This is one of the cards that make up the Chase Ink Business Trifecta (CIBT). It’s certainly a card that you should get and I suggest that you either get this as the last part of your CIBT. I realize some people won’t be able to complete the CIBT because the sign up bonus for the Ink Business Preferred can be difficult to meet (although it’s easier to meet when it’s only $8000). This card is an absolute no-brainer but it’s use is going to be very short lived. A lot of people hear business card and they immediately insist that this isn’t for them but you first need to read our article about why you shouldn’t be scared of business cards.
As a reminder, business credit cards do not count towards your 5/24 status but you still need to be under 5/24 to get one.
Chase Ink Business Unlimited card features
This card is very simple to understand. It doesn’t get much more basic than this:
-75,000 bonus points after spending $6,000 in 3 months
-1.5 x on all purchases
-5x on all Lyft rides through March 2025
-0% APR on purchases for the first 12 months
-No annual fee
How to use the card during the first year
Obviously that sign up bonus (SUB) is great but it might be a little out of reach for some people on a budget. Otherwise, it should be doable for the vast majority of people even if you have to do some work like front load expenses, buy gift cards, etc. Since you get 0% APR on purchases, you can frontload expenses and then pay them off over time. You just have to make sure that you keep track of things. You should be able to spend at least $3,000 of normal expenses on the card over 3 months and from there, you can pay things off ahead of time, buy gift cards for stores you normally shop at, etc.
The 5x on Lyft rides is great unless you have the Chase Sapphire Reserve which gets 10x. That and the 0% APR are the only reasons to really use this card once you meet the SUB unless you need a separate card for regular business expenses. But again, be careful with that 0% APR. Only then does this card really make sense as a card for miscellaneous purchases. Otherwise, you should have a Chase Freedom Unlimited which will get you 1.5x on everything in addition to other bonus categories like 3x at pharmacies.
What to do with the card after the first year
Once you have met the SUB and you’re done with the 0% APR, the card is pretty much worthless unless you’re gonna use it for Lyft rides. I would suggest you pretty much stuff this in your sock drawer and let it collect some dust. Chase is notorious for giving low credit limits for business cards so if you need some more credit for your Chase Ink Cash card, you can transfer some of the credit limit for this card over to that one. Otherwise, the only other benefit for this card is to have more chances of getting a good Chase offer which you should be checking for all of your cards. Of course, you should not close the card. There’s no annual fee so just let it sit there open doing nothing. Perhaps you can put a small purchase on it like a can of soda once a year just to keep it active in your credit profile. This should help with your credit score.
Strategy
For small purchases or for purchases where you can use multiple payments, nothing beats getting gift cards with the Chase Ink Cash so you can get that 5x. But there’s times where you need to make one big purchase and you can’t use gift cards. This card is great for that. Sometimes, bigger purchases such as home improvement have a credit card fee of about 3%. Some people put the full amount for the SUB on the card which is fine. In this case, that would be 3% of $6,000 which is $180. Another option is to only put the amount that you need to meet the SUB. If you can spend $3,000 on everyday spending in 3 months and you need help with the other $3,000, just use that. That cuts the fee to $90.
Either way, it still makes sense. You’ll get 75,000 point with the SUB plus 9,000 points for the spend (6000 x 1.5). So that’s 84,000 points for free! If you can get 2 cents per points, that’s $1,680 worth of value for very little work! $1,680 subtracted from $180 is still $1,500. I’ll take that all day.
Conclusion
This should be the last part of the Chase Ink Business Trifecta that you get as the other two cards are more important. This card is an absolute no-brainer as it’s free points! But again, once you’re done with those initial benefits and you’ve transferred some credit to your Chase Ink Cash, there may not ever be a reason to use the card again unless you get a really good Chase offer.
To make sure you get the best sign up bonus possible, use this link to sign up for the card.
Still need help?
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