One of the best credit card signup offers around also happens to be one of the best point earning cards around: the Chase Ink Plus. The current signup offer for this card is 60,000 points after $5K spend in 3 months. If you apply in-branch, the $95 annual fee is waived the first year.
The Chase Ink Plus card earns Ultimate Rewards points. Ultimate Rewards continues to be my favorite transferable points program (see: Membership Rewards vs. Ultimate Rewards vs. ThankYou Rewards. Which is best?). At worst, you can redeem points for cash at a rate of a penny per point. Or, you can book travel at a rate of 1.25 cents per point. Or, you can transfer points to a number of airline and hotel programs and potentially get much better value.
Beyond the great signup bonus, the Chase Ink Plus is one of my favorite cards because it offers 5 points per dollar in popular categories of spend: office supplies, phone services, internet, and cable. I highly recommend signing up for autopay with your cable and phone providers and using your Ink card as the payment choice. That way, you’ll automatically earn 5 points per dollar for every bill payment. Plus, many office supply stores sell gift cards to other merchants. You can buy those gift cards in-store or online (at Staples.com) and earn 5X for up to $50,000 of spend per card member year with the Ink Plus card.
Do you have a business?
Chase Ink cards are small business credit cards. You must have a business to apply. That said, its not uncommon for people to have businesses without realizing it. If you regularly sell items on eBay, for example, then you have a business. Similar examples include: consulting, writing (e.g. blog authorship!), handyman services, owning rental property, etc. In any of these cases, your business is considered a Sole Proprietorship unless you form a corporation of some sort.
Have you ever had the Ink Plus card before?
As with most (all?) Chase signup offers, the Ink Plus offer has the following terms:
This product is not available to either (i) current cardmembers of this credit card, or (ii) previous cardmembers of this credit card who received a new cardmember bonus for this credit card within the last 24 months.
In other words, if you’ve been a Chase Ink Plus cardholder before, you may qualify for the bonus if you no longer have the card AND if it has been more than 2 years since you received a signup bonus for the Ink Plus card.
In my experience, you can also earn a new bonus if you still have the card and/or if its been less than 2 years, if you apply for the card with a different business. I’ll admit, though, that my experience with getting bonuses for multiple businesses is a couple of years old now, so I can’t guarantee that it still works.
How to improve your chances of success
I don’t have proof that the following suggestions work, I only have anecdotal evidence. Despite that, I believe that the following can improve chances of success in signing up for the Chase Ink Plus:
- Look for pre-approval / pre-qualification
- Apply in-branch
- Sign up for a Chase business checking account
- Sign up for Chase Private Client
- Use an EIN instead of your SSN when entering your Business Tax ID on the application
- Do not call if your application goes to pending
- Call if your application is denied
Look for pre-approval / pre-qualification
If you’re lucky, you may receive mail from Chase telling you that you are pre-approved or pre-qualified for the Ink Plus. In those cases, you will most likely get the better offer (with no first year annual fee) that is otherwise only available in-branch. You can also check here for pre-qualified offers from Chase: creditcards.chase.com/prequalified-offers. That site might only work for personal cards, though. I don’t know.
Apply In-Branch
Signing up in-branch makes sense for two reasons: 1) You may get a better offer (for example, currently the in-branch Ink Plus offer waives the first year fee whereas the public online offer does not); and 2) You might have a better chance of getting approved. When signing up in-branch, the banker you work with has a stake in the game and will usually argue on your behalf (if necessary) to try to push through an approval.
Sign up for a Chase business checking account
Business checking accounts must be opened in-branch. At the end of the process, you are likely to receive pre-approved offers for business cards including the Ink Plus. Go for it. While pre-approval doesn’t ensure final approval, I believe that in this case it does make it very likely.
Make sure to be prepared with necessary documentation and identification. Chase has a checklist here for sole proprietorships. Specifically pay attention to the section titled “Business Documentation”. You’ll see that in many cases you’ll need an Assumed Name Certificate, often referred to as a DBA (Doing Business As). Usually, you can get the certificate by registering your business name with either your local or state government for a small fee.
Sign up for Chase Private Client
This is another situation where I don’t know for sure that it helps with credit card approvals, but I believe it does. Read all about Chase Private Client here: Chase Private Client and Sapphire Preferred 65K.
