Capital One Spark Miles Review

Full Review of Capital One Spark Miles

Pros & Cons

Pros Explained

• Solid bonus but with high required spending: This card offers a bonus of 50,000 miles that's worth up to $500 in travel purchases if you spend $4,500 in the first three months after opening the account. This bonus is on the high side for a business credit card, but the spending requirement is high as well. Most cards require spending no more than $3,000 in the first three months.
• Simple rewards program: The card offers a flat two miles per dollar on all your purchases. There’s no cap on rewards. You don’t have to keep track of different rewards rates for different spending categories. The card charges a $95 annual fee after the first year but you only have to spend $4,750 annually at the two-mile-per-dollar rate to break even. That’s assuming that you don’t carry a balance on the card and have to pay interest charges.
• Flexible travel redemption options: Capital One Spark Miles offers some of the most flexible travel rewards around. You’ll have three options when you're ready to redeem: for travel directly through Capital One, by getting a statement credit against previous travel purchases, or by transferring your miles to one of the bank’s airline partners.

Cons Explained

• Your personal credit history could be affected: Like most major business credit card issuers, Capital One reports account activity on its cards to the commercial credit bureaus. This allows you to establish a business credit history. But unlike most major business card issuers, Capital One also reports your account information to the consumer credit bureaus. This could damage both your business and personal credit histories if you rack up a large balance on your card or miss a payment. Discover is the only other major business credit card issuer that does this.
• Cash back is much less rewarding: You'll get a lot of flexibility with Capital One miles if you use your rewards to book travel. But the redemption rate for this card is unusually meager if you want to redeem your miles for cash. They’re worth only half as much as the redemptions for travel: 50,000 miles would be worth only $250 in cash back. Consider Capital One Spark Cash if you want a card that offers maximum rewards flexibility with cash back.

Who This Card Is Best For

Capital One Spark Miles is a solid option for small business owners who are comfortable using their card rewards for travel purchases and who plan to use the card regularly. You'll have to charge roughly $396 per month in two-miles-per-dollar purchases over the year to justify the card's annual fee.

The card is particularly well suited to businesses who charge enough to reach the fairly steep minimum spending requirements for the card's bonus. You'd have to charge at least $1,500 to the card for each of your first three months of account membership to earn the 50,000-mile bonus.

Capital One Spark Miles is best for business owners who plan to keep the card's balance fairly low relative to its credit limit and who make on-time payments. Your business’s activity with the card will be reported to both the commercial and consumer credit bureaus.

Capital One Spark Miles Bonus

New cardholders will earn 50,000 miles if they spend $4,500 in the first three months. 

The period during which you have to meet the minimum spending requirement begins when your account is opened, not when you receive the card in the mail.

Rewards Earning Details

The card offers a flat two miles per dollar on every other purchase you make, and this is a very good base rewards rate. But the card charges a $95 annual fee the first year so you may be able to get more value out of a card that doesn’t charge an annual fee if your business doesn’t spend a lot even if the rewards rate is lower.

Rewards Redemption Details

Capital One Spark Miles is primarily a travel credit card. It offers two redemption options for travel:

• Purchase Eraser: You’ll use your card to book travel through any eligible travel agent, website, or resource with this option. You’ll then have 90 days to use your miles to “erase” the purchase after the transaction posts. You'll receive a statement credit for the value of the miles used for the expenditure. 
• Book travel: You can use your miles to book travel directly through your rewards account with Capital One.

Both these redemption options give you a value of one cent per mile, which is standard for many travel credit cards. You can also redeem your miles for cash back or gift cards but you’ll generally receive less value per mile with these redemption options.

Transferring Miles

Capital One also allows you to transfer your miles to one of the bank’s airline partners. They include:

• Aeromexico Club Premier
• Air France KLM Flying Blue
• Air Canada Aeroplan
• Asia Miles
• Avianca LifeMiles
• British Airways
• Emirates Skywards
• Etihad Guest
• EVA Air Infinity MileageLands
• Finnair Plus
• Qantas Frequent Flyer
• Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
• TAP Air Portugal Miles
• Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles

You can transfer your miles at a rate of one Capital One Mile to one mile with the partner airline with most of these partners. EVA Air Infinity is the exception. For every 1,000 miles transferred to EVA, you will receive 750 miles with the Taiwanese airline.

