There is currently a 100,000-mile welcome bonus on the Capital One Venture X, so this is a good time to update Capital One’s application rules to help avoid unnecessary hard pulls and improve your approval odds. Details below.

Overview

Capital One credit cards are heavily advertised, but they have not always had the best reputation. Recently, however, Capital One has strengthened its card lineup by adding transferable points to airline miles functionality, which is now a standard feature on mainstream travel cards, and by increasing welcome bonuses. This article covers 18 things you should know about Capital One credit cards.

Applications

1. Capital One credit card applications may pull credit reports from all three bureaus: TransUnion, Experian, and Equifax. This is one of the biggest complaints about Capital One, because each pull can have some impact on the score that bureau reports. If all three bureaus are hard-pulled at once, all three scores may drop. And for issuers that are sensitive to recent hard inquiries, the fewer hard pulls the better. Major card issuers such as AMEX, Chase, and Citi usually pull only one or two bureaus, which means at least one bureau’s score may remain unaffected.

2. Capital One may still approve a credit card even if one credit bureau report is frozen. The issue above can sometimes be avoided by freezing a bureau report so the issuer cannot access it during review, which also prevents a hard pull there. Based on current information, freezing TU or EX generally does not affect the application, but freezing EQ does. If you care a lot about hard pulls, you may want to consider freezing one bureau.

3. You may be able to earn the welcome bonus on the same Capital One card more than once, but for personal cards, if you received the bonus within the past 48 months, you cannot earn a new one. Based on prior information, Capital One did not strictly limit how often you could earn a welcome bonus. In other words, you could apply under a certain offer and earn the bonus after meeting the spending requirement. However, the application page still includes the language: “Existing or previous Accountholders may not be eligible for this one-time bonus.” If you currently have or previously had the card, you may not be eligible for the welcome bonus, so recent data points are still important here.

4. You can generally be approved for only one Capital One credit card every six months, and both personal and business cards count. If you force another application, you may get an instant denial but no hard pull. Also, you can submit only two Capital One applications within 30 days; more than that will also be automatically denied. The one-card-every-six-months rule seems stricter, but it is not written into the terms and is based only on experience. The two applications per 30 days rule is mainly there to prevent repeated submissions, so there is not much point in applying too aggressively.

5. If you do not qualify for the specific Capital One card you applied for, you may instead be approved for a different card, usually a lower-tier version. You can accept or decline it, and it will not trigger another hard pull. For example, if you apply for the Capital One Savor card but your income is low or your credit score is not high enough, Capital One may decide not to approve you for Savor. It may instead offer you the lower-tier SavorOne. In that case, the welcome bonus and benefits would be those of the SavorOne. This process does not create a new hard pull, and you can also decline the offer. If you do, then you were hard-pulled once for nothing. If you don't qualify, we may consider you for other cards. We'll only check your credit once, and it won't affect your SavorOne application. You'll be able to accept or decline our offer.

6. One person can hold only two Capital One personal credit cards, and only Capital One’s own cards count toward that limit. Co-branded cards such as Sony do not count toward the two-card limit, and cards that were forcibly converted because the original product was discontinued also do not count. This information is from several years ago, and it is quite possible that the limit has now increased to 5 cards.

7. Reconsideration is very difficult with Capital One. You can wait until you receive the application decision email, then call using the reference number in that email. You can try 1-800-625-7866. For application status, call （800）903-9177.

8. Capital One does not match welcome bonuses. Sometimes targeted offers and specific links may have better offers.

9. Welcome bonus eligibility rules for personal cards: All Capital One-issued credit cards, such as the Venture family and Quicksilver family, have essentially the same application terms. The most notable points are:

  • If you applied for 2 or more Capital One credit cards within 30 days, you are not eligible for the welcome bonus (APR, etc.). [Note: simply applying counts, regardless of whether you were approved.]
  • If you received the welcome bonus on this product within the past 48 months. [Note: the clock starts when you actually receive the welcome bonus, which is often later than the application date, and 48 months is a very long time.]
  • For the Venture family, if you received the welcome bonus on a higher-tier version within the past 48 months, you cannot receive the bonus on a lower-tier version. The reverse does not apply. For example, if you earned the Venture X bonus within the past 48 months, you cannot get the Venture or VentureOne bonus. But if you earned the VentureOne bonus, that does not affect your ability to get the Venture or Venture X bonus. This is written in the terms, but actual results do not always match, and there are data points suggesting that if you are approved, you may still receive the bonus.
  • Capital One often has special application links, so when applying, search the application page for the keyword "48" to see whether the terms mention it. If you find two instances, one is usually in the general terms and the other in the welcome bonus description. Some cards do not have a welcome bonus, in which case there may be only one instance.

10. Welcome bonus eligibility rules for business cards: This applies to most business cards, such as the Spark family. Business cards have different restrictions. In the terms, in addition to the limit of two applications within 30 days, they also mention that you cannot hold more than 5 Capital One credit cards, which likely includes both personal and business cards.

In the welcome bonus description, there is also a newer restriction stating that if you currently have or previously had this card, you may not be eligible for this one-time welcome bonus. That sounds a lot like a once-per-lifetime bonus restriction for each product. However, just like AMEX, Capital One also uses the word "may" here, so it still depends on whether Capital One actually enforces the restriction. If it does, that would be pretty annoying.

11. Capital One has a pre-approval step, which lets you check without a hard pull and without any impact on your credit score. If you pass, you will usually be approved if you apply; if not, it is generally best not to apply. Here is a general pre-approval link.

Using the Cards

12. You can product change among Capital One cards, but only within the same product family. The exact requirements are unclear; sometimes it is allowed and sometimes it is not. The Venture family can usually be converted within the family, and the Savor family can as well.

13. The spending requirement for a Capital One welcome bonus starts from the date the credit card is approved. Annual fees, interest, cash advance fees, and similar charges do not count toward the spending requirement, and they also do not earn points or cash back. Be sure to exclude those charges when calculating your spending. In addition, reimbursed expenses are generally best not counted either.

14. You can transfer credit limits online between different Capital One cards, usually with a soft pull. You can also request a credit limit increase once every six months, which may also be a soft pull. See also: Ten questions you should know about credit limits

15. Capital One has its own rewards system. Venture, Miles, and Spark cards can transfer rewards to airline miles. Cash back from other cards can be converted into rewards points, but not the other way around. British Airways, Asia Miles, and AV are all relatively useful transfer partners. Guide to using Capital One rewards

16. Capital One has a referral bonus, but it is available only when the referred person is getting their first Capital One card. Once the application is approved, the referral bonus posts instantly.

Closing Cards

17. If you close a Capital One card within 30 days after the annual fee posts, the annual fee can be fully refunded. You cannot change your mind and reopen it later.

18. You can call to close the card, and retention offers are usually limited to annual fee waivers. See also: Analysis of credit card retention offers

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