21

Mar

I’ve written frequently about the Ink Bold and Ink Plus small business cards from Chase — they’re great because they earn Ultimate Rewards points which transfer to several airline and hotel programs, because they have no foreign currency transaction fees and earn double points on hotels and gas.

But mostly they’re rock stars because they earn 5 points per dollar on telecommunications (cell phone, internet, cable and satellite TV) and office supply spending and also because they have big 50,000 point signup bonuses after spending $5000 on the card within 3 months.

Both cards have $0 annual fees the first year.

But I haven’t written about their no annual fee cousins before.

Ink Cash and the nearly-identical Ink Classic offer sign up bonuses of 20,000 points apiece, each after $3,000 spend in 3 months. And both no annual fee cards have the same double and quintuple points categories.

While the Ink Bold and Ink Plus will bonus you for up to $50,000 in spending in those categories, Ink Classic and Ink Cash will award bonus points on up to $25,000 in spending per year.

Which Card is Right for You?

The Ink Bold and Ink Plus are nearly identical cards. The primary difference is that Ink Bold is a ‘charge card’ where you have to pay off the balance in full each month. Ink Plus is a credit card where you should pay off the balance in full each month.

Those cards offer a bigger signup bonus, no foreign transaction fees, and a higher limit for category bonuses.

Many folks are tempted by the big signup bonus, and I agree that’s worth it. I think Ink Bold and Ink Plus are great cards for the first year where the annual fee is $0. But then you have to evaluate whether it makes sense to pay the $95 annual fee for the card after the first year.

If you’re a big spending on telecommunications and office supplies — whatever those office supply stores sell — then they’re certainly worth it because the 5x spending categories are outstanding.

But if you are like most, maybe spending no more than $3000 to $4000 a year on telecommunications and perhaps with an ability to spend another $6000 to $8000 at office supply stores (including Starbucks, Amazon, and iTunes gift cards) then after the first year the Ink Cash card is a great solution. You get the same 5x bonuses without the annual fee.

If You Downgrade to Ink Cash You Also Want a Sapphire Preferred Card

The real value in Chase Ultimate Rewards is transferring to airline miles and hotel points, not in redeeming points directly for paid airfare.

Ultimate Rewards points transfer to United, Korean, British Airways, Southwest, Hyatt, Marriott, Ritz-Carlton, Priority Club, and Amtrak. In general the most lucrative transfer partners are United and Hyatt, though British Airways is good for short haul non-stop flights and Korean offers outstanding award availability in premium cabins.

But you can only transfer to other points programs if you have one of their premium cards — like Ink Bold or Ink Plus, or like Chase Sapphire Preferred.

And you can transfer Ultimate Rewards points between accounts. So if you earn points on the personal no annual fee Chase Freedom card, you can transfer those points to an Ink Bold account. Or if you earn points on the no annual fee Ink Cash card you can transfer them over to a Chase Sapphire Preferred account.

For folks that aren’t going insanely hog wild at office stores, Ink Cash is a great replacement for the Ink Bold and Ink Plus after the first year. That’s a way to still earn 5 points per dollar, while saving the annual fee (and while picking up another, albeit more modest, signup bonus). And you can move the points earned with Ink Cash over to a Chase Sapphire Preferred card’s Ultimate Rewards account and transfer them onto airline miles or hotel points.

(Cards in this post offer referral credit to me if you use my links when getting approved, which I greatly appreciate.)

29 Comments

  1. Tommy said,

    Would we get the sign up bonus with Ink Cash/Classic, if we call in to downgrade? Or should we apply for the card and then call in to cancel our Ink Plus?

  2. JDN said,

    I am in the middle of my first year with Ink Bold. If I cancel when the annual fee comes due, will I be able to successfully apply right away for Ink Cash and get that bonus?

  3. kokonutz said,

    Hey, Gary, I know you love you some Ink Bold/Plus. Didya see Ultimate Rewards has gotten so popular that FlyerTalk just opened an Ultimate Rewards sub-forum? http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/chase-ultimate-rewards-722/?daysprune=365

  4. EggSS4 said,

    So is it generally preferable to downgrade the Sapphire Preferred to the regular Sapphire and hold onto the Ink Bold/Plus, or to downgrade the Ink to Cash/Classic and hold onto the Sapphire preferred? I’m having trouble differentiating.

  5. frugalguy said,

    A data point and a question:
    I successfully downgraded my Southwest Biz card to Ink Classic. Caution that some of the CSRs are hard-coded that such product conversion is not allowed. Luckly the rest I talked to were willing to look up in their computers and confirmed it IS allowed as I finally did. So if some CSR tells you that you can’t convert, say thank you and call again.

    Now a question: I heard Chase signup bonus is lifetime. Since I have a Ink Classic now, do I forfeit my future signup bonus on Ink Classic? I have never applied this product directly in the past.

  6. Ben L said,

    One other small thing to keep in mind. I don’t think you get Lounge Club access with the Ink Cash cards. Definitely not worth $95 to me, but just FYI.

  7. Points Surfer said,

    This is a very helpful post – thank you, Gary. Quick question, you seem to be more biased towards downgrading to the Ink Cash versus the Ink Classic. Why is that? At first glance I can’t spot any material differences between them…

  8. Ben L said,

    @EggsSS4
    If you can spend more than 25k on telecom/office supply then the Ink Bold/Plus is probably better. Otherwise, the CSP is better. The non-Preferred Sapphire doesn’t get 2X travel (Ink Bold/Plus is 2X for ONLY hotel, not all travel)and doesn’t get the 7% annual dividend on points. So you’d be losing both of those perks if you downgrade CSP. If you downgrade the Ink Bold/Plus, the only NET thing you lose is the extra 25k in telecom/office supply 5X (though this could potentially be a huge pts earning feature) and Lounge Club access.

