What Kind of Return Would Holding All 3 Chase Ink Cards Net You?

The Power of Carrying All 3 Chase Ink Credit Cards

Chase recently launched their newest Ink business card, the Ink Unlimited.  It was believed that the Ink Unlimited would essentially replace the Ink Cash. That ended up not happening, for the time being at least.

These two cards offer amazing earning power for no annual fee business cards.  But what would happen if you added the Ink Preferred into the fold and carried all 3?  The earning power with those 3 cards would be about as good as it gets!

Now this is mostly me simply day dreaming. I will never be able to hold all 3 since I am way over Chase’s 5/24 rule.  It would be risky to apply for all 3 with Chase’s recent shut down reports. They are targeting people they think are applying for too many cards or have too much credit available to them from all banks.  However, there are people out there who currently carry multiple Ink cards and could product change their cards so that they carried all three.  For fun I wanted to see what carrying all 3 would get you.

Sign Up Bonuses

Let’s take a look at the sign up bonuses in case you were under 5/24 and were able to get some one of these cards:

• Chase Ink Preferred – 80,000 Ultimate Rewards points after $5,000 in spend.  You may be able to get 100,000 by applying in branch.
• Chase Ink Cash – increased bonus of 50,000 UR points after $3,000 in spend.
• The NEW Chase Ink Unlimited – 50,000 UR points after $3,000 in spend.

Getting all 3 cards could net you up to 200,000 Ultimate Rewards points worth around $3,000 in travel.  That is an impressive haul!  It may be best to grab the Ink Preferred and then downgrade to one of the other Ink products after the first year.  That would only work if you have another premium card like the Chase Sapphire Preferred or Reserve that allows UR points to be transferable.

I say that because the 80,000 (possibly 100,000) point bonus is the best of the three. Once the first year is up you may want to save on the annual fee and product change to one of the fee free Ink cards.  Assuming you have another premium Chase product of course.

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Earning Power

Let’s get down to the good stuff!  What kind of earning power would carrying all three cards get you?  I am going to base my valuations on a return of 1.5% for each Ultimate Rewards point.  This should be an easy number to hit if you use the points via transfer partners to book travel.

Every Day Spend – 2.25% – Ink Unlimited

You should get a return of at least 2.25% on every purchase since the Ink Unlimited earns 1.5 points per dollar on every purchase.  That is already starting us off on the right foot.  Anytime you are getting above 2% back you are doing well.

Restaurant/Gas Spend – 3%-26% – Ink Cash

You get 2 points per dollar on restaurant and gas spend with the Ink Cash card which would net you a 3% return.  That is decent but you can do better with some prior planning.  The Ink Cash also earns 5 points per dollar at office stores.  You can purchase gas and restaurant gift cards at an office store to lock in a 7.5% return on that spend!

If you consider stacking opportunities then you can get up to 26% off restaurants.  Staples recently had a Brinker gift card sale where the cards where listed at 20% off, and since it was Staples you would have earned 5X points on the purchase as well.  This will only work in limited cases but it is possible.

Travel – 4.5% – 12% – Ink Preferred, Ink Cash, Ink Unlimited

You get 3 points per dollar on all travel related expenses with the Ink Preferred card (4.5% return).  That is right at the top of the food chain when it comes to return on travel purchases.  You could purchase airline & Uber gift cards at office supply stores to get an even better rate.  This could net you 7.5% on some of your travel related expenses.  Make sure to put a portion of the flight cost on your credit card to get travel protection though.

Stacking can bring you an even greater return. Airline gift cards go one sale often, Southwest in particular.  They are usually 10% off and if you purchase them with the Ink Unlimited you would end up with a 12.02% discount on your flight.

Internet/Phone/Cable/Netflix/Hulu/Spotify/Sling – 7.5% – Ink Cash

Most of your entertainment needs and even your cell phone addiction is gonna net you a 7.5% return with the Ink Cash card since it earns 5X on everything listed above!

Social Media Advertising & Shipping – 4.5% – Ink Preferred

If your business has a lot of shipping costs (hello resellers!) or does a lot of social media advertising then you can get a 4.5% discount on those purchases.  The Ink Preferred racks up 3 UR points per dollar in those categories.

Rest of your Bills with Plastiq – 4.5% (2% Net) – Ink Preferred

Plastiq is a service that lets you pay bills you normally couldn’t with a credit card, like your rent or utilities etc.  There is a 2.5% fee making it useless for most cards, outside of minimum spend towards a sign up bonus. I said most because the Chase Ink Preferred has been coding as 3X for the time being.  That is a 4.5% return on Plastiq charges which equates into a net gain of 2% after factoring in the fee.  That doesn’t seem like much but remember that these are items that you normally can’t get any type of return on. Be aware there have been some issues with Visa cards on Plastiq so set you cash advance limit to $0. There are recent positive reports for the Preferred that it has been coding properly for what it is worth.

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Conclusion

As you can see holding all three Ink products can net you a pretty great return on all of your purchases.  This is a pipe dream for most of us but for those of you who can make it happen it could be something special.  I only wish it was 2012 again – I would be stacking up the Ultimate Rewards points :).

Disclosure: Miles to Memories has partnered with CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. Miles to Memories and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers.

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