Use an EIN instead of your SSN as the business Tax Identification Number
To apply for a business credit card, you’ll need a business Tax Identification Number. Sole Proprietors can use their own social security number as the business Tax ID or they can use their company’s EIN. While either will work, it can’t hurt to have an EIN and may help give your business more credibility. You can sign up for an EIN, for free, from the IRS: Apply-for-an-Employer-Identification-Number-(EIN)-Online.
Do not call if your application goes to pending
This is completely different advice than I used to give. I used to tell people that if their application isn’t instantly approved they should call the bank’s reconsideration line to get an instant decision over the phone. Based on a combination of personal experiences and reader input, though, I now believe this to be bad advice, especially with Chase Ink applications. When applications go to pending, people frequently find that they get approved without calling. When people do call, they often get tough analysts who deny the application.
I now see the approval process as going through up to 3 “gates”:
- Instant Approval (rare)
- Automatic Approval, sent by mail (common)
- Analyst Phone Approval (rare)
If you’re not instantly approved, then calling bypasses gate 2 and (I believe) reduces your overall chances of approval. Instead, I recommend waiting to get a letter in the mail. Hopefully it will say “congratulations”.
Call if you are denied (and call again)
If your application is outright denied (either instantly or by mail), then call Chase’s business reconsideration number: 800-453-9719, which is open Monday through Friday during business hours. There are many cases where analysts have overturned denials over the phone.
The analyst will likely ask a lot of questions. Make sure your answers match your application. Also, if you have multiple Chase cards, make sure to let the analyst know that you don’t need Chase to extend you more credit. Tell them that you are willing to move available credit from another card or to cancel another card if necessary. Be prepared to answer financial questions about your business. Be prepared to answer questions about why you want the card and how you expect to use it. There is absolutely nothing wrong with saying that you were attracted by the signup bonus and by the 5X spend categories.
If the analyst doesn’t approve your application, call again. Many people have had luck simply calling a few times until the reached an analyst willing to take a chance on their business.
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So I applied for the Chase Ink Preferred on Thursday. It said I would hear within thirty days on whether my application was approved or not. Today I called and it said I was approved. I was just calling to check the status too see if had changed to 2 weeks etc. Has anyone had this happen to them before that quickly? It’s only been about 4 days with the weekend in between. I am wondering if this information is accurate.
It’s pretty common to get approved more quickly than expected with some cards (although Chase usually takes a long time with their business cards!). Anyway, yes, I’d expect that it was accurate
Hi all,
I just applied for the Chase Ink Preferred card. I received the “Your application needs more review and you will be informed of a decision in 30 days.” Has anyone has any luck getting the card after receiving this message? Is my best cause of action to wait it out of call Chase?
Thanks,
Chris
See this resource from reddit. The link it contains to the approval guide gives a run-down of what the various messages mean:
https://www.reddit.com/r/churning/comments/65vg85/chase_nonautomatic_approvalreconsideration_guide/
Hi all,
I’m planning to start up a retail auto parts business and will have the corporation and EIN soon. I have yet to have a business checking account and I am planning to obtain a Chase Ink Preferred or Cash before I open it. I was wondering if anyone had any data points regarding when I should apply for the card (1 months after incorporation?), how to determine my sales revenue (I project about 10-15K or less since I’m starting out), whether the credit card will be sent to my home address or my business address, what kinds of questions will I be asked prior or during a recon and, finally, what are my chances of getting instantly or automated approval based on the following factors below.
1) I have a 770-780+ score.
2) I have not applied for a credit card for at least two years now.
3) I just finished paying off a Home Equity Line of Credit in 6/2016 or 8/2016.
4) I have only 1 active credit card with the rest closed due to my home equity line of credit back then.
5) I had a closed personal Chase Credit card that was around $13.5k limit. Will they factor this old relationship I had with them?
Also, I want to ask if anyone knows what other credit cards are best for my situation? I would hope to land one that is considered the “easier” one. I do, however, not want a CapitalOne Spark. I’ve had a bad relationship and experience with them before. Any advice from you all would be truly and greatly appreciated.
Thanks and best of luck!
Oh and I forgot to mention, for the length of years in business, do I put the honest answer of 0 or 1 year to play the safe side? Thanks again!
It’s always easier to do 0 years, 0 employees, and 0 revenue for new companies. Be honest. If you start fabricating numbers and they ask for proof you’re up a creek.
