One of our favorite cards is the Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card. We love this card because it has an amazing sign-up bonus, category bonuses to earn even more points, and it earns the highly flexible Chase Ultimate Rewards®Points. Best of all, because it's a business card, it doesn't count against your 5/24 number.

The Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card Sign-Up Bonus

Right now you can Earn 90,000 bonus points after you spend $8,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.

These are some of the most valuable points in the entire travel rewards universe because they are transferable to some of the best partner programs including: Hyatt, United, Southwest and British Airways.

You can also transfer any Chase Ultimate Rewards® points to your personal account, and redeem them from there. They do not have to be used only for business travel.

Other Features Of The Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card

Earn More With Category Bonuses

A decent way to keep earning bonus points with your profitable side hustle is to take advantage of what is called category bonuses.

With the Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card, you can earn three points for every $1 spent on specific business categories, such as:

• Travel
• Shipping purchases
• Internet, cable and phone services
• Advertising purchases with social media sites and search engines

You can earn this category bonuses on the first $150,000 in combined purchases each year. A year runs from your anniversary date of signing up for the card.

That means if you run ads on Google, Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest, or, if you have an Etsy store that ships physical products, you could earn up to 450,000 Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card Points each year

Add Employees At No Extra Cost

If you have employees it costs nothing extra to get them their own card on your account. This is a great feature and allows you to earn Ultimate Rewards Points on the purchases they make on your behalf.

Travel Benefits

No Foreign Transaction Fees

If you travel a lot you'll be pleased to know that the Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card does not charge any foreign transaction fees. This is a great feature that can save you quite a bit while traveling.

Primary Auto Rental Collision Coverage

Again, if you travel a lot this is a great card to carry with you. A lot of cards offer car insurance on your rental car, but this card offers primary coverage. This means that this policy will pay first, before your personal car insurance. Potentially saving you a premium hike if you ever have to make a claim.

Trip Cancellation And Interruption Insurance

If you book your trip with this card and it gets canceled or interrupted due to sickness, dangerous weather, or other 'covered situations' you can have the cost of your trip reimbursed, up to $5,000 per person and $10,000 per trip.

Does it Count Towards Your Chase 5/24?

The Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card is a great card to open if you are still within 5/24, and do not want that number to increase.

To recap, 5/24 is an informal name that the travel rewards community has come up with based on anecdotal evidence that Chase is likely to decline new card applications if there has been five new approved lines of credit in your credit history in the past 24 months.

The beauty of the Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card is that it doesn’t get added to your credit history, so you actually get a new card without impacting your 5/24 number. Pretty sweet.

This is truly the best of both worlds—getting a new high-value card, without making it harder to get other awesome cards like the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card or Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card.

Annual Fee

The Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card has a $95 annual fee. Considering all of the value you can receive from this card, we think this annual fee is very reasonable and shouldn't be a deterrent to getting this card.

However, you will need to make sure you are actually taking advantage of all the benefits. If it's just sitting in your wallet not being used, then the annual fee will detract, not add, to your overall finances.

Not Just For Big Businesses

Don’t let the “Business” in the card’s name throw you off.

This is a great card to have in your wallet, and most people in the FI community will qualify for it, even if they have a full-time W-2 income.

It’s because many of us have a side hustle running.

If you have an Airbnb, drive for Uber or Lyft, rent your vehicle on Turo, or deliver for Instacard and Doordash, do any freelance work at all, you qualify for applying for this card.

Use Your Social Security Number To Apply

If you have a business or a side hustle, you may also have what is called an Employer Identification Number (EIN). The EIN is a number issued by the IRS and works like a tax ID number for organizations.

Should you use your EIN to get approved? For many people, the answer is a resounding no.

Most people with good credit scores will have a better chance of getting approved for the Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card by applying with their Social Security Number than with their business tax ID number.

Here’s why. If your side hustle or fledgling business that is still pretty new, it will not have a seasoned credit history. This means the approval decision would come down on your personal credit score.

Are there exceptions? Sure.

If your business has been running for a few years your business may have it own business credit history. In this case, using the EIN might be more helpful when applying for business cards.

However, for those of us running side hustles to increase our savings rate, using your Social Security Number would be a better option.

Bottom Line

The Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card is a terrific card. It earns tons Chase Ultimate Rewards® points and doesn't affect your 5/24 number. If you are a small business owner looking for a new credit card to add your travel arsenal this might be the card you've been hoping for.