Chase Ink Business Preferred Card Eligibility Explained

Link: Apply now for the Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card with 120K bonus points

The $95 annual fee Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card (review) is one of the most lucrative business credit cards out there. The card has a monster sign-up bonus of 120K points, and offers a huge number of valuable perks that make the card worth holding onto, from a great rewards structure, to cell phone protection.

In this post I wanted to cover the basics of getting approved for the Chase Ink Preferred Card, and qualifying for the bonus. You might be surprised by just how many people are eligible for the welcome bonus on this card (even if you have or had the card), so let’s go over all those details.

Chase Ink Business Preferred eligibility requirements

There are often questions about what it takes to get approved for the Chase Ink Preferred Card, including being able to earn the bonus. The good news is that this is quite straightforward, and a lot of people may be surprised by how few restrictions there are.

That’s not necessarily to say that getting approved for the card is super easy, but at least if you can get approved, earning the bonus is straightforward.

Who is eligible for the Ink Preferred welcome bonus?

While other Chase cards have 24-month and 48-month rules regarding welcome bonus eligibility, that’s not the case with the Chase Ink Preferred Card. If you look at the terms, you won’t see any major restrictions associated with earning the welcome bonus.

For one, you’re eligible for the bonus on this card if you have any other Chase Ink product, like the Ink Business Cash® Credit Card (review) or Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card (review).

It goes beyond that, though. You’re actually eligible for the welcome bonus on the Chase Ink Preferred Card even if you’ve had that exact card before, and even if you have that exact card right now. Essentially as long as you get approved for the card, you can earn the welcome bonus on it.

If you have multiple businesses, it’s also possible to get Chase Ink products for each of them. There are even plenty of reports of people being able to pick up multiple of the same cards for the same business. After all, there’s potentially merit to keeping certain expenses separate, for accounting purposes.

Let me emphasize that a lot of the above is based on anecdotal reports. But as you’ll see with the offer terms, that doesn’t contradict anything published directly by Chase.

Do you need a business to get the Ink Preferred?

The Chase Ink Preferred Card is a business card, so you do need a business in order to get approved for the card (and you’re also supposed to use the card for business spending). However, you don’t necessarily need a corporation, and even having a sole proprietorship would make you eligible.

If you’re applying for the card as a sole proprietorship, you can use your name as the name of your business, your social security number as your tax identification number, etc.

What credit score do you need for the Ink Preferred?

There’s not a consistent rule as to what credit score you need to be approved for the Chase Ink Preferred Card, as credit score is one of only many considerations when being approved for a card. In general, I’d recommend having a credit score in the “good” to “excellent” range if you’re going to apply for this card.

Personally, I probably wouldn’t apply if my credit score were under 700, and ideally, I’d hope to have a credit score of 740 or higher. That being said, people with scores lower than that have been approved, and conversely, people with scores higher than that have been rejected. There are lots of factors that go into approval — your income, your credit history, how much credit Chase has already extended you, etc.

Does the Chase 5/24 rule apply to the Ink Preferred?

Historically Chase has had what’s known as the 5/24 rule, whereby you often wouldn’t be approved for a Chase card if you’ve opened five or more new card accounts in the past 24 months. There are increasingly reports of this no longer consistently being enforced.

It’s hard to know for certain what’s going on here. Some people are definitely still getting rejected for Chase cards due to too many new card accounts, while others aren’t.

Chase Ink Business Preferred approval FAQs

To answer a few more of the frequently asked questions when it comes to the Chase Ink Preferred Card…

Is it hard to get approved for the Ink Preferred?

Yes and no. There’s nothing that makes the Chase Ink Preferred Card in particular hard to be approved for, but rather Chase is among the tougher issues to get an approval from.

If you have a good credit score, a fair amount of credit history, and you’re under the 5/24 limit, you have good odds of getting approved for the card. Even if you’re over 5/24, you may still have good odds.

How long does it take to get approved for the Ink Preferred?

Approvals on Chase credit cards could be instant, they could take a few days, or they could take a couple of weeks. In general I find that Chase doesn’t issue too many instant approvals, especially on business cards, so don’t be worried if you get a pending decision answer when you apply. That doesn’t at all mean you’re likely to be rejected.

What is the minimum credit line for the Ink Preferred?

If you’re approved, the Chase Ink Preferred Card will have a minimum credit line of $5,000. That’s because the card is a Visa Signature, and that’s the minimum credit line extended on Visa Signature products.

Which credit bureau does Chase pull from?

If you apply for the Chase Ink Preferred Card, there’s not a single credit bureau that Chase always pulls from. It could be Equifax, Experian, or Transunion, depending on a variety of factors.

Is it bad for your credit score if you get denied for the Ink Preferred?

What are the negative impacts of applying for a credit card and getting denied? The only downside is that there’s a new inquiry on your credit file, which could temporarily ding your score by a few points. While everyone’s situation is different, personally I wouldn’t consider that to be a big issue, as losing a few points temporarily shouldn’t have major implications, and of course there’s a lot of upside to getting approved.

If you get denied for the Ink Preferred, can you apply again?

You sure can. If you’ve gotten denied for the Chase Ink Preferred Card in the past, you could apply again. Just because you get denied once doesn’t mean you’ll be denied again, especially if aspects of your credit worthiness have improved (for example, if your credit score went up, the number of cards you opened in the past two years went down, etc.).

Bottom line

The Chase Ink Preferred Card is offering a massive welcome bonus of 120,000 Ultimate Rewards points upon completing minimum spending, making this the ideal time to apply. If you don’t yet have the card, there are so many great long-term reasons to keep it, including bonus points on all kinds of purchases, excellent travel coverage, and awesome points redemption opportunities.

Hopefully the above answers the question of who is eligible for one of Chase’s most lucrative business cards. If anyone has any other questions on Chase Ink Business Preferred approval, please let me know.

What has your experience been with being approved for the Chase Ink Preferred Card?