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I got an Ink Cash but had to verify my business…here’s what I did.

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The Chase Ink Cash is offering 50k after $3k spend in 3 months and it carries no annual fee. It’s a no brainer if you’re under 5/24. Luckily, I am under 5/24, and applied as a Sole Proprietor. I didn’t foresee this being a problem at all since I already have a Chase Ink Business Preferred with this business and thought if there was any problem, it would be that I needed to move some credit around. However, I applied and got the following notification:

a screenshot of a phone

The Rep said he couldn’t verify that the business was real said he was sending me paperwork to fill out that would require one of the following three items and mail back or fax in:

  • Proof of business address
    • A bill of some sort or tax filing
  • Verification of tax identification number
    • Which a sole proprietorship doesn’t have…
  • Name of your company

I asked the rep if something on the application was filled out improperly as I already had a card with that business so wasn’t sure why that wasn’t enough for verification. He said the application was fine, but he couldn’t verify, and applications were becoming more stringent. He intimated that a credit card bill wouldn’t suffice for proof… and that he could see it was a Sole Proprietorship and that wasn’t a problem at all.

It didn’t make any sense, but I figured it’d be a good learning lesson.

I waited until Monday and called the Reconsideration Line. 800-453-9719

I explained to the rep the situation and asked for some clarification and help assisting me in verifying the business.  He asked me to hold.  A few minutes later he came back and said that he worked around the verification block because I already had a card with that Sole Proprietorship. He then processed the application and I was approved.

If you end up in a similar circumstance, I would wait a few days and call back into Reconsideration. My instinct is that the verification was an error, and that the false flag was a processing mistake, rather than some new stringent policy against Sole Proprietorships. A lot of people applying as an SP don’t have bills in the business name, or any paperwork filed to officially register with the State.

 

Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.

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3 Comments

  • colleen March 27, 2018

    WADR, Read your title. Word by word.

    “I GOT AN INK CASH BUT HAD TO VERIFY MY BUSINESS…HERE’S WHAT I DID.”

    If you were a reader, what would you have expected? You were on this side of the internet once…

  • colleen March 27, 2018

    I’m rarely exercised enough to call BS on a clickbait such as this but come on, man.

    “Here’s how you get approved as a business. You tell them you already have a business card.” Presto.

    Please explain the folks who are first-time applying for a business card what your specific tips are. After all, that’s why they’d take the click-bait. Readers are hoping for help. You gave none. None.

    “I GOT AN INK CASH BUT HAD TO VERIFY MY BUSINESS…HERE’S WHAT I DID.”

    This is disgusting. This is what’s giving bloggers a bad name.

    • Miles March 27, 2018

      Colleen – the point of the article wasn’t to walk people thru the app process, but rather to illustrate that reps sometimes process apps incorrectly. It certainly wasn’t to say I got approved because I already had a business card and presto it was approved, but rather to provide guidance as to how to approach the same obstacle – providing verification for a sole proprietorship. It’s a sole proprietorship so the items that I was being asked to provide aren’t actually necessary and you should HUCA… odds are you will get a rep that will process it properly. Most SPs don’t even need reconsideration unless you’re tapped out on credit the bank will extend. Then the questions revolve around the nature of the business revolve around, revenue, nature of business services, years in business, but most importantly is your personal income as you aren’t applying via an EIN.

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