Hi Ken,
Thanks for replying. Really appreciate it.
In that case, is it a lot harder for me to get the Ink card? I heard that people have said that the Ink card is one the harder cards to get as the first business card. Is there another card that is a lot easier to get? I was looking at the American Express SimplyCash or American Express Blue Business but I do not know how my personal record would fair with it.
And is it okay if my business phone number is my cell phone number?
Thank you so much, Ken. You have been a great help to me. A lot has changed since I’ve done this back in 2006 and 2011.
Hi Jay,
It’s fine if your business phone number is your cell phone number. Plenty of people who just sell things on eBay now and then have a business CC as a sole proprietorship and use their cell phone number.
If you only have 1 active personal credit card and 0 business cards, I’d start with Amex or Citi (or even BOA). Chase didn’t approve me for an Ink card when I didn’t have any other business cards. About 8 or 9 months and a couple of business cards later and it was a smooth approval with no need for me to call anyone. As far as which one, it depends on your wants and needs. If you’re starting an auto parts business, some things I would consider:
1) Are you planning to buy inventory on your card? How much inventory do you need to be able to buy? If the answer is “a ton”, you might want to consider a charge card. I know people with Business Platinum cards who charge $50k-$100K at a time. You can’t do that in month #1, but if you need the card to grow with you like that, a charge card can (I’d recommend starting MUCH slower than that — I’m just illustrating that there is a lot more room for growth on a charge card). But you need to be ready to pay it off every month — you can’t carry a balance on a charge card like you can with a credit card (not that you should, but in retail, some months are different than others). If you’re going to be spending money on shipping, the Business Gold Rewards is a charge card than can earn 3X on shipping if you choose that as your 3X category. Charge cards are known to be easier to get approved for as they must be paid off each month (less risk to the bank). You can check the Creditpulls database at Creditboards.com to see the kinds of scores people got approved with and you’ll see that it’s not uncommon for people in the high 600’s to get approved for Amex charge cards. Instant approval is common. That said, with your profile you should be able to get approved for just about any Amex card — credit or charge. In fact, you could probably do one credit and one charge in the same day and most likely only get one pull. But, that brings me to #2…
2) Do the vendors you’re dealing with accept Amex? Your wholesaler or freight shipper might not. Check that if putting those things on your new business card matters. Of course, you can obviously still buy things like office supplies and whatnot on your Amex.
3) You could try the Citibusiness AAdvantage card. Signup bonus is at 60K. My wife just got a targeted mailer for 65K. She was instantly approved. She did *not* get approved for an Ink Plus last year when she had no other business cards. Since last fall, she opened a Business Platinum. Applied six months later for an Ink Business Preferred and got approved without a recon call. Then she applied for this Citibusiness card with instant approval. The Citibusiness AA card was actually my first business card as well and I was also instantly approved (with a credit score around the same as yours, but 7 or 8 new personal credit cards in the year leading up to the app).
4) BOA’s Alaska business is another option that probably isn’t tough to get approved for…though, in my experience, Citi was more generous with an opening CL.
Personally, I think my favorite business card on the market right now is the Blue Business Plus. At 2x everywhere on the first $50K, it’s an excellent all-around every-day earner (that’s worth at least 2%…more if you transfer and use for first/business class flights). But it’s new, so I don’t have a lot of data points on approval. Still, with no AF and great rewards earning and your profile, I think that’s the card I would want. I suggested charge cards above because they are historically easy to get — but, honestly, I don’t imagine you’ll have any trouble. The Blue Business Plus would be my pick in your shoes.
As far as sales revenue and years in business, etc….just be honest. I think most people over-think it on that stuff. It’s much easier to get approved for most business cards than you think and having low revenue doesn’t preclude you from getting one. The only bank who has asked me any questions about my business was Chase on my first Ink Plus app (I called recon after being denied…and was still turned down that first time. Second time was smooth sailing). When I first opened a business card, I was only doing a couple thousand dollars a year in revenue and I had no problem getting instantly approved. Whether your revenue is $500 or $500,000 a year, just be honest. I’ve never put down 0 — but like Ken said, if you can’t support it you might cause yourself a problem down the road.
