The Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card (review) is one of the most all-around compelling credit cards on the market and there are many reasons to apply for it.
While many people find the card valuable in the long run, there are also people who try the card and then decide it’s not for them. For people in this situation, I wanted to look at the possible downgrade options that are available.
Why buying Chase Ink Preferred is worth it
The Chase Ink Business Preferred Card with a $95 annual fee is one of the most attractive business cards on the market. Here are some reasons why you should choose the card:
Remember that you can also apply for the card as a sole proprietor and you can also purchase this card for multiple businesses. Read my guide to the card eligibility restrictions and my experience getting the card approved.
The Best Downgrade Strategy for Chase Ink Preferred
Credit card companies often offer high rewards up front to encourage people to try a card. For many people the card will work, for others it might not, and that’s OK. If a card doesn’t work for you, you can of course cancel it, but that’s not the only option. You can usually downgrade credit cards as well, which is one option worth considering.
If you have the Chase Ink Business Preferred Card and want to downgrade the card, what are your options? Let me start with a few basics:
- Typically, you can’t downgrade a card until you’ve had it for 12 months, so you can’t downgrade a card within the first year. However, there is a grace period on the annual fee, so you can downgrade a card while only paying the annual fee for the first year.
- You can only downgrade a business card to another business card, not a personal card. Also, you can often only downgrade to a card in the same family, in this case the Chase Ink Business card family.
- You should call Chase to find out exactly what options are available to you, as not everyone has exactly the same offers
- You will not receive the welcome bonus for a card if you downgrade to that card, if that is a consideration
However, if you have the Chase Ink Business Preferred Card and want to downgrade it, you can generally expect to have a choice between two lucrative no-annual-fee cards – the Ink Business Cash® Credit Card (Review) and the Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card (Review). Both are excellent products:
- The Chase Ink Business Unlimited offers 1.5x points on everyday spending, making it the best Chase Ink points card for everyday spending. The card also offers some other useful benefits, such as rental car protection and more
- The Chase Ink Business Cash offers 5x points on the first $25,000 spent per cardmember year on combined purchases at office supply stores and on cell phone, landline, internet and cable TV services, making it a very worthwhile card; the card also offers other benefits such as rental car protection and more
These are both fantastic no annual fee cards that are a great complement to any other cards that let you earn Ultimate Rewards points. Which of these cards makes more sense for you depends on whether you get more out of the 1.5x points on everyday spending or the 5x points in select categories.
Of course, these no-annual-fee cards also have some drawbacks. They don’t offer the same comprehensive cell phone protection as the Chase Ink Business Preferred, there are foreign transaction fees, and the Chase Ink Business Cash has a lower cap on spending that earns you bonus points (though some of the bonus categories are higher because you get 5x points instead of 3x points).
Finally, Chase Ink Business Cash and Chase Ink Business Unlimited do not directly earn Ultimate Rewards points that can be transferred to Ultimate Rewards airline and hotel partners.
However, if you also have the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card (Review) or the Chase Sapphire Reserve® Card (Review), points earned with the cards can be pooled and transferred to airline or hotel partners or redeemed for 1.25-1.5 cents each toward the cost of a travel purchase through the Chase Travel portal.
How about upgrading to Chase Ink Preferred?
For the sake of completeness, I should also mention that if you have either Chase Ink Business Cash or Chase Ink Business Unlimited, you can also upgrade to Chase Ink Business Preferred, provided you’ve had the card for a year. You’ll need to call Chase to find out all of the options, but generally it’s a possibility.
Remember that when you upgrade or downgrade a card, you retain that card’s credit history and there are usually no hard inquiries, but you will not receive a welcome bonus for switching products.
Chase Ink products are not mutually exclusive
The Chase Ink business card collection is impressive, but I think there are a few things that stand out:
- Each of the cards is considered a separate product, so you could actually pick up any of these cards if you wanted
- If you apply for the cards directly, you will receive the bonus for each card that you would not receive if you changed products (upgrade or downgrade).
- You can even apply for each of these cards for multiple businesses if you have more than one business (for example, if one is a sole proprietorship and the other is a corporation).
Personally, I believe there is tremendous value in owning all of Chase Ink Business’ products as they complement each other and are not substitutes.
Conclusion
The Chase Ink Business Preferred Card is arguably the most comprehensive business credit card on the market in terms of bonuses, returns, and perks, and best of all, it has a reasonable annual fee of $95. If you meet the requirements, I think the card is definitely worth it. I also personally think the card is worth keeping.
For those who get the card and find that it doesn’t work as well for them, the Chase Ink Business Cash Card and Chase Ink Business Unlimited Card are excellent alternatives. Both cards have no annual fee and offer some great rewards, too. Which card makes more sense depends on whether you’d rather earn 1.5x points on all your spending or 5x points in select categories.
If you downgraded the Chase Ink Preferred Card, what was your experience and which card did you choose?
