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Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card review: Best for unlimited 1.5% cash back on business purchases?

Snapshot

4.2

Bankrate rating
Info
Rating: 4.2 stars out of 5

Bottom line

The Ink Business Unlimited credit card is a great option for entrepreneurs who don’t want to deal with complicated bonus categories, and the intro APR offer makes it an ideal choice if you need to pay off new purchases over time. However, if you want to maximize high rewards earnings and you spend frequently in common business categories, you may be better off with a different business card.

Best Business Card
  • Rewards value
    Rating: 4 stars out of 5
    4 / 5
    APR
    Rating: 1 stars out of 5
    1 / 5
    Rewards flexibility
    Rating: 4 stars out of 5
    4 / 5
    Features
    Rating: 3 stars out of 5
    3 / 5
Good to Excellent (670 – 850)
Info
Recommended Credit

Intro offer

Info

$750

Offer valuation

Info

1.5%

Rewards Rate

Info

Annual fee

Regular APR

Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card Overview

The Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card, a Chase card, holds its own in the issuer’s lineup of business credit cards. It has helpful benefits, a top-tier welcome bonus, unlimited flat-rate rewards, terrific redemption flexibility and more, all for no annual fee.

That said, it may not be the most rewarding option for your business if your spending centers around specific categories. In fact, even a card with a higher base rewards rate could prove far more valuable — even if it requires an annual fee.

  • Credit Card Cash Back

    Rewards

    • Unlimited 1.5 percent cash back on all purchases

    Expert Appraisal: Typical
    See our expert analysis

  • Rewards

    Welcome offer

    • $750 cash back when you spend $6,000 within three months of opening your account. 

    Expert Appraisal: Good
    See our expert analysis

  • Credit Card Apr

    0% APR offer

    • 0 percent intro APR on purchases for 12 months 
    • No intro APR on balance transfers 
    • 18.49 percent to 24.49 percent variable ongoing APR 

    Expert Appraisal: Good
    See our expert analysis

  • Credit Card Search

    Rates and fees

    • No annual fee 
    • 3 percent foreign transaction fees 
    • 5 percent balance transfer fee (or $5, whichever is greater) 

    Expert Appraisal: Good
    See our expert analysis

  • Congrats

    Other cardholder perks

    • Free employee cards 
    • Account alerts 
    • Travel and Purchase protections, including roadside emergency service and primary rental car insurance 

    Expert Appraisal: Unimpressive
    See our expert analysis

Ink Business Unlimited pros and cons

Pros

  • Checkmark

    This card does not charge an annual fee, making it a solid choice for businesses with comparatively smaller budgets

  • Checkmark

    Currently offering its all-time highest sign-up bonus, giving new cardholders a top-tier first-year boost

  • Checkmark

    Offers a solid intro APR on purchases and a relatively low ongoing APR afterward

Cons

  • Depending on your spending, other cards with bonus categories may out-earn the Ink Business Unlimited

  • It doesn’t offer an intro APR on balance transfers, so it won’t help much if you need to pay off debt

  • Welcome offer spending requirement may be tough to reach for some businesses

Why you might want the Ink Business Unlimited

The Ink Business Unlimited is a good option for business owners who have small and varied expenses. With unlimited 1.5 percent cash back on all purchases, you won’t have to track bonus categories or spending caps to maximize your rewards. It comes with a solid welcome offer, a rare intro APR offer on purchases and good mix of redemption options.

It also has no annual fee to worry about, so small-business owners can enjoy their rewards as they earn them. While you may want to eventually upgrade to a card that offers higher rewards rates, this card is a great starting point.

Welcome offer: A great offer for a no-annual-fee card 

The Ink Business Unlimited card’s latest sign-up bonus gives you a chance to earn $750 in cash back by spending $6,000 on purchases within your first three months. This can be a great payoff, especially if you have large purchases or upgrades planned for your business.

Though this new bonus is a $150 drop from the card’s previous offer,  this is still a great value considering this Is a business card with no annual fee.

