Lots of bloggers talk about the cards in their wallets. I’m going to break mine down by profitability for my own set of circumstances. My number one card is no longer available. The Ink Business Plus Card was revamped several years ago, but mine is still chugging away. It offers 5X on office supply stores, Internet and cable along with my cell phone bill. The maximum 5x is $50,000 per year for a total of 250,000 Ultimate Rewards points and the annual fee is $95 per year.
Chase has replaced this card with two separate cards that offer similar benefits but in a slightly different lineup.
The Chase Ink Business Cash offers the 5X (up to $25K per year) on office supply stores, internet, and cable. It also pays 2% of gas stations and restaurant spending BUT, it is a cash card. You can only use these earnings for cash back, gift cards or to pay for travel through the Ultimate Rewards travel portal at 1 cent per point. In order to convert these earnings to Ultimate Rewards that you can transfer to Ultimate Rewards partners, you must also have a Chase card with an annual fee like the Chase Sapphire Preferred, that truly earns Ultimate Rewards points. The sign-up bonus for the Business Cash card is $500 with no annual fee.
Your other option is the Ink Business Preferred card with a nice 80,000 point sign up bonus and a $95 annual fee. The earnings rate is not 5 points but only 3X on the office supplies, internet, cable, phone services, travel, and shipping BUT the maximum spend for the 3X is a hefty $150,000 per year
Both choices offer additional employee cards at no extra cost
Would I replace my existing Ink card with one of these two alternatives? No. For me, I like my existing combination. But we all have different wants and needs. Would I be thrilled at 3X? No. Would I like to have just $25K at 5X and no annual fee? Chase now makes you pick and choose one or the other and if you want Ultimate Rewards points, you are either going to have to get a Preferred card with a fee and the lower 3X category bonus OR pay an annual fee on a companion Sapphire card.
I’ve got to admit though, I’ve always been a sucker for a big sign up bonus and 80K sure sounds better than $500.
My next most profitable credit card is the American Express Gold card, but that may be changing next year. I love it for 4X restaurants. We’ll talk about that card in the next post.
BTW, just for clarification, I am compensated for each post I write and have no financial interest in which cards you chose to match your own circumstances.
Source: frugal travel guy