Capital One credit card referrals

Capital One has long had a referral program, but since relatively few people carry Capital One credit cards, it does not get mentioned very often. The applicant does not receive any referral bonus; only the referrer earns a reward, up to $500 per year or the equivalent in C1 miles.

At the moment, generally only Capital One’s own cash back cards and C1 miles credit cards can generate referral links, including secured cards. Official lookup link:

You need to log in to your C1 account.

The credit cards currently eligible for referrals are as follows:

In short, these are Capital One’s own cash back cards and C1 miles credit cards, and the referral payout varies by card.

The terms also clearly state that the referred person must be a new C1 credit card customer. If they have ever held any C1 credit card before, including a secured card, they do not qualify to trigger the referral bonus. This is somewhat similar to new-account bonus policies at banks in China.

Since this program is about new people joining Capital One, you must be a new Capital One credit card customer for your friend to receive a bonus as part of the referral program. If you already have a credit card with Capital One, your friend will not receive a referral bonus.

Based on existing DPs, C1 referrals currently come in two formats:

  • Type 1: Card A can refer only the same Card A, with no option to choose another credit card.
  • Type 2: Card A can refer to any C1 card, limited to cards approved through the pre-approved flow.

The first type is easy to understand. The second type was also the first time the author had seen it. This post explains that less common referral format.

Referral links that point to the pre-approved page

This information comes from @Isabera (YeZhen). The link used in this post is her referral link, generated from her Capital One secured card. Feel free to share similar DPs.

This link shows the following pre-approved page:

  • The referrer earns $50 each time, with a cap of $500 per year. The referred applicant gets no bonus.
  • The referred applicant must be getting their first C1 card for the referral to trigger, including secured cards.
  • Referral bonuses differ by credit card. For example, Quick Silver offers $100 per referral, with the same $500 cap, but it can refer only the Quick Silver credit card.

This kind of referral income will definitely need to be reported on your taxes, and that is not necessarily a bad thing.