Capital One Credit Cards
This page covers Capital One’s personal credit cards. Learn about their business credit cards here. Capital One offers virtual credit card numbers in the form of Eno, its “intelligent assistant”.
Overview of Capital One Cards
| Card | Annual Fee | Credit Level | Highlights |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capital One® SavorOne℠ Cash Rewards Credit Card (Review) | $0 | Excellent |
|
| Capital One® Savor® Cash Rewards Credit Card (Review) | $95, $0 first year | Excellent |
|
| Capital One® Quicksilver® Cash Rewards Credit Card (Review) | $0 | Excellent |
|
| Capital One® QuicksilverOne® Cash Rewards Credit Card (Review) | $39 | Fair, Average, or Limited |
|
| Capital One® Venture® Rewards Credit Card (Review) | $95, $0 first year | Excellent |
|
| Capital One® VentureOne® Rewards Credit Card (Review) | $0 | Excellent |
|
| Journey® Student Rewards from Capital One® (Review) | $0 | Fair, Average, or Limited |
|
| Capital One® Platinum Credit Card (Review) | $0 | Fair, Average, or Limited |
|
| Capital One® Secured Mastercard® (Review) | $0 | Bad |
|
Cash Back
Capital One offers four personal cash back cards.
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These rewards credit cards can earn good cash back on food and entertainment purchases.
This simple rewards card earns an unlimited 1.5% cash back on all purchases. With no annual fee, it could be a good choice to pair with other cards when you won’t earn at least 1.5% with another card.
There’s also a nice 15-month 0% intro APR on purchases and balance transfers, which could help you pay off a big purchase over time, or save money on finance charges if you’re carrying a balance on another card. After the intro period, the regular 16.24%–26.24% Variable APR starts.
This card could be a good choice for earning some rewards if you don’t have much credit history established yet, or if you have fair or average credit. It earns unlimited 1.5% cash back on all purchases, like the regular Quicksilver, but has a $39 annual fee and doesn’t offer a 0% introductory APR.
This card offers an automatic credit limit increase after five on-time monthly payments, which can be great for people who are building credit.
Travel
Capital One’s two travel cards are marketed under the Venture brand: there’s the Venture card and the VentureOne.
These cards earn rewards in the form of “miles.” You can think of these as generic “points” since they aren’t directly associated with airline frequent flyer programs or the measurement unit for distance.
These miles can be redeemed for 1¢ each to cancel out travel purchases you make on the card, which include airfare, hotels, taxis, car rentals, and more.
Or, you can transfer those miles to a variety of airline loyalty programs, where you might find a better value than 1¢ each.
Since the two cards in the Venture family earn rewards at different rates, and one has an annual fee, we’ve calculated that you would need to spend at least $12,667 per year on the Venture card to come out ahead in rewards value compared to the VentureOne.
For mile transfers, most of the transfer rates are 2:1.5 (2 Capital One miles for 1.5 partner miles), although some partners have a lesser rate.
| Airline Partner | Transfer Rate |
|---|---|
| Aeromexico Club Premier | 2:1.5 |
| Air Canada Aeroplan |
2:1.5 |
| Air France KLM Flying Blue |
2:1.5 |
| Alitalia MilleMiglia |
2:1.5 |
| Avianca LifeMiles |
2:1.5 |
| Cathay Pacific Asia Miles |
2:1.5 |
| Emirates Skywards |
2:1 |
| Etihad Guest |
2:1.5 |
| EVA Infinity MileageLands |
2:1.5 |
| Finnair Plus |
2:1.5 |
| Hainan Fortune Wings Club |
2:1.5 |
| Qantas Frequent Flyer |
2:1.5 |
| Singapore KrisFlyer |
2:1 |
This card will earn you the equivalent of 2% cash back on all purchases when redeeming for past travel expenses, at 1¢ per mile. If you get a mile transfer that provides a better value, you’ll earn a higher cash back equivalent.
After the first year, you’ll have to pay a $95 annual fee for the card, so you’ll need to spend at least $4,750 per year to make up for the annual fee in rewards value, assuming you redeem for just 1¢ per mile.
The VentureOne card earns the equivalent of 1.25% cash back on all purchases when redeeming for past travel expenses, at 1¢ per mile. And you could get a better cash back equivalent than that if you find a mile transfer that provides more than 1¢ per mile.
Since there’s no annual fee, you’ll come out ahead in rewards value on your spending right away, unlike with the regular Venture card above.
Student & Limited or Fair Credit
Even though the Journey is marketed as a student credit card, anyone can apply, whether the applicant is a student or not. It’s designed for people with fair or average credit, or people who have limited credit and haven’t established much credit history yet, which is common among students.
Technically, this card earns 1% cash back on all purchases, but as long as you pay on time every month that goes up to 1.25% cash back. You really shouldn’t be paying your credit card bills late, since that is terrible for your credit history, so it shouldn’t be hard to always get the 1.25% rate.
Like Capital One’s other cards designed for people with average credit, this card offers an automatic credit limit increase after five on-time monthly payments.
This simple card with no rewards and no annual fee offers a way for people with fair, average, or limited credit history to build up positive credit history.
Since there’s no annual fee, this could be a great card to use to build your credit since you won’t need to close the card to stop paying an annual fee. However, the Journey doesn’t have an annual fee either, and it earns some cash back, so that may be a better option if you’re considering this card.
Bad Credit
Since this is a secured card, it requires a security deposit. It doesn’t earn any rewards, which is common among secured cards. Unlike many secured cards, though, Capital One may increase your credit limit over time without requiring an additional deposit.
Co-Branded & Store Cards
Capital One partners with several other companies to provide co-branded credit cards, including General Motors, Saks Fifth Avenue, and Lord & Taylor.
About Capital One Credit Cards
Capital One offers a wide variety of consumer credit cards for people with all kinds of credit history, from bad credit to excellent.
Some have an annual fee, while others don’t. All Capital One cards come with no foreign transaction fee.
Unlike many credit card issuers, Capital One has some cards that will automatically offer a higher credit line after you’ve paid your first five monthly payments on time, which we always recommend. This can be great for your credit utilization, a major factor in credit scores. Since Capital One reports to the three major credit bureaus, these cards can be helpful for people looking to build credit for the first time or rebuild credit.
You can use the Capital One mobile app for online banking, and if you’re in certain parts of the southern or northeastern U.S. there may be a local branch of Capital One bank near you.
Here’s a quick overview of all the Capital One consumer cards. Keep reading for more details. If you’re interested in Capital One Spark business credit cards, see this page.
Benefits
All Capital One cards come with a certain set of benefits, provided by Capital One. They also come with more benefits and protections provided by either Visa or Mastercard.
The benefits provided by Capital One are:
- CreditWise: Monitor your VantageScore 3.0 credit score, based on your TransUnion credit report, and see data from your actual TransUnion report.
- Zero Liability Protection: You won’t be held responsible for unauthorized charges on your account.
- Account Alerts: Personalized email or text reminders to help you stay on top of all account activity.
- Personalized Payment Due Date: Pick your own monthly due date.
Capital One will also provide a link to the Guide to Benefits that comes with each of their cards, a very handy resource.
