a valid Tax Identification Number (TIN). An Employer Identification Number (EIN), which is the common identifier for businesses that are not sole proprietorship, is also a TIN.