The Chase Trifecta gets all the attention and rightly so. It’s an amazing set up for beginners and advanced travel hackers alike. However, there’s another Chase Trifecta, the Chase Ink Business Trifecta and it’s definitely worth pursuing. Before we get into all of that, there’s a few things we should cover. First, even if you don’t own a traditional business, you can still apply for business cards. Read this article about why you shouldn’t be scared of business cards. Second, these cards do not count towards your 5/24 status but you need to be under 5/24 to apply for them. Third, these cards have higher spend requirements to meet the sign up bonuses (SUBs) so they may be out of reach for some people that are on a budget.
The Chase Ink Business Trifecta
The Chase Ink Business Trifecta consists of these three awesome cards: Chase Ink Business Cash, Chase Ink Business Unlimited and Chase Ink Business Preferred. We’ve discussed the Chase Ink Business Cash in this article. Just about everyone should have this card. It’ll take your travel hacking game to the next level with the ability to earn 5x on almost all of your purchases. We discussed the Chase Ink Business Unlimited in this article. This is a great card to get as it gives you a lot of points for no annual fee.
The Chase Ink Business Preferred is the cornerstone of the Chase Ink Business Trifecta. If the other cards are the equivalent of the Chase Freedom cards in the regular Chase Trifecta, consider this card as the equivalent of a Sapphire card. In this context, I use the word equivalent very loosely. While this is a great card, it’s not for everyone.
The Chase Ink Business Preferred
This card has a massive SUB of 100,000 points. The only issue is that it normally takes $15,000 of spending in the first three months to earn those points. That is very difficult to do for the average person which is probably why the Chase Ink Business Trifecta isn’t really discussed. However, in the summer of 2023, Chase reduced the spending required to just $8,000! I know this is still a nice chunk of change for the average person but if you can swing it either through normal spend, using gift cards to front load spending or by using it for a big purchase, this card is certainly worth considering.
Unlike the other Ink’s, this card unfortunately does not feature 0% APR for purchases. That means that you’ll have to pay off the balance each month to avoid paying interest. So if you’re on a budget, this is probably not going to work for you.
Warning – there is another card called the Chase Ink Business Premier. Do not, under any circumstances, apply for this card. It does not earn Ultimate Rewards points. Forget it even exists. When applying for the Chase Ink Business Preferred, be very careful that you do not apply for the Premier by accident. This has happened to a number of people.
Features of the card:
-100,000 points after spending $8,000 in the first three months (normally $15,000)
-3x on the first $150,000 per year on shipping purchases, internet, cable, phone, advertisging purchases with social media sites and search engines, travel.
-1x on everything else
-5x on Lyft rides though March 2025
Strategy
Obviously, if you have a business and you spend money on shipping, internet, phone and internet advertising, this is a good card for all of those expenses. If you don’t have a business or you don’t have one with a lot of those expenses, there’s really no reason to use this card. If you have this card, you should have the Chase Sapphire Reserve so you don’t need to use this card for travel. Likewise, that card has better Lyft benefits.
Thus, this card is really only needed for the SUB. Earn the SUB and then just set a reminder about the annual fee. Once the annual fee kicks in after 12 months, call Chase and tell them that you saw that annual fee and you no longer want the card. DO NOT ask to close the card. Instead, ask for a product change. They should be able to remove the annual fee so you don’t have to pay it and then product change you to a no annual fee Ink. You probably don’t really need another one but you can transfer some of the credit over to your Ink Cash.
If you are going for the Business Trifecta, I normally suggest applying for the Ink Cash first unless you have a big purchase coming up and you want to put that on this card. However, there is no telling how long this reduced spending promotion is going to last so you may want to apply for this card first. If you do that, then you should get the Ink Cash next. Once you are done with those two cards, apply for the Ink Unlimited to round out the Business Trifecta.
Calculating the points with the Chase Ink Business Trifecta
Chase Ink Business Preferred – as previously indicated, you’ll get 100,000 as a SUB. You’ll earn at least 8,000 points if you meet the SUB but let’s assume you had a few expenses in higher categories so we’ll use 10,000. Total for this card is 110,000 points.
Chase Ink Business Cash – this card is 75,000 points for $6,000 in spending. Let’s assume you are getting gift cards for the 5x. That’s 30,000 points. Add in the SUB of 75,000 and the total 105,000 points.
Chase Inke Business Unlimited – this card is also 75,000 points for $6,000 in spending. Everything is 1.5 x so to meet the SUB you’ll get 9,000 points. Add in the SUB and you’re at 84,000 points.
Adding this all up, 110,000 + 105,000 + 84,000 = 299,000 Ultimate Rewards points! If you can get at least 2 cents per point, that $5,980 in points for just a $95 annual fee. If you are in two player mode, you can expect to receive around 700,000 points!
Conclusion
If you can pull this off, this is a great way to earn some massive points. Assuming you only get 1x on your spend, you’ll wind up with 108,000 points when you’re done. At two cents per point, that’s worth $2,160 for just a $95 annual fee! To apply for this card, use this link. You’ll not only make sure that you apply for the right card, you’ll be getting the right best public offer and you’ll be supporting the page.
Still need help?
We have a great group of people on Facebook that can help you out with all of your travel hacking questions. If you’re a little more experienced, feel free to jump in and help others with their questions. Or do you just want to talk with others about everything points and miles? Join us over at the Simple Travel Hacks Facebook group and be part of the conversation.