Whether your credit card’s annual fee is $1 or $1,000, it’s worth evaluating that fee each time you have to pay it to see if you can justify the expense for next year.
The Ink Business Preferred Credit Card It has a low annual fee of $95, but is it worth it? Keeping this card in your wallet every year isn’t free, so what do you get for the $95 you pay annually?
Let’s take a look at the perks and benefits offered by the Ink Business Preferred card to see if the annual fee is worth it in year two and beyond.
Welcome bonus
New candidates for Ink Business Preferred can earn 100,000 bonus Ultimate Rewards points after spending $15,000 in purchases within three months of account opening. TPG values Ultimate Rewards points at 2 cents each, making this bonus worth $2,000.
Related: How to get the minimum spend on Ink Business Preferred
You’ll notice that Chase says this bonus is worth $1,000 in cash back or $1,250 in travel when points are redeemed on the Chase travel portal. The latter allows you to spend your points as cash at 1.25 cents a piece to book travel when you have Ink Business Preferred (the same rate available for using points from Chase Sapphire Preferred Card but shy of the 1.5 cents per point of value available on this redemption s Chase Sapphire Reserve. The Sapphire Preferred also lets you redeem points for 1 cent each as a statement credit.
Related: Viewpoints: Can I redeem my points and is it worth it?
However, you can get much better value from your points at 1.25 cents apiece. Using Chase’s airline and hotel partners for transportation allows you to use your points for hotel stays and flights. You can get much more value here.
Related: How to Redeem Chase Ultimate Rewards Points for the Most Value
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Cell phone protection
If you pay your monthly wireless bill with your Ink Business Preferred card, you can enjoy protecting your mobile phone from theft or damage. This applies to you and any employees listed on your wireless account.
With this benefit, phones linked to a wireless account are covered up to $1,000 per claim. Each claim is subject to a $100 deductible, with a maximum of three claims in a 12-month period.
Related: How to Apply for Ink Business Preferred Cell Phone Insurance
Purchase and travel protection
Ink Business Preferred offers two types of purchase protection: purchase protection and extended warranty protection.
Purchase protection covers new purchases for up to 120 days against damage or theft. This benefit can cover the cost of repairing or replacing your item and has a claim limit of $10,000 and a bill limit of $50,000. However, there are exceptions, such as animals, living plants and motor vehicles.
Related: Your Guide to Chase Ink Business Credit Cards
Extended warranty protection adds an additional year to manufacturer warranties of three years or less. This benefit has a maximum of $10,000 per claim and $50,000 per invoice. Warranties must be issued in the US to be eligible.
When you travel, you can take advantage of roadside delivery for pay-per-use assistance when needed. This can help with blockages, dead batteries or flat tires, for example.
When you rent a car, you can decline the rental company’s collision insurance and get collision waiver coverage if you pay the full cost of the rental through Ink Business Preferred. This benefit can cover the cost of repairing or replacing your rental vehicle. This is the primary cover when it is rented for business purposes, when it is rented outside your country of residence or when you do not have your own car insurance. Coverage applies when your rental is 31 days or less and may cover any towing costs that may be incurred, but does not cover certain vehicle types.
Related: 5 Reasons to Get the Chase Ink Business Preferred Credit Card
Plus, you can get a refund of up to $5,000 per person and $10,000 per trip through trip cancellation and interruption insurance. This benefit covers trips that are canceled or interrupted, for example, due to bad weather or illness, and will reimburse your pre-paid non-refundable travel expenses. You can also be reimbursed up to $500 in expenses if your trip is delayed by 12 hours or more, thanks to travel delay insurance.
You can see full details of these benefits in the benefits guide to learn more about limitations and exclusions. For more information, see our full review of the Ink Business Preferred card.
Other benefits
When you use your Ink Business Preferred card, you’ll earn Chase Ultimate Rewards, which have a TPG value of 2 cents each. You can transfer these points to 14 different airline and hotel partners. You can also redeem your points for travel through the Chase Ultimate Rewards travel portal worth 1.25 cents to pay for travel with your points like cash.
You’ll earn 3 points per dollar on the first $150,000 of purchases each account anniversary in these categories: travel, shipping purchases, internet services, cable services, phone services, and social media and search engine advertising purchases. You’ll earn 1 point per dollar on these purchases after you exceed the $150,000 spending limit and 1 point per dollar on all other purchases.
Related: Purchases Eligible for Triple Points with Ink Business Preferred
If your business has significant spending in these categories, it could bring in 450,000 points per year after maxing out the $150,000 cap. TPG values these points at $9,000.
Related: How to Increase Your Earnings with Ink Business Preferred
It’s worth evaluating these earning categories to see how well they work for your business. You should also consider how well these categories work for you while also having personal credit cards that earn Ultimate Rewards points, such as Chase Sapphire Reserve.
Related: Credit Card Countdown: Chase Sapphire Reserve vs. Ink Business Preferred
Unlike other business credit cards from Chase, you have direct access to Chase’s transfer partners with the Ink Business Preferred card. Those who have cards with no annual fee such as Ink Business Cash Credit Card (as well as personal credit cards such as Chase Freedom Unlimited) do not have access to Chase’s transfer partners and require a premium card such as the Ink Business Preferred or personal cards such as the Sapphire Reserve or Chase Sapphire Preferred Card redeem points in this way. So it’s not just the points you can earn, but the redemption options that you should consider.
Having a Chase card that earns Ultimate Rewards points and has an annual fee is essential to having the widest range of options for using your points — and this card meets that requirement.
The point
For a $95 annual fee on Ink Business Preferred, you’ll get access to purchase and travel protection, cell phone insurance and bonus categories that make sense for many businesses. You’ll also be able to transfer your points to more than a dozen hotel and airline partners, enabling extraordinary redemption values on award travel.
However, if you already have a card that allows these transfers and the bonus earning categories don’t work for your business, then the annual fee for the Ink Business Preferred may not be worth it — no matter how much it costs.
Official Signup Link: Earn 100,000 bonus Ultimate Rewards points after spending $15,000 on purchases within three months of account opening at Ink Business Preferred Credit Card.