The Chase Ink Business Cash® Card is a hit among small business owners. Why? Well, it offers up to 5% cash back on certain purchases, a generous sign-up bonus, and no annual fee. It’s like the cash back sibling of the Chase Ink Business Preferred® card, which uses a points-based rewards system and has a $95 annual fee.
If you’re a small business owner who loves earning cash back on everyday stuff like office supplies, gas, and meals out, this card is for you. It’s got one of the best cash back rewards programs of any no-annual-fee business credit card out there. Even if you’re a freelancer or sole proprietor and don’t see yourself as a "business owner," you can still qualify for this card. Chase just needs you to be the owner or representative of a business, including a sole proprietorship, and promise to use the card only for business expenses.
Here’s what you need to know about the Chase Ink Business Cash® Credit Card:
Sign-up Bonus: You can earn up to $750 cash bonus. You’ll get $350 cash bonus after you spend $3,000 in the first 3 months and an extra $400 if you spend $6,000 in your first 6 months.
Earning and Redeeming Cash Back Rewards: You’ll earn 5% cash back on office supply and telecommunications purchases, including cell phone, landline, Internet, and cable TV, up to $25,000 per year. You’ll also get 2% cash back on gas station and restaurant purchases, up to $25,000 per year. All other purchases earn an unlimited 1% cash back. Once you hit the $25,000 annual limits, additional purchases in the 5% and 2% categories earn an unlimited 1% cash back. You can redeem your cash back for statement credits, bank account deposits, gift cards, general merchandise purchases through Chase’s Ultimate Rewards shopping portal, travel purchases, and special experiences, like cooking lessons and dinner cruises.
No-Fee Employee Cards: You can get additional Ink Business Cash cards for authorized employees at no extra cost. Employee cards earn rewards at the same rate as primary cards.
Ink App: Chase’s free Ink app lets you track purchases in real-time, tag purchases for record-keeping, change authorized cardholder (employee) spending limits, analyze spending over time, and more. You can sign up for free, real-time alerts that provide location, transaction, and balance information for every employee purchase.
Introductory APR: This card has a 12-month, 0% APR promotion on purchases. After that, a variable regular APR applies, currently 18.49% to 24.49%.
Important Fees: There’s no annual fee. However, foreign transactions cost 3% of the total transaction amount, cash advances cost the greater of $15 or 5%, and balance transfers cost the greater of $5 or 5%.
Purchase Protection: Chase’s Purchase Protection plan provides up to $10,000 per item in damage and theft coverage, good toward replacements and repairs. The benefit lasts for 120 days from purchase and is capped at $50,000 total per account.
Extended Warranty Protection: Chase’s Extended Warranty Protection plan provides a complimentary 12-month warranty extension on all warranties with original terms of three or fewer years.
Credit Required: You’ll need good to excellent credit to qualify for the Chase Ink Business Cash card.
The Chase Ink Business Cash® Credit Card has some great advantages:
Big Sign-up Bonus: This card’s sign-up bonus is well above average for the no-annual-fee small business credit card category.
No Annual Fee: Unlike many competing cash back business credit cards, this one doesn’t charge an annual fee.
Flexible Reward Redemption: You can redeem your accumulated cash back for virtually anything: statement credits, bank account deposits, travel, general merchandise, gift cards, and even exotic experiences.
0% APR on Purchases for 12 Months: This 12-month 0% APR promotion is pretty rare in the no-annual-fee business credit card world.
No Fees for Employee Cards: You don’t have to pay for additional authorized users on your account, no matter how many you add.
Chase Checkout Simplifies Payment Processing: Chase Checkout is a great payment processing aid for small, mobile businesses that don’t want to invest in bulky cash registers or payment terminals.
But it’s not all sunshine and rainbows. Here are some downsides:
High Sign-up Bonus Spend Threshold: You need to spend a lot of money within 3 months to earn the sign-up bonus. This might be tough for startups.
High Foreign Transaction Fees: The 3% foreign transaction fee is higher than that of many competitors.
High Balance Transfer Fee: The balance transfer fee is the greater of $5 or 5% of the transferred amount. On a $500 transfer, that’s $25.
Relatively Low Spending Caps for the 5% and 2% Categories: The card caps spending in the 5% and 2% categories at $25,000 per year. That’s a low limit in the business credit card world, where caps of $50,000 or $100,000 – or none at all – are common.
The Chase Ink Business Cash® Card is a great option for small business owners, but it’s not for everyone. If you find yourself regularly exceeding the $25,000 annual spending limits in the 5% and 2% categories, consider upgrading to Chase Ink Business Preferred® (which does come with a $95 annual fee) or another business rewards card better suited to larger companies.
On the other hand, if you’re a business owner in the midst of downsizing or cutting back on your credit card use, this could be a good choice. However, since the sign-up bonus is hard for cash-strapped businesses to attain and the fee-free employee card benefit is useless for business owners without multiple employees, it’s not the ideal card for very small companies or sole proprietors.
