The best Capital One credit cards of 2020

  • Meghan Hunter

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    Capital One is known for its simple credit card rewards programs, great customer service and easy-to-use website and apps. If you don’t like to think about the complexities of credit card rewards programs, you’ll find Capital One cards to be convenient. But there are many Capital One credit cards, so which one is the best choice for you?

    If you’re looking for a business card and can meet the hefty spending requirements, you’ll want to review those offers.

    Best Capital One credit cards

    The information for the Capital One Savor, Capital One Spark Miles, Capital One Spark Miles Select has been collected independently by Million Mile Secrets. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.

    Capital One Venture miles are flexible and can be used for stays at unique Airbnb properties, like this one. (Photo courtesy of Airbnb)

    Comparison of the best Capital One credit cards

    Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card

    Best for earning travel rewards

    When you open a Capital One Venture card, you can earn 60,000 bonus miles after you spend $3,000 on purchases within the first three months of account opening. . These miles are worth at least $600 toward travel expenses, but can be worth much more if you transfer them to airline partners.

    The Venture card earns an unlimited 2x Venture miles on all purchases

    Capital One Venture miles transfer to the same airline partners as do the Spark Miles you can earn with the business card. This added flexibility means you could redeem your Venture miles for one cent each toward travel expenses like a rental car or hotel stay or you could use Capital One miles to book yourself a fancy business-class flight.

    If you’d like to get Global Entry or TSA PreCheck, this card will reimburse you for the application fee (of one or the other, but not both) once every four years. That’s a savings of up to $100. As a Visa Signature card, it also offers secondary rental car insurance for damage from collision or theft, travel accident insurance and lost luggage insurance.

    $95

    With the addition of airline transfer partners, Venture miles have become much more valuable without losing any of the simplicity that they had before.

    If you don’t want to bother with airline award charts and routing rules, this card’s bonus is still worth $600 in travel. How can you not be happy with that? For more details, take a look at our full Capital One Venture review.

    Capital One Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card

    Best for dining and entertainment purchases

    The Capital One Savor comes with a $300 cash bonus, which you’ll earn after you spend $3,000 on purchases within the first three months of account opening.

    The biggest Capital One Savor card benefit is the card’s 4% cash back on dining purchases. You’ll also get 4% back on entertainment purchases and popular streaming services, 3% back at grocery stores (excluding superstores like Walmart and Target) and 1% back on all other purchases.

    The Capital One Savor card comes with a few convenient benefits like extended warranty protection and secondary car rental coverage.

    Here’s an in-depth look at the Savor card’s benefits and perks.

    $95

    The Capital One Savor is one of the best credit cards for restaurants. You can read our Capital One Savor card review for more information.

    Capital One VentureOne Rewards Credit Card

    Best no-annual-fee card for earning travel rewards

    The Capital One VentureOne credit card comes with a bonus of 20,000 miles after you spend $500 on purchases within the first three months of account opening. That’s worth at least $200 in travel and can be redeemed toward travel-related purchases or you can transfer your miles to Capital One’s airline partners.

    This no-annual-fee Capital One VentureOne card earns 1.25x Capital One miles on all purchases.

    The miles you earn with the VentureOne card are transferable to Capital One airline partners. For ideas on how to redeem your rewards, check out our post on the best ways to use Capital One miles.

    This card also comes with secondary rental car insurance, extended warranty benefits and travel accident insurance. Benefits only available to accounts approved for the Visa Signature card. Terms apply.

    $0

    Because the transfer ratio for Capital One miles is 2:1.5 (2:1 for Singapore Airlines, JetBlue and Emirates) you’re earning less than 1 mile per dollar with the VentureOne card. This isn’t a good return at all, especially when you consider that there are much better no-annual-fee cards like the Chase Freedom Unlimited®, which earns 1.5% cash back on purchases. Read our full Capital One VentureOne credit card review for an in-depth look at this cards benefits.

    Capital One Spark Miles for Business

    Best business credit card for earning transferable miles

    Earn 50,000 miles after you spend $4,500 on purchases within the first three months from account opening.

    The Spark Miles business card earn 2x miles on every purchases, which is great for businesses with expenses that don’t fall into other small-business credit card’s bonus categories. There is no limit to the number of miles you can earn. You’ll also earn 5x Spark miles on hotel and rental car bookings made with your card through Capital One travel.

    Spark miles transfer to several airlines partners. The transfer ratio for most of the partners is 2:1.5, so the 50,000 Spark miles you can earn with this offer would convert to as many as 225,000 airline miles. Those miles can be incredibly valuable when they’re used to book awards with programs like Flying Blue (Air France and KLM), Air Canada, Etihad Airways or Avianca Airlines.

    For example, Air Canada charges 60,000 miles round-trip from North American to Europe 1 (which includes most of Western Europe) and you could add one stopover or open-jaw to this award. So it’s easy to visit multiple cities or countries using Air Canada Aeroplan miles. If you need help transferring your miles, read our step-by-step guide on how to transfer Capital One miles.

    This card also comes with a TSA PreCheck or Global Entry fee credit (worth up to $100).

    $95, waived the first year.

    Spark Miles don’t transfer at a 1:1 but because of the huge bonus offer and the 2x miles you earn on every purchase, this is still an exceptional card. Because you can redeem Spark miles for one cent each toward travel or transfer them to airlines you’ll have the flexibility to use your rewards in whichever way you prefer. If you want to learn more about the card, check out our Capital One Spark Miles card review.

    Capital One Spark Miles Select for Business

    Best no-annual-fee business card for earning transferable miles

    The Capital One Spark Miles Select card has a 20,000-mile welcome bonus, which you’ll earn after spending $3,000 in the first three months of account opening. This bonus is worth at least $200 in travel.

    The Spark Miles Select card earns 1.5x miles on all purchases.

    The card also comes with some other benefits, like secondary rental car insurance (for collision or theft) and purchase protections. You’ll also earn 5x Spark miles when you use your card to book hotels or rental cars through the Capital One travel site with your card.

    You can redeem Spark Miles for one cent each toward travel expenses or transfer them to Capital One airline partners.

    $0

    Spark Miles transfer to most airlines at a 2:1.5 ratio, so even though this card earns 1.5 Spark Miles per dollar that’s an average rate of return (at best) and you can do much better with other no-annual-fee credit cards. For example, The Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express has no annual fee (see rates and fees) and it earns 2x Amex Membership Rewards points on the first $50,000 spent per year, then 1x. Terms Apply.

    How to choose the best Capital One credit card

    Capital One offers personal travel credit cards and small-business cards. Anyone can apply for a personal card, and if you have decent credit, you stand a good chance of approval. However, you must have a for-profit venture to apply for a small-business credit card. That doesn’t mean you must make millions in revenue. In fact, there are many side hustles, which qualify for a small-business credit card.

    Whether you want a card for personal or small-business use is the first consideration. Then compare your options and see which Capital One rewards card is best for you. If you want a card with a solid sign-up bonus, cash back, flexible rewards and no foreign transaction fees, a Capital One card could make sense for you.

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    For rates and fees of the Blue Business Plus Card, please click here

    Featured image by JFL Photography/Shutterstock.

    Editorial Note: We're the Million Mile Secrets team. And we're proud of our content, opinions and analysis, and of our reader's comments. These haven’t been reviewed, approved or endorsed by any of the airlines, hotels, or credit card issuers which we often write about. And that’s just how we like it! :)
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