Compare the Features and Benefits of Chase Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card and
Citi® Double Cash Card

If you are a small business owner, I strongly recommend that you carry all three Chase Ink credit cards: the Chase Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card (this card!), the Chase Ink Business Preferred®, and the Chase Ink Business Cash®.

They all work together as what we refer to as a Chase business credit card “Trifecta.” The Chase Ink Preferred® allows you to transfer points to Chase’s Ultimate Rewards airline and hotel partners like United, Hyatt, and British Airways.

But then it makes sense to also get the Ink Business Cash credit card and Chase Ink Business Unlimited credit card to maximize your total earnings on bonus categories – since all points can be combined to your Ink Preferred.

Here, with the Chase Ink Business Unlimited credit card, it is your “default” card for your business spend. What I mean by that is that if the purchase you are making isn’t in a bonus category on your other cards, you would put the charge on the Ink Unlimited for 1.5X Ultimate Rewards points. This way you are never, ever getting less than 1.5% back on your business purchases.

There is no limit to how many Ultimate Rewards points you can earn on the Chase Ink Business Unlimited credit card, all at the 1.5X multiplier.

However, it is very important to know is that although this card states that you are earning cash back, that is only if you don’t also have a Chase Ink Preferred®, Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, or Sapphire Reserve® Card.

Yes, you are earning Chase Ultimate Rewards points with the Chase Ink Business Unlimited credit card.

But without one of the above credit cards, your only redemption option is to cash out your points for 1 cent per point, meaning that, on its own, it’s a cash back card and the points have an actual cash value of 1 cent each.

Assuming you do have an Ink Preferred®, Sapphire Preferred® Card, or Sapphire Reserve® Card in your wallet, however, you’ll be able to move your points from your Ink Business Unlimited card to any of those other 3 cards, where you will be able to transfer to airline and hotel partner programs like United and Hyatt – or redeem for travel via the Chase Ultimate Rewards portal where your points are worth either 1.25 or 1.5 cents each, depending on which card you have.

The Ink Preferred and Sapphire Preferred offer 1.25 cents a point while the Sapphire Reserve (with its $550 annual fee) gives you 1.5 cents per point when booking travel in the Ultimate Rewards portal.

The bottom line is that the Chase Ink Unlimited is simply a staple in the Chase Ink family of business credit cards. It backs up the Preferred and Cash with that 1.5% “floor” on rewards – and all with no annual fee.

When using our bonus spend calculator on this card, you’ll notice we ask you if you also have a Chase Ink Preferred®, Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, or Sapphire Reserve® Card. That’s because, if you do, we’ll increase the value of rewards on this card from 1 cent to 1.75 cents accordingly accounting for the ability to utilize Chase’s point transfer partners.

Please note: you must be under 5/24 (more on the Chase 5/24 rule) to apply for this card and you cannot apply for more than one Chase Business card in any 30 day period. You can apply for a maximum of two Chase cards within 30 days, with only, at most, 1 of them being a Chase Ink business card (or any Chase business card).

This card is also mentioned in the article Business Credit Cards That Don’t Report to Personal Credit Bureaus.

The Citi Double Cash® Card isn’t a card loaded with features and benefits.

But it has one killer feature that makes the card a must-have for nearly everyone and that’s the simple fact that it earns 2% on every purchase with unlimited 1% cash back when you buy, plus an additional 1% as you pay for those purchases. To earn cash back, pay at least the minimum due on time.

And before we forget, it also comes with a pretty amazing intro offer for balance transfers, as outlined in the Key Facts at the top of the page and in the 0% Intro APR on Balance Transfers section above.

You don’t have to think about bonus categories with this credit card. The answer to “what will I earn here” is always 2% as long as you pay your bill.

Just one caveat: the Double Cash does not come with some expected benefits, like trip protections or purchase protection. However, it does have extended warranty making it a solid choice for retail purchases.

That said, why is it a must have credit card for nearly everyone?

Three reasons:

1) There is no consumer credit card issued by a major bank that earns a higher % of cash back with no annual fee, no limit on cash back, and no “other requirements.” None.

2) You can use this as your one credit card if you are completely averse to using multiple credit cards (although you’ll need to be aware of the foreign transaction fees charged if you travel internationally). But even better is to use this as your “default” card. What I mean by that is you may have a card that earns 4X on dining and groceries and another that earns 3% on drugstores, but that’s it. What about an insurance payment? What about daycare?

On most other credit cards, if you aren’t spending in a bonus category, you only earn 1X or 1% back. For example, the Citi Strata℠ Premier Card pays 3X in certain categories (Air/Hotel, Gas, Restaurants and Supermarkets) and 1X in everything else. So you can “Double Up” by having both cards.

The Citi Double Cash card earns 2X Thank You® points on everything. If your purchase is in a Citi Premier card bonus category, go ahead and make the purchase with your Citi Strata℠ Premier Card. If it’s in any other category, make the purchase with your Double Cash card. That way, you’ll get one percent when you make the purchase and another percent when you pay it. With a Double Cash card in your pocket, you can always take it out when you have no bonus category available, ensuring that you never, ever earn less than 2% back on any purchases.

3) While you’ll earn cash back rewards with this card, it earns it as ThankYou® points. If you only have the Double Cash alone, that keeps things simple. It’s cash! You can cash out as a statement credit, via direct deposit to your bank account, or by check.

Pair with a Citi Strata℠ Premier Card – a great credit card strategy

In that case, once again, you simply pair this card with a Citi Strata℠ Premier Card. That would allow you to pool all of your ThankYou® points together and, because of the Premier, you’ll unlock access to all of the transfer options listed below, the best kind of credit card rewards:

What are some of the ways you can use Citi ThankYou® points for outsized value with a Citi Strata℠ Premier Card?

We outline all of that on the Citi Strata℠ Premier Card page, since that is the card that unlocks these features. Please take a look at the Citi Strata℠ Premier Card review for everything you need to know about using Citi ThankYou® points.

The Citi Trifecta: With the Citi Strata℠ Premier Card and then a Citi Rewards+ Card, earn a 10% Points Rebate on Redemptions

Unfortunately, the Rewards+ is no longer available to new applicants. However, if you already have one you’re reaping an additional benefit.

Each calendar year, Citi will rebate back 10% of the first 100,000 ThankYou® Points that you spend, so you can get back up to 10,000 points per year Best of all, it isn’t tied in any way to your spending on the card. Just having the Rewards+ in your profile and linked to the same ThankYou account will ensure that you get the rebate.

Citi Application Rules

Citi won’t approve more than 2 cards in a 60-day period, although we recommend 65 days, just to be safe. This means that if you decide to apply for the Double Cash and combo with a Citi Strata℠ Premier Card card, you are good to get both at any time. A 3rd Citi card would require waiting tunnel 60days passed.

Bottom Line

The Citi Double Cash is quite simply a card that should be in 99% of wallets. The 2% cash back on everything (1% when you purchase and 1% when you pay your bill), with no annual fee, is too good to pass up, even if you are using it in conjunction with other credit cards to maximize your bonus categories – as you should be!