Aug 18, 2015, 8:20 am

FlyerTalk Forums Expert How-Tos and Guides

Last edit by: BuBu4

Please read this Wiki before posting questions in the thread.

What's the difference between the Ink Bold & Ink Plus cards?

Ink Bold is no longer available. It was a charge card (pay balance in full each month), but it has been discontinued and many accounts were converted to Ink Plus cards with the same account numbers.

Ink Plus is a revolving credit card. It allows you to earn and redeem Chase Ultimate Rewards points (including transfering UR points to air/hotel/rail partners).

What are the best current Ink Plus offers?

The Ink Plus card is no longer available for new applicants. There is a separate thread for The Ink Business Preferred card.

Links for non-targeted Ink Plus 60K offer ($5,000 spend/3 months; annual $95 fee not waived)
Landing page; original application page, current application page.

Landing page; application page.

Landing page; application page.

Landing page; current application page.

There is a report of a 70k offer for the Chase Ink Plus available only through your local Chase Bank office, extended to August 20, 2016. If you recently accepted the 60K offer, you may be able to get the extra 10K simply by asking for it.

There is a no-fee, UR-earning Ink Cash card: https://creditcards.chase.com/ink-bu.../ink-cash-card

Are there are any rules or restrictions to keep in mind when applying for an Ink card?
What is the "5/24" policy?
Are targeted offers exempt from the 5/24 policy?
If my application isn't approved instantly, should I call in?
How can I determine the deadline for meeting the spend requirement to earn the signup bonus?
Once I meet the card's spend requirement, how soon will I receive my signup bonus points?
After being denied, how long should I wait before applying again for the same card?
How long should I wait after closing my card before applying again for the same card?

See the wiki & current discussion at Applying for Chase Credit Cards, 2017 onward.

Are there special earning categories?

Yes. You earn 5 points per dollar on the first $50,000 spent annually at office supply stores, and on cellular phone, landline, internet, and cable TV services. (Sirius XM Radio also qualifies.)

In addition, you earn 2 points per dollar on the first $50,000 spent annually at gas stations and for hotel accommodations when purchased directly from the hotel.

NOT ALL Ink cards earn the 5x and 2x bonus categories above. Not "Old Ink Bold" that earns 7,500 bonus points for $25,000 spend, 15,000 points for $50,000, and 25,000 points for $100,000 spend.

What merchants qualify for 5 points/dollar spent?

Merchants that qualify:

AnswerConnect (Ref)
AT&T monthly bills @ website (Direct entry) (Ref, Ref, Ref)
Boost Mobile (Ref)
Cablevision (Ref)
CallingMart.com (Direct entry)
CardCash.com (PayPal) (Ref, Ref)
CashStar/Staples @ staples.cashstar.com (Ref)
Charter Spectrum/Time Warner Cable monthly bills (Ref, Ref)
Comcast (Ref)
Cox Internet subscription (Ref)
Cricket Wireless (Ref)
Digital River MyCommerce/vorpX (PayPal) (Ref)
DirecTV (Ref, Ref)
Dish Network (Ref, Ref)
Dropbox (Ref)
eBay/PayPal Digital Gifts (PayPal) (Mastercards only) (Ref)
GiftCard Mart (PayPal) (Ref)
GoDaddy.com (Ref, Ref)
Google Fiber (Ref)
Gyft.com (PayPal) (Ref)
Half.com (PayPal) (Ref)
Hetzner.de (PayPal) (Ref)
HTC Vive @ store.us.HTCVive.com (Direct entry) (Ref, Ref)
Hulu (Ref, Ref, Ref)
INIZ (PayPal) (Ref)
LivingSocial.com (PayPal) (Ref)
MileagePlus X/OfficeMax @ app (YMMV ref, Ref)
MileagePlus X/Staples @ app (YMMV ref, Ref)
Netflix (Ref, Ref, Ref, Ref)
Nvidia GeForce Now (Ref)
Office Depot @ B&M, officedepot.com (Direct entry) (Ref)
OfficeMax @ B&M, officedepot.com (Direct entry) (Ref)
OneDrive (Ref)
Republic Wireless (Ref)
RingCentral (Ref)
Sirius XM (Ref, Ref, Ref)
Sling TV @ sling.com (Ref, Ref, Ref, Ref)
Spotify.com (Ref, Ref, Ref, Ref, Ref)
Sprint (Ref)
Staples @ B&M, staples.com (Direct entry) (Ref)
TiVo monthly bills (Ref, Ref)
T-Mobile monthly bills (Ref, Ref, Ref)
UPrinting.com (Ref)
Verizon (Ref)
Verizon Wireless (Ref)
Virgin Mobile (Ref)
VirginMobileUSA.com (Direct entry, PayPal) (Ref)
Vudu.com (Ref, Ref)

Merchants that DO NOT qualify:

Adobe Acrobat DC (Ref)
Amazon Prime music and video (Ref)
Apple iTunes/Apple Music subscription
AT&T phone and equipment orders (Ref, YMMV ref)
CardCash.com (Direct entry) (Ref)
CashStar/Office Depot @ officedepot.cashstar.com (Ref)
CashStar/Panera Bread @ panerabread.cashstar.com (Ref)
Charges at Cricket Wireless Store
eBay/GiftCardMall (PayPal)
eBay/SVM Gift Cards (PayPal)
eGifter.com (Ref)
Giftcard Zen (Direct entry) (Ref)
Google Cloud Platform @ cloud.google.com (Ref)
Google Drive (Ref)
Google Project Fi @ fi.google.com (Ref, Ref, Ref)
Gyft.com (Direct entry)
H2O Wireless (Ref)
Newegg.com (PayPal) (Ref)
Oculus.com (Ref)
OfficeMax in-store pickup @ officedepot.com (Ref)
eBay/PayPal Digital Gifts (PayPal) Visa Cards Only (Ref)
Plastiq telecom (Ref)
Playstation Vue (Ref)
RingPlus.net (Direct entry)
Seashells @ shopseashells.com (Ref)
SWYCH app (using INK and Paypal) (Ref)
T-Mobile.com phone and equipment orders (Ref, Ref, Ref)
Todoist.com (Ref)
Venmo (Direct entry) (Ref, Ref)
Walmart.com (PayPal) (Ref)

Where can I find the Ink Plus Guide to Benefits?

See https://www.chasebenefits.com/ink10311.

What are the rules for transferring UR points to other users or to my own air/hotel/rail accounts?

See the separate discussions in

Closing Ink Plus cards

It is possible to pay the annual fee for the Chase Ink Plus business card, then close the account and get a refund of the fee up to 6 months after it was charged. This provides a total of 18 months of earning up to 5X points for free. Make sure your points are transferred out (either to another UR account owned by you or a spouse, or to an air/hotel partner) before you close the account.

Previous Discussion Threads:

Chase Ink Business Card Questions

Chase Ink Bold, Plus & Cash cards

Chase Ink Plus is now available

Chase Ink Business Cards - July 2015- Present

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Jan 25, 2016, 10:19 pm

#496

Red259

Join Date: Jun 2013

Location: NYC

Programs: Marriott Plat, Hilton Gold, UA Silver

Posts: 2,272

Quote:

Originally Posted by ralphs

I personally am happy to chat with a Chase banker for 30 minutes to save $95, but I realize not everyone has a bonafide business, lives near a Chase bank, etc. I also like to think that the Chase banker is going to bat for me vs the credit card approval department, but I don't really have anything to support that hunch

I have a bondafide business etc and I went into a Chase branch one time to app for an ink card (this was back before I had a thick credit file). I ended up being told I had to wait for a letter telling me the result and then on recon call later I was denied. The people in the branch do not do jack for you when you apply for a credit card. Maybe if you are a private banking client but barring that don't expect them to help you recon or anything. Heck the person I was dealing with barely knew the details of the card.

Jan 25, 2016, 11:14 pm

#497

ralphs

Join Date: Sep 2011

Location: SNA

Programs: AA EXP, Hilton Diamond, Hyatt Globalist, IHG Plat, Marriott Gold, National EE

Posts: 1,204

Quote:

Originally Posted by Red259

That sucks. The banker tried to sell me on moving our banking business to Chase Private Banking but I politely declined. Thanks for sharing your experience.

Jan 25, 2016, 11:49 pm

#498

Red259

Join Date: Jun 2013

Location: NYC

Programs: Marriott Plat, Hilton Gold, UA Silver

Posts: 2,272

Quote:

Originally Posted by ralphs

That sucks. The banker tried to sell me on moving our banking business to Chase Private Banking but I politely declined. Thanks for sharing your experience.

Thanks, but I am over it. That was a few years ago and now I have both the ink bold and plus cards, so it all works out in the end.

Jan 26, 2016, 9:40 am

#499

rev

Join Date: Aug 2015

Posts: 214

Is anybody else seeing the option to generate instant referral links via twitter removed for the Ink?

I knew this was true for Freedom for a long time, but Ink still had this capability for me until very recently, and this reddit thread is starting to confirm it.

Jan 26, 2016, 3:58 pm

#500

ranjanrocks

Join Date: May 2012

Posts: 157

applied for the card after reading on DoC regarding the 5/24 rule for ink cards...

got the "call us immediately" message. I am reading suggestions NOT to call and talk to a rep, any reason why? sorry if this has been answered already...

Also, i have some UR points in my freedom account, will i be able to push it out to my ink account ?(and xfer to reward partners).

How long should i wait before i call?