One question — when you say you had one Chase card that was closed….who closed it, you or them? If *they* closed it because you weren’t paying it, I’d suggest trying to get in the door with a personal card like the Freedom or Freedom Unlimited before you start in with business cards. But I imagine you mean that you closed it…if you had a bunch of cards closed by the issuer, I wouldn’t imagine your score would be as high. In that case, it won’t hurt that you’ve previously had a good relationship with the bank…but it probably won’t help you either.
Hi all,
I buy/sell items on eBay frequently, but I do not have an official business with eBay. Would I be able to apply for one of the Chase Ink cards? Our cards are exclusively with Chase as we try and rack up as many points as possible for travel.
Thanks,
Chris
Of course. Buying and then reselling is definitely a legit business.
So I just looked at the application, where ir says “legal name of business” what would I put? It is basically just my personal eBay account.
You put your full name. Also you put your social for EIN as well.
Any update on your app status? I submitted mine on the 17th with no updates yet. How’s yours doing?
My latest app (for the Ink Business Preferred submitted through a Business Relationship Manager) seems to have gone into a black hole. I can’t even get the BRM to reply to my emails. No idea what’s going on
I would like to apply for business card and my question is:The online application asks for home and business address so where will chase mail the card if I’m approved for business card.Will it be mail to my business or my residence
I think that it defaults to going to your business, but I could be wrong about that. Anyone have recent experience? My home and business address are the same, so I don’t have any relevant data points.
My question is about “Call if you are denied (and call again)” in the above article. Chase rejected my biz credit card application by mail on 12/10/16 due to too many open accounts (6) in the last 24 months. I called Chase business reconsideration today (12/19/16) and the rep. just parroted the what was written in the rejection letter and said repeatedly I’m ineligible. Finally I got him to see that one of the 6 total open accounts is 24 months old as of 12/16/16 and so 5 open accounts is the current number. Two questions: Is it alright to call right back to try to speak with another rep or should I wait a week or so? Also, with 5 open accounts in 24 months have I broken the 5/24 rule?
Yes, it is fine to call again to speak to another rep. Yes, 5 open accounts is enough for them to reject you due to the 5/24 rule, but sometimes they make exceptions on edge cases. Since this was a business card application, another option is to ask a Chase banker to submit a special consideration form on your behalf, but you do have to have $10K in deposits with Chase to do so. More here: https://frequentmiler.com/2016/07/07/chase-special-consideration/
[…] you’re ready to go. Otherwise, go for a Chase Ink card if you’re under 5/24 (see: how to get approved for Chase Ink) or go for the Amex SimplyCash Plus card (found here). Both options require a business of some […]
Oh my credit scores run around 760 and my credit usage on revolving credit is never higher than 30%.
I applied on Aug 6, 2016 for a business ink card and requested a transfer of about 3000.00 from two other credit cards. I called the automated line that allows you to enter your SSN or business EIN to check status multiple times. Finally today I figured I would take a shot and talk to a rep to see what the hold up was. The rep was very polite and said it was actually automatically denied bc I had a recent (within the last 30 days) increase on my personal Chase Freedom credit card limit so I was automatically denied. She said your company is separate and even though you are personally guaranteeing it your business application shouldn’t have anything to do with the limits on your other cards. I agreed. She said hold on while I see if I can get this reconsidered and reversed. She came back and asked a few basic questions about my business such as gross earnings as well as type of property I rent out to generate revenue. Within about 5 mins she came back to the phone and said she had it approved but would start at a 5000.00 limit and would be eligible for limit increases in the future with timely payments.
do you need perfect credit to get approved?
No, but its always helpful to have very good credit. Ideally 700+
I recently applied for the Chase Ink Plus and after 2 weeks of waiting I bit the bullet and called in. After elaborating on my small side business the rep said ” I have recommended your application for approval, you should hear from us soon”. Has anyone else gotten this response?
Yes, that happens. I believe you are very likely to get approved in that case. However, don’t be surprised if the approval process takes much longer than 2 weeks. Lately it has been taking closer to 4 weeks. Unfortunately, those 4 weeks will cut into the time you have for spending the required $5K
Not so! The clock starts ticking on the 3 months beginning the day you’re actually approved. That still will be a week or so prior to when you actually have the card in hand & can start using it. But the time before you’re approved doesn’t count toward the 3 months.
Thanks for the correction. You’re right, the clock starts upon approval.
Is there any tax consequence / filing requirement for applying an EIN?
Thanks!
No, I don’t think so.
I drive for Uber and have a good credit can i apply for this card? i already have the chase sapphire preferred and American Express EveryDay>?
Yes, as an Uber driver you are absolutely eligible to apply. Of course, I can’t say whether you’ll get approved, but it’s probably worth a shot.
Can I apply for this card if I drive for uber? Just got accepted for Chase Sapphire preferred.
Question for frequentmiler: You quote on this web page a Chase policy that “This product is not available to either (i) current cardmembers of this credit card, or (ii) previous cardmembers of this credit card who received a new cardmember bonus for this credit card within the last 24 months.” This coming mid-May will be 24 months since my prior Ink Plus bonus; however the online application details no longer seem to include this quoted language. It now instead seems to say that having EVER participated in the same Rewards program would disqualify one from EVERr getting another bonus in the same program. Can you clarify your understanding of Chase’s current policy about this? Thanks.
First, I believe that as long as it doesn’t have the 24 month policy, you should be fine signing up again. As to the wording about having ever participated in the rewards program, that has been there for a while now and as far as I know it has never been enforced.
I decided to go the branch and apply for the ink plus. I went to the branch to save the first year annual fee. I currently have 6/24 so I was concern. I was approved the match my highest limit on my amex BCP of 32,000 dollars. This is my 4th chase card freedom(16,000), CSP(16,000) and Southwest( 6,5000). I was a bit surprised to get that high of a limit. Loving the 60,000 points though.
Thanks everyone the information here was very helpful.
Do you recommend decreasing the credit limit on other Chase cards? In the past when I have called into Chase it has been quickly resolved by moving credit around between accounts.
Yes, that’s a great approach
Applied for Ink+ on 1/25 – application status went to pending w/ “Call us as soon as possible” message. Took the advice of FM and other bloggers and DID NOT call. Checked daily on the automated hotline and found out today 1/28 I was approved! Card will be mailed in 10 days
Can’t tell you how much I appreciate everyone on the forums & blogs – flying to New Zealand in 3 weeks to visit my brother and just booked flights last night for the family to go to Florida for Spring Break. So great!
I got the “Please call us as soon as possible…” etc, message and went ahead called, based on the exchange above between MSPTraveler and FrequentMiler. I do actually have a business, which they asked me questions about, but they told me after putting me on hold a few times that I had too many credit card openings on my report in the last couple of years. Sounds like the same message that others have been posting about. Oh well. I am thinking that I’ll cancel my Southwest business card with them (the annual fee is about to hit anyway), since the CSR mentioned that my SW biz card was a reason that they didn’t want to give me “two business cards for the same business”. Glad I at least got approved on that SW card last year, because I am really loving my companion pass!
Thanks for this info. I guess the “do not call” advice should apply even to this situation. In your case, though, since you’ve already been turned down once, it can’t hurt to try calling a few more times to see if you can get a nicer agent. Also, rather than closing the SWA card ahead of time: when on the phone proactively offer to let them cancel the SWA business card. Tell them that you would prefer using the Ink card for your business.
[…] UPDATE 1/26/2016 Please also see this recent post: How to get approved for the Chase Ink 60K offer […]
I can’t find the 24 month language for the bonus anywhere. From datapoints that I’ve read, this is the case and you can apply (same business) under 24 months and still get the points. Whether or not you get approved is another question
I just see:
Earn 60,000 Bonus Points
To qualify and receive your bonus, you must make Purchases totaling $5,000 or more during the first 3 months from account opening. (“Purchases” do not include balance transfers, cash advances, cash-like charges such as travelers checks, foreign currency, and money orders, any checks that access your account, overdraft advances, interest, unauthorized or fraudulent charges, or fees of any kind, including an annual fee, if applicable.) After qualifying, please allow 6 to 8 weeks for bonus points to post to your account. To be eligible for this bonus offer, account must be open and not in default at the time of fulfillment.
From (non-referral): https://creditcards.chase.com/ink-business-credit-cards/ink-plus-card
I noticed the same thing — there is no 24 month language on the website. Is this a change? Did they drop the language recently?
The 5/24 is not something that is formally stated on Chase’s fine print, it is one of those (newer) rules that Chase has started to implement, some users have reported being told this as a reason for the denial by Chase’s credit department, many others have validated the rule by reporting their data points without being explicitly told so by Chase.
NoonRadar, I think we have a miscommunication. The 5/24 rule is completely understood to be undocumented, but still very real.
This question about something different: specifically, the language Chase typically includes that says you cannot receive the same sign-up bonus again until 24 months have passed. If you look at the terms for Sapphire, the restriction is clearly stated. But if you look at the Ink Plus offer terms… the 24 month rule doesn’t seem to exist anymore.
AFAIK you have always been able to get the Ink bonuses without the 24 month bonus language. Many people have many businesses.
That’s weird. I don’t see it either, but I’m pretty sure I saw it (and copied and pasted it) when writing this post. So, either they took away the rule or I accidentally copied the text from another offer (which is possible).
From an article you wrote back in May 2015. I don’t think you made a mistake – I think they changed it:
If you plan to sign up for the exact same type of card that you’ve had before, and assign it to the same business as before, then you need to make sure the old card has been cancelled and wait 24 months after having previously received a signup bonus for that card. This rule is listed here just for completeness. The truth is that if anyone earned a signup bonus 24 months ago from the time of this writing, then that would have been for the MasterCard version of the card anyway, so it should be safe to signup for the same card again since it is now issued as a Visa card (see rule 3, above).
Good detective work!
One more quick question. I got the mail invite, applied online using the offer code, and received the following message:
“Thanks for applying. Please call us as soon as possible at 1-800-759-4088 Mon-Fri 8 am to 10 pm EST to discuss your application with a Customer Support Specialist. We look forward to speaking with you. Please reference #xxxxxxxxxxxx when you call. We look forward to speaking with you.”
Would you still recommend I not call. This seems different from other messages I have received in the past. Since they are specifically requesting that I call, I am wondering if the application won’t proceed until I do call.
They’re asking you to call customer support not the reconsideration line, so it should be fine to call. They may need to ask some questions in order to process your application.
Made the call and was approved. Very nice guy. I agree with your assessment in the other post that the mood/personality of the analysts makes a big difference.
I just got the same message with my app. Was this in fact the recon team? What message do you get if your application needs further review?
Nervous as well about calling with the other reports heard.
I already have a ink plus card with my company EIN, can I apply another one with my own SSN , will I get the bonus?
Yes, if you have a different company you can do that and get the bonus if you’re approved for the card.
In the above scenario, is it the FEIN vs. SSN that makes it a different business or the business name/type of business that makes the difference?
For example, card #1 uses SSN and a consulting business.
Card #2 uses SSN and ebay sales.
Will Chase consider this 2 businesses or 1?
I think that it is the business name that makes it different, but its certainly possible that they’ll look more closely at your application if you use the same business tax id for two businesses.
[…] To increase your chances of success, please read: How to get approved for the Chase Ink 60K offer. […]
PS – (also for Greg or others with experience). The mail invite I received gives the option to apply by mail, internet, or by phone. I know the advice above is not to call in for reconsideration if applying via other methods, but I am wondering about just applying via phone in the first place. It give me an invitation/offer code to mention. Any ideas?
Forgot to mention in my post, that I used someone else’s invitation code. Just changed the details obviously and then applied online with it. Lots of ppl throw those things away in the trash at the post office.
Did you report $3K business income per month? What about revenue or any other figure/details that doesn’t come up when you apply for personal cards?
I’m curious to know if the invite code add any value for you, since it wasn’t yours, so wasn’t tied to your credit profile. My guess is that it Chase just ran your credit and approved you based on that alone, but more data points could prove my guess wrong.
I don’t think it matters which of the 3 options you go with.
Greg,
I received one of the mail invitations that offers 60K points with no first-year annual fee. I’m not sure if the mail invitation constitutes prequalification and want to avoid applying and being denied for too many applications in the past two years. Any thoughts on whether having received the invitation in the mail increases my chances?
My guess is that it does increase your chances to have a targeted offer, but that’s just a guess. Keep in mind that Ink is not subject to the 5/24 rule until March.
When you apply with an EIN for a new business, do they pull the business’s credit report or your personal? So you get a inq on your personal credit history?
Just a data point, I applied for a Chase United Business card for the wife on 12/29, did *not* call in, and got the approval email today, so basically three weeks. Don’t sweat it if you’re waiting. Just wait.
Personal. You still have to put your SSN on the application too.
Hubby called and got approved.
Do you need to file tax return for EIN? Assume you applied it for a sole proprietorship, and have zero avenue. Thanks!
No, you file the same as before. Corporations file their own taxes as well as other structures, but simply having an EIN means nothing as far as tax implications is concerned.
Thanks a lot for your answer. Appreciated.
Why do you say not to call if application is pending? I’ve now applied for 3 Chase business cards (Bold, Plus, Southwest), and all 3 were pending. I called Chase on all 3 within 24 hours and all 3 were approved. Is there something I don’t know?
As I wrote in the post, calling takes away the possibility of getting automatically approved. Of course its possible to get approved by calling, but with Ink cards it seems more likely to get approved by not calling
For you people that wrote that you don’t have a real business but got approved what did you put for the name of your business or is that not a question? Did you put fake revenue figures?
I used my name as the business name, put fake revenue ($5K in my case).
I’ve put zero revenue and gotten approved before. If I speak with someone I always talk about my expected revenue for this year, but it has always been modest (like $10k). Let’s just say my business hasn’t exactly gotten off the ground yet despite being in existence for a few years.
Already have a Ink with EIN. Want to open another account using my SSN and a rental property I have. Possible to get a second card?
It has always been possible to get a 2nd card for a 2nd business with Chase. I’ve done it for the Bold card before Biz #2 ended up failing in about 10 months.
Yes it’s possible. No guarantee that you’ll be approved though.
I applied on 1/9 and was approved on 1/15. Read FT thread on Ink Plus thoroughly. Did not call, even though it said to call immediately. Do not have a business, credit score is mid 700. Had 6 inquiries, CSP and Freedom, etc. Used Ssn. Knew that the 5/24 didn’t apply. The overwhelming datapoint that is consistent is basically, DO NOT CALL.
Just curious, if you don’t mind sharing, aprox how many new credit card accts have you had in the last year, what about last two years?
I have Freedom, CSP, UnitedMileage Explorer, Amex Platinum, Chase Slate, then applied for Chase Ink Plus, in that order. All cards were applied for in 2015. I did end up opening a Chase checking account a few months after acquiring the first 3 cards.
What did you report as your business income?
3K, 2 yr “business.”
If it has been pending for 2 weeks (based on the automated status call). Does that mean #2 is unlikely
(2. Automatic Approval, sent by mail (common))
Should I keeping waiting? Or call in after 2 weeks?
I would keep waiting
What’s the automated status call phone number?
I talked to a rep last Thursday and he said he’d recommend me for approval and that they’d have a decision in 48 hours. I followed up today and they said I was denied, but would reconsider.
(888) 338-2586
Thanks!
I downgraded my ink plus to ink cash on the previously held assumption that I’d never get approved for an ink cash due to 5/24. Will this downgrade affect my future application for an ink plus?
Thanks
I don’t think it will hurt your future Ink Plus app
Here’s another data point. I applied last Sunday, got a pending. Received email with “You’ve been approved! Welcome to Ink Plus®” on Tuesday (two days later). I used SSN, have no real business (if asked I was going to say travel planning). Credit is good but not amazing. I have 3 personal Chase cards and am AU on my wife’s Ink. Closed my Sapphire last year, might try again this year. No other Chase relationship.
YMMV.
What did you put as your business income?
5K.
Thanks for expanding on this Greg.
Maybe someone who registered for a business with an EIN primarily for the sake of business cards and miles can elaborate a bit on overall process and the effect of that EIN/business registration on taxes, or anything else worth mentioning, if any.
Also, as it pertains to Chase, do you (and others) mind talking a bit more of what info and paperwork do they usually ask for when applying for business credit cards and business checking account, whether in branch or online, like what seems to be a minimum business revenue/income for their business cards, projected or stated or verified income/paperwork, etc?
Any evidence to suggest that once you have a business credit card with a bank, it is easier to be approved for business credit cards with other banks? Thanks.
Does the Ink seem to have the same stipulation as other UR cards with the 5/24 rule? My wife applied last year right after she started her business and was denied based on the “newness” of her business. She now has an EIN and solid sales, so if the 5/24 doesn’t apply with an EIN we may try for it again.
No, the 5/24 rule doesn’t apply to Ink cards