Interesting. A few more questions:
-Can I use the card as my sole credit for everyday purchases? I don't have any business expenses.
- Can I buy Disney gift cards at office supply stores and get 5x?
- After the Ink Business, can I get approved for a CSR or CSP and get their opening bonus?
I'll chime in!
I'm assuming folks have recommended you get the Chase Ink Preferred ("CIP") because of its big 80k UR signup bonus.
Chase also offers other "Ink Business" cards, i.e., the Chase Ink Cash ("CIC") and the Chase Ink Unlimited ("CIU"). The CIC and CIU offer only 50k UR signup bonuses, lower $3k minimum spending requirements, their own sets of bonus earning structures, and no annual fee (vs. the CIP's $95 annual fee).
1. Yes, you can use an Ink Business card as your sole credit card for everyday purchases.
However, Chase will warn you in fine print that a business card is intended for only business purchases. This is because business credit cards do not offer the same level of consumer protection as personal credit cards, which are covered under the CARD Act of 2009. Don't worry, just be aware. Chase will not audit you to make sure you're only using the card for business purposes. Not like that would be easy, since many personal expenses can have a reasonable business justification when your business is "you."
Another thing to consider is that beyond the minimum spending requirement ("MSR") period, when you're earning 80k UR for $5k of spend on the CIP, or 50k UR for $3k of spend on the CIC or CIU, which is at least 17% back if you valued the UR points in cash (1 point = $0.01), you should consider the card's bonus categories to determine if that really is the best card for the purchase you're making.
The CIP earns 3x UR on (1) travel (which overlaps with the 3x UR travel category on the CSR and 2x UR travel category on the CSP); (2) shipping purchases, e.g., USPS, UPS, FedEx, eBay Shipping through PayPal, Stamps .com; (3) Internet, cable and phone services, e.g., your cable and cell phone bills, Netflix, Hulu; and (4) Advertising purchases with social media sites and search engines. Numerous merchants and services that used to earn 3x UR and made this card super useful for almost everything, no longer earn 3x UR. Everything else earns only 1x UR.
Beyond the CIP's signup bonus which remains the highest in Chase's portfolio, the CIP has been severely nerfed in the past year that it's not really considered a card people want to put ongoing spend on. Two remaining highlights of this card is if you pay your cell phone bill with the CIP, your phone is covered up to $600 by the card's cell phone insurance policy; and the CIP has the ability to refer others (friends and family? future DISchurners?) to this card. The CIC and CIU don't have the ability to refer, and don't have support links.
ETA: If you don’t yet have a CSP or CSR, the CIP can make any UR points you earn on it or transfer to it more valuable because like the CSP, you can redeem UR points on the CIP’s travel portal with a 25% bonus (so 1 UR point = $0.0125 towards travel) (the CSR has a 50% redemption bonus), or you can transfer UR points to Chase’s many travel partners for award redemptions directly with the hotels or airlines. The CIC and CIU only redeems for travel at $0.01 per UR point and cannot transfer to airline and hotel partners; but you can transfer UR points earned on the CIC or CIU to the CIP/CSP/CSR.
The CIU is very simply a 1.5x UR on every purchase card.
2. The CIC is the card you want if you want to buy gift cards at office supply stores and get 5x UR. The CIC also earns 5x UR on internet, cable and phone services, but does not include cell phone insurance like the CIP. Note that the 5x UR category of office supply stores and internet, cable and phone services is capped at $25k in purchases every year, but most people don't have to worry about that. The CIC earns 2x UR at gas stations and restaurants (also capped at $25k). On everything else, the CIC also earns only 1x UR.
Say you want the 80k UR bonus of the CIP, but the 5x UR category of the CIC.
You could sign up for the CIP, meet the $5k MSR in 3 months (but you won't earn 5x UR on gift cards at office supply stores), and after the 80k UR signup bonus has posted, you could call Chase to request a product change ("PC") of the CIP to the CIC (you decided the bonus categories are a better fit for your business) so you can benefit from the CIC's 5x UR categories going forward.
However, we usually advise people to sign up for the CIC separately because the CIC comes with its own 50k UR signup bonus, which you won't get if you PCed the CIP>CIC.
Note, if you do want to buy Disney gift cards as part of your CIP MSR, there's still a way to get a discount on them, but it depends on two methods continuing to work. The e-gift card app Gyft still earns 3x UR on the CIP through PayPal checkout. You can purchase Walmart e-gift cards on Gyft and earn 3x UR this way. If you're a new user on Gyft, start with smaller denominations and don't try to make too many purchases too fast, because its anti-fraud algorithm is very sensitive and it may hold or decline your transactions if you go too big, too fast. You can still redeem Walmart e-gift cards at Walmart and Sam's Club for Disney gift cards. Sam's Club sells Disney gift cards for about ~4% off. Fair warning, Gyft could stop earning 3x UR and Walmart/Sam's Club could stop accepting GC>GC at any time. The rules are constantly changing, often with little notice. We try our best to keep everyone up to date.
3. Yes. Getting an Ink card or cards will not preclude you from getting a CSR or CSP and their signup bonus in the future. Note that Chase's rules provide that you can only get a CSR or CSP signup bonus if you are under 5/24, haven't received a signup bonus on any Sapphire product in the past 48 months, and you can only have one open Sapphire card (so you'd have to potentially choose between the CSP and CSR). The Ink cards don't report to your credit reports, so they don't add to your "5/24" count. There's no way around the 48-month restriction. There's a way around the one Sapphire rule if you really want to use up two slots for the CSP AND CSR.
Hope this helps!
