Capital One Business Credit Card Review

9.2

Overall

9.2/10

Number of Card Products

9.0/10

Accessibility

9.6/10

Rewards

9.4/10

Rates and Fees

8.8/10

Pros

  • Average credit is OK.
  • Can provide funding to businesses with limited operating history.
  • May qualify even with a defaulted loan within last five years.
  • No annual fee.
  • 1% cash back on all qualifying business purchases.

Cons

  • 25.24% purchases and balance transfers APR (as of March, 2019).
  • Penalty rate goes up to 31.65%.
  • Any unredeemed rewards are lost if account closes.

Capital One Business Credit Card Review

Refer to the above summary for our Capital One Business Credit Card Review. If you are a current or former customer, we’d like to hear from you. How was your experience? Are you a repeat Capital One small business customer?

Capital One is a bank holding company headquartered in McLean, Virginia. The lender offers a wide variety of products for individuals and small businesses. On the consumer side, they specialize in credit cards, auto loans and banking products like savings accounts.

But the most popular small business funding option has traditionally been credit cards. Capital One’s small business credit cards (Spark Cash Back Rewards, Spark Miles Rewards, etc.) have great features including cash back rewards, miles and sign on bonuses.

Since our site focuses on newer small businesses, many with limited operating history or credit issues, our focus is on the Spark Classic card. Excellent credit is not a requirement for financing with Spark Classic. This Capital One business credit card may be the right option if your business has mediocre or average credit. In fact, if there has been a default within the last five years, you may still qualify.

Limited operating history is a common theme in today’s entrepreneurial economy. Consequently, a number of alternative lenders now offer quick business loans, capital advances and asset based lending options (invoice factoring, inventory lending, equipment financing, etc.).

Capital One Spark Classic card benefits:

·       No annual fee

·       No balance transfer fee

·       ‘Average’ credit accepted.

If your business has mediocre credit, Capital One’s site offers resources to help, such as their Creditwise monitoring system.  As you already know, bad credit business loans don’t come cheap so spruce up your credit for the best rates and promotions. Using secured business credit cards is one way to rebuild credit profile which can lead to cheaper financing down the road. Conventional bank loans are tough to qualify for. A study by Temkin and Theodos revealed that the median annual sales for companies utilizing a conventional [bank] loan was $335,000 and a mean of over $1.7 million.1

Keep in mind that the penalty annual percentage rate for this card can climb above into the 30% level if there are late payments, etc. Businesses that incur rates above 30% often become hampered with repayments, especially with any downturn in their operating business or general economic conditions.

Spark Classic competes with any Bank of America business credit card or Chase business credit card that is offered to borrowers with average credit ratings.

Capital One Business Credit Card Pros and Cons

In addition to the Spark Classic commentary above, here’s some further insight:

Main Pros:

·       Average credit is OK.

·       Can provide funding to businesses with limited operating histories.

·       May qualify even with a defaulted loan within last five years.

·       No annual fee.

·       1% cash back on all qualifying business purchases.

 

Main Cons

·       25.24% purchases and balance transfers APR (as of March, 2019).

·       Penalty rate goes up to 31.65%.

·       Any unredeemed rewards are lost if account closes.

For more information on a specific Capital One Business Credit Card, refer to their website or browse our reviews page for other business credit card offers.

 

1https://www.urban.org/sites/default/files/publication/31426/411602-Key-Findings-from-the-Evaluation-of-the-Small-Business-Administration-s-Loan-and-Investment-Programs.PDF