Chase Ink Preferred Review: A Better-Than-Basic Business Travel Card
Earn bonus points on travel and other common business spending categories.
The bottom line:
A big sign-up bonus, high ongoing rewards in common business spending categories and an array of perks make this card well worth the modest annual fee.
Credit card details
Annual fee
$95
Regular APR
17.74%-26.74% Variable APR
Intro APR
N/A
Rewards rate
1x-5x
Earn 5x total points on Lyft rides through 9/30/27. Earn 3 points per $1 on the first $150,000 spent on travel and select business categories each account anniversary year, Earn 1 point per $1 on all other purchases - with no limit to the amount you can earn.
Points
Foreign transaction fee
$0
Intro offer
100,000
Earn 100,000 bonus points after you spend $8,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
Points
Pros & Cons
Pros
New cardholder bonus offer
Transfer partners
Cons
Does not include lounge access or travel credits
More details from Chase
- Earn 100k bonus points after you spend $8,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
- Earn 3 points per $1 on the first $150,000 spent on travel and select business categories each account anniversary year. Earn 1 point per $1 on all other purchases
- Earn 5x total points on Lyft rides through 9/30/27.
- With Zero Liability you won't be held responsible for unauthorized charges made with your card or account information.
- Redeem points for cash back, gift cards, travel and more - your points don't expire as long as your account is open
- Go further when you book with Chase Travel℠. Enjoy competitive rates, seamless booking and premium benefits.
- Purchase Protection covers your new purchases for 120 days against damage or theft up to $10,000 per claim and $50,000 per account.
- Receive complimentary access to DashPass by DoorDash.
- Member FDIC
Compare to other cards
5.0
NerdWallet rating
Annual fee
$95
Annual fee
$0
Annual fee
$895
Regular APR
17.74%-26.74% Variable APR
Regular APR
16.74%-24.74% Variable APR
Regular APR
17.74%-28.49% Variable APR
Intro APR
N/A
Intro APR
0% intro APR on Purchases for 12 months
Intro APR
N/A
Need more options? Check our picks for best business credit cards of 2026
The Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card's main draw is the bonus categories. If your spending doesn’t align with those, the Chase Ink Business Unlimited is a better fit. You get 1.5% back on all purchases. But you still earn that cash back as Ultimate Rewards points and can easily redeem those for travel.
You might prefer The Business Platinum Card® from American Express instead if you’re aiming for status and luxury perks, like travel credits and airport lounge access. The card comes with a hefty fee ($895), but you can still get your money's worth if you'll take advantage of its many benefits (see rates and fees).
Full review
At $95 a year, the Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card is basically a budget business travel card. But it holds its own against cards with much higher annual fees.
Its welcome bonus rivals premium cards. Its rewards rates match or beat them. And its bonus categories read like a checklist of everyday business expenses: travel, shipping, advertising, internet and phone.
It also plays well with other Chase business cards — and its personal cards too — making it a natural fit for anyone already in the Chase ecosystem.
The Chase Ink Business Preferred’s main drawback? You don’t get many travel perks.
No travel credits. No lounge access. No reimbursements for TSA PreCheck® or Global Entry.
This card is best for:
✔️ Simple travel rewards.
✔️ Big welcome offer.
✔️ International purchases (no foreign transaction fee).
✔️Combining rewards with other Chase cards.
Card details: Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card
🎉 Rewards: Earn 3x points per $1 on the first $150,000 in combined annual spending in these categories:
- Travel.
- Shipping purchases.
- Advertising purchases with social media sites and search engines.
- Internet, cable and phone services.
All other spending earns a base rate of 1x point per dollar.
💰 Sign-up bonus: Earn 100,000 bonus points after you spend $8,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
💲 Annual fee: $95.
💷 Foreign transaction fee: None.
📈 APR: The ongoing APR is 17.74%-26.74% Variable APR.
📍 Minimum credit limit: $5,000. Automatically considered for a credit limit increase every six months.
🎆 Other benefits:
- Earn 5x points on Lyft rides through Sept. 30, 2027.
- Complimentary DashPass and up to $10 off per month on a DoorDash order. Discount only applies to non-restaurant orders.
- Primary auto collision coverage on rental cars in the U.S. and abroad.
- Cell phone protection for theft or damage when you pay the monthly bill with the card.
- Trip cancellation and interruption insurance. Up to $5,000 per covered traveler and $10,000 per trip for non-refundable travel expenses.
- Terms apply.
Where the Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card shines
Huge sign-up bonus
The Chase Ink Business Preferred offers one of the best sign-up bonuses for a business credit card: Earn 100,000 bonus points after you spend $8,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
That's worth $1,000 in cash — or up to $1,750 when redeemed using Points Boost through Chase's portal. Add in any points you've earned on other Chase cards (personal or business), and that travel fund grows even faster.
💬 From our Nerds: The great points devalue
Chase Ink Business Preferred points used to be worth 1.25 cents each — a small but meaningful edge over cards that offer just 1 cent per point.
That changed in June 2025, when Chase dropped the baseline to 1 cent per point across the Ink Preferred and several other cards.
The replacement: Points Boost, which can push value up to 1.5 to 2 cents per point. The catch? You can't count on it. Points Boost only applies to select bookings, and availability varies.
Transferring points to airline and hotel partners remains the most reliable path to premium value
—<em> Kelsey Sheehy, senior writer covering small business</em>
High rewards on advertising, travel and more
Most business travel cards limit bonus points to travel. The Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card goes further.
You'll earn 3x points on the first $150,000 in combined annual spending in these categories:
- Travel.
- Shipping.
- Internet, cable and telephone services.
