Chase Ink Business Cash® Credit Card Review – Great Sign-up Bonus

The Chase Ink Business Cash® Card is a popular small business credit card that earns up to 5% cash back on select category purchases, has a healthy sign-up bonus, and doesn’t charge an annual fee. It’s basically the cash back, no-annual-fee version of Chase Ink Business Preferred®, which has a points-based rewards system and comes with a $95 annual fee.

Chase Ink Business Cash is great for small business owners who prefer to earn cash back on everyday purchases, such as office supplies, gas, and restaurant meals, rather than deal with a points-based rewards system. In fact, it has one of the best cash back rewards programs of any no-annual-fee business credit card on the market today.

If you’re a freelancer or sole proprietor who doesn’t really think of yourself as a business owner, you can still qualify for Chase Ink Business Cash. Chase simply requires that the primary cardholder be the owner or representative of an incorporated business, including a sole proprietorship, and affirm that the card is to be used exclusively for business expenses.

Key Features of the Chase Ink Business Cash® Credit Card

These are the most important features of the Chase Ink Business Cash card. Note the excellent sign-up bonus, solid ongoing rewards program, and 0% APR introductory period.

Sign-up Bonus

Earning and Redeeming Cash Back Rewards

Ink Business Cash earns:

• 5% cash back on office supply and telecommunications purchases, including cell phone, landline, Internet, and cable TV, up to $25,000 per year
• 2% cash back on gas station and restaurant purchases, up to $25,000 per year
• Unlimited 1% cash back on all other purchases

After you hit the $25,000 annual limits, additional purchases in the 5% and 2% categories earn an unlimited 1% cash back. Each “year” begins and ends on the anniversary date of your account opening.

You can redeem your accumulated cash back for statement credits, bank account deposits, gift cards, general merchandise purchases through Chase’s Ultimate Rewards shopping portal, travel purchases, and special experiences, such as cooking lessons and dinner cruises.

No-Fee Employee Cards

You can apply for additional Ink Business Cash cards for authorized employees at no additional charge. Employee cards earn rewards at the same rate as primary cards.

Ink App

Chase’s free Ink app lets you track purchases in real-time, category-tag purchases for record-keeping purposes, change authorized cardholder (employee) spending limits, analyze spending over time, and perform other useful functions from your mobile phone or tablet. You can sign up for free, real-time alerts that provide location, transaction, and balance information for every employee purchase.

Introductory APR

This card has a 12-month, 0% APR promotion on purchases. Then variable regular APR applies, currently 18.49% to 24.49% variable.

Important Fees

Ink Business Cash doesn’t have an annual fee. However, foreign transactions cost 3% of the total transaction amount, cash advances cost the greater of $15 or 5%, and balance transfers cost the greater of $5 or 5%.

Purchase Protection

Chase’s Purchase Protection plan provides up to $10,000 per item in damage and theft coverage, good toward replacements and repairs. The benefit lasts for 120 days from purchase and is capped at $50,000 total per account.

Extended Warranty Protection

Chase’s Extended Warranty Protection plan provides a complimentary 12-month warranty extension on all warranties with original terms of three or fewer years.

Credit Required

Chase Ink Business Cash requires good to excellent credit.

Advantages of the Chase Ink Business Cash® Credit Card

These are the top advantages of the Ink Business Cash card. See how many resonate with you.

• Big Sign-up Bonus. This card’s sign-up bonus is well above average for the no-annual-fee small business credit card category.
• No Annual Fee. Ink Business Cash doesn’t charge an annual fee. That sets it apart from many competing cash back business credit cards, including Capital One Spark Cash for Business.
• Flexible Reward Redemption. Like Chase Freedom and other popular Chase rewards credit cards, Ink Business Cash lets you redeem your accumulated cash back for virtually anything: statement credits, bank account deposits, travel, general merchandise, gift cards, and even exotic experiences. Other no-annual-fee business cards, such as Capital One Spark Classic for Business (statement credits and bank account deposits only) and U.S. Bank Business Edge WorldElite (statement credits, bank account deposits, and gift cards only), are much more restrictive.
• 0% APR on Purchases for 12 Months. Ink Business Cash’s 12-month 0% APR promotion is actually pretty unusual in the no-annual-fee business credit card world.
• No Fees for Employee Cards. You don’t have to pay for additional authorized users on your Ink Business Cash account, no matter how many you add. That’s a big perk if you’re looking to hook multiple employees up with Ink Business Cash cards. The Business Platinum Card from American Express charges a significant premium for authorized users, by contrast.
• Chase Checkout Simplifies Payment Processing. Chase Checkout is a great payment processing aid for small, mobile businesses that don’t want to invest in bulky cash registers or payment terminals. Many other business card issuers, including Capital One, don’t offer their own payment processing systems.

Disadvantages of the Chase Ink Business Cash® Credit Card

This card isn’t perfect. These are the most important downsides of Ink Business Cash.

• High Sign-up Bonus Spend Threshold. You need to spend a considerable amount of money within 3 months to earn Ink Business Cash’s sign-up bonus. While that’s more than doable for established, thriving businesses, it’s likely to be tougher for penny-pinching startups.
• High Foreign Transaction Fees. Ink Business Cash’s 3% foreign transaction fee is higher than that of many competitors. Capital One Spark Cash and Spark Miles for Business don’t charge any foreign transaction fees.
• High Balance Transfer Fee. Ink Business Cash’s balance transfer fee is the greater of $5 or 5% of the transferred amount. On a $500 transfer, that amounts to $25. By contrast, the Capital One Spark Miles Select and Cash Select cards don’t charge for balance transfers at all. And many other business credit cards charge just 3% for transfers, cutting the cost of a $500 transfer by $10.
• Relatively Low Spending Caps for the 5% and 2% Categories. Ink Business Cash caps spending in the 5% and 2% categories at $25,000 per year. That’s a low limit in the business credit card world, where caps of $50,000 or $100,000 – or none at all – are commonplace. For instance, U.S. Bank Business Edge WorldElite MasterCard’s 3% category allows unlimited spending.

How Chase Ink Business Cash Stacks Up

Chase Ink Business Cash shares a nameplate with three other popular small-business credit cards: Chase Ink Business Unlimited, Chase Ink Business Preferred®, and Chase Ink Business Premier®.

Let’s see how it stacks up against the only other Chase business card that doesn’t charge an annual fee: Ink Business Unlimited.

Final Word

The Chase Ink Business Cash® Card is a great business financing option for small business owners, but it’s not suitable for everyone. Compared with some other business credit cards, Ink Business Cash’s spending caps are relatively low, meaning it’s hard for heavy-spending business owners to maximize the card’s value. If you find yourself regularly exceeding the $25,000 annual spending limits in the 5% and 2% categories, consider upgrading to Chase Ink Business Preferred® (which does come with a $95 annual fee) or another business rewards card better suited to larger companies.

Conversely, Ink Business Cash is a good choice for business owners in the midst of downsizing or cutting back on their credit card use. However, since Ink Business Cash’s sign-up bonus is hard for cash-strapped businesses to attain and the fee-free employee card benefit is useless for business owners without multiple employees, it’s not the ideal card for very small companies or scrappy sole proprietors.