Yesterday, we wrote about a new welcome offer on the Capital One Spark Cash card that’s offering $1K and a $250 travel credit after $10K in spend. There’s also an almost identical version out for the Spark Cash Plus Business card, but with more cash, travel credit, and a heckuva lot more required spend.
The Cash Plus offer is good for $2,000 cash back after spending $30,000 within the first 3 months and adds a $500 credit towards a booking through the Capital One Business Travel portal. The $150 annual fee is NOT waived for the first year.
I actually prefer the lower offer on the regular Spark Cash card. It has better return on minimum spend, a waived first-year annual fee, and requires 1/3 of the total spend of the Cash Plus. That said, there are undoubtedly some big spenders out there who’ll be interested in the Cash Plus.
The Offer & Key Card Details
| Card Offer and Details |
|---|
 ⓘ $1960 1st Yr Value Estimate$500 travel credit valued at $440 Click to learn about first year value estimates $2,000+ Cash Back + $500 Capital One Business Travel credit ⓘAffiliateThis is an affiliate offer. Frequent Miler may earn a commission if you are approved for this offer Limited Time Offer: Earn a $2K cash bonus + $500 Capital One Business Travel credit when you spend $30K in the first 3 months + earn an additional $2K bonus for every $500K spent within the first year.$150 Annual Fee FM Mini Review: This may be a good option for business owners who prefer simple cash back rewards. Note that this is a pay-in-full card, so your balance is due in full every month. Earning rate: 5% on hotels and rental cars booked via Capital One Business Travel ✦ 2% everywhere Base: 2% Portal Hotels: 5% Card Info: Visa issued by CapOne. This card has no foreign currency conversion fees. Big spend bonus: Spend at least $150,000 annually and get $150 annual fee refunded Noteworthy perks: No preset spending limit |
Quick Thoughts
The spending on this offer will be well on the high side for many, but you would end up with ~8.5% total cash back on the first $30K in purchases, between the welcome offer and the 2% you’d earn on all purchases with this card. That’s significantly less than the 12% that you’d earn with the regular Spark Cash offer, but the total cash back is more than double.
If you also have a Capital One card that earns miles, it’s possible to convert cash back to Capital One miles at a rate of $0.01 per mile, so the $2,600 cash back you earn could be worth 260,000 transferable miles (including the $600 you earn for completing the minimum spend). Given that Capital One has an improved set of transfer partners, this option could make for an even better deal for many folks.
Note that, unlike the regular Spark Cash card, Capital One’s spending “charge” cards (like the Venture X Business) don’t show up on your personal credit report and won’t count towards your Chase 5/24 status.
Capital One Application Tips
- 48-month Rule: Existing or previous cardholders are not eligible for the same personal card if they have received a new cardmember bonus for the same product within the last 48 months. This doesn't apply to business cards.
- Venture "Family" Rule: Capital One now applies additional "family" rules to the personal Venture cards.
- VentureOne: You are not eligible for a welcome offer on the VentureOne card if you've received a welcome bonus on any other personal Venture card within the last 48 months.
- Venture Rewards: You are not eligible for a welcome offer on the Venture Rewards card if you've received a welcome bonus on a Venture X or Venture Rewards card within the last 48 months.
- Venture X: You are not eligible for a welcome offer on the Venture X card if you've received a welcome bonus on another Venture X card within the last 48 months.
- 2 card limit no more? Conventional wisdom and user experience used to be that you could have at most 2 Capital One cards. However, there are now frequent data points of some people having many more.
- 1 Charge Card Limit: Capital One only allows cardholders to have one business charge card, so it's not possible to be the primary cardholder on both the Venture X Business and Spark Cash Plus. This doesn't apply to authorized users.
- Hard inquiries are often issued by all 3 credit bureaus.
- Velocity Limits? It was once thought that Capital One would only approve you for one card every six months. While this is still many people's experience, we've now frequently seen data points of approvals for a second card within that timeframe.
- Application Status: Call (800) 903-9177 to check your application status.
- Reconsideration: Capital One no longer seems to offer reconsideration; it will only reprocess an application, which results in a new credit pull. The best number to call if you wish to discuss your application is (800) 625-7866. If someone comes across a working avenue for reconsideration, please let us know.
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FWIW, Doctor of Credit says this card does not show up on one’s personal credit report.
Thanks, that’s a typo. The regular Spark Cash does, but this one doesn’t. Fixed.