Whether your annual credit card fee is $1 or $1,000, it’s worth evaluating these fees each time you have to pay them to see if you can justify the cost for the coming year.
THE Ink Business Preferred Credit Card has a low annual fee of $95, but is it worth it? Keeping this card in your wallet every year isn’t free, so what do you get for the $95 you pay every year?
Let’s take a look at the advantages and advantages offered by the Favorite Ink Company to see if the annual fee is worth it in year two and beyond.
welcome bonus
Currently, new applicants to the Favorite Ink Company will earn 100,000 bonuses Ultimate Rewards points after spending $8,000 on purchases within three months of account opening. This spending requirement is reduced to nearly half of its previous $15,000, so now is a great time to apply if you’ve been considering it. GPT values Ultimate Rewards points at 2 cents each, making this bonus worth $2,000.
You’ll notice that Chase says this bonus is worth $1,000 in cash back or $1,250 in travel when the points are redeemed in the Chase travel portal. The latter allows you to spend your points like cash at 1.25 cents each to book travel when you have Ink Business Preferred (the same rate available for using points from the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card but shy of the 1.5 cents per point value available on this redemption with the Reserve Chase Sapphire. The Sapphire Preferred also allows you to redeem points at 1 cent each as statement credit.
However, you can get much better value from your points than 1.25 cents each. Using Chase’s 14 air and hotel transfer partners allows you to use your points on hotel stays and flights. You can earn much more value here.
Related: How to Redeem Chase Ultimate Rewards Points for Maximum Value
Mobile phone protection
If you pay your monthly wireless bill with your Favorite Ink Company, you can enjoy protecting your cell phone from theft or damage without having to pay for coverage through your wireless service provider. This applies to you and all employees on the wireless bill.
With this benefit, phones associated with the wireless account are covered for up to $1,000 per claim. Each claim is subject to a $100 deductible, with a maximum of three claims per 12 month period.
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Related: How to Submit a Cell Phone Insurance Claim for Ink Business Preferred
Purchase protections
THE Favorite Ink Company offers two types of purchase protection: purchase protection and extended warranty protection.
Ink Business Preferred protection covers new purchases for up to 120 days against damage or theft. This benefit can cover the cost of repairing or replacing your item and has a per claim limit of $10,000 and a per account limit of $50,000. However, there are exclusions, such as animals, live plants and motor vehicles. Plus, the card’s extended warranty protection adds an extra year to manufacturers’ warranties of three years or less.
While you hopefully won’t need to use these protections and derive monetary value from them, you’ll have peace of mind knowing that your important purchases are protected.
Related: Best Credit Cards for Purchase Protection
Travel coverage
When you travel, you can enjoy trip cancellation and interruption insurance, curbside shipping, and car rental collision damage protection with your Favorite Ink Company.
You can be reimbursed up to $5,000 per person and $10,000 per trip for your prepaid, non-refundable travel expenses, including passenger fares, tours and hotels, if your trip is canceled or cut short by covered situations, such as illness and severe weather.
If you have a roadside emergency, you can call Chase Dispatch to get the help you need. This advantage can be useful in situations such as jams, dead batteries or flat tires. However, only the connection is an included benefit. When you use these services, a service fee will be charged to your card.
Additionally, when renting a car, you can decline collision damage waiver from the rental company and receive collision damage waiver if you pay the full cost of the rental with your Ink Business Preferred. This benefit may cover the cost of repairing or replacing your rental vehicle.
Similar to card purchase protections, you may not get financial value from these travel protections every year, but you can travel with less worry knowing you’re covered if something goes wrong.
You can see all the details of these benefits in the benefits guide for limitations and exclusions. For more information, see our full Ink Business Preferred Card Review.
Related: 5 Reasons to Get the Chase Ink Business Preferred Credit Card
Other advantages
When you use your Favorite Ink Companyyou will win Chase the Ultimate RewardsWho GPT values at 2 cents each. You can transfer these points to 14 different airline and hotel partners. You can also redeem your points for travel across the Chase Ultimate Rewards Travel Portal at a value of 1.25 cents to pay for the trip using your points like cash.
You’ll earn 3 points per dollar on the first $150,000 in purchases on each account anniversary these categoriessuch as travel, shipping purchases, Internet services, cable services, telephone services and advertising purchases with social media sites and search engines. You will earn 1 point per dollar on these purchases after you exceed the $150,000 spending limit and 1 point per dollar on all other purchases.
If your business has significant spend in these categories, it could earn 450,000 points per year after maxing out the $150,000 limit. GPT values these points to $9,000.
It’s worth evaluating these revenue categories to see how well they work for your business. You should also consider the effectiveness of these categories while holding personal credit cards that earn Ultimate Rewards points, such as the Reserve Chase Sapphire.
One of the main advantages of Ink Business Preferred is that, unlike other Chase business credit cardsit gives you direct access to Chase transfer partners. Those who hold cards with no annual fee such as the ink corporate cash credit card (as well as personal credit cards such as Chase unlimited freedom) do not have access to Chase’s transfer partners and require a premium card like the Favorite Ink Company or personal cards like the Reserve Sapphire Or Chase Sapphire Preferred Card to redeem points in this manner. This means that in addition to earning points, this card can also help you maximize the value of your rewards from other Chase cards.
Hold a profitable Chase card Ultimate Rewards points and an annual fee is required to have the widest range of options for using your points — this card meets that requirement.
Related: How to Maximize Your Rewards Earnings with Ink Business Preferred
At the end of the line
For an annual fee of $95 on the Favorite Ink Company, you’ll have access to purchase and travel protections, cellphone insurance, and bonus categories that suit many businesses. You’ll also be able to transfer your points to more than a dozen partner hotels and airlines, earning you inordinate redemption values on award travel.
However, if you already have a card that allows these transfers and the bonus categories don’t work for your business, then the annual fee on Ink Business Preferred may not be worth it, no matter how much it costs.
Official App Link: Earn 100,000 Ultimate Rewards Bonus Points with the Ink Business Preferred Credit Card after spending $8,000 on purchases within three months of account opening
Additional reporting by Emily Thompson.