The Offer
Capital One has increased the sign up bonus on both their Capital One Spark Cash & Capital One Spark Miles credit cards. The offers are as such:
- Receive a sign up bonus of 50,000 miles after $4,500 in spending within three months on the Capital One Spark Miles card
- Receive a sign up bonus of $500 after $4,500 in spending within three months on the Capital One Spark Cash card
The Fine Print
- Annual fee of $59 is waived the first year on both cards
- Cash card earns at 2% cash back on all purchases, miles card earns at 2x miles on all purchases
- No foreign transaction fees
- EMV Chip
Our Verdict
The big downside to Capital One is that they pull all three credit bureaus when you apply for one of their cards (read this post to understand why this is important). I think I’m still going to pull the trigger on this card, I’ve been uhming and ahhing for awhile (when the bonus was $300). Here is my plan:
- Apply for the Capital One Venture & Capital One Cash card in the same day
- This should mean the inquiries are combined, meaning it’ll be a total of three credit pulls rather than six
I’d end up needing to spend a total of $7,500 and I’d receive $500 in cash and 40,000 miles (these miles are worth 1¢ each). Basically I’d be getting $900 in sign up bonus value and earning 2% cash back on the $7,500 and in return I’d get three hard pulls, that’s $300 per hard pull and something I’m more than happy with.
[Read: Best credit card cash sign up bonuses]
I could take it one step further and also apply for the Capital One quicksilver card, that only has a bonus of $100 but it also gets 21.5% cash back on Uber rides (and two free rides) until April, 30th, 2016. I also have a business which makes applying for this card a bit easier, I’m not sure how lenient capital one are with people applying using SSN and new businesses.
Am I being crazy here or is this actually a good plan? What are your thoughts? Let me know people! Also a warning about getting inquiries combined, if you’re not instantly approved Capital One seems to pull your report again if you call reconsideration (no personal experience with this).
DP:
8/25: Opened account
11/7: Min spend met
11/8: $500 “Spend Bonus” added to account
Wife auto-approved for CapOne Spark. 6 new personal accounts + 2 biz accounts in ~1yr.
Any DPs for waiving annual fee?
Someone on flyertalk reported their card being shut down for ~5 NW Buxx loads.
This card MS Friendly?
Can this card used for Buxx funding?
Data point that I applied for the Sparks Cash and the Venture a few hours apart (same day) and was approved for both. $5k credit line for Sparks ($1400 revenue business) and $15k credit line for Venture.
I also just applied for a $500 targeted offer for Spark Business plus the Venture card in the same day, approved for both. I’ll see if they combined the credit pulls, but I’m not too worried about it. In my state, it costs $10 every time you set/undo a credit freeze, so I didn’t bother freezing Experian.
Results?
All this talk of freezing Experian in the post, but no mention of instructions on how best to do that. So, how to freeze Experian?
https://www.doctorofcredit.com/knowledge-base/credit-freeze-security-freeze/
Can one person apply for the Spark Miles and Spark Cash on the same day and get both bonuses?
Not sure, probably.
Just want to report that I applied for both cards on the same day and was surprised that I was approved a couple of weeks later. Let the MS begin!!!
Did you end up receiving the bonus on both business cards ?
The terms say “Existing or previous Spark cardholders may not be eligible for this one-time bonus.”
I already have the Spark Cash card – Would love to also get the Spark Miles card but I am worried that I won’t be entitled to another $500 bonus.
I had the Spark Cash and applied for two Spark Miles 50000 at the same time. Got the bonus on both.
A couple of weeks later? Did you check your credit to see if you were dinged with 6 pulls? (or 4 if you froze experian)
I had wife apply for Spark and Venture on the same day. Ended up with two pulls each on TU and EQ. (had Experian froze.) The Venture pull came a full week after the Spark pull.
Why not two venture cards while you are at it?