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New Ink Bold Card Benefits and 50,000 Point Sign-up Bonus

by on November 28, 2011 · 26 comments

in American Express, Chase, Credit Cards

On Friday I initially wrote about Ink Bold’s 50,000 offer going away and new card benefits being announced. Today they officially launched the new card, which also has a 50,000 point sign-up bonus as well as some interesting new benefits.

The major difference is that the old offer (which I also applied for), gave spend threshold spend bonuses: “Annually, once you exceed $25,000 in net purchases you will receive 7,500 bonus points, once you exceed $50,000 in net purchases you will receive an additional 15,000 bonus points, and once you exceed $100,000 in net purchases you will receive an additional 25,000 bonus points.”

The new offer has category bonuses:

Earn 5X points per $1 on the first $50,000 spent annually at office supply stores, on cable and wireless service, and landline communications
Earn 2X points per $1 on the first $50,000 spent annually on gas and hotels

Additionally, the new card will give Priority Pass membership and waive foreign transaction fees.

So which offer is better? It depends on how much you spend, what you spend it on and what other cards you currently have. For example, the Priority Pass and no foreign transaction fees doesn’t particularly appeal to me since I get a higher version of Priority Pass (Select) with my Amex Platinum and that card and my Sapphire Preferred both don’t have foreign transaction fees.

This new offer does make a lot of sense if you have a lot of office supply/cable/wireless/gas and hotel spend. If you spend a lot on other expenses, getting grandfathered into the older spend bonus categories might have made more sense, since you can earn an additional 47,500 points a year if you spend $100,000 a year or more.

The good thing is that Chase is pretty flexible. Even if you got the old offer last week, you should probably be able to switch to the new one if you want- just send them a secure message and add in a reason (like I really want the spend bonuses and no foreign transaction fees). I think I may keep my spend bonuses and then try to switch to the new product. Either way, it’s interesting to see Chase getting very competitive with Amex’ Business Rewards Gold card! I wouldn’t be surprised to see Amex take the foreign transaction fees off that card as well.

New offer details.

Disclaimer: This content is not provided or commissioned by the credit card issuer. Opinions expressed here are author.s alone, not those of the credit card issuer, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the credit card issuer. This site may be compensated through the credit card issuer Affiliate Program.

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  • Eric

    I applied for the old offer on Friday when all the blogs were touting the demise of the 50k offer. I called in this morning and verified some info and was approved. I will definitely send a SM to try and get the new offer. The category bonuses are more important to me than the spend bonuses as this won’t be my everyday card so I don’t see spending enough to trigger the better bonuses.

  • Dr Credit Card

    TPG: thanks for the post. The change of the Ink Bold is quite disappointing: now it has the same 5-2-1 earning structure as the Ink Classic/Cash and the only difference is that Ink Bold charges $95/year for the privilege of having the premium redemption features: 1.25 cent per point via UR Travel and 1:1 transfer to airlines/hotels ( well you also have the $0 forex fees). Since if u have one “premium” UR card – Sapphire Preferred, JPM Select or Ink Bold, all your UR points can be pooled together, I consider it a downgrade – if say you have Sapphire Preferred you only need Ink Classic which is free why pay $95 for Bold? Also note that the old Ink Bold pairs with Ink Classic very well and no more for the new Ink Bold!

  • Sfujj

    Hello, I just applied for the Chase Sapphire card last week. If I apply for this card, will Chase decline my credit application considering i also applied for the Sapphire card.

    By the way my credit score is 790.

  • Atxdude79

    How is this worse? If you spend $25k+ a year on your business the 7500 point bonus is nothing compared to the 25k x 5 you could potentially get, or even if you assume an average 2x across all spending that’s still an extra 25000 points.

  • Anonymous

    We have a business that easily spends $120K in a year on credit cards, but a lot of those purchases don’t fall under these category bonuses. For sheer spending, the old setup was better.

    I agree with Dr. Credit Card… seems better to get the free version and combine with Sapphire Preferred, kind of like the Freedom.

  • Neil

    By the way, I got this card as well today in the mail (applied last week). When I talked to two different representatives (one claiming to be a supervisor), they both told me they could NOT switch me over to the new version of this card with the category spends. They both told me I would have to try and apply all over again for the Ink Bold card as a separate application. I’m hoping that a SM might prove to pay off, but I’m not sure at this point. Any tips Brian?

  • Yong

    I applied for and was approved for the card last month, and now I’m not sure what to believe. I called twice, once getting a supervisor who claimed I didn’t have the Ink Bold card (or that there were two Ink Bold cards), and the second who said that the benefits changes would be across the board since they wouldn’t be able to track which Bold card someone has. As a point of note though, I asked the supervisor what the benefits of my card were, and he took several minutes to look it up. After that fiasco, I simply asked the second one if my card has a 3% forex fee still, and was told no.

  • Anonymous

    It’ll get declined off the bat, but you can call the business card reconsideration line at 1-800-453-9719 and they should be able to approve your application

  • Anonymous

    I’m in the same boat. I don’t have my card yet, but I’ll let you know what they say when I want to switch. Though I’m not 100% sure I’m going to switch right away

  • Anonymous

    This just launched officially today so I’d give it a couple days. I’m sure they will be getting more calls of people wanting this new enhanced product. Chase is very customer focused so I’m sure they will accommodate.

  • Neil

    I’m not sure what to believe either Yong. I was told by both people I talked to that my Ink Bold card DOES have the foreign fee, and I just got my card today!

  • Neil

    Thanks for the feedback!

