The card_name is a business credit card I opened recently from Capital One. It appealed to me because it was a straightforward card, with 1.5 % cashback on every purchase and a simple welcome offer of $500 cashback after spending $4,500 in 3 months (Terms and Conditions apply). While I usually go for cards that offer transferable points currencies, I’m stacked with points these days with over 3 million points between all the major transferable points currencies. Sometimes, there’s value in just getting cash back.
If you’ve got some upcoming bills you need to pay and want a simple credit card with a straightforward welcome offer, the card_name is a card that may make sense for you. Here’s what you need to know about it.
Why I Opened The Capital One Spark Cash Select for Excellent Credit
I opened my Capital One Spark Cash Select for Excellent Credit because I had some upcoming expenses and wanted to get a decent return on my spending. The Capital One Spark Cash Select for Excellent Credit had some interesting benefits that made it appealing to me.
First, it’s a no-annual-fee card, which is always nice. A lot of the cards with good welcome offers have large annual fees, so being able to get a card with no annual fee is nice and a good way for me to save some money.
Second, the card offers 1.5% cashback for your business on all purchases. This simplifies things a lot since I didn’t have to think about the categories of purchases I put on the card. Since I needed $4,500 to earn the welcome offer, spending $4,500 (which, remember, I already was going to spend anyway), gave me $90 cashback. That’s not a ton of money, but it’s better than nothing, especially for money I was going to spend anyway.
Third, and most important, was the welcome offer. The Capital One Spark Cash Select offers $500 cashback after spending $4,500 in 3 months. That’s a 12.5% return on the $4,500 I was already going to spend, which isn’t bad at all.
I ended up meeting the minimum spend fairly quickly by paying due to some large expenses I had. Once I earned the bonus, I cashed out my points as a statement credit. I know it’s not as glamorous as using points and miles for business-class flights or nice hotels but getting cold hard cash is always a good thing.
One thing to remember is that the Capital One Spark Cash Select for Excellent Credit is a business credit card, which means you do need to have some sort of business to qualify for this card. Remember, however, that a business isn’t necessarily a formal entity. Even a simple side hustle like delivering food for DoorDash or Uber Eats, or selling things online, or any number of ways you might make money outside of a regular day job will make you a business and make you eligible to apply for a business credit card. (See this post for more information about how business credit cards work: Business Credit Cards: The Ultimate Tool For Travel Hackers).
Things To Know About The Capital One Spark Cash Select for Excellent Credit
There are a few things you should know when it comes to Capital One and the Capital One Spark Cash Select for Excellent Credit.
First, compared to Chase or American Express, Capital One cards can be a bit more difficult to get approved for. I didn’t have any issue getting approved for my Spark Cash Select, but people online have reported having more difficulty getting approved for Capital One cards when compared to Chase or American Express.
Second, Capital One pulls all three credit bureaus. This is annoying since that means you’ll end up with a hard pull on each of your credit reports. Hard pulls aren’t that big a deal, but I’d rather not have the same hard pull on every credit report if I can help it.
Third, and most importantly, the Capital One Spark Cash Select does report to your credit report. That means opening this card will impact your 5/24 status. Capital One is a bit weird because some of their business cards do not report to your credit report while others do. At the moment, any business credit card from Capital One that doesn’t have an annual fee will report to your credit report. I have no idea why Capital One makes this distinction, but that’s where we’re at here.
If your 5/24 status does matter to you, be sure to consider this factor (check out this post for more information about the Chase 5/24 Rule: Chase 5/24 Rule – Maximize Your Travel Hacking).
I decided it was okay for me to use a 5/24 slot to get this bonus. I’m currently at 3/24 after opening this card, with one card dropping off in September. I usually try to keep myself under 5/24 just in case there are Chase cards I want to get and at my current pace, I think I should be okay.
Finally, Capital One is a bit weird because they have two credit cards with seemingly the same name, but which offer different bonuses. When you go to the Capital One website, you’ll see a Capital One Spark Cash Select for Good Credit. This card does not offer a welcome offer for new customers. The one you want to get is the Capital One Spark Cash Select for Excellent Credit. It’s a bit strange to me that they have two cards with the same name, but for our purposes, just remember which one you are opening and don’t accidentally open the wrong one.
Final Thoughts
The Capital One Spark Cash Select for Excellent Credit is a simple credit card that offers a solid 1.5% cashback on business purchases and is worth getting if it has a good welcome offer. In this case, I opened the card because it gave me $500 cash back for spending $4,500. That’s an easy 12.5% return on money I was already going to spend. The card is also nice because it comes with no annual fee, so I didn’t have to spend anything out of pocket to get the card.
The main downside is that the Capital One Spark Cash Select for Excellent Credit does count towards my 5/24 status, but that was a tradeoff that I decided was worth it based on the cards I had and what cards were available to me at the time. Since there’s no annual fee, I won’t have to worry about what to do with the card next year.
If you’re in the market for a business credit card with a good bonus and solid cashback earnings, take a look at the card_name. The main thing is to consider whether it’s worth it for you given that it counts towards your 5/24 status.
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