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Generally speaking, if you want a credit card that offers impressive earnings power you have to be prepared to pay for it, and, in a lot of cases, paying for it means taking on annual fees of at least $495/year. Not with the Ink Business Cash® credit card from Chase.
The Ink Business Cash® credit card offers cardholders the potential to unlock significant savings courtesy of the earning rates that the card offers, and when paired with a Chase Sapphire personal card or with the Chase Ink Business Preferred® credit card (review) it becomes one of the best earning credit cards on the market today.
The Chase Ink Business Cash® credit card
In brief
The Ink Business Cash® credit card is a great card that offers cash back on spending in select categories and while that cash back can be very generous all on its own, it can also be converted to valuable Chase Ultimate Rewards points (1% cashback = 1 point) if the cardholder also holds the Chase Sapphire Preferred® credit card ($95/year), the Chase Sapphire Reserve® credit card ($550/year) or the Chase Ink Business Preferred® credit card (review) ($95/year).
In detail
Here’s what you need to know about the Ink Business Cash® credit card:
Annual fee:
- $0 (zero)
Cost of additional/employee cards:
- $0 (zero)
Current welcome bonus:
- $750 cash back after you spend $6,000 on purchases in the first 3 months – this converts to 75,000 Ultimate Rewards points if you also hold a Chase Sapphire credit card or the Chase Ink Business Preferred® credit card (find out more)
Earnings:
Earn 5% cash back on the first $25,000 spent in combined purchases in the following categories each anniversary year (converts to 5 points/dollar if you also hold a Chase Sapphire card or the Chase Ink Preferred Card):
- Office supply stores
- Internet
- Cable
- Phone services
Earn 2% cash back on the first $25,000 spent in combined purchases in the following categories each anniversary year (converts to 2 points/dollar if you also hold a Chase Sapphire card or the Chase Ink Business Preferred® credit card):
- Gas station purchases
- Restaurants
Earn 1% cash back (1 point/dollar) on all other transactions with no annual cap on earnings.
Other Key Benefits:
- Primary auto rental cover when renting for business purposes
- Purchase protection – covers new purchases for 120 days against damage or theft up to $10,000 per claim and $50,000 per account
- Extended warranty protection
- Roadside dispatch
Why this is a great card
The welcome offer
The $750 cash back after you spend $6,000 on purchases in the first 3 months is one of the better (but not the best) welcome bonus this card has offered but as the Ink Business Cash® credit card doesn’t charge an annual fee, this is still a very generous bonus to be offered.
In addition, the $750 cash back can be taken as 75,000 Ultimate Rewards Points if you also hold a Chase Sapphire card or the Chase Ink Business Preferred® credit card so as I value Ultimate Rewards Points at 1.5 cents each (based on the value I know that I can get out of them with ease), the welcome bonus is, to me, effectively worth $1,125. That’s an impressive return from a welcome offer on a credit card that doesn’t charge an annual fee.
Related: Why you should hold one of the Chase Sapphire Cards
The earnings
The key element to unlocking the Ink Business Cash® credit card’s fantastic earnings power is the 5% cash back on offer at office supply stores (up to $25,000 per year) because this is the earnings category that effectively allows cardholders to earn 5% cash back at an incredible number of other locations too.
For a lot of people, office supply stores conjure up images of pens, pencils, stationery, printers, ink, and everything else that goes into an office. For fans of the miles and points game, office supply stores mean only one thing – gift cards.
As well as all the usual office essentials, office supply stores like Staples and Office Depot sell a wide variety of gift cards which will all earn 5% cash back when purchased with the Ink Business Cash® credit card. If a cardholder also holds a Sapphire personal card or the Chase Ink Business Preferred® credit card, that 5% cash back can be converted to 5 points/dollar which, based on my valuation of 1.5 cents/point, is equivalent to a 7.5% rebate.
Examples of gift cards you can buy:
Travel:
- Delta
- Southwest
- Hotels.com
- Airbnb
Casual Dining/Coffee Shops:
- California Pizza Kitchen
- Starbucks
- Cheesecake Factory
- Chili’s
- Olive Garden
- Domino’s Pizza
- Yard House
- Outback Steakhouse
Retail stores:
- Apple
- Macy’s
- Nordstrom
- Crate & Barrel
- Marshall’s
- JC Penny
- Sephora
- Nike
- TJ Maxx
Home improvement stores:
- Lowes
- Home Depot
Streaming services:
- HBO
- Netflix
- Apple Music
- Spotify
Other services:
- Amazon
- Apple
- Whole Foods
- Fandango
That’s just a taster. Walk into any office supply store and take a look at the gift cards they sell and you’ll see that the Ink Business Cash® credit card offers 5% cash back with more retailers and service suppliers than just about any other credit card currently available…and it comes with no annual fee!
If you’re prepared to pair it with, for example, the $95/year Ink Business Preferred® credit card, the Ink Business Cash card becomes incredibly powerful.
- Most credit cards will only offer, at most, 1 point/dollar or 2% cash back with the majority of retailers/service providers I’ve listed above (outside of quarterly promotions). The Ink Business Cash® credit card will earn a minimum of 5% cash back (on up to $25,000 of purchases)
- If you want to earn 5 points/dollar with Delta or Southwest you’ll have to pay for a premium credit card like the Platinum Card® from American Express which costs $695/year (rates & fees). The Ink Business Cash® credit card doesn’t charge an annual fee and will earn 5% cash back (or 5 points/dollar) every time.
- If you shop at Amazon with any great frequency (and most people do) the best you can expect from most credit cards is a 2% rebate. The Ink Business Cash® credit card can generate a 5% rebate on up to $25,000 of purchases.
I can’t think of another credit card (let alone a no-annual-fee credit card) that can generate this level of cash back with this variety of retailers/service providers.
Primary auto rental cover
Unlike a lot of credit cards, the Chase Ink Business Cash® credit card offers cardholders primary auto rental cover as long as the rental company’s collision insurance is declined, the rental is for business purposes, and the entire rental cost is charged to the card.
Considering how many small businesses require their employees (and owners) to rent cars, this can be an incredibly useful benefit to have.
A word of caution
Buying things with gift cards purchased at an office supply store using the Ink Business Cash® credit card can be a fantastic way to rake in the cash back or Ultimate Rewards points, but there is something to be aware of. Buying things with a credit card offers consumers a degree of protection (unless they’re using a Citi credit card) in the event that something they buy goes wrong, gets broken soon after purchase, or if it simply has to be returned.
Shopping with gift cards offers no such protection so it’s always a good idea to use a credit card to part-pay for any larger purchases.
Bottom line
On its own, the Ink Business Cash® credit card from Chase is a fantastic cashback card that has few peers. When combined with one of the Chase Sapphire cards or the Chase Ink Business Preferred® credit card it becomes part of a fantastic pairing that opens up an incredible number of great earning opportunities across most spending categories.
Quite simply, it’s a card that all serious miles and points fans should have in their wallets – find out how to apply.
For rates and fees of the Platinum Card® from American Express, please visit this page
