(Update 9/21/23: I thought it worth reposting this now given that the 90k offer is back again.)
Last month I was approved for another Chase INK Unlimited card. A friend pointed out that the card comes with 0% APR on purchases for the first 12 months. I’ve never played the APR game, and this detail completely slipped my attention.
Given that Chase does not report balances on business cards to the personal credit bureaus, carrying a large balance won’t have any affect on my credit score or report.
Note, the 0% APR deal on the Chase INK cards is only on purchases, not balance transfers. You can check your monthly statement where Chase will break down all the details of your APR rate, including any limited-time promotions attached to a card.
It’s easy to get 5% APY or more with a 12-month CD, and the best high yield savings are not much less. Even after deducting income taxes, most people would be able to walk home with 3-4% gain. If someone has a $10,000 credit limit, they can charge $10,000 to their card in initial few months and make minimum payments for the duration of the 12-month promo APR period. They should be able to net a few hundred dollars by doing so.
Chase is typically easy with allowing customers to shift credit lines between their business cards. Thus, it could be possible for someone to to combine their credit lines into one gigantic line of credit, make as many purchases as possible, make minimum payments for the year, and park the extra money in a high yield savings account.
Personally, I’m not comfortable with charging large amounts with Chase in a quick timespan since Chase has been known to get nervous from such customers and shut down their accounts, likely due to Bust-Out Fraud concerns. (Also note, if you plan on applying for more Chase cards, it might be easier to get approved without large outstanding balances to the bank.)
I’m also earning less with my Chase Unlimited card than I do from my regular daily driver – the Bank of America Premium Rewards card. And so I consider there some ‘cost’ in sinking all of my spend on the INK Unlimited card.
In any case, I certainly have to spend $6,000 to meet the spend requirement. (My plan is to make a $6,000 tax payment and knock that out in one go.) I’ll also continue putting spend on the card at a casual pace over the next few months to increase my card balance in a slow organic way.
I’m mindful of the fact that as the 12-month promo expiration draws closer there are diminishing returns with utilizing the offer as there are less days which I can hold the funds in a high yield savings account. (We also don’t know what interest rates will be six months or eight months from now, but it looks like those will remain high in the near term.)
Overall, it’s possible to hit this hard – depending on your credit line – and potentially net thousands of dollars by riding this APR offer or other similar offers. Personally, I’ll be taking a more organic approach and will likely end up with just a couple hundred dollar profit. Small and easy win for me.
Please let us know in the comments below if there are any other good APR offers available.
(Update 5/21/23: Reddit user TupacalypseN0w notes that Chase has something called ‘credit access line’ which potentially allows you to charge more than your credit line. You can check first to see if they’ll approve the purchase above your credit line. This is a way to squeeze a bit more from the 0% APR.)
If I hit the minimum spend on a new Chase Ink and then transfer the balance to a different card with 0% APR and 0% balance transfer fees, do I still get the Chase signup bonus for the first card? Since I didn’t technically pay off the balance yet.
Hi all, do we have any solid data points on Chase letting you get a 2nd Ink with promo APR while floating another Ink?
I opened a CIU back in March this year and have the APR promo until April 2024 (6 months left). I was about to apply for another Ink and noticed their CYA/Warning on the terms: “Chase cardmembers currently receiving promotional pricing… are not eligible for a second Chase credit card with promotional pricing”. I did some digging but found nothing concrete. Even this thread has some reports saying they’ve gotten shut down/not gotten the promo for this, while others say they are currently floating multiple Inks. Wonder if anyone can shed more light on this, or perhaps any other underground DPs/threads discussing this more.
Also wonder if anyone has tested using a ssn+ein to bypass this by *technically* receiving the 2nd Ink/promo APR under a separate business. Or if paying off promo 1 would help…
DP – I was approved for multiple Chase promo APRs concurrently. Most were likely around 50% utilization when applying for next:
I did recently get denied on an application for the CFU promo from Jan (5% gas/groc + 0% APR?) but I believe that was because I was silly and applied for it 5min after being approved for the CIP, thinking it might consolidate the pulls – instead I was auto-declined and neglected following up with reconsideration line.
Can you please decode the abbreviations?
Not William, but I can pretty much assume in order of mention: Chase Freedom Flex, Chase Ink Unlimited, Chase Ink Cash. Then Chase Freedom Unlimited and Chase Ink Preferred.
I’ve thought about doing this before but it seems to me that it would add a lot of credit risk to your profile which would decrease the odds of approval of cards while you carry a balance (or even potentially shutdown risk – carrying balance is BY FAR the best indicator of bust out risk I imagine). I guess if you don’t plan to get any chase biz cards in the next year it’s a freeroll.
