Chase Ink Business Cash Review

What Is Chase Ink Business Cash?

Chase Ink Business Cash is a business credit card that combines a healthy 5% cash-back rate on common business purchase categories, a generous welcome offer, and a 12-month intro 0% APR — all for no annual fee. While these features led us to deem it one of the best business credit cards overall, is it the best credit card for your business?

After doing the math and comparing it to the competition, we concluded that Ink Business Cash is an excellent choice for business owners who spend a lot of money in the high-earning categories but aren’t planning to put hundreds of thousands of dollars on their card annually.

Read on to see why we gave the Ink Business Cash an excellent 4.7/5 overall score.

Chase Ink Business Cash: Quick Facts

Rewards & Perks

Chase Ink Business Cash is well-suited to a wide range of businesses with its rewards scheme, as it provides one of the highest cash back rates on the market. Add it all up, and it’s no wonder the card earned a perfect score in this category.

A Welcome Offer Worth $750

Welcome offers can be some of the best ways to earn some quick rewards — Chase’s Ink Business Cash card excels here. If you spend $6,000 or more on the card during your first three months after account opening, you’ll get a tidy $750 cash back.

This cash back will be credited to your account in the form of 50,000 points six to eight weeks after you spend the qualifying amount.

5% Cash Back On Select Categories

Chase Ink Business Cash doles out 5% cash back when you spend within several select categories. This 5% rate is among the highest you’ll see compared to other cash back credit cards on the market. At the time of writing, purchases within these categories trigger the 5% rate:

• Office supply stores
• Internet, cable, and phone services

However, there is a catch to the bonus rate. Purchases only pick up 5% back during your first $25,000 spent combined within the bonus categories each account anniversary year. After hitting that threshold, your earn rate will drop to 1% cash back.

This spending cap might irk some businesses that plan to put hundreds of thousands of dollars on their card annually. For example, if you plan to spend exactly $100,000 within the 5% bonus categories, you’ll receive $2,000 cash back ($25,000 × 5% + $75,000 × 1% = $2,000). That number is the same as a flat-rate 2% cash back card — and any amount spent above $100,000 will see the 2% card earning more than the Ink Business Cash card. Plus, the 2% card will earn at a faster clip for purchases outside the bonus categories.

Outside of the card’s base rewards scheme, Chase is currently in a limited-time partnership with the ridesharing service Lyft. This partnership doles out 5% cash back when you book Lyft rides with an Ink Business Cash card. You’ll be able to take advantage of this bonus rate until March 2025. Note that Lyft purchases won’t count toward the $25K/year cap on 5% rewards.

2% Cash Back On Gas & Restaurants

Besides the 5% rate, this card features another trick up its sleeve for gas and restaurant purchases: Purchases within those categories will net a solid 2% cash back.

Just as with the 5% categories, a $25,000 annual cap applies. Once you spend a combined $25,000 on gas and restaurants within an account anniversary year, you’ll drop down to 1% cash back on those categories.

1% Cash Back On Everything Else

All other purchases made with a Chase Ink Business Cash card will earn you an unlimited 1% cash back. Note that purchases made within the bonus categories collect 1% cash back once their respective thresholds have been breached.

Redeeming Rewards

When you redeem your Ink Business Cash rewards as cash back, you can apply the cash toward your balance or have it directly deposited into your checking/savings account. Chase does not impose a minimum amount to redeem points for cash back.

Besides cash back, your rewards can be applied toward travel purchases (including airfare, hotels, and car rentals) made through Chase’s travel portal, Apple purchases made through Ultimate Rewards, or gift cards from over 150 brands.

Rates & Fees

One of the Ink Business Cash’s biggest selling points is that it carries no annual fee. Combine that with the card’s high rewards earning rates, and it all adds up to great value. The card does carry a foreign transaction fee, but it’s not enough to keep the card from earning an excellent score here.

A Competitive APR

With an APR that ranges from 18.49% - 24.49% (variable), Ink Business Cash features a competitive interest rate relative to comparable credit cards. Of course, as long as you pay off your balance each month, you won’t need to worry about the APR.

