The Ink Business Premier® Credit Card (see rates and fees) is an all-around solid business cash-back card. It comes with a generous intro bonus and earns at least 2% back on all purchases. However, the card comes with a high annual fee while lacking the robust benefits that would help justify its price. So you'll need to do the math and compare all of your options to determine if this is the best business card for you.
Below, CNBC Select shares the details on this card's welcome bonus, rewards and fees.
Ink Business Premier Credit Card Review
Welcome bonus
Earn a $1,000 cash bonus after you spend $10,000 on purchases in the first three months after opening the account.
Benefits and perks
You can add employee cards to your Ink Business Premier® Credit Card account for free. The card also gives you a handful of built-in protections, including:
- Rental car insurance
- Roadside dispatch
- Travel and emergency assistance
- Trip cancellation and interruption insurance
- Cell phone insurance
- Extended warranty protection
- Purchase protection
How to earn and use Ink Business Premier rewards
Earning
The Ink Business Premier® Credit Card earns:
- 5% cash back on eligible purchases you make through Chase Travel
- 2.5% cash back on purchases of $5,000 or more
- 2% cash back on all other purchases
Redeeming
The Ink Business Premier® Credit Card is a pure cash-back card. You can redeem your cash rewards for a statement credit or direct deposit. You can also redeem for merchandise, gift cards and travel through the Chase Ultimate Rewards site.
Unlike other cash-back Chase credit cards, the rewards you earn with this card cannot be moved to a card that unlocks transfers to Chase's travel partners.
Rates and fees
The Ink Business Premier® Credit Card has a $195 annual fee. Late payments are charged the greater of $40 or 2% of the minimum payment that is due. There is no foreign transaction fee.
Because the Ink Business Premier is a charge card, you must pay your Pay In Full balance each month. However, with Chase's Flex for Business feature, you can pay your balance over time (provided you keep that balance under a limit that Chase will assign you). The Flex for Business APR is a variable 18.49% - 26.49%.
Alternatives to the Ink Business Premier Credit Card
Here's how the Ink Business Premier Credit Card stacks up against some of the competition.
Ink Business Premier Credit Card vs. Capital One Spark Cash Plus
The Capital One Spark Cash Plus is especially rewarding for businesses with a lot of credit card spending. It offers an additional bonus the first year and an ongoing annual fee refund, but both benefits have six-figure spending requirements.
- High flat-rate rewards
- Valuable welcome offer
- Has an annual fee
- High spending requirement to earn the welcome offer and qualify for the annual fee refund
Highlights
Highlights shown here are provided by the issuer and have not been reviewed by CNBC Select's editorial staff.
- Earn a one-time cash bonus of $2,000 once you spend $30,000 in the first 3 months
- Earn an additional $2,000 cash bonus for every $500K spent during the first year. You can earn this bonus multiple times over the course of year 1!
- Earn unlimited 2% cash back on every purchase, everywhere—with no limits or category restrictions
- Enjoy big purchasing power so you can spend more and earn more rewards. The Spark Cash Plus card has no preset spending limit, so it can adapt to your needs based on your spending behavior, payment history, credit profile and other factors
- Earn unlimited 5% cash back on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Business Travel
- Streamline your accounts payable process, employee spending, and more from your online account with free business management tools
- Empower your teams to make business purchases while you earn rewards from their transactions with free employee and virtual cards
- $150 annual fee - Spend $150,000 annually and Capital One will refund this fee every year
- Your card is designed to be paid in full. However you have the option to carry over a portion of your balance with interest if needed. Pay at least the minimum payment amount by your payment due date, otherwise you'll be charged a 2.99% late fee
- For businesses that need large spending capacity and want to maximize cash back
- Top rated mobile app
If your business spends $10,000 or more a month on credit cards, then it may be worth closely comparing Capital One Spark Cash Plus and the Ink Business Premier. Both of these cash-back cards are charge cards that earn at least 2% back on all purchases and reward big-spending.
One big difference is that, unlike the Spark Cash card, the Ink Premier gives you 2.5% back on purchases greater than $5,000. If you're regularly charging large transactions to your card, then the Ink Premier makes a lot of sense.
Otherwise, consider the Capital One Spark Cash because of its lower annual fee. Plus, you'll get that annual fee refunded each year that you spend at least $150,000 on the card.
Ink Business Premier Credit Card vs. Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card
The Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card is an excellent business card with useful benefits, valuable rewards and a generous welcome bonus.
- Earns flexible travel rewards you can transfer to airline and hotel loyalty programs such as World of Hyatt, Southwest Rapid Rewards and many more
- Valuable welcome bonus worth $1,125 in travel when redeemed through Chase Travel
- Strong travel and shopping protections
- No intro APR offer
Highlights
Highlights shown here are provided by the issuer and have not been reviewed by CNBC Select's editorial staff.
- Earn 100k bonus points after you spend $8,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
- Earn 3 points per $1 on the first $150,000 spent on travel and select business categories each account anniversary year. Earn 1 point per $1 on all other purchases
- Earn 5x total points on Lyft rides through 9/30/27.
- With Zero Liability you won't be held responsible for unauthorized charges made with your card or account information.
- Redeem points for cash back, gift cards, travel and more - your points don't expire as long as your account is open
- Go further when you book with Chase TravelSM. Enjoy competitive rates, seamless booking and premium benefits.
- Purchase Protection covers your new purchases for 120 days against damage or theft up to $10,000 per claim and $50,000 per account.
- Receive complimentary access to DashPass by DoorDash.
- Member FDIC
Balance transfer fee
Either $5 or 5% of the amount of each transfer, whichever is greater
The Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card (see rates and fees) comes with (almost) everything you get with the Ink Business Premier in addition to features the Business Premier card lacks. And it does this while charging a smaller annual fee.
One example of how this card gives the Business Premier a run for its money is with the welcome bonus: The Ink Business Preferred has a similar welcome bonus that's easier to earn and potentially much more valuable than what you get with the Ink Business Premier. The Ink Business Preferred card also earns Chase Ultimate Rewards points, which can be redeemed for one cent a piece as cash back.
But it's easy to get even more value. With this Chase credit card, when you use Chase points to book travel through Chase TravelSM, each point is potentially worth more. That makes the Ink Preferred's welcome bonus worth at least $1,125 when applied toward travel. Not only that, but you can also transfer the Chase points you earn to all of Chase's travel partners and potentially multiply the value you receive by booking luxury hotels and expensive airfare.
The Ink Business Preferred also earns 3X points on the first $150,000 in combined purchases in categories that are meaningful for many small business owners, including shipping, advertising purchases with social media sites and search engines, travel and internet cable and phone services.
Is the Ink Business Premier Credit Card right for you?
In a vacuum, the Ink Business Premier Credit Card is an all-around solid business cash-back card. It earns at least 2% back on all purchases and 2.5% back on large transactions. Outside of special bonus categories or cards that make you jump through hoops to increase your earnings, you can't beat those numbers. The problem is, for many small businesses this card isn't likely to be the best option. If you're eligible for this card, you'll probably also qualify for business credit cards that charge a lower annual fee and earn better rewards.
Bottom line
The Ink Business Premier® Credit Card is a business credit card that earns cash-back rewards. It has a standout welcome bonus and offers a solid rate of return on all purchases. But, before you pull the trigger on applying for this card, be sure to explore all of your options. Other cards can provide the same value or more, with a smaller annual fee.
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At CNBC Select, our mission is to provide our readers with high-quality service journalism and comprehensive consumer advice so they can make informed decisions with their money. Every business card review is based on rigorous reporting by our team of expert writers and editors with extensive knowledge of credit card products. While CNBC Select earns a commission from affiliate partners on many offers and links, we create all our content without input from our commercial team or any outside third parties, and we pride ourselves on our journalistic standards and ethics.
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