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The Ink Business Preferred ® Credit Card has long been a favorite business credit card here at Upgraded Points. It has some of the best points-earning rates of all business credit cards, and since it earns Ultimate Rewards points, you have flexibility in how you redeem your points for travel.
Plus, the card has other interesting benefits, too, like free cell phone insurance, extended warranty on purchases, and even trip delay protection.
But while all of these benefits sound great on paper, how much are they really worth? And more importantly, how do they stack up against the card’s $95 annual fee?
In this piece we’ll discuss all of the Ink Business Preferred card’s benefits and assign them a cash value, giving you a look at exactly how much value you’ll get from the card.
Note that the values assigned here are based on moderate travel and moderate business spending for 1 employee. If you travel frequently or have more employees added to your Ink Business Preferred card account, you can easily reap more value than what we’ve outlined here.
As discussed earlier, the Ink Business Preferred card has a slew of travel and points-earning benefits. Here’s an outline of exactly how much these benefits are worth when you’re making business purchases and traveling for work.
The Ink Business Preferred card offers a welcome bonus that simply can’t be ignored. The welcome bonus is so much greater than the annual fee — to be specific, 100,000 points is worth at least $1,250 when redeemed for travel through Chase Travel.
The rating for this card has been determined by our own industry experts who know the in's and out's of credit card products. Bonuses, rewards as well as rates and fees are all taken into account. Compensation from the issuer does not affect our rating. We only recommend products we either use ourselves or endorse.
The Ink Business Preferred card is hard to beat, with a huge welcome bonus offer and 3x points per $1 on the first $150,000 in so many business categories.
Learn More (at Chase's secure site)
The Ink Business Preferred card is hard to beat, with a huge welcome bonus offer and 3x points per $1 on the first $150,000 in so many business categories.
Welcome OfferEarn 90k bonus points after you spend $8,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. That's $900 cash back or $1,125 toward travel when redeemed through Chase Travel℠.
90,000 Points UP's Bonus Valuation*: Annual Fee 21.24%-26.24% Variable Credit RecommendedUpgraded Points credit ranges are a variation of FICO ® Score 8, one of many types of credit scores lenders may use when considering your credit cardapplication.
Good to Excellent (670-850) Why We Like This CardThe Ink Business Preferred ® Credit Card is a powerhouse for earning lots of points from your business purchases, especially for business owners that spend regularly on ads.
Plus the card offers flexible redemption options, including access to Chase airline and hotel transfer partners where you can achieve outsized value.
Business owners will also love the protections the card provides like excellent cell phone insurance, rental car insurance, purchase protection, and more.
Pros & ConsIn addition, you can access Chase’s transfer partners and get even more value from your points. Since we value Chase points at 2 cents each, the welcome bonus is probably worth closer to $2,000, though it can actually be worth even more than $2,000 if you’re savvy with redeeming your points.
One of the main draws to the Ink Business Preferred card is its 3x points-earning categories. When you use your Ink Business Preferred card for business purchases, you’ll earn 3x points on your first $150,000 in purchases (then 1x) in the following 4 categories:
Earning 3x points in these categories can make for some serious points-earning power, especially if you can max out the $150,000 cap, netting you 450,000 Ultimate Rewards points. These bonus categories make the Ink Business Preferred card a top pick for the best cards for monthly bills for business owners.
However, make sure to examine your business’ spending habits to ensure that you can take advantage of these categories. If not, you may be better off with a different Chase Ink card or another business credit card.
» Related: Chase Ink Business Credit Cards – Bonus Categories, Features & FeesWe’ll value this benefit at $400 for the purpose of this article. We value Chase Ultimate Rewards points at 2 cents per point, so if you agree with our valuations, you’d have to spend just $6,667 in the card’s 3x categories (for 20,000 points) to get $400 worth of points. But depending on how much you spend, this benefit could be worth up to $9,000 if you’re able to max out the $150,000 spend cap.
Note that all purchases not included in these categories earn 1 point per dollar on all purchases. This also applies to purchases made within the 3x categories after you’ve reached the $150,000 limit.
Through March 31, 2025, all Ink Business Preferred cardholders will earn 5x on Lyft purchases, which is a huge return. For example, a $75 Lyft ride to the airport would earn 375 Ultimate Rewards points, which is worth $7.50 per our latest Ultimate Rewards valuation.
Thankfully, you don’t have to do anything special to earn these extra rewards points on your Lyft purchases. Just add your Ink Business Preferred card to your Lyft account and use it to pay for your Lyft rides. The points will automatically be added to your Ultimate Rewards balance at statement closing.
We value this perk at $50 per year because of its massive earning potential. However, the value you’ll actually receive depends on how much you spend on Lyft rides annually. Judging by our valuations, though, you’d have to spend around $500 on Lyft rides each year to get $50 in value from this perk.
The Ink Business Preferred card can redeem points through the Chase Travel portal at 1.25 cents per point. This is 25% more value than the Ink Business Cash ® Credit Card and Ink Business Unlimited ® Credit Card, so you’ll be able to redeem fewer points when booking travel.
Hot Tip: Tickets booked through the Chase Travel portal are considered paid tickets, so you can earn redeemable and elite qualifying miles on tickets you’ve booked through the portal. Just add your frequent flyer number and points will automatically be credited to your frequent flyer account after flying.
For example, if you book an $80 one-way flight from San Francisco (SFO) to Los Angeles (LAX) through the Chase Travel portal, you’d pay just 6,400 Ultimate Rewards points. This is far cheaper than redeeming British Airways Avios (a Chase transfer partner) for an American Airlines ticket on the same route, so make sure to always compare the Chase Travel portal with transfer partners (more on that soon!).
We value this benefit at $100. This is because you’ll generally get more value by redeeming points through one of Chase’s many transfer partners like United Airlines or Virgin Atlantic. Don’t worry – we’ll take a look at where you can transfer your Chase points in the next section. However, having the flexibility to book any type of travel with a 25% bonus and not having to deal with award availability or blackout dates makes this a nice perk.
Unlike other Ink Business cards, you can transfer Ultimate Rewards points earned with your Ink Business Preferred card to Chase’s numerous transfer partners right out of the box. The extensive list of transfer partners includes airlines across all 3 major alliances as well as 3 major hotel loyalty programs, so you’ll have ultimate flexibility in how you use your points to travel.
See Chase’s list of transfer partners below:
Airline Transfer Partners
SCROLL FOR MOREChase Airline Partner
Minimum Transfer
Transfer Ratio
(Chase > Airline)
Transfer Time