Key takeaways

  • The Ink Business Premier℠ Credit Card is a solid option for small-business owners looking to earn cash back on their purchases.
  • The card charges a $195 annual fee, but you’ll get perks like access to Chase’s Flex for Business, travel benefits like trip cancellation/interruption insurance and baggage delay insurance and more.
  • To best maximize the Ink Business Premier, be sure to hit the spending requirements for the first-year welcome bonus. Also, try to do most of your travel booking through the Ultimate Rewards portal.

Chase has added a new cash back card to its business card lineup, the Ink Business Premier℠ Credit Card. Benefits of the Ink Business Premier include an incredible welcome bonus and solid earning rates, but it comes with a $195 annual fee, and you can’t redeem cash back (which comes in the form of Chase Ultimate Rewards points) with Chase airline and hotel partners.

Unlike other Chase business cards — like the Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card — the Ink Business Premier is marketed to business owners who are interested in cash back and aren’t especially interested in travel. We’ll unpack more of the card’s benefits below.

Chase Ink Business Premier card benefits

Welcome bonus

The Chase Ink Business Premier comes with a welcome bonus of $1,000 in cash back after spending $10,000 in the first three months of account opening. This spending requirement isn’t normally a big hurdle for business owners to overcome.

Rewards rates

The Ink Business Premier’s rewards rates are rather straightforward and generous:

  • 5 percent cash back on travel booked through Chase travel portal
  • 2.5 percent cash back on purchases over $5,000
  • 2 percent cash back on all other eligible purchases

Redeeming rewards

You can redeem points for cash, gift cards or travel through the Chase portal, or pay with points for select products and services. However, using points through third-party vendors usually provides a poor value — less than one cent per point. We recommend that you cash your points out at a 1:1 value whenever possible.

Flex for Business

The Ink Business Premier is technically a charge card that you’re supposed to pay in full every billing cycle. However, this card comes with Flex for Business, a feature that allows you to pay off eligible purchases over time. These payments will incur interest, but it’s nice to have a safety net for your business whether you use the feature or not.

Travel benefits

Although the Ink Business Premier isn’t geared toward frequent travelers, it comes with travel insurance and benefits like trip cancellation/interruption insurance, an auto rental collision damage waiver, trip delay reimbursement, baggage delay insurance, travel and emergency assistance services, roadside dispatch and no foreign transaction fees.

Shopping and travel protection benefits

Other perks of the Ink Business Premier include a suite of protection benefits, some of which are standard benefits, such as fraud protection, zero liability protection, purchase protection and extended warranty protection.

Other benefits are more valuable, like cellphone protection. With this benefit, you (and employees on your monthly cellphone bill) will be covered against damage or theft for up to $1,000 per claim (with a maximum of three claims in a 12-month period and a $100 deductible per claim).

Maximizing the Chase Ink Business Premier

Get 2.5 percent cash back on large purchases

When you’re working on meeting the $10,000 spending requirement for the welcome bonus, your best bet is to make two purchases of at least $5,000 each within the first three months. Since you’ll get 2.5 percent cash back for every purchase of $5,000 or more, spending the first $10,000 this way will help you earn $250 in cash back and the $1,000 welcome bonus. That more than covers your $195 annual fee for the first year.

When booking travel, go to the Chase portal first

Check the Chase Ultimate Rewards travel portal first to see whether or not it offers competitive travel prices. If you’re able to book travel through the portal, you’ll get an unlimited 5 percent cash back.

The bottom line

Though there are pros and cons of the Ink Business Premier, overall, small-business owners who are primarily interested in cash back may like the simplicity of the Chase Ink Business Premier (along with its high welcome bonus and good-to-excellent earning rates). Plus, this card offers decent shopping and travel protection benefits. The main downside is the $195 annual fee.

However, travelers who want to transfer points to airline or hotel partners might want to opt for the Ink Business Preferred instead. This card comes with an equally-impressive welcome bonus, good earning rates and a 25 percent boost on points redeemed for Chase travel — all for a lower annual fee of $95.