Costs & Pricing

Metric	Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card	Engine X
Annual fee	$95 (no first-year waiver published)	$0
Employee card fee	$0	$0; unlimited physical and virtual cards
Purchase APR	17.74%–26.74% variable (Prime + 10.99% to +19.99%; max 29.99%)	N/A — charge card. No purchase interest if paid by due date. No published purchase APR range. Marketing “0%” means no annual fee plus charge-card float until the due date, not an intro APR.
Intro APR (purchases)	Not offered	Not offered (not a revolving product)
Foreign transaction fee	$0	$0 (International Transaction Fee: $0 / None). Ordinary Visa FX conversion still applies (rate not separately itemized).
Late payment fee	$40	$40 per late payment

Rewards & Value

Metric	Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card	Engine X
Base earn rate	1 Ultimate Rewards point per $1 on all other purchases (uncapped)	1.5% back in Engine points on Qualifying Card Purchases (everyday / off-Engine spend, including flights even if booked on Engine)
Welcome bonus	100,000 Ultimate Rewards points after $8,000 purchases in first 3 months (posts 6–8 weeks after qualifying)	20,000 Engine points after the company activates an Engine X card and completes $2,000 in Qualifying Off-Platform Purchases within 30 days of first Card activation. Off-platform = card spend not booked through Engine.com. Engine travel bookings do not count. Employee/additional-card off-platform spend does count (company-level). First-time Engine X customer; one bonus per company. Offer ends 11:59 p.m. ET, 31 December 2026 (incentive terms updated 1 Jun 2026).
Redemption value	1¢/point cash (RPA contractual floor); Chase Travel marketed at 1.25¢; transfers at partner ratios	Official cents-per-point not disclosed. Points have no cash value and are redeemable only through the program. Checkout shows a point-to-dollar value before confirm. Secondary (TPG, 20 Aug 2026): statement credit described at ~50% of booking value — unofficial; do not hard-code 1¢ or 0.5¢ as issuer fact. Disclose user-selectable factor: 1.0× if redeemed for Engine bookings; 0.5× if using TPG’s statement-credit haircut.
Transfer partners	Native transfers (airlines 1:1; IHG, Marriott, Wyndham 1:1). World of Hyatt 1:1 through 9/30/2026, then 4:3 from 10/01/2026 (1,000 UR → 750 Hyatt). Unlocks transfers for Ink Cash/Unlimited points moved onto this card.	Not offered (no Chase/Amex/airline transfers)

Credit & Eligibility

Metric	Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card	Engine X
Personal guarantee	Required — authorizing officer liable individually and jointly with the business for all balances	Official apply page: “We also do not require personal guarantees.” Program terms: company is the liable party. Owner KYC still collected. Confirm no hidden guaranty in the Issuing Bank Terms accepted at offer.
Credit check	Hard pull on the authorizing officer (standard Chase practice)	Official: no hard pull, will not impact personal credit score. Soft-pull vs none-at-all on a bureau file is not separately named. Last-4 SSN is for identity verification (CIP), not described as a full credit pull.
Employee cards	Free; number not capped in public copy; individual spend limits and real-time tracking	Unlimited physical + instant virtual, including 1099 / temporary workers. Spend controls by employee, project, expense type, category, merchant, transaction. Physical cards ~8 business days. Company remains liable.
Product type	Revolving business credit card	Business charge card + spend-management card (pay-in-full each cycle; assigned line of credit; no revolving APR). Not a consumer credit card. Sibling: Direct Bill (credit line limited to Engine hotel/flight/car bookings — not this card).

Pros & Cons

Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card

Pros

• 100,000 UR / $8,000 / 3-month welcome bonus; authorized-user spend counts
• 3x on shipping, direct social/search ads, comms, and travel up to $150k per anniversary year
• Native Ultimate Rewards transfers; unlocks transfers for Ink Cash/Unlimited points
• $0 foreign-transaction fee and $0 employee cards
• Cell-phone protection plus purchase protection and primary business rental CDW

Cons

• $95 annual fee with no Global Entry, lounge, or travel statement credit
• No intro 0% APR — poor working-capital tool if a balance will be carried
• Personal guarantee + hard pull + unofficial 5/24 gate
• Advertising 3x is narrow (direct platform MCCs, not agencies); office supplies are not 3x
• Hyatt transfers drop to 4:3 on October 1, 2026; bonus likely unavailable if you ever held this card

Engine X

Pros

• $0 annual fee and $0 employee/virtual-card fees
• 6% (scaling to 10%) Engine points on Engine hotel and rental-car bookings — unusual on-platform travel earn at $0 fee
• No personal guarantee and no hard personal credit pull (official apply language)
• Charge card + Autopay + spend controls + unlimited cards for employees and 1099s; travel booking, policy, and folios in one dashboard
• $0 foreign-transaction fee in the fee table

Cons

• Elevated earn does not apply to flights or off-Engine hotels; marketing “up to 10% on travel” is broader than the legal category
• Pay-in-full charge card; $40 late / $40 returned-payment fees; no revolver
• Points have no cash value; official ¢/point not published; statement-credit value may haircut vs booking (secondary)
• Sole proprietors ineligible; U.S. entity + EIN required
• No published lounge, TSA/Global Entry, or card-insurance benefits guide; product is new (Mar 2026) so limit ranges and servicing quality are thinly documented

Verdict

Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card

Ink Business Preferred is the transfer keystone of the Ink family — 3x on the spend categories many operators actually have, $0 FTF, and a 100k welcome bonus, all at $95. Pair it with Ink Cash or Unlimited if you want the rest of spend at cash-back rates with transferable points parked here. Skip it if you need 0% capital, no personal guarantee, lounges, or simple uncapped cash back.

Engine X

Engine X is a TMC + charge card, not Direct Bill and not Ramp/Brex. Most SMBs stay Silver (6% / 1.5%). Skip it if travel will not move onto Engine, if you need revolving credit or transferable miles, or if you are a sole prop. Confirm the live 20,000-point offer (through 31 Dec 2026) requires $2,000 off-Engine spend within 30 days of first card activation.