Frequent Miler's latest team challenge, Million Mile Madness, is almost done! The last two weeks Greg, Nick, and Stephen competed to earn 1 Million SAS miles by flying 15 airlines. But who completed the challenge with the most Speed, Affordability, and Style?
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There is a newly-increased welcome bonus offer available on the United℠ Business Card that can be highly valuable, offering enough miles to potentially fly partner business class one way to virtually any destination in the world (pending availability) and in most cases have miles left over. In fact, if you leverage the excursionist perk the way we’ve written about in the past (and indeed if you nested excursionist perk flights like Greg did), this could be enough mileage to put together quite a trip.
The Offer
Click the card name below to go to our dedicated Frequent Miler page for more information about this card and a link to apply.
| Card Offer |
|---|
75K Miles ⓘ Affiliate 75K miles after $5K spend in first 3 months.$0 introductory annual fee for the first year, then $99 After clicking through, be sure to click the link at the top that says, "Are you a small business owner?" to see the business card offers that include this card. You are not eligible for the bonus if you have received the bonus on this card within the past 24 months. Please note that the United EXPLORER Business card (no longer available) is a different product and does not affect your ability to get the bonus on this card. |
Key Card Details
| Card Name w Details No Review (no offer) |
|---|
$0 introductory annual fee for the first year, then $99 Earning rate: 2X at restaurants including eligible delivery services , gas stations, and office supply stores ✦ 2X United ✦ 2X on local transit and commuting, including taxicabs, mass transit, tolls, and ride share services Card Info: Visa Signature issued by Chase. This card has no foreign currency conversion fees. Big spend bonus: $100 annual United travel credit after 7 United flight purchases greater than $100 ✦ Earn up to 1,000 PQPs per year: 25 PQPs per $500 spend Noteworthy perks: ✦ Improved economy saver award availability ✦ Unlocks complimentary elite upgrades on award tickets ✦ Free first checked bag ✦ Priority boarding ✦ No foreign exchange fees ✦ 2 United Club passes per year at anniversary ✦ Free DashPass for one year (must activate by 12/31/27) ✦ Primary auto rental collision damage waiver ✦ 5,000 bonus miles at anniversary when you have this card and also a personal Chase United credit card. ✦ 25% back as a statement credit on United in-flight and Club Premium drink purchases |
Quick Thoughts
This card has now added some new perks on top of the perks of its predecessor, the United Mileage Plus Business Explorer card. New perks include:
- 2x on local transit and commuting, including taxicabs, mass transit, tolls, and ride share services
- $100 annual United travel credit after 7 United flight purchases greater than $100
- 25% back on United in-flight purchases
- 5,000 bonus miles at anniversary when you have this card and also a personal Chase United credit card
Those perks are in addition to the previous features of the United Business Explorer card. As I read the marketing material, I believe that having any personal Chase United card, including the annual-fee-free Chase United card (only available via downgrade from the personal Mileage Plus Explorer card) should be enough to trigger the 5,000 bonus miles at anniversary, which helps toward mitigating the annual fee on this card. The good news is that since this card is a new product, you will not be precluded from earning the bonus if you previously earned the bonus on the Business Explorer card. That means those who recently opened that card could potentially get another hundred thousand miles here if approved.
United’s newly-adopted more dynamic pricing model could actually help you stretch this offer pretty far if you’ve got cheap one-ways from your local airport. Even if you only got one cent per point in value, the welcome offer would be worth a thousand bucks. Of course, in many cases, you could do better. Unfortunately, United got rid of its award chart in November 2019. However, partner awards to most regions of the world should still be possible in business class for 100K or less (for example, partner business class awards to Europe should be 70K miles each way; to Asia 80K miles each way; etc). With the right partner redemptions, this bonus could be quite valuable.
Of course, as noted at the top, leveraging the Excursionist Perk, you could potentially do even better. For more on that, see these posts:
- Maximizing (and understanding) United Excursionist Perks
- United Excursionist Perk Maps. Visualize regions to optimize awards.
- How Greg toured Madrid & Africa for 40K points and $400 (#40kfaraway)
Keep in mind that this card is subject to the Chase 5/24 rule, so you will not be eligible if you have opened 5 or more personal cards in the past 24 months. However, this card will not add to your 5/24 count.
| Chase's 5/24 Rule: With most Chase credit cards, Chase will not approve your application if you have opened 5 or more cards with any bank in the past 24 months. To determine your 5/24 status, see: 3 Easy Ways to Count Your 5/24 Status. The easiest option is to track all of your cards for free with Travel Freely. |
| Chase 5/24 semantics ("Subject to" vs. "Count towards"): Most Chase cards are subject to the 5/24 rule. That means the rule is enforced in making approval decisions. In other words, you probably won't get approved if your credit report shows that you opened 5 or more cards in the past 24 months. Meanwhile, most business cards (such as those from Chase, Amex, Barclaycard, BOA, Citi, US Bank, and Wells Fargo) are not reported on your personal credit report. These cards do not count towards 5/24. Example: Chase Ink Business Preferred is subject to 5/24, so you likely won't get approved if over 5/24. If you do get approved, it won't count towards 5/24 since it won't appear as an account on your credit report. |
Furthermore, this is a business card. The good news is that many people have a business without realizing it.
| Applying for Business Credit Cards Yes, you have a business: In order to sign up for a business credit card, you must have a business. That said, it's common for people to have businesses without realizing it. If you sell items at a yard sale, or on eBay, for example, then you have a business. Similar examples include: consulting, writing (e.g. blog authorship, planning your first novel, etc.), handyman services, owning rental property, renting on airbnb, driving for Uber or Lyft, etc. In any of these cases, your business is considered a Sole Proprietorship unless you form a corporation of some sort. When you apply for a business credit card as a sole proprietor, you can use your own name as your business name, use your own address and phone as the business' address and phone, and your social security number as the business' Tax ID / EIN. Alternatively, you can get a proper Tax ID / EIN from the IRS for free, in about a minute, through this website. Is it OK to use business cards for personal expenses? Anecdotally, almost everyone I know uses business cards for personal expenses. That said, the terms in most business card applications state that you should use the card only for business use. Also, some consumer credit card protections do not apply to business cards. My advice: don't use the card for personal expenses if you're not comfortable doing so. |
Overall, this is a great offer that is worth consideration if you’re in the market for a United card. We do not often see offers this large on airline credit cards apart from the Avios ecosystem, and those require twice the spend.
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[…] New 100K United Business Card offer […]
Just a general question, but since this card requires 10k spend in 3 mos, can you use paypal to send to a friend/spouse/family member, pay the 2.9% fee ($300) and then just use that money to pay off your bill? $300 cost for 100k miles is worth it for me, without having to deal with MS’ng a bunch or stressing about meeting the min. spend.
just not sure if that’ll trigger red flags, paypal will block it, or if depositing/receiving $10k in payments and depositing it in bank account will trigger IRS flags, etc.
This is just a guess, but Paypal may freeze your account if you all at once send $10K to a family member who then immediately cashes it out. My guess is that you’d be safe to spread it out over a few months and send the money to different people.
Thanks Greg. Interesting note–I do have some legitimate spend of ~$10k coming up for one large spend (contractor doing work on the house). How will paypal determine if that is legit and not freeze my account vs people who do MS? My contractor has never used paypal before, so I’ll have to convince him to set up an account. WOnder if that’ll set off red flags with a new account receiving $10k (even if it’s legit and not MS). I’m happy to eat the $300 fee for using a CC to pay my contractor if that nets me an easy 100k united miles. what do you think? I don’t want to apply for the card if I can’t meet the spend without a lot of effort. (BTW, how quickly is the turnaround for receiving the card (physical or digital) from time of application?)
I think they’re smart enough to see when people in the same household and/or with the same last names send money to each other. Paying a contractor shouldn’t be a problem. You could even use Plastiq at 2.5%: https://frequentmiler.com/complete-guide-to-plastiq-credit-card-payments/
I don’t know/remember how quickly they send these out. Sorry.
Right after you get approved, just call the chase approval hotline and request to get the card expedited. They’ll send it next day air. Otherwise it takes like a week and a half to get the card.
Just FYI in your Best Offers area it says if you’ve gotten the business explorer bonus in the last 24 months you won’t get the bonus for this one. From your comments below I do not think you believe that to be true? Might be part of the confusion.
I noted this as well; need to update the best offers part of the website right under the first year estimated value to reflect the correct name of this new product, which does NOT have the word “explorer” in its name.
Thank you (and Kim)! I’ve updated that section.
I have purchased Basic Economy flights with the Personal MPE. If I get this card and cancel the MPE, would I still get priority boarding and full-size carry-on?
When you apply it says at the bottom if the website “A card product is available to you if you do not have that card and have not received a new Cardmember bonus for that card in the past 24 months.”
But your saying:
““The good news is that since this card is a new product, you will not be precluded from earning the bonus if you previously earned the bonus on the Business Explorer card. That means those who recently opened that card could potentially get another hundred thousand miles here if approved.””
I closed this card a few months ago from one of my business, but I have another business as well. Do you think if I open this card up under my 2nd business, I would still be eligible for the welcome offer?
See the comments above and the bold section under Quick Thoughts. This is a new product, not the same card. You can get it under the first business if you want.
Saw that, but when I click thru the links…and get to the final page to apply, it says if you had this card in the past 24 months language, you will not get the bonus. So that is where it is not clear? thanks
I’m sorry, I guess I’m not being clear. This is a brand new product, just launched this week. Unless you have applied since Thursday, you have never had this card before.
The card you closed three months ago would have been the United Explorer Business. This is the United Business. That kinda sounds the same and it kinda looks the same, but the good news is that it isn’t the same. You can get the bonus on this card (United Business) even if you previously had that card (United Explorer Business). You just can’t get the bonus twice in 24 months on the United Business or twice in 24 months on the United Explorer Business.
Does that make more sense?
That you for clarifying, that makes sense now. Not your fault, it’s all about reading the fine print, and I failed to realize this is not the “explorer” card, and what threw me off were the terms of 24 months in the welcome bonus language. Just a thought, I’m sure I am not the only one. Might be recommended to put this at the TOP of the page and notate that this is NOT the “explorer” card, and it is brand new product. Thanks again! Been a reader for years now!
Anyone know how long it take to see the increased award availability at United site after I got approved for the card.
As soon as it Showed UP in my Chase account online no card in my hand . But I want to book by Singapore points.
Good Luck !!
CHEERs
First Chase United had the 65K card last month for anyone .Then I got 2 Chase Bank United points offers .Now other offes I Smell a Devalue coming but maybe a huge points sale the day before just to b United Nice..
CHEERs
Is there a way to utilize these miles to redeem a first/busineses class flight on Korean Air or Asiana Air from the US to Incheon, South Korea?
I do not think you can use united miles for Korean Air since they are in two different alliances. (star alliance and skyteam) However, you can use united miles for Asiana, and it costs 80,000 united miles for Business one way, 120,000 united miles for first class one way.
Any links still alive for the Explorer Business 100k offer? Would be nice to pick up both.
What would be the best way to move from Chase Ink Business to this one? I opened the account less than 24 months ago but is the only one I have opened in the last 24 months.
Thanks,
Jeff
You can’t do that. You can product change from one Ink card to another (for example, from the Ink Business Preferred to the Ink Cash), but not from an Ink to a co-brand like United or Marriott.
Note that you do not receive any kind of welcome bonus when you product change, so you wouldn’t want to do that to this card even if it were possible.
If you currently have the Ink Business Preferred but don’t want to continue paying the annual fee, you could downgrade that to the Ink Cash. Then, if you want this card, you can apply for it. You’re obviously way under 5/24 and none of the Chase business cards add to your 5/24 count.
I just got this card with the $25K spend. Do you think that Chase would match it to the $10k spend?
Same here. I doubt they would do it but I might try to ask by secured message. I still have $12k left and it is going to be a stretch because I also am working on the cap one spark. I may need to try to get back to the money order game for a couple months.
As noted above, it’s a new product — not the same card you have. You’d have to apply for this separately.
Thanks Nick. I didn’t realize that this was a new product. I guess we could have both these United cards as you noted above and get 200k united points. Not bad! Just need to watch out for 2/30 since I’m already under 5/24
Any idea when this offer ends? I might wait for a bit to pull the trigger here given I’m working on other cards right now. Thanks!
Yes, April 2nd, 2020. That info should have been on our card page, but I see it is missing. I will add it momentarily. Thanks for asking!
Will you be ineligible for a bonus if you got this card with an EIN 18 mo the ago and then apply now using SSN?
The good news is you didn’t get this card. As noted in the post, this is a new product, so everyone is eligible. See this section of the post under quick thoughts:
“The good news is that since this card is a new product, you will not be precluded from earning the bonus if you previously earned the bonus on the Business Explorer card. That means those who recently opened that card could potentially get another hundred thousand miles here if approved.”
Another website is saying that opening the old card in the past 24 months would prevent you from getting the bonus on this one. Did you get it straight from Chase that this is a different product and you can get bonuses within 24 months?
We did. It was an update we got literally minutes before I published the post. I had originally written the same — that you couldn’t get the bonus if you’d had the Explorer version because that’s what they had told us. Three minutes before my post was scheduled to publish we received an email correction that it is a new product and that previous Explorer cardholders are eligible, so I was able to update before publishing.
Thats good news. Thanks for confirming!
No bonus PQP earning with spend on this card
Are there any limits as to how many Chase business cards one can hold? Thank you.
No hard limit on the number of cards, but you’ll eventually hit the max exposure they’ll allow you and then you may need to shift credit limit around if they’re willing to approve you.