Jan 26, 2016, 4:40 pm

#501

theao1977

Join Date: Nov 2012

Posts: 25

Chase Ink Business Cards - July 2015- Present

Applied ink plus online on Sunday, got "call us immediately" message, but decided not to call. Checked status just now and found I was approved. Very happy.

My FICO score is 760+ and I only had 3 hard inquiries last year.

Jan 26, 2016, 5:50 pm

#502

xenophile

Join Date: Jun 2014

Location: ORD

Posts: 132

Quote:

Originally Posted by ranjanrocks

Others can probably answer better than I, but I think if you call you are subjecting your app to scrutiny it would have otherwise not received. Read further back in this thread and you'll find many, many examples where a call yielded a rejection and just letting the thing naturally work its way through the system yielded an approval.

There's a way to check app status online. Check it regularly and if it goes from pending to rejected, THEN you call recon. Although if you haven't been hitting apps hard lately and your business is "legit," the risk from calling isn't as high. YMMV and all that. Let us know how things play out.

Jan 26, 2016, 8:16 pm

#503

ranjanrocks

Join Date: May 2012

Posts: 157

Quote:

Originally Posted by xenophile

thanks for your response. I can't seem to find a link to check app status online....would you mind sharing?

Jan 26, 2016, 8:30 pm

#504

jonibonez

Join Date: Jan 2016

Programs: WN, Chase UR, IHG, SPG, Hyatt, HHonors

Posts: 4

Data Point

I got the "please call us..." etc. message for the Ink Plus card after applying and, despite having been warned around the internet never to call, I decided to go ahead and call, like a real noob. It's because they said to "please call us"! Lesson learned, because they denied me after an interrogation. Even though I have a legitimate business and I was able to report my revenue and profits. I guess my worry was that my application wouldn't be approved if I didn't call... but patience is a virtue. I had also gotten the same "please call us" message when I applied for my Southwest business card exactly one year ago. Not only did Chase approve me for that card as soon as I called, they overnighted the new Business card to me for free so I could buy some plane tickets with it.

Clearly, things have changed at Chase

Jan 26, 2016, 9:16 pm

#505

krazykanuck

FlyerTalk Evangelist

Join Date: Jul 2008

Location: IAH

Programs: DL DM, Hyatt Ist-iest, Stariott Platinum, Hilton Diamond

Posts: 12,790

Quote:

Originally Posted by ranjanrocks

thanks for your response. I can't seem to find a link to check app status online....would you mind sharing?

I couldn't find an online way to do this. I called twice, first I got the pending message, second was an approval notification. Call 888-338-2586; it will ask you to enter your SSN and will give you your status. I found this number here: http://therewardboss.com/chase-appli...eration-phone/

Jan 26, 2016, 9:36 pm

#506

Red259

Join Date: Jun 2013

Location: NYC

Programs: Marriott Plat, Hilton Gold, UA Silver

Posts: 2,272

Quote:

Originally Posted by krazykanuck

Also, instead of calling the automated line (if you already have an online chase credit profile) you may want to log in and see if the card is listed there. I called the automated line, but then I saw the card when I logged in and this was within a day or two of the app so they are pretty quick with the updates.

Jan 26, 2016, 10:06 pm

#507

krazykanuck

FlyerTalk Evangelist

Join Date: Jul 2008

Location: IAH

Programs: DL DM, Hyatt Ist-iest, Stariott Platinum, Hilton Diamond

Posts: 12,790

Quote:

Originally Posted by Red259

I do have my online Chase account already set up but haven't seen it appear. I think I read a few pages back that Ink accounts don't auto appear in personal accounts online. Of course YMMV.

Jan 26, 2016, 10:34 pm

#508

Red259

Join Date: Jun 2013

Location: NYC

Programs: Marriott Plat, Hilton Gold, UA Silver

Posts: 2,272

Quote:

Originally Posted by krazykanuck

I do have my online Chase account already set up but haven't seen it appear. I think I read a few pages back that Ink accounts don't auto appear in personal accounts online. Of course YMMV.

That may be true. I already had an ink bold linked in to my account which might explain why mine appeared automatically. I think when I got my first ink card I had to do something to link the business and personal accounts to the same profile.

Jan 26, 2016, 11:11 pm

#509

xenophile

Join Date: Jun 2014

Location: ORD

Posts: 132

Quote:

Originally Posted by ranjanrocks

thanks for your response. I can't seem to find a link to check app status online....would you mind sharing?

Sorry, I may have been mistaken and one needs to call in to check status. I'll let others chime in, sorry for the misinfo.

Jan 26, 2016, 11:16 pm

#510

xenophile

Join Date: Jun 2014

Location: ORD

Posts: 132

Quote:

Originally Posted by jonibonez

What was the reason for the rejection? Too many new accounts? Insufficient revenue? You might want to try calling again. I seem to recall seeing reports of success after a second or third call. Tell them why you think you're a good candidate for the card and why they should overturn the current status.