We found a business class flight on Emirates from Los Angeles to Phuket, Thailand, for 250,000 miles plus $1,738 in taxes and fees. The cash price was $7,224. You'd have to move 250,000 Capital One miles to Emirates if you were to transfer your miles, and if you use the card to pay the taxes and fees, you could then use 173,800 Capital One miles to get a statement credit for the purchase if you use the card to pay the taxes and fees. That’s a total of 423,800 miles.

How to Maximize Your Rewards

Plan to use this card for all of your purchases to ensure you get miles back on every transaction, just as you would with any rewards credit card.

It's possible to squeeze more value out of your miles by flying with one of Capital One’s airline partners. This increased value typically requires international business class or first class tickets, but it could be worth stockpiling your rewards to fulfill them if you prefer this type of travel.

It might be best to redeem directly with Capital One through the travel partner or as a travel statement credit if you don’t plan to travel internationally or if you don’t want to spend the time researching redemptions with travel partners.

Capital One Spark Miles Outstanding Benefits

The card's only outstanding benefit is its application fee credit for TSA PreCheck or Global Entry. This perk is worth up to $100 every four years. You’ll get expedited security screening at participating U.S. airports if you're approved for one of the programs or the opportunity to bypass U.S. Customs and Border Protection inspections lines when returning to the U.S. or both.

Standard Benefits

• Extended warranty protection
• Free employee cards and customized spending limits
• Year-end summaries
• Purchase records in multiple formats

Cardholder Experience

Capital One was ranked fifth out of 11 in the J.D. Power 2022 U.S. Credit Card Customer Satisfaction Study.

Capital One's customer service team is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, which is standard among credit card issuers. You can manage your account online or with the bank’s mobile app, which was ranked first out of nine by J.D. Power in its 2022 U.S. Credit Card Mobile App Satisfaction Study.

Security Features

Capital One allows you to lock and unlock your card as well as employee cards from its mobile app. This feature can come in handy if you want to control errant card usage among your employees or if one of you loses a card. Beyond that, Capital One’s security features are standard for the industry.

Final Verdict

Capital One Spark Miles offers a solid two miles per dollar spent on all purchases. This card could be lucrative for the right business even with its fairly high spending requirement when it's combined with a decent bonus.

But it hardly stands out from the pack. The Blue Business Plus card from American Express offers two points per dollar on the first $50,000 spent each year and it has no annual fee. The Chase Ink Business Preferred also has a $95 fee. It earns three points per dollar spent on select travel categories and offers a bonus that’s worth $1,000 when it's used for travel, twice the value of the bonus for Capital One Spark Miles.

It's also important to consider this card's possible implications for your personal credit score. One of the card's drawbacks is that Capital One reports account activity on business cards to consumer credit bureaus. You might want to opt for a card from another issuer that doesn’t report its activity to consumer credit bureaus if you prefer to keep a maximum separation between your personal and business affairs.

FAQs

How much are Capital One Spark miles worth?

Travel redemptions are worth one cent per mile, but you'll receive less value per mile if you opt for cash back instead. Cash-back miles are only worth half as much as the redemptions for travel. You'll receive two miles per dollar on all purchases.

Is Capital One Spark Miles for Business card hard to get approved for?

Capital One advertises the card as for those with "excellent" credit scores. It defines excellent credit as never having declared bankruptcy or defaulted on a loan; never been more than 60 days late on a credit card, loan, or medical bill in the past year; and possessing a loan or credit card with a credit limit of $5,000 or more for at least three years.

What airlines can you use Capital One Spark miles on?

Your best bet might be transferring your miles to Capital One's airline partners. There are 15 of them. They include Air France, Air Canada, British Airways, Singapore Airlines, and Qantas, along with other well-known airlines. Your miles will likely be worth more if you take this option, but some restrictions can apply. You might have to fly first class or international business class. You can also claim a travel statement credit for use with other airlines.

How often does Capital One Spark increase my credit limit?

Credit One indicates that you must maintain your new account in good standing for "several" months to be eligible for an increased credit line. You're free to request a credit limit increase at any time, but this doesn't necessarily mean that your request will be approved, particularly if you haven't had your card for very long.

What is the highest credit limit for the Capital One Spark Miles for Business card?

The Capital One Spark Miles for Business Card has a minimum credit line of $5,000. The maximum limit is based on a review of your credit profile and your ability to pay.