  • http://drcreditcard.weebly.com Dr Credit Card

    I was actually not comparing the new and old Ink Bold directly – I think a better way of doing this is to compare the new and old Ink Bold + Classic combo. The old combo is very attractive since they complement each other very well and you can maximize your earning. The new combo – well very few people will actually get the combo because the two cards are just too similar. If you only want one premium UR card, then Ink Bold makes sense. However, if you already have Sapphire Preferred or JPM Select, you d probably better just go with Ink Classic. Of course, here we are not talking about signup bonus – the 50K offer with 1st annual fee waiver is great. I look at both Ink more closely and here is what I will summarize: the benefits of Ink Bold ($95/year more) over Ink Classic are: 1) $0 forex fees; 2) two premium UR redemption features; 3) 50K spending cap on 5x and 2x bonus categories vs. 25K; 4) Priority Pass with two free entries (Note that the old Ink Classic AND Ink Bold have Priority Pass with two free entries just for the 1st year and Chase just removed that benefit from Ink Classic and enhanced that feature on Ink Bold).

  • Scott

    Here is what happened when I tried to switch to the new bonus program. I received the Ink Bold card about 3 months ago.

    Thank you for contacting Chase.

    I would like to inform you that, when you apply for a
    card, there are various sign up offers given to the
    cardmembers. Further, at this time, I am unable to change
    your account to a different product. I apologize for any
    inconvenience this may cause you.

    As an alternative, you may apply for a new Chase credit
    card with the new offers and no foreign transaction fees.
    For new account applications, please visit our web site at
    http://www.chase.com. Select “Credit Cards” from the “Personal
    Banking” section. Then choose the card and apply for a
    new account online.

    When selecting the credit card that best meets your needs,
    please remember that our policy no longer allows for
    customers to have more than one credit card in the same
    product. Applications for a card product you already have
    may not be eligible for approval.

    If you have any further questions, please reply using the
    Secure Message Center.

    Thank you,

    Oh well, I guess I will apply for the classic.

  • Cotter77

    so does all of this mean that one could apply and get bonuses to both the old and the new INK BOLD card. I got my INK BOLD a few months ago.
    should we be planning togo for a second 50k points in a few more months?

  • Rosie5442

    I applied this week and got a response that says they will contact me. The title says thank you for applying for “Ink Bold World Elite”
    Which card is this?

  • PJ

    is it correct? to apply for INK BOLD you have to be ready to prove you have ligitimate bunisess?

  • Yong

    Well, decided to give Chase customer service another chance, and this time I got an agent who seemed very certain in what he was saying, which was helpful.

    He said that this new Ink Bold is a different product altogether, and is listed separately in their system (the original just as Ink Bold, this new one as Ink Bold with a number after it, presumably to denote the next iteration) and because of that, they are unable to convert my account to the new benefits. I expressed my disappointment in that, and basically asked how I could get the new benefits. His answer was that I would have to go through the application process again, go through a credit analyst again, etc. Doesn’t look hopeful for those, like me, who really like the new category bonuses.

  • Anonymous

    On the plugs side there’s a chance we may be able I get the 50k sign up bonus again

  • ER

    Well finally got approved today after an exhausting process. Got sapphire preferred instantly with a high limit but was denied Ink Bold. After talking with reconsideration line over the past two weeks, sending tax returns for the business, lots of other information, they finally approved today. Analyst called and told me the card was better than Amex cards and I would love it, well we will see, applied for the Amex business rewards Monday for 50k bonus and was approved instantly, in addition, they sent the card overnight and I got it yesterday. I do have a very good history with Amex and they are the best by far, Chase was a pain in the butt to deal with but we will see. Also, I asked if I would get the new benefits or old benefits as the card was approved today. They did not know. I called back and customer service does not know. They think it is new product since it was approved today but not sure as it could be old product since application was 2 weeks ago. So, I laugh when they say they are better than Amex, they seem clueless to me. We will see when I get the card in 2 weeks as he said if it is new or old product. Anyone have a guess as to which it could be?

  • Uknair

    Could someone clarify if you can link the new Ink Bold to a Chase business checking account for the 20% bonus on UR points?

  • Susacru

    Received my card yesterday. I applied 3 days before the new features where announced but was not approved until 10 days after because I called reconsideration line. Anyway, I received the old card. I inquired and was Te it was because of application date. However she said within 60 days all ink Bolsa would be migrated to new features. That it was a systems issue and old benefits would go away.

  • jfw

    I received my Ink Bold card a couple of days ago, called to request switch to the new version and was told the same thing: apply for the new card. But I was also told that if I wait 3 or 4 months and call back, they could switch the version at that time after “the new version gets in the system.” That seems sort of surprising, so I’m going to call again in the next few days and see if I get the same response.

    Has anyone received a similar response?

  • Yodread

    Chase will not ( cannot) change you from the “old card Ink bold” to the newer version with the category bonus structure. I tried via SM/ and multiple phone conversations to no avail. U are advised that you need to re apply for the new version of the card. The one caveat you have is this. Reject the terms for the ‘old’ card after receiving it and prior to initial use of the card. Chase then must report this action to the credit bureau(s) utilized in the approval process. I am advised by chase lending dept. that this rejection action essentially void the credit pull utilized by Chase during the card application. Then, apply for the newer version of the card, thus technically avoiding 2 credit pulls for the card. You do not have to wait to re apply for the new card after rejecting the old version. If application is not approved based on time bet. applications, calling chase lending 800 -453-9719 will result in approval.

  • http://www.felipeyang.com Felipe Yang

    We just got the card as this new Ink Bold is perfect for our business. Each year we spend about $10,000 on Wireless/Cable, $5000 or so in office supplies, and another $10,000 in Gas. That’s 95,000 points for only $25k spend we need to do anyway.

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