The Chase Ink Cash card is already a great business credit card. It offers 5% cash back on the first $25,000 in purchases at office supply stores, phone, internet and cable services each year, 2% back on the first $25,000 in purchases at gas stations and restaurants each year, and 1% on everything else. All with no annual fee.
The current sign up bonus is also $300 in cash back after $3,000 in purchases over the first 3 months. This intro offer has been as high as $500 in the past.
But wait…there’s more!
[UPDATE: The source for this article has retracted his statements about the coming changes. It looks like this probably describes changes to older versions of the Ink Cash card that will allow these older cards to make travel and gift card redemption through Ultimate Rewards. It likely does *not* mean that the cards will be earn fully transferable UR points (like from the Chase Sapphire) or offer 125% value when redeeming through Chase Ultimate Rewards for travel. ]
Take the following original statements with a grain of salt…
There are great changes around the corner. Today Chase Ink Cash cardholders received an email stating that as of January 29th, 2017, the Ink Cash card will be joining Chase Ultimate rewards! Any cash back already accrued will be transferred into Ultimate Rewards points (I am assuming at a 1 cent to 1 point ratio, but that is not confirmed). Currently, the Ink Cash redemption options include cash back, gift cards, and travel, but all at a rate of $0.01 per point. Per the current T&Cs on the Chase Ink Cash offer page:
“You can use your points to redeem for cash starting at 2,000 points through an account statement credit or electronic deposit into an eligible checking or savings account held by a financial institution located in the United States. Other redemption options include gift cards and travel. When you use points to redeem for gift cards and travel, each point is worth $.01 (one cent), which means that 100 points equals $1 in redemption value.”
The addition of the Chase Ink Cash card into the UR family should mean both more flexibility and better return for cardholders. It is assumed that bringing the Chase Ink Cash into the UR family will open up the option to transfer points to travel partners or book travel through the Ultimate Rewards website (will it be at the same 125% rate of the Chase Sapphire Preferred though?). Transferring to Chase travel partners often allows you to get far more than 1 cent per point in value. These changes are still unconfirmed (and partner transfer is not specifically mentioned in the email), but this should be the case as long as the Ink Cash UR points function like all other UR points.
Many people could still transfer Ink Cash “points” to Ultimate Rewards points as long as they or someone in their household had a true UR earning card, like the Chase Sapphire Preferred, Chase Sapphire Reserve, or Chase Ink Plus. Per the email, after January 29, 2017, the Chase Ink Cash will be earning UR points on its own.
I want to stress that more details regarding the chases are still forthcoming. There have also previously been some rumors that there could be changes to the 5x category on the Ink cards. The Ink Plus has been discontinued with the launch of the Ink Business Preferred. Let’s hope this positive change to the Ink Cash card isn’t a portend of negative changes to come.
H/T: Doctor of Credit