Intro APR for purchases: A rare offer for a business card 

This card comes with a 0 percent intro APR offer of 12 months on purchases. This is a great addition as most business cards, even those with an annual fee, often don’t come with any intro APR offers. If they do offer an intro APR it usually lands between six and nine months, which means the Ink Business Unlimited pulls ahead on all fronts.

Paired with the welcome offer, this offer becomes even more valuable. It gives business owners time to earn and fully pay off the $6,000 required for the welcome bonus with no interests. Plus, the ongoing variable APR rate of 18.49 percent to 24.49 percent is slightly lower than other business cards. 

Redemption: Various ways to reap rewards

One of the key perks of the Ink Business Unlimited as an Ultimate Rewards card is that if you pair it with a premium Ultimate Rewards card, you can pool all your rewards into a single account and enjoy a higher point value. Or, if you have a premium personal travel card like the Chase Sapphire Preferred® or the Chase Sapphire Reserve®, you can boost the value of your points by up to 25 or 50 percent, respectively, when you redeem for travel through Chase Travel℠.

Since you technically earn Chase Ultimate Rewards with the Ink Business Unlimited, you have a nice mix of redemptions to choose from. Options include travel, gift cards and purchases through the Apple Ultimate Rewards Store, Shop Through Chase and select online merchants (like Amazon.com and PayPal) using Shop with Points. 

If you opt for cash back, you can claim your rewards as a statement credit or have cash back directly deposited into your qualifying U.S. checking or savings account. There’s also no minimum point threshold you need to reach before you can redeem your rewards — you can cash them out in any amount, at any time. Your rewards won’t expire while your account is open and in good standing, so you can also save your points until the time is right. 

Why you might not want the Ink Business Unlimited

While earning rewards can be very easy with the Ink Business Unlimited card, in other ways, it can hold a business owner back. The rewards rate is lower than most competing cards and beyond a few features, it has limited overall value due to the lack of additional perks. If you run an established business with planned, recurring expenses or are looking for a card for a corporation, there may be better card options on the market. 

Cash back rate: Falls short of competing cards

Whenever you use your card to make a qualifying purchase, you earn flat-rate cash back at 1.5 percent. So, if you spend $12,000 in your first year, you will get a total of 18,000 points, worth up to $180.

Since you earn cash back at the same rate on nearly every purchase, this card is ideal for small-business owners who put simplicity and ease-of-use at the top of their credit card requirements list. However, people who spend heavily on common business categories like internet, phone services and travel may miss out on more rewards with the Ink Business Unlimited. Additionally, business cards like the Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card offer a higher flat rate on rewards.


Perks: Limited to basic Visa benefits  

The Ink Business Unlimited features a solid lineup of benefits that can help your business run more smoothly. This card offers travel protections including 24/7 pay-per-use roadside emergency service and primary rental car insurance that reimburses you for up to the cost of the vehicle for theft or collision (if you decline the rental company’s insurance). There’s also purchase protections, account alerts and free employee cards with which you can set individual limits.

However, these features often become standard on no-annual-fee business cards, and the Ink Business Unlimited doesn’t include any uniquely valuable perks. It limits the card’s long-term value, especially if business needs grow.

Bankrate staff experience

Bankrate credit cards writer Ryan Flanigan pairs his Ink Business Unlimited with other Chase cards as part of a larger rewards credit card strategy.

This card really helps me earn extra points on my business expenses. The sign-up bonus was very generous and I immediately had a high credit line. I use this for a lot of my ongoing business spending every year, which tends to get high at busier times of the year. Combining the points I earn with this card with my other Chase cards becomes a nice piece of the overall puzzle, and helps me keep my business transactions organized all in one place.

— Ryan Flanigan, Writer, Credit Cards

Who is the Ink Business Unlimited right for?

How we rated this card

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Our proprietary card rating system takes into account a mix of factors when scoring business credit cards, including each card’s rewards rate, estimated annual earnings, welcome bonus value, APR, fees, perks and more.

We analyzed over 50 of the most popular business credit cards and scored each based on how its key features stacked up compared to those of other cards in its category. 

Here are some of the key factors that gave this card its score: