Costs & Pricing

Metric	Ink Business Cash® Credit Card	The Business Platinum Card® from American Express
Annual fee	$0	$895 (new accounts since 09/18/2025; existing accounts moved to $895 on first renewal on or after 12/02/2025). Refundable if closed within 30 days of the Closing Date the fee posted.
Employee card fee	$0	$400 each Additional Business Platinum Card; $0 each Additional Business Expense Card; max 99 additional cards. Legacy accounts opened before 09/18/2025 and not notified of the change may still be billed $350.
Purchase APR	16.74%–24.74% variable (Prime + 9.99% to +17.99%; max 29.99%; Prime 6.75% as of 2/3/2026 pricing box)	Pay Over Time only: Prime + 10.99% to Prime + 21.74% (marketed 17.74%–28.49% variable); cap 29.99%. Does not apply to Pay In Full charges paid by the due date.
Intro APR (purchases)	0% fixed for first 12 months the account is open (lost if minimum payment missed; Default APR then applies)	Not offered
Foreign transaction fee	3%	$0
Late payment fee	$40	$39 or 2.99% of any past-due Pay In Full amount, whichever is greater

Rewards & Value

Metric	Ink Business Cash® Credit Card	The Business Platinum Card® from American Express
Base earn rate	1% cash back on eligible purchases (1 Ultimate Rewards point per $1; unlimited)	1X Membership Rewards point per $1 on other eligible purchases
Welcome bonus	$1,000 bonus cash back after $8,000 purchases in the first 4 months (Chase labels this “OUR BEST OFFER EVER”; prior $750 struck through; posts 6–8 weeks after qualifying)	Personalized — marketed as high as 300,000 Membership Rewards points after $20,000 eligible spend in the first 3 months. Welcome offers vary and you may not be eligible. Do not treat 300k as a guaranteed public offer.
Redemption value	1¢ per point for cash, gift cards, and Chase Travel. Other paths may be worth more or less. Do not assume transfer value unless paired with a transferable UR card.	Issuer does not publish a single cpp. Do not invent one. Pay-with-Points airfare is often treated near 1¢; hotel portal is frequently lower. Transfers can be higher or lower.
Transfer partners	Not native. Points can be moved to another Ultimate Rewards card belonging to you, a household member, or a company owner. Airline/hotel transfers only after combining onto Ink Preferred, Sapphire Preferred/Reserve, or Sapphire Reserve for Business.	Membership Rewards program (not card-unique; ratios change). Most airlines 1:1; commonly cited exceptions include Aeromexico 1:1.6, JetBlue 250:200, Hilton 1:2, Marriott 1:1, Choice 1:1, LHW 4:1. Re-check membershiprewards.com. Typical minimum 1,000 points. One-way. No expiration while the account remains open / program rules are met.

Credit & Eligibility

Metric	Ink Business Cash® Credit Card	The Business Platinum Card® from American Express
Personal guarantee	Required — Chase states Ink cards require joint and several liability of the individual cardmember and the business	Required in substance. CMA: “The Basic Card Member and the Company remain jointly and severally liable for all Charges.” Not a no-PG product.
Credit check	Hard pull on the owner/guarantor (SSN required; not printed as “hard pull” on the product page)	Marketed “Know if you're approved with no personal credit score impact.” Secondary: decision often before a hard pull; hard personal inquiry commonly reported if the card is accepted. Business bureau review may occur when an EIN is used.
Employee cards	Unlimited number at $0 extra fee (no published numeric cap). Individual spend limits, lock/unlock, alerts. Same liability pool.	Up to 99 additional. Platinum AU $400 with fuller travel benefits (lounge, hotel status, GE/PreCheck commonly reported as individual). Many statement credits remain account-pooled. Expense cards $0 without the full perk stack. Spend limits, alerts, freeze.
Product type	Revolving business credit card	Charge card with No Preset Spending Limit plus optional Pay Over Time (hybrid charge / limited-revolve)

Pros & Cons

Ink Business Cash® Credit Card

Pros

• $0 annual fee with 5%/2%/1% structure and a $1,000 / $8,000 / 4-month public bonus as of Sept 2026
• 12-month 0% intro APR on purchases (lost only if a minimum payment is missed)
• Employee cards $0; AU spend earns rewards and counts toward the bonus and category caps
• Cash back is Ultimate Rewards points and combinable with a transferable Chase card
• Primary business rental-car coverage up to $60,000 and solid purchase/extended-warranty terms for a no-fee card

Cons

• Bonus categories cap at $25k each per anniversary year, then 1%
• 3% foreign-transaction fee
• Base rate 1% loses to flat 1.5–2% cards outside the bonus buckets
• Personal guarantee + personal hard pull + commonly reported 5/24 filter
• Welcome bonus blocked if you ever had this card or another $0-AF Chase business card; no cell-phone protection, lounges, or TSA credit

The Business Platinum Card® from American Express

Pros

• 5X on Amex Travel flights / prepaid hotels / prepaid STRs, transferable MR, and 35% Pay-with-Points airline rebate
• 2X on defined U.S. construction, electronics/software/cloud, shipping, and $5k+ tickets up to $2M
• Global Lounge Collection plus $600 hotel credit and FHR/Hotel Collection access; $0 FTF; NPSL
• Business credit stack (Dell up to $1,150, Indeed $360, Adobe $250, wireless $120, ChatGPT Business $300) if those vendors are already in use
• CLEAR+, Global Entry/PreCheck, hotel elite status, and cell-phone protection on a charge card

Cons

• $895 primary fee and $400 perk-bearing employee cards
• 1X on most everyday spend; 5X does not apply to flights booked direct with airlines
• Credits are fragmented, enrollment-gated, and easy to miss; marketing “$4,000+ value” assumes utilization the business may not have
• Pay-in-full late fee can be 2.99% of past-due PIF; POT APR is high if used as working capital
• Personal / joint-and-several liability; welcome bonus is personalized (“as high as”) and generally once per this product

Verdict

Ink Business Cash® Credit Card

Ink Cash is the category SKU in the $0-AF Ink pair — not Unlimited (flat 1.5%) and not Preferred ($95, 3x ads/shipping/travel, $0 FTF, native transfers). It wins when office supplies and phone/internet/cable bills (plus some gas and dining) sit under two separate $25k anniversary caps. Pair it with Unlimited or Preferred rather than using it as an uncapped daily driver. Skip it for foreign spend, ad-heavy businesses, no-PG underwriting, or if a prior Ink Unlimited/Cash card already burned the $0-AF bonus.

The Business Platinum Card® from American Express

Business Platinum is the lounge-and-credits SKU — not consumer Platinum (different credits, broader direct-airline 5X) and not Business Gold (lower fee, auto-4X ads/restaurants/gas). It pays when portal travel, 2X categories, and enrollment credits are real spend you already have. Unused credits make $895 a net loss versus Ink Preferred or a 2% cash card. Poor daily driver for flat cash back, 0% capital, no-PG underwriting, or flights ticketed direct with airlines.