  9. Ben L said,

    @ Points Surfer
    I believe one is a CHARGE card and the other is a CREDIT card (similar to the Ink Bold vs Ink Plus). Not sure which is which though.

  10. Points Surfer said,

    @ Ben L
    Thank you. I thought about that, but whereas the Chase site specifically says “The Ink Bold Charge Card”, the Ink Classic does not – it just says “The Ink Classic Business Card”. But that may be true since the Ink Cash is specifically designated as a Credit Card…

  11. Curtis said,

    Just to confirm, but if I downgrade all of my cards and the wife keeps a CSP, I can transfer all of my points to her card and then she can transfer to our airline/hotel partners, right? I don’t think that spouses are having any of the issues that people mentioned about transfering points around and getting shut down.

  12. Ben L said,

    No problem. Personally, if that’s the only difference it doesn’t influence me all that much since I pay everything off immediately anyway. But, it may be something to keep in mind for future applications…i.e. telling Chase that you want a new Ink CREDIT card so that you have the option to carry a balance and your current Ink CHARGE card doesn’t offer you that ability.

  13. Tommy said,

    Bonus-wise.. I guess would we
    1st get Ink Plus (50k) 1st year
    2nd cancel Ink plus then get Ink Bold (50k)2nd year
    3rd cancel Bold to get Ink Classic (20k) 3rd year +

    Would this be the a good plan to avoid annul fees?

  14. Lark said,

    Gary – I truly appreciate the irony of your post title! :)

    “Profiting from the Different Types of Ink that Chase Offers”

    No, I am not Seth!

    At one of the FTU type events, somebody (you?) should step up and deconstruct the effort involved, the revenue streams, and the earning potential of a successful travel blogger… Probably lots of wannabe travel bloggers in this audience – providing an overview for them would be interesting.

  15. Curtis said,

    @Tommy, I already have CSP (downgraded to reg CS), but have both Bold and Plus. I am going to plan on doing like you mentioned and Apply for the Classic whenever my current Plus has fee come up (Plus is the last I got). I may also get another Plus for my other business though.

  16. Ron Mexico said,

    “two days with out a chase promo”…new world record..lol

  17. Ron Mexico said,

    $150/referral…that’s why he’s partial to them

  18. Gary said,

    @Points Surfer no material difference

  19. Tommy said,

    @Gary,

    Is there any issues with applying and canceling with chase buz and still get all the bonus?

  20. Corey said,

    Could I apply for the Ink Cash then changed to Ink Bold then to Ink Plus then to Ink Classic to get everything? =p

  21. Carl said,

    from a credit report perspective, which is the best one to keep: the charge card or the credit card?

  22. Gary said,

    @Carl business cards won’t be reporting to your personal credit report unless you default

  23. Glenn said,

    Another great article thanks.

    I’m still unclear on the whole sequence you’re suggesting. For example I’ve got a Bold and a Sapphire Plus.

    At say 11mos into the Ink Bold, I apply for the Ink Plus. Explain I want to be able to pay over time. Should be no problem. Cancel the Bold before the payment is due. Okay.

    Now I’ve got a Sapphire Plus and an Ink Plus. Great. No different than now as long as I pay over time, I’ve got another 50,000 UR points, and no fee.

    In another year the fee will be due on the Ink Plus. Now we’re two years out from the original application for the Ink Bold. I assume since you’re talking about the no fee cards with lower application bonuses that I would NOT be able to get an Ink Bold again. Once in a lifetime? Have to wait XX years or wait until they change the product?

    Okay, assuming I can’t apply for an Ink Bold again, I apply for an Ink Cash or Classic, and take what bonus I can get. Avoid the fee. Cancel the Ink Plus.

    Don’t know if you can do this again with the Ink Classic.

    Can you clarify all of this?
    - Can you get the Ink Bold/Plus again? I so how long do you have to wait?
    - Do you get the bonus on the Ink Cash/Classic if you downgrade a Bold/Plus to them rather than applying separately?

  24. HikerT said,

    You CANNOT downgrade Ink Bold (the only option to avoid the annual fee is to cancel within 60 days of the fee posting). The reason you cannot downgrade is because Ink Bold is a charge card and all other flavors of Ink are credit cards. You can downgrade Ink Plus, but I doubt anyone is considering it right now given the card wasn’t introduced until late July of 2012.

  25. BeenThereDoneThat said,

    I am approaching the one year anniversary on my Saphire Preferred card and plan to cancel to avoid the annual fee. I just applied for the Ink Bold and it is on its way. So will my Ink Bold use the same Ultimate Rewards account as my Saphire Preferred? I want to make sure I don’t lose my Saphire earned Ultimate Rewards when I cancel the Saphire card and I don’t want to transfer them out now either.

  26. Daniel M said,

    Good original content Gary. I haven’t seen any other bloggers mention the no annual fee versions and how to formulate one’s credit card strategy based on it.

  27. Wise2u said,

    @beentheredonethat, wait until you get the 7% annual bonus for sapphire before you cancel…you can cancel after it posts and you have transferred your UR points from sapphire to bold.

  28. Sung said,

    Hi Gary,

    I don’t see how you can get 20K points with the Ink Cash card. It says $200 cash back on the application? Do you have a choice when you sign up, to get the cash or the points?

    Thanks,

    - Sung

  29. Gary said,

    @Sung $200 cash *is* 20k points, it is just that those points can only be transferred if you have a one of the other Ultimate Rewards cards.

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