- Advertising purchases with social media sites and search engines.
You also get 5x total points on Lyft rides through Sept. 30, 2027. All other spending earns 1 point per dollar.
Max out your 3x bonus categories and you’ll earn 450,000 points per year. That’s 150,000 more points than you’d earn with a flat-rate card like the Capital One Venture Business. But the more you spend — over the bonus cap and in other areas — the smaller the gap gets.
Plays well with other Chase cards
The Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card doesn't just earn points — it unlocks them.
If you have the no-annual-fee Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card, you can already redeem its rewards for travel. But it can't access Chase's transfer partners on its own. Pair it with the Ink Business Preferred and that changes. You can then transfer every point you earn across both cards to Hyatt, United, Southwest and more.
You can also pool points with personal Chase cards, including Sapphire Preferred and Freedom Unlimited. Think of it as one rewards account with multiple on-ramps.
Airlines
- Aer Lingus (1:1 ratio).
- Air Canada (1:1 ratio).
- Air France-KLM (1:1 ratio).
- British Airways (1:1 ratio).
- Iberia (1:1 ratio).
- JetBlue (1:1 ratio).
- Singapore (1:1 ratio).
- Southwest (1:1 ratio).
- United (1:1 ratio).
- Virgin Atlantic (1:1 ratio).
Hotels
- Hyatt (1:1 ratio).
- IHG (1:1 ratio).
- Marriott (1:1 ratio).
- Wyndham (1:1 ratio).
Reasons to consider a different card
Your spending doesn’t match the bonus categories
If you don't travel much or spend money in the other bonus categories (advertising, shipping and internet, cable and phone services), you'll miss out on most of the ongoing value of the Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card.
The Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card offers a flat cash-back rate of 1.5%-5% on all purchases, making it easy to earn a top rate no matter what your business spends on. There’s also a long intro APR period and no annual fee.
Want a flat-rate travel card instead? The Capital One Venture Business card gives you an unlimited 2x miles per dollar on every purchase. This card has an annual fee ($95) and includes annual credits for qualifying software and travel purchases. (See .)
You want travel perks
The Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card is bare bones when it comes to travel perks. You get primary rental car coverage and trip insurance, but that’s about it. No lounge access. No travel credits. No reimbursement for Global Entry or TSA Precheck.
You get all of those with the Capital One Venture X Business, though. The card has a $395 annual fee, but it's worth every penny for frequent travelers. It earns 2x miles on purchases and comes with the following perks:
- $300 annual travel credit for bookings through Capital One's travel portal.
- 10,000 bonus miles after your account anniversary date.
- Access to Capital One lounges and 1,300+ Priority Pass lounges.
- $120 statement credit on TSA PreCheck® or Global Entry.
- $100 experience credit and other premium benefits with every hotel and vacation rental booked from the Premier Collection.
- Terms apply. See
Want more luxury? The Sapphire Reserve for Business℠ and The Business Platinum Card® from American Express both come with a laundry list of perks. But you’ll need to use them all to justify the cards’ heftier annual fees.
| Sapphire Reserve for Business℠* | The Business Platinum Card® from American Express* | |
|---|---|---|
| Annual fee | $795 | $895 |
| Travel credits |
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| *Enrollment required. Terms and conditions apply. | ||
How we evaluated the Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card
NerdWallet's experts do the following for our business credit card reviews:
- Compare the Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card to similar cards. NerdWallet’s writers and editors evaluate how the card’s rewards, perks, fees and features stack up to its peers. This is the basis of our star rating.
- Get feedback from business owners. We gather insight directly from business owners when possible. We also scan online forums for discussion specific to the Chase Ink Business Preferred. Since we cannot confirm the accuracy of these comments, they do not affect our ratings.
- Survey the card’s issuer. We conduct an annual survey to get details that are less available to the public, but important for business owners. We ask about spending controls, minimum credit limits and credit limit increases, among other things.
To view rates and fees of The Business Platinum Card® from American Express, see this page.
View of Capital One Venture Business.
View of Capital One Venture X Business.
Frequently asked questions
Chase Ink Business Preferred points have a default value of 1 cent per point when redeemed for travel or cash back. You can get a higher redemption value two ways: booking a Points Boost award or transferring points to select travel partners.
Points are worth 1.5 cents each if you select a Points Boost redemption option (1.75 cents for select premium cabin airline tickets). If you transfer your points to an airline or hotel program, the value you get depends on how you redeem them in those programs.
Any business owner can apply for and get a business credit card, including the Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card. You don’t need a formal business structure or even business revenue, in most cases. That makes it a good business credit card for new businesses, as well as freelancers and folks with side hustles.
To qualify for the Ink Business Preferred, you need a good personal credit score (a FICO score of 690 or higher). Chase will also take into account your personal income, existing debts and other information when reviewing your application.
Chase does have an unwritten 5/24 rule. The issuer limits total approvals to five credit cards from any issuer in the past 24 months. While business cards don’t count toward your five, Chase will deny your business card application if you’ve already been approved for five personal cards in the past two years.
Yes. You can combine your points from multiple Chase cards you hold — including small-business and consumer cards. You can also transfer points to one member of your household.
Chase business cards don’t impact your personal credit score — unless you stop paying your bill. That’s because Chase reports negative information, like consecutive late payments, to consumer credit bureaus. All other day-to-day card activity, like balances, credit limits and payment history show up on your business credit report.
Note: All business credit cards rely on your personal credit score for approval. Applying will trigger a hard inquiry, which may lower your personal credit score slightly. This dip is temporary.
Corporate cards don’t require a personal credit check, but these cards have very high revenue requirements and are only available for registered or incorporated businesses.