Some offers mentioned below are no longer available.
The Ink Business Cash® Credit Card and Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card are currently offering elevated welcome bonuses — the highest we've ever seen for these particular cards. In fact, they're among the highest welcome bonuses we've seen for any card.
New cardholders can now earn a $900 cash-back bonus after spending $6,000 within the first three months of account membership. And while that alone might be incentive enough to sign up for one (or both) of these cards, it gets even better.
Below, Select takes a closer look at what makes these two small business credit cards' welcome bonuses so special.
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They're abnormally high welcome bonuses for no-annual-fee cards
The ability to earn a welcome bonus worth up to $900 in cash back is already rare among rewards credit cards, but the fact that you'll be earning it by using a no-annual-fee credit card is staggering.
To underline this point, here's a quick look at the current welcome bonuses of several competing no-annual-fee business cards:
- American Express Blue Business Cash™ Card: Earn a $250 statement credit after you make $3,000 in purchases on your Card in your first 3 months. Terms Apply.
- Capital One Spark Cash Select: Earn a $750 bonus when you spend $6,000 in the first 3 months of account opening.
- Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express: Earn 15,000 Membership Rewards® points after you spend $3,000 in eligible purchases on the card within your first 3 months of card membership. Terms Apply.
- *Capital One Spark 1% Classic: There is no welcome bonus.
As you can see, the current welcome bonuses from both the Ink Business Cash and Ink Business Unlimited blow these other offers out of the water. And while the $6,000 minimum-spending requirement is on the higher end, the potential payoff is disproportionately large if you can swing it — it'll be like earning 15% back on all spending for your business.
You'll earn Ultimate Rewards points, not cash
Although they're officially billed as cash-back cards, the Ink Business Cash® Credit Card and Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card don't directly earn cash. Instead, they allow you to earn Chase Ultimate Rewards® points, which you can redeem for cash back at a rate of 1 cent apiece.
In other words, you'll actually earn 90,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards® points after spending $6,000 with the card within the first three months of account membership, which is worth $900 in cash back once you redeem the points.
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
Even better, these cards give you the ability to convert the rewards points you earn with the Ink Business Cash and/or Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card (see rates and fees) into airline miles and hotel points, which you can use to book flights and hotel stays for pennies on the dollar.
Some of Chase's travel rewards transfer partners include Air Canada Aeroplan, JetBlue TrueBlue, Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards, United MileagePlus, IHG One Rewards, Marriott Bonvoy and World of Hyatt. It's not uncommon to net a value of 2 cents or more when using your points in this way — making these bonuses each potentially worth more in travel rewards.
Qualifying for a small business card is easier than you think
Opening a small business card isn't as prohibitive as it may sound. While you're only eligible if you have a for-profit venture, you don't need a multimillion-dollar operation to qualify as a small business — whether you're a DoorDash delivery or Uber driver, a pet sitter, a freelance writer, an Etsy store owner or even if you sell just a few items on Ebay, you're a small business owner, simple as that.
The digital age has enabled just about anyone to become a sole proprietor with little effort. Just remember not to fudge the numbers when submitting your application to Chase. Even if you haven't made much (or any) money from your side gig, honesty is the best policy.
Bottom line
Welcome bonus aside, the Ink Business Cash® Credit Card and Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card are solid no-annual-fee credit cards — read more in our comparison here — with each offering respectable returns on spending; you'll receive a handful of valuable benefits, such as primary rental car insurance; and they've each got a generous 0% intro APR offer on purchases and balance transfers for the first 12 months of account opening (after, 17.49% - 25.49% variable for the Ink Business Cash® Credit Card and 17.49% - 23.49% variable for the Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card).
But the thing that makes signing up for one or both of these cards an absolute no-brainer is the increased welcome bonus of $900 in cash back — in other words, 90,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points — after meeting the $6,000 within three months minimum-spending requirement. With the right strategy (and the right companion card), you could easily turn that into $1,800 worth of travel rewards — an unprecedented offer for a no-annual-fee card.
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*Information about the Capital One Spark 1% Classic Credit Card has been collected independently by Select and has not been reviewed or provided by the issuer of the card prior to publication.
