Nowadays there are more compelling business credit cards than ever before, as credit card issuers increasingly try to find products that meet the needs of small business owners.

The Ink Business Preferred℠ Credit Card was introduced over two years ago, and continues to be one of the most rewarding business cards out there. There’s not another business card that offers a combination of a huge welcome bonus, generous return on spending, and useful perks, all while having such a reasonable annual fee.

For those of you who have small businesses but don’t yet have this card, here are eight reasons I consider this to be the all around best business credit card:

80K Ultimate Rewards points

The Ink Business Preferred Card offers a bonus of 80,000 Ultimate Rewards points after spending $5,000 on purchases within the first three months.

I value Ultimate Rewards points at ~1.7 cents each, so to me 80,000 Ultimate Rewards points are worth ~$1,360. By my valuation, that’s the biggest welcome bonus being offered by any card at the moment.


Transfer your Ultimate Rewards points to Singapore KrisFlyer to redeem for Suites

3x points

The Ink Business Preferred Card offers triple points in several useful categories that your business may spend quite a bit in, including:

  • Travel
  • Shipping purchases
  • Internet, cable and phone services
  • Advertising purchases made with social media sites and search engines

You earn triple points on the first $150,000 spent in combined purchases in the above categories each account anniversary year (which means they’re not using a January 1 through December 31 calendar, but rather it’s based on when you applied).

Based on my value of points, that’s like earning a return of ~5.1% on spending in those categories, which is exceptional.

Cell phone protection benefit

There’s one benefit of the Ink Business Preferred Card that really stands out, that’s especially useful given how expensive smartphones are nowadays.

The card offers up to $600 per claim in cell phone protection against covered theft or damage for you and your employees listed on your monthly cell phone bill when you pay it with your Ink Preferred. You can have a maximum of three claims in a 12 month period, and there’s a $100 deductible per claim.

On top of that when you charge your cell phone bill to the Ink Preferred, you’ll be earning triple points on that purchase.

Car rental coverage

The Ink Business Preferred Card offers primary collision damage waiver coverage for rentals of most types of vehicles in most countries, except Ireland, Israel, and Jamaica. This is only valid when cardholders are renting for business purposes.

When renting a car you’re also potentially earning triple points on your car rental by charging it to the Ink Preferred, since this qualifies as travel.


Use the Ink Preferred car rental coverage when renting from Silvercar

Travel & purchase protection

In addition to the cell phone and car rental coverage, the Ink Preferred offers other purchase and travel benefits, including (but not limited to) the following:

  • Trip cancelation and interruption coverage, of up to $5,000 per trip
  • Extended warranty protection, for up to a year on eligible purchases

You’ll want to read the cardmember agreement for exact terms, but this has the potential to be extremely valuable for purchases as well.

For example, I really like the trip delay coverage. If your trip is delayed by 12 hours or more, you can get up to $500 reimbursed for hotel accommodation, meals, and transportation. You just need to pay for the travel with your card, or with your Ultimate Rewards points.

$95 annual fee

The Ink Business Preferred Card has a reasonable $95 annual fee, especially when you factor in all the perks and bonus categories.

As a point of comparison, I also really like the American Express® Business Gold Card, which is the Amex business card with the best bonus categories. However, that card has a $295 annual fee (Rates & Fees).

Flexible travel rewards

The Ink Business Preferred Card earns Ultimate Rewards points, which are one of the most valuable points currencies out there.

Ultimate Rewards points can be transferred at a 1:1 ratio to about a dozen loyalty programs, including nine airline programs and three hotel programs, including the following:

AirlinesHotels
Aer Lingus Aer ClubIHG Rewards Club
Air France/KLM Flying BlueMarriott Bonvoy
British Airways Executive ClubWorld Of Hyatt
Iberia Plus
JetBlue TrueBlue
Singapore KrisFlyer
Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards
United MileagePlus
Virgin Atlantic Flying Club

There’s so much value to be had maximizing those programs. For example, you could transfer 30,000 points to World of Hyatt for a free night at the Park Hyatt Maldives, where rates are sometimes $1,000+ per night…

Redeem your Ultimate Rewards points at the Park Hyatt Maldives

Alternatively you could transfer miles to one of the Ultimate Rewards airline partners so you could redeem for ANA’s incredible first class…


Redeem your Ultimate Rewards points for ANA first class

What makes Ultimate Rewards points even better is that you can also redeem them at an efficient ratio towards a travel purchase. You can redeem Ultimate Rewards points for 1.25 cents each towards the cost of a travel purchase through the Ultimate Rewards website.

If you have the Ink Preferred in conjunction with the Chase Sapphire Reserve, then all your Ultimate Rewards points can be redeemed for 1.5 cents each towards a travel purchase, getting you even more value from your points.

Pool points with four no annual fee cards

While the Ink Business Preferred Card, Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, and Chase Sapphire Reserve are valuable alone, they also make other cards more valuable.

Specifically, Chase has four fantastic no annual fee cards that can help you earn more Ultimate Rewards points. I’m talking about the:

By having a card that earns Ultimate Rewards points, like the Ink Preferred, you can convert the points earned on the card (where one point is ordinarily worth a penny) into Ultimate Rewards points, which I value at ~1.7 cents each. So just having this card makes other cards more valuable as well.

Getting approved for the Ink Preferred

If you want to be approved for the Ink Business Preferred Card there are some general restrictions to be aware of:

  • The Ink Preferred is subjected to Chase’s “5/24 rule,” meaning you typically won’t be approved for the card if you’ve opened five or more new card accounts in the past 24 months
  • You are eligible for the Ink Preferred if you have the Ink Unlimited and/or Ink Cash, as all three cards are considered separate products (I have all three cards, for example)
  • While there’s no hard limit to how many Chase credit cards you can have, there is often a limit to how much total credit Chase will extend you
  • Generally I recommend only applying for one Chase business card every 30 days at most

Ink Preferred bottom line

There are a lot of great business cards out there.

For example, I love The Blue Business℠ Plus Credit Card from American Express, which offers 2x Membership Rewards points on the first $50,000 spent annually, and doesn’t have an annual fee (Rates & Fees).

However, in terms of well rounded business cards, it’s tough to beat the Ink Business Preferred Card, between the 80K point bonus (the best welcome bonus of any credit card at the moment), reasonable $95 annual fee, 3x bonus points in select categories, and great coverage, including on travel, car rentals, and cell phones.

The following links will direct you to the rates and fees for mentioned American Express Cards. These include: American Express® Business Gold Card (Rates & Fees), and The Blue Business℠ Plus Credit Card from American Express (Rates & Fees).

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