The Chase Ink Business Unlimited® Card is a solid choice for business owners looking for a new credit card. It earns a fixed 1.5% cash back on all purchases. In addition, there’s no annual fee, a huge 75,000 point welcome bonus and various ways to redeem those points. Savvy cardholders can further increase the value of their rewards by transferring them to a card that earns Chase Ultimate Rewards® points. That makes this card a terrific complementary card for those who already own a Chase Ink Business Preferred®, Chase Sapphire Reserve® and/or Chase Sapphire Preferred® card.
Who is this card for?
This is a business credit card, so it won’t be something anyone can apply for. However, you don’t need to own a traditional business to apply for a business credit card. For example, your money-making side hustle qualifies as a business. This is a great card for beginners because the flat 1.5% earnings rate means you don’t need to keep track of bonus categories. Earning a flat rate is easy to understand and requires no extra thought or work. You can also request cards for employees at no additional cost and earn reward points on their spending too.
And for experts wanting to accumulate Chase Ultimate Rewards® points, this card can help with that strategy. Earning 1.5% may not sound like a lot, especially when comparing to other Ultimate Rewards eligible credit cards. For example:
- Chase Ink Business Preferred – earns 3 points per dollar on travel, internet, cable, phone, shipping and advertising purchases
- Chase Sapphire Reserve – earns 3 points per dollar on travel and dining
- Chase Sapphire Preferred – earns 3 points per dollar on dining, online groceries and streaming services and 2 points per dollar on travel
- Chase Freedom Flex – earns 5% cash back or 5 points per dollar in rotating categories, plus 5% in the Chase Travel Portal and 3% on dining and at drugstores
However, all of the above cards earn just 1 point per dollar on purchases outside of each card’s bonus categories. This is where the Chase Ink Business Unlimited becomes the perfect complementary card for those who own one or more of the above cards. Use the Chase Ink Business Unlimited for any purchases that don’t fall into one of the other cards’ bonus categories and you’ll earn an extra half point per dollar spent. Over time, those extra points can really add up.
You can apply for the Chase Ink Business Unlimited® Card here.
Card Features
Bonus Offer
You’ll earn 75,000 bonus points, or $750 cash back, after you spend $6,000 on purchases in the first three months after account opening.
Annual Fee
This card has no annual fee.
Earning Rates
The Chase Ink Business Unlimited® Card earns 1.5% cash back on all purchases, with no limits or caps. It’s not an amazing rate, but this is a good catch-all card for purchases that don’t earn bonus points from any other cards. And as you’ll read below, pairing it with other eligible cards in the Chase Ultimate Rewards program, makes this an even more powerful card.
Redeeming Points
Points earned from the Chase Ink Business Unlimited card are worth 1 cent apiece when redeemed for cash back, gift cards or travel. In the examples below, let’s assume you earned 30,000 points in a year on the card. If redeemed for cash back, that would be worth $300. However, if you pair this card with another eligible card in Chase’s Ultimate Rewards® program, and transfer points to that card, you can really supercharge the card’s value.
For more information on Chase’s flexible points program, check out The Complete Guide to Chase Ultimate Rewards®.
Chase Sapphire Reserve
For Chase Sapphire Reserve cardholders, points are worth 1.5 cents per point when redeemed in the Chase Travel Portal. That means those same 30,000 points would be worth $450 (30,000 points x $0.015).
Chase Sapphire Preferred / Ink Business Preferred
Cardholders of the Chase Sapphire Preferred or Ink Business Preferred, also improve their effective return rate, just not quite as much. With these two cards, points are worth 1.25 cents per point when redeemed for travel through the Chase Travel Portal. So with these cards, 30,000 points are worth $375 (30,000 points x $0.0125).
Moving your Chase Ink Business Unlimited points to any of these cards gets you way more value than the 1 cent each you’d get by redeeming them for cash back. But the Chase Travel Portal isn’t your only option. You can often get even greater value by transferring points to any of Chase’s 14 travel partners!
For example, you could transfer 70,000 Ultimate Rewards points to United Airlines to fly first class from New York to Los Angeles. Tickets often sell for around $1,750, so the value of those 70,000 points is around 2.5 cents per point ($1,750 / 70,000 points). That’s full cent per point above the travel portal value!
For more information on Chase’s flexible points program, check out The Complete Guide to Chase Ultimate Rewards®.
Card Benefits
Low Intro APR
0% intro APR for the first 12 months on purchases.
Primary Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver (CDW)
The vast majority of credit cards offer some type of coverage when it comes to auto rentals. However, there are two different coverage categories (primary and secondary) and knowing the difference is key. Secondary coverage is what most credit cards offer and it applies after your own personal auto insurance policy. Typically it means that your auto insurer pays the claim, but the card will reimburse your deductible and potentially other costs not covered by your personal policy.
Primary coverage, however, applies before your own personal auto insurance policy and will cover full damages due to collision or theft of most rental cars. That means you can avoid paying a deductible and potentially seeing your premiums rise.
There are only six consumer credit cards that offer primary auto rental CDW coverage:
- Chase Sapphire Preferred®
- Chase Sapphire Reserve®
- United℠ Explorer Card
- United Quest Card
- United Club Infinite Card
- Capital One Venture X Card
There are also five business credit cards that offer this as well. You’ll only be covered by primary insurance while renting for business purposes, renting outside your country of residence for personal reasons or if you do not have automobile insurance:
- Chase Ink Business Preferred® Card
- Chase Ink Business Cash® Card
- Chase Ink Business Unlimited® Card
- United Club℠ Business Card (only when renting for business purposes)
- United Business℠ Card (only when renting for business purposes)
Purchase Protection
This benefit covers your new purchases for 120 days against damage or theft up to $10,000 per claim and $50,000 per account. As always, make sure you read the fine print for benefit terms and conditions. But you’ll sleep easy knowing your new, big purchases are covered.
Extended Warranty Protection
With this benefit, you can extend the time period of the U.S. manufacturer’s warranty by one additional year. This applies to eligible warranties of three years or less.
Bottom Line
If you’re a small business owner and want to earn sought after Chase Ultimate Rewards points, you should consider the Ink Business Unlimited Card. The appeal is in it’s simplicity. A flat 1.5% earnings rate makes it a great card for everyday, non-bonus spending. The combination of simplicity, no annual fee and the potential to convert cash back to transferrable travel rewards, makes this a card to consider.
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