How To Use The Chase Ink Premier Card To Maximize Rewards – Forbes Advisor

The Chase Ink Business Premier* blots out the competition with excellent rewards and stellar all-around benefits. For those businesses with the spending to justify the $195 annual fee and the capacity to play by the pay-in-full-every-month charge card rules, the rewards potential could be overflowing.

With the option to use your Chase Ultimate Rewards® for either cash-back or book travel through the Chase portal, cardholders earning rewards with the Chase Ink Business Premier* stand to gain quite a bit. We’ve outlined some tips to help you scribble out your plans for point-redemption domination.

Earning Chase Ultimate Rewards

Earn the Welcome Bonus

The Chase Ink Business Premier*’s welcome bonus includes an opportunity to earn $1,000 cash back after spending $10,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. Though this offer is moderate compared to other business cards’ welcome bonuses, the amount of the reward warrants serious consideration. For those businesses eager to apply for this card, we recommend ensuring there’s a plan in place to meet the bonus requirements without carrying a balance to take advantage of this generous offer.

Leverage Everyday Spending for Points

All eligible purchases made with the Chase Ink Business Premier* card will earn 5% cash back on travel purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards®, 2.5% cash back on every purchase of $5,000 or more, and 2% cash back on every other purchase, with no limit on the amount of cash back your business can earn. To maximize reward earning, ensure all employees spending business money on purchases are equipped with a card to do so—the Chase Ink Business Premier* offers employee cards at no extra cost.

With a solid cash-back rate, cardholders should consider trying to pay for any purchases previously paid for with cash, check, ACH transfer or by wire with the card instead. Though care should be taken not to spend more in vendor payment processing fees than you’ll earn in rewards. We’ll qualify this with a reminder that, as a Pay in Full card, the Chase Ink Business Premier* should be paid off every month if you’re not utilizing its Flex for Business feature: We never recommend putting any expenses on a card without a plan to pay it off.

Consider Using Your Card for Large Purchases

Purchases over $5,000 made with the Chase Ink Business Premier* earn additional cash back on top of the base rate—meaning any singular large purchases over $5,000 earn a total of 2.5% cash back. To maximize this extra reward, business owners should ensure vendors can ring up their purchases for over $5,000 all at once. For example, if your business makes $10,000 in purchases at a supplier but in increments of $2,000 at a time, the extra 0.5% cash back won’t be earned. Be careful to ensure your purchases each total more than $5,000.

Book Travel Through Chase Ultimate Rewards

Cardholders of the Chase Ink Business Premier* can earn an unlimited 5% cash back on travel purchased through the Chase Ultimate Rewards Travel Portal. Your business can maximize reward earning potential by booking any flights, hotels, car rentals, activities and cruises through the portal.

Redeeming Chase Ultimate Rewards With the Ink Premier Card

Chase Ultimate Rewards are considered one of the most valuable reward currencies available. With an array of redemption options, it can be a challenge to figure out the best way to maximize redemptions. We’ll provide a few key pointers, but for more information about Chase Ultimate Rewards and the redemption possibilities, check out our guide to Chase Ultimate Rewards.

Chase Ultimate Rewards Travel Portal

Chase’s online travel agency, Chase Travel, allows Ink Premier cardholders to book airlines, hotels and other travel through their booking site. Because Chase pays for cardholder reservations in cash, you can often still earn miles with the loyalty programs of the airlines flown but often do not see the loyalty benefits of program memberships with hotel accommodations booked through the Chase Travel Portal.

Cash Back

Cash-back redemptions with Chase Ultimate Rewards are redeemed as a statement credit or deposited into an eligible bank account. There is no minimum redemption amount when it comes to cash-back redemptions with the Chase Ink Business Premier* card.

Gift Cards, Purchases, Other Redemptions and Expiration

Other redemption options exist, though because redemption rates vary, it’s rarely the most valuable option to redeem points for options other than travel or cash back. Shop With Points specifically is generally viewed as a lesser use of points, since 100 points are only worth $0.80 when used at checkout.

Points do not expire so long as an account remains open, but points may be lost if account status changes or under some conditions such as a failure to pay.

Extra Benefits

Though not strictly classified as rewards, it’s worth noting taking full advantage of the Ink Premier’s perks and benefits may be a worthwhile reward as well. The card includes a long list of benefits worth exploring, since many may save significant money for your business:

• No foreign transaction fees
• Trip cancellation/interruption insurance
• Trip delay reimbursement
• Baggage delay insurance
• Auto rental collision damage waiver
• Travel and emergency services
• Roadside dispatch
• Cell phone protection
• Zero liability protection
• Purchase protection
• Extended warranty protection
• No-extra charge employee cards

Bottom Line

Those who apply for the Chase Ink Business Premier* are signing up for serious reward potential, but key choices in reward earning and reward redemption can make a real difference in whether or not the rewards provide any meaningful value. The card won’t be for every business with its $195 annual fee and high minimum spending requirement as a part of its welcome bonus, but the rewards rate offered is excellent and the extra benefits are great, too.