Why These Cards Matter

Among the major credit card points currencies, Chase is considered to be one of the best, particularly for people who value hotel redemptions thanks to its ability to transfer to Hyatt, whose award chart allows hotels to be booked for a minimum of 3,500 points per night. The only other program that allows transfers to Hyatt is Bilt.

While Bilt is certainly a robust program, they only have 1 card, which does not have a publicly available welcome offer, making points much harder to accumulate. One of the drawbacks of Chase is that they require that you hold an annual fee card to unlock the ability to use transfer partners. The only 3 cards that enable this feature are the Chase Ink Preferred, Chase Sapphire Preferred, and the Chase Sapphire Reserve.

What about the CSR?

While the Chase Sapphire Reserve will also allow the ability to transfer Ultimate Rewards points to partners, I don’t consider it to be a good value. First, the bonus is generally the same or smaller than the CSP and its annual fee is $550, compared to the $95 fee of the CSP. You can only receive 1 Sapphire bonus every 48 months, so it is generally best to apply for the CSP.

The main benefits of the CSR include a $300 travel credit (which includes any purchases that code as travel), the ability to redeem points through the Chase Travel Portal for 1.5 cents per point (compared to 1.25 cpp with the other cards mentioned), and Priority Pass, which includes the new Chase Sapphire Lounges.

Unless you plan to redeem more than 100,000 UR points through the portal each year, it is unlikely that the CSR makes sense for you. Aside from the $300 travel credit being restricted to travel through the portal, the Capital One Venture X and the Sapphire Preferred combined can give you most of the other benefits at a much cheaper cost, aside from unlimited Sapphire lounge access, which you can get from the Ritz- Carlton card by product changing from a different Marriott Chase Card.

What is a Business?

Since this article discusses choosing between a business card and a personal card, let’s first discuss what qualifies as a business for the purpose of applying for a business credit card.

First, I want to clarify that you do not need to apply for an EIN or form a separate entity, such as an LLC or a corporation, in order to apply for business cards. If you already have one, you can use that, but you can also use your own name (or a DBA name) with your SSN to apply for your card.

For the purposes of applying for a business card, a business is anything that you do or plan to do with a profit motive, including gig work and freelancing. For most people, the chances are high that you do something that qualifies as a business.

It’s also worth noting that in addition to adding your annual income, you will be asked for your business income. This is what you reasonably expect to make, even if you have not yet opened for business.

Chase Sapphire Preferred

The first option is the Chase Sapphire Preferred, which is a personal credit card that has a $95 annual fee. This card has a current offer of 60,000 points when you spend $4,000 in the first 3 months. The most useful benefits for this card are a $50 hotel credit each cardmember year for hotels booked through Chase Travel, 5x for travel booked through Chase Travel, 2x for other travel, 3x for dining, online grocery, and select streaming, and 1x for everything else. In addition, this card has a 10% anniversary bonus, effectively increasing all of the multipliers by 0.1%.

Benefits that are shared with the Ink Preferred include the ability to transfer points to partners, being able to redeem points in the Chase Travel Portal for 1.25 cents per point, Primary CDW insurance for rental cars (be aware that the CIBP’s CDW is limited to business travel only).

Chase Ink Business Preferred

The alternative to the CSP is the Chase Ink Business Preferred. The current offer is 100,000 points when you spend $8,000 in 3 months. The multipliers are very straightforward, with 3x for travel, shipping, advertising, internet, cable, phone, and 1x on everything else. This card includes cell phone protection when you pay your phone bill with this card, which is unusual for cards that include a multiplier for phone service. This card also has a $95 annual fee, but unlike the CSP, it does not have any credits to directly help offset that fee.

Which is Best?

Due to the Chase application rule known as 5/24, which states that you are not eligible for a new Chase card if you have opened 5 or more personal accounts in the last 48 months, it’s generally considered best practice to get Chase business cards before personal cards, since business cards don’t affect 5/24, but you can’t receive them when you are over 5/24. (Note that there have been some reports of people being approved for Ink cards above 5/24, but due to the high likelihood of a denial, it typically isn’t recommended.)

The main exception to the business-first mentality is the CSP, since you have to wait 48 months after receiving the bonus before you can receive another Sapphire bonus, while Ink cards do not have a waiting period, so you would want to start the clock on the Sapphire bonus as soon as possible.

In my opinion, the main factors include how easily you can make use of CSP credits such as the $50 hotel credit and Dashpass (through 12/31/2024) and how easily you can hit the $8,000 minimum spend for the CIBP.

For someone who is able to easily hit the spending requirement for both cards, I recommend acquiring both, and then downgrading or cancelling the one that you choose not to keep after 1 year of holding the card.

If hitting the CIBP bonus would be challenging, I recommend getting the CSP to enable transfer partners and then try to maximize the value of the credit by booking a budget stay for times when you just need a bed, rather than luxury. For example, I generally use the credit when I have a flight with a late arrival or early departure, so that I can have a place to stay and unwind before continuing onward.

If you are interested in one or both of these cards, I recommend checking if friends or family have a referral link or if there is an elevated offer that is not available through a referral. However, if neither of those apply, you can use the links below to apply and support this blog at no cost to you.

Chase Sapphire Cards: https://www.referyourchasecard.com/19o/UZWUA4KXYB

Chase Ink Business Cards https://www.referyourchasecard.com/21q/F3QG4W436O

If you have a topic that you would like to see in a future post, or would like to discuss your credit card strategy, email blog@mtaxstrategy.com and I will reach out to you!