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, as well as travel benefits like trip cancellation/interruption insurance and baggage delay insurance.
  • 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 features an impresseive array of business card options, but the newest one, the Ink Business Premier℠ Credit Card, should especially pieque the interest of cash-back loving business owners. The benefits of the Ink Business Premier include an incredible welcome bonus and solid earning rates, though the card does come with a $195 annual fee. One important thing to note: ‘While the cash back accumulates as Chase Ultimate Rewards points, you can’t transfer those points to Chase’s airline and hotel partners, nor do you get any value boost when you redeem points for travel through the Chase portal.

Unlike Chase’s 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.

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. If you earn the welcome bonus, you’ll be given 100,000 Chase Ultiamte Rewards points, which you can them redeem for $1,000 cash back or in a number of other ways.

Rewards rates

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

  • 5 percent cash back on travel booked through the Chase Travel℠ portal
  • 5 percent cash back on Lyft rides through March 2025
  • 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 with incurred interest. Still, 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 a range of travel insurance plans and benefits, including:

  • Trip cancellation and interruption insurance
  • Auto rental collision damage waivers
  • Trip delay reimbursement
  • Baggage delay insurance
  • Travel and emergency assistance services
  • Roadside dispatch services

You won’t have to worry about foreign transaction fees, either.

Shopping and travel protection benefits

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

Other benefits are more unique, like cellphone protection. With this benefit, you (and any employees on your monthly cellphone bill) will be protected against covered 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 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 as well as 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 Travel℠ portal first to see whether 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 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, a 25 percent boost on points redeemed for travel through the Chase portal and the ability to transfer points to Chase’s hotel and airline loyalty partners — all for a lower annual fee of $95.

Still not sure whether this is the right card to add to your portfolio? Check out our most recent picks for best business credit cards to help you compare your options.