While I also have cards earning American Express Membership Rewards® and Capital One miles, my favorite rewards are Chase Ultimate Rewards® points. I find them to be the most valuable rewards, easiest to redeem and transfer partners include some of my favorite airlines. If there’s a reward I most want to earn from each purchase, it’s Chase points.
If you have a Chase Ultimate Rewards card—like my Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card—you can convert cash back from cards like Ink Business Unlimited to Ultimate Rewards points at a rate of 1 cent to 1 point. I get at least 25% more value doing that, as each point is worth at least 1.25 cents when redeemed in the Chase Travel℠ portal with the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card. But I often get more when transferring points to airlines.
That leaves me with four options for my business: Ink Business Premier® Credit Card, Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card, Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card and Ink Business Cash® Credit Card.
I’m the only employee of a relatively small business working primarily from home on my laptop. I don’t spend enough to justify the higher-tier Ink Business Premier or Ink Business Preferred cards, which both require an annual fee.
But the Ink Business Unlimited and Ink Business Cash are both free of annual fees, and I have both of them.
The Ink Business Cash® Credit Card allows me to earn up to 5% cash back on the first $25,000 spent in combined purchases at office supply stores and on internet, cable and phone services each account anniversary year and 2% cash back on the first $25,000 spent in combined purchases at gas stations and restaurants each account anniversary year. Earn 1% cash back on all other purchases. The elevated earning rate at restaurants is helpful, so I use it for business dining when I’m traveling for work. However, with 1% as the base rate, I don’t want to use the card outside of bonus categories.
Most of my business purchases are outside the Ink Business Cash bonus categories, so I wanted an “everything else” card with a reward rate of more than 1% or 1 point per dollar. The Ink Business Unlimited earns 1.5% cash back rewards on every business purchase, equivalent to 1.5x points. That’s not the absolute best award rate, but it’s decent and contributes to my coveted Chase Ultimate Rewards point balance.