Given how lucrative chase business cards are this feels like a hogs get slaughtered type situation to me
Nope. Not al all. All incorrect. Depends on your credit history with Chase and your score.
I love the confidence using caps “BY FAR” followed up with “I imagine”
There’s also business reports, which will have your utilization as high in this case.
Then you might get declined for some other business CCs for this reason:
“Your business report reflects low payment amounts on one or more of your commercial card accounts”
That said, I don’t know if Chase reports to business CRAs.
According to Investopedia, “Chase will report your account activity to the business credit bureaus, which can help you establish a business credit history. The bank won’t report anything other than the initial hard inquiry when you apply to the consumer credit bureaus, unless your account is more than 60 days delinquent.”
Also wrong information. No idea how long you guys are in business or know this stuff. I cant assume much. I have only been in business 35 yrs so I dont know much. But I do know that nobody cares about your business utilization.
The amex bbp offer you posted is always good for this too. I’ve had 3 now.
Say I get approved for an Ink Unlimited at a $10K credit limit. If I transfer another $10K to the new card from one of my existing Ink accounts, is the entire $20K limit now eligible for the promotional APR, or just the limit that was given upon approval?
wondering the same thing
Yeah, I think that would work
Yes, I got approved for this card in April 2023 with a $8k credit limit. I have since transferred $8k from another existing Ink card and the full limit is now eligible for the promotional APR.
Sweet, thanks for the confirmation!
They might shut you down. They did us. A while back Chase updated terms to basically say they really only want one or limited promo APRs going on at the same time. I had 3 personal and 3 business cards, one each with high balance at 0%, perfect payment history paying the minimum. And a healthy amount of cash in two chase checking accounts. They sent a letter closing down the business accounts, then the business checking accounts. Then just to be vindictive and thorough, they followed up with closing down the personal accounts. In the end they got all their money back but they effectively committed false advertising by disallowing me to finish taking advantage of the 0% offer which was part of the terms at signup time of the credit cards. It’s also worth noting all these accounts were PRIOR to the new language so you would think logically that you’d be grandfathered in. In any event, its a shitty scumbag move. Of course no one knows or will tell you the official reason they closed the accounts when you inquire about it, but that’s the only possible thing that Chase wouldn’t have liked us doing given that they changed the terms AFTER we had all our cards and accounts. But YMMV. It may be best to either get a few and max the 0% ones at the same time in the beginning or to only have one 0% card at a time and pace yourself. Of course, interest rates on accounts will inevitably drop.
Ouch, thanks for the warning. If anyone can find a link to these terms please let me know and I’ll updat
You mind giving a ballpark / range of the total amount under 0% ARP?
I wonder that too, and what their history prior to that was. I did find this in their 0% promo terms: Chase cardmembers who currently have or have had a Chase credit card in any Rewards Program associated with this offer, may not be eligible for a second Chase credit card in the same Rewards Program. Chase cardmembers currently receiving promotional pricing, or Chase cardmembers with a history of only using their current or prior Chase card for promotional pricing offers, are not eligible for a second Chase credit card with promotional pricing.
I tend to put small purchases on the cards here and there after the spend is met myself.
DP, I’ve been floating about 20K on CFU coming up on 15 months, but I was definitely asked about it twice during business recon for other cards. I have 8 cards with them total, with only the 1 floating.
Appreciate the DP.
CFU is a personal card though, so they see the balance from your personal reports.
It would be good to see how much balance you can keep safely with Chase biz CCs.
did the Ink Business Preferred also have a 0% recently or only the unlimited?
I did the 90k unlimited offer in the branch and it had the same 12 mo 0%. I already have the INK cash.
I think it’s only on the two no-fee cards
I just got the Preferred and no 0% APR
Can we pay IRS tax using visa gift card?
Sure but don’t use PAYUSATAX.
Buy the VGCs at Staples at 5% cashback. Then use those on whatever spend you like.
Park the money in Fidelity cash sweep , returning 5%.
Or buy a 1yr treasury which will be a bit more tax advantaged.
If maxed out completely this is 8-9% effective cashback.
how can you park money from VGC to Fidelity?
New to this. How do you transfer money from VGC to Fidelity cash sweep?
You don’t, necessarily. This works on the Ink Cash. I don’t think it works with the others.
What I do is buy the VGCs from Staples. Put the money that you’d be paying your monthly CC bill with aside in the Fidelity (or other high APY) account and pay the minimum monthly payment on the Ink card. Use the VGC for all of your purchases and then come month 12, you should have a few hundred dollars in interest earned and then you take what you would have been paying towards your CC bill and do a lump sum payment to pay off the Ink in full before the 0% runs out. In addition to the interest, you’ll have earned 5x points since you’re buying the VGCs at an office supply store.