Capital One Spark Cash Plus Business Credit Card: $2,000 Sign-Up Bonus; 2.4% Cash Back in Year One

The sign-up bonus on this card has increased to $2,000, and you need to spend $30,000 in the first three months. Since the card itself earns 2% cash back, putting spending on it is still worthwhile. This card also has a new benefit: in the first year, you can earn an additional $2,000 bonus for every $500,000 spent on the card. That works out to an extra 0.4% cash back, for a total of 2.4% cash back. This is a pretty nice benefit for people with high business spending.

• Spark Cash Plus application link

The sign-up bonus on this card is pretty good, so I’ve added it to the rankings.

• Best U.S. Small Business Credit Cards [Up to $4,000+ Bonus]

Capital One Spark Cash Plus Business Credit Card

"Note" If this is your first time applying for a business credit card, please read the "Business Credit Card Introduction" first.

Benefits

• Big-spend bonus: Spend $150,000 per year and get an additional $150 statement credit toward the annual fee, equivalent to an extra 0.1% cash back. That’s a bit low.
• This card is a charge card with no preset spending limit, but you must pay the balance in full every month; otherwise, the interest is extremely high.

In recent years, Capital One has made a series of changes to its points program. Its points can now be transferred to airline miles and hotel points. This means it has officially joined the club of bank points programs with transfer partners, and the flexibility of its points has improved significantly. Holders of Spark business credit cards can also transfer points to miles.

Capital One Points Overview

• Point Value: Average value is 1.2c/p, so 100 points = $1.2 (Point Values & Analysis)
• Redeem Directly: Redeem at 1c/p toward travel purchases or various gift cards; cash out directly at 0.5c/p
• Transfer Partners: Transfer 1:1 to Air Canada miles (good for US-China flights and infant tickets), British Airways (short nonstop flights, Avianca miles (good for US-China business class, ANA and Asiana US-China first class, and no YQ on award tickets), Qantas Airways miles (good for domestic US nonstop flights and flights from the US East Coast to Western Europe), TAP Portugal Miles&Go, Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles, Flying Blue, Club Premier, Asia Miles, Etihad Guest, Finnair Plus, Wyndham, and Choice. Transfer times range from instant to several days.
• Points Feature: You can pool all of your Capital One points into one account and use them together.
• My Take: Capital One has fewer transfer partners, so compared with some other programs it is a bit less flexible and valuable. The more useful partners are AC and Avianca. Redeeming points for travel at 1c/p is also a solid option, and you can still earn miles, which makes it much easier than transferring points for award tickets.
• Detailed Analysis: Capital One Points Guide>>

My Take

The spending requirement on this card is relatively high, but the sign-up bonus is still very strong. If your business spending is high, this card is worth considering. For long-term use, this card has a $150 annual fee but only earns 2% cash back with no category restrictions, so it may be better to simply apply for a Double Cash. After getting the sign-up bonus, you can choose to downgrade to the no-annual-fee Spark Cash Select.

Of course, if your spending is high enough and reaches at least $150,000 each year, you can waive the annual fee, so keeping this card can also make sense.

Capital One Credit Card Application Guide

• Application status can only be checked by phone: (800) 903-9177
• Capital One applications usually pull reports from all three credit bureaus. You may be able to avoid a hard pull by freezing some of your credit reports.
• You can apply for only one Capital One credit card every six months, including both personal and business cards. If you force another application, it will likely be instantly denied, but it will not result in a hard pull.
• One person can hold at most two Capital One personal credit cards at the same time, counting only Capital One-issued cards.
• If you do not qualify for the card you applied for, you may be automatically approved for a different card instead, usually a lower-tier version. You can choose to accept or decline it, and there will be no additional hard pull.
• New applicants may be asked to upload ID during the application process.
• More on applying for Capital One credit cards

Application Link