Chase Ink Unlimited vs Chase Ink Premier

Executive Summary

Both the Chase Ink Unlimited and the Chase Ink Premier are both flat rate cash back business credit cards. The Ink Unlimited has no annual fee and allows you to earn 1.5% on all purchases you make on the card. The Ink Premier allows you to earn 2% cash back on all purchases and 2.5% cash back for purchases above $5,000. While the Ink Premier has a higher cash back earning rate than the Ink Unlimited, it has a $195 annual fee compared to no annual fee for the Chase ink Unlimited. Aside from the higher cash back earning rate, the Ink Premier also has slightly more benefits than the Ink Unlimited. But is it worth paying $195 in annual fee to get these better benefits? We will answer this question and compare both these cards next.

Differences

Here are the ways that both the Ink Unlimited and Ink Premier are different. Let's start with the main difference:

One has annual fee while the other does not

The Chase Ink Unlimited has no annual fee while the Ink Premier has a $195 annual fee.

How they earn cash back?

The Chase Ink Unlimited is a flat rate cash back credit card that allows you to earn 1.5% cash back on all purchases you make on the card.

The Ink Premier is also a flat rate cash back credit card but with a slight twist. You will earn 2% cash back on all purchases. For purchases above $5,000, you will earn 2.5% cash back.

Ink Premier Requires you to pay in full

The Chase Ink Unlimited is like a regular credit card in that you can either pay in full or carry a balance.

In contrast, the Ink Premier requires you to pay every month. However, you can pay "eligible purchases" over time. Ink Premier calls this "Flex for Business". You will be given an APR and a certain limit that you can use to pay over time.

Combining points with Chase Cards that allow transfer of points to airline and hotel partners

Both the Chase Ink Unlimited and Ink Premier do not allow you to transfer the points you earn to airline and hotel partners of the Chase Ultimate Rewards program. Chase however, allow most of these cards to be combined with cards that allow you to transfer points to airline partners (these include Chase Ink Preferred, Chase Sapphire Preferred and Reserve). By pooling points together and combining them, ALL points earned on Chase rewards card can then be transferred to airline and hotel partners.

The Chase Ink Unlimited is a card that Chase allows to be combined with either the Ink Preferred, Chase Sapphire Preferred and Reserve cards. However, Chase does not allow the Ink Premier to be combined with these cards. So regardless, the points you earn with the Ink Premier can never be transferred to airline and hotel partners.

Ink Premier has extra travel related benefits

The Ink Premier has the following benefits that the Ink Unlimited does not have. They have trip cancellation and interruption insurance, baggage delay insurance, lost luggage insurance and cell phone protection. There is also no foreign transaction fee when you use the Ink Premier overseas or to buy international products online.

The Ink Unlimited do not have these benefits and they also charge a 3% for foreign transaction fee.

Similarities

The Ink Unlimited and Ink Premier are similar in the following ways.

How they both can redeem their points

Though both cards are technically cash back credit cards, you can redeem points you earn for both cards in the following ways:

• Cash Back
• Statement Credits
• Gift Cards
• Travel booked through the Chase Ultimate Rewards Portal

Both have these Visa Benefits

Both the Ink Unlimited and Premier have the following Visa Benefits:

• Primary Car Rental Insurance
• Purchase Protection
• Extended Warranty

Though the Ink Premier has higher cash back earning rates, they do charge a $195 annual fee. The key question is what level of spending do you need before it is worth getting the Ink Premier over Ink Unlimited?

The formula for calculating the breakeven spending need is as follows:

Let S^unlimited = spending on Ink Unlimited
Let S^<5k = spending for items less than $5k on Ink Premier
Let S^>5k = spending for items more than $5k on Ink Premier

The breakeven spending formula is as follows:

1.5% X S^Unlimited < (2% X S^<5k) + (2.5% X S^>5k) - 195 (annual fee)

Breakeven with spending less than $5,000

Though we cannot give you an exact breakeven because we do not know your exact spending, we can calculate the breakeven spending required IF you do not have any expenses above $5,000. In this case, the formula is as follows:

Let S = spending on both Ink Unlimited and Ink Premier (1.5% X S) = (2% X S) - $195

0.5% X S = $195

S = $195/0.005 = $39,000

This means that if there was no spending above $5,000 per charge on the Ink Premier, the breakeven spending is $39,000. If you spend more than $39,000, the Ink Premier would give you more cash back even after paying the annual fee.

Breakeven if all your charges are above $5,000

Let S^>5k = spending over $5,000 per charge

1.5% X S^>5k = (2.5% X S^>5k) - $195

1% X S^>5k = $195

S^>5k = $195/0.01 = $19,500

That means that if you only used the Ink Premier to charge items above $5,000, you would need to spend at $19,500 where each charge is over $5,000 to earn 2.5% to breakeven. If you charge more than $19,500 for items more than $5,000, you will earn more cash back with the Ink Premier than with the Ink Unlimited.

Do your own calculations to calculate your breakeven

At the end of the day, you would need to do your own calculations to see which card would earn you more cash back. You know the formula, so break down your business expense and find out which card is better for you.

Which is Better? Chase Ink Unlimited or Premier?

Whether the Ink Unlimited or Ink Premier works better for you really depends on two things.

The One that gives you the most cash back....duh

As I have shown in the breakeven formula above, the card that gives you to most cash back based on your spending pattern is the better cash back for you. I cannot say off the bat which card is better. That cash back formula is different. And the Ink Premier has an annual fee. So you cannot escape running the numbers and doing the calculations yourself for your business.

Another Consideration: If you want to transfer points your earn to airline and hotel partners

The points you earn on both the Ink Unlimited and Ink Premier cannot be transferred to the Ultimate Rewards airline and hotel partners. However, if you already have (or plan to get) the Ink Preferred, Chase Sapphire Preferred or Reserve, then the points you earn on the Ink Unlimited can be pooled together with the points you earn from the cards that allow you to transfer points to airline and hotel partners.

However, even if you have the Ink Preferred, Chase Sapphire Preferred or Reserve, the points you earn from having the Ink Premier cannot be pooled together. They stay seperated and so cannot maximize the airline and hotel partner transferable points with teh Ink Premier.

If you already have the Ink Preferred, Chase Sapphire Preferred or Reserve and want to max out the total points you earn for airline or hotel partner transfers, then you have to go with the Ink Unlimited even if you can earn more cash back with the Ink Premier.

To Sum up....

If you all you care about is cash back earnings, then figure which out which card gets you the most bang for the buck and go for that card, whether it be the Ink Unlimited or Ink Premier.

But if you want points to be pooled with your other Chase cards that allow you to transfer points to airline and hotel partners, then you would have to pick the Ink Unlimited over the Ink Premier.