0% APR On Purchases For The First 12 Months

New account holders won’t have to worry about interest on purchases for their first 12 months. That’s because the Ink Business Cash offers a 0% introductory APR for the first year. If you’re looking to make a big business purchase and can’t afford to pay it off all in one go, this perk will come in handy.

No Annual Fee

Finding a card with a 5% cash back rate is fairly uncommon. Finding such a card with no annual fee is almost unheard of. And yet, Ink Business Cash manages just that — every purchase you make with the card will earn you cash back; there’s no worrying about offsetting an annual fee first.

A 3% Foreign Transaction Fee

Frequent flyers may want to avoid Chase Ink Business Cash or get a different card for overseas adventures — this card carries a 3% foreign transaction on purchases. This fee shouldn’t be a deal-breaker if you plan to do most of your buying domestically, though.

Other Fees

Credit cards routinely bundle in a few additional fees. With this card from Chase, you’ll be dinged either $5 or 5% for balance transfers (whichever is higher) and either $15 or 5% for cash advances (again, whichever is higher). There’s also the standard $40 late/returned payment fee to keep in mind.

Chase Ink Business Cash Features

When it comes to features and benefits, Chase Ink Business Cash is no slouch. There’s plenty here to compliment the card’s solid rewards scheme.

With all the business credit card features you could hope for, this card’s Features category rating couldn’t be higher.

Eligibility Requirements

We recommend that business applicants have good to excellent credit before applying for the Ink Business Unlimited card. That means you’ll probably want a credit score above 640 before filling out the application.

Note that this is just a recommendation — Chase doesn’t market a minimum credit score for this card.

Unsure of your credit score? Learn what it is at one of these free credit score check websites.

Customer Service

Chase offers a full range of support options for its business credit card customers. With 24/7 direct customer support, several FAQs, and decent reviews from users (though there are exceptions, of course), Chase’s business credit card customer service is solid.

Chase Ink Business Cash Reviews

Chase’s line of Ink Business credit cards are all well-reviewed and highly regarded in the industry, and the Ink Business Cash is no exception. With a high top cash back rate, a generous welcome offer, a year-long 0% APR period, and no annual fee, there’s little to complain about here.

The Chase Ink Business Cash card receives an average user score of 3.7/5 (based on 861 reviews) at WalletHub and an average score of 3.0/5 (26 reviews) at Credit Karma. These ratings are actually strong relative to other leading business credit cards.

How Does Chase Ink Business Cash Compare To The Alternatives?

The Chase Ink Business Cash is a great all-around business rewards credit card, but it’s not the best choice for every circumstance. Let’s explore when it makes sense to go with a different Chase Ink Business card (or to mix and match with another such card).

Final Verdict: Is Chase Ink Business Cash Right For You?

Five percent cash back is one of the highest rates you’ll see in a business credit card. The lack of an annual fee makes the Ink Business Cash card doubly appealing.

However, if you won’t be spending much within the bonus categories, you may prefer a different card that matches your spending profile better. Plus, the $25,000 cap means that those who will spend much higher may prefer a flat-rate card with no spending cap.

Furthermore, this card isn’t a dedicated travel card, so frequent business travelers might prefer a travel business credit card. Likewise, large corporations and investor-powered tech startups may want to choose from the best corporate credit cards instead.

You might want to apply if…

You might want to look for a different card if…

The editorial content on this page is not provided by any of the companies mentioned and has not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities. Opinions expressed here are the author’s alone.

Credit Card Review Methodology

We spend hours researching and evaluating each credit card that we review at Merchant Maverick, placing special emphasis on key characteristics to generate our ratings.

When rating credit cards and credit card issuers, we use an 18-point rubric that looks at rewards and perks, rates and fees, features, eligibility requirements, customer service, and user reviews. We weigh each section differently to calculate the total star rating.

• Rewards & Perks: 40% of the total star rating
• Rates & Fees: 30% of the total star rating
• Features: 15% of the total star rating
• Eligibility Requirements: 5% of the total star rating
• Customer Service: 5% of the total star rating
• User Reviews: 5% of the total star rating

Each section is further broken down into granular, weighted subsections, in which we examine specific attributes like APR, introductory offers, cash back and travel rewards, credit score requirements and disclosures, foreign transaction fees, and the availability of employee cards.

Read more about how we rate business credit cards.