Capital One® Spark® Miles for Business: 50K Offer

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Welcome Bonus

The Capital One® Spark® Miles for Business Card is offering new applicants a bonus of 50,000 miles after spending $4,500 or more within 3 months from account opening. There’s also a $0 intro annual fee for the first year, then $95 after.

This is one of the best (and stable) bonuses offered for the card and a great way to grab a lot of transferable points without paying a fee for the first year.

These are not the same type of miles that you would earn from an airline credit card. But they can be used for up to $500 in value when you book travel through Capital One, or against travel purchases made with your card.

Capital One also has 15 partner airline and hotel programs and transferring to them can be the best option to maximize the value of your points.

Here are the 1:1 ratio travel partners:

1:1 Transfer Ratio

  • Aeromexico Club Premier
  • Aeroplan®
  • Asia Miles
  • Avianca LifeMiles
  • British Airways Executive Club
  • Choice Privileges®
  • Emirates Skywards
  • Etihad Guest
  • Finnair Plus
  • Flying Blue
  • Qantas Frequent Flyer
  • Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
  • TAP Miles&Go
  • Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles
  • Virgin Red

The last option is to redeem miles for gift cards.

You should familiarize yourself with a specific loyalty program before transferring your miles. You will not be able to transfer back into your Capital One Miles account.

LEARN HOW TO APPLY

Bonus categories

You’ll earn the following rates:

  • Unlimited 2X miles on every purchase for your business.
  • Unlimited 5 miles per $1 spent on hotels and car rentals booked through Capital One Travel.

Getting 5X on the travel portal is nice if you’re not paying more for your travel purchases compared to other sites, but keep in mind you can lose out on hotel benefits if you have elite status.

The 2X miles on all other purchases make this a good everyday card, especially with no limit on how much your card can earn. It could also be a great way to cover taxes.

(The description almost sounds like only certain categories related to business purchases will qualify but actually this will earn 2X on all purchases.)

LEARN HOW TO APPLY

Perks

The Capital One® Spark® Miles for Business Card has a $95 annual fee which is waived the first year. So you can get tons of value before you have to decide whether you want to pay the fee and keep it for one more year.

After completing the spending requirement for the bonus, you will have 59,000 miles, since the card earns 2x on all purchases. The ability to earn close to 60,000 transferable points without having to pay a single dollar on an annual fee is definitely an attractive feature of this offer.

You can get credit of $100 for the application fee for Global Entry or TSA Pre-check when you pay with the card. This is a nice perks for frequent travelers.

The card comes with two complimentary visits per year to Capital One Lounge locations or a partnering Plaza Premium Lounge. This can open up more lounge visit opportunities in case you encounter an overcrowded lounge which has unfortunately become a trend these days.

If you’re traveling abroad, you don’t have to worry about foreign transaction fees with the Capital One® Spark® Miles for Business Card.

As a business card, it provides free employee cards, that also earn unlimited 2X miles on all purchases. You can set customized spending limits for each employee cards. You also get free additional warranty and protection on purchases made with your card, and virtual card numbers that make online purchases safer.

Note:

  • This is one of the Capital One business cards that counts towards 5/24 so I’d recommend going for Chase cards first if you are still under 5/24.
  • Capital One pulls all three bureaus
  • It’s a good idea to wait six months between Capital One cards

Advertiser Disclosure: UponArriving has partnered with affiliate partners and may receive a commission from card issuers. UponArriving does not display all credit card offers and affiliate relationships may impact how offers are presented. 

Editorial Disclosure: Opinions, reviews, analysis & recommendations are UponArriving’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities. 

Capital One® Venture® Rewards Credit Card

Advertiser Disclosure: UponArriving has partnered with affiliate partners and may receive a commission from card issuers. UponArriving does not display all credit card offers and affiliate relationships may impact how offers are presented. 

Welcome Bonus

The Capital One® Venture® Rewards Credit Card is offering 75,000 miles after you spend $4,000 on purchases within 3 months from account opening. This is one of the highest offers ever offered for the card.

These are not the same type of miles that you would earn from an airline credit card. But they can be used for up to $750 in value when you book travel through Capital One, or against travel purchases.

Capital One also has 15 partner airline and hotel programs, which can be the best option to maximize the value of your points.

Here are the 1:1 ratio travel partners:

1:1 Transfer Ratio

  • Aeromexico Club Premier
  • Aeroplan®
  • Asia Miles
  • Avianca LifeMiles
  • British Airways Executive Club
  • Choice Privileges®
  • Emirates Skywards
  • Etihad Guest
  • Finnair Plus
  • Flying Blue
  • Qantas Frequent Flyer
  • Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
  • TAP Miles&Go
  • Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles
  • Virgin Red

The last option is to redeem miles for gift cards.

You should familiarize yourself with a specific loyalty program before transferring your miles.

LEARN HOW TO APPLY

Bonus categories

You’ll earn the following rates:

  • Unlimited 2 miles per $1 spent on purchases.
  • Unlimited 5 miles per $1 spent on hotels and car rentals booked through Capital One Travel.

Getting 5X on the travel portal is nice if you’re not paying more for your travel purchases compared to other sites.

The 2X miles on all other purchases make this a good everyday card, especially with no limit on how much your card can earn. It could also be a great way to cover taxes.

That almost sounds like only certain categories related to business purchases will qualify but actually this will earn 2% on all purchases.

LEARN HOW TO APPLY

Perks

The Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card has a $95 annual fee, but also gets you some extra perk that could make it worth keeping it pas the first year.

You can get credit of $100 for the application fee for Global Entry or TSA Pre-check when you pay with the card.

The card comes with two complimentary visits per year to Capital One Lounge locations or a partnering Plaza Premium Lounge. For the rest or the year, you get a special entry rate of $45 per visit after that.

As a travel focused card, it provides trip protection including rental car coverage, travel accident insurance and round-the-clock travel assistance services if your card is lost or stolen. And if you travel abroad, you don’t pay foreign transaction fees.

Advertiser Disclosure: UponArriving has partnered with affiliate partners and may receive a commission from card issuers. UponArriving does not display all credit card offers and affiliate relationships may impact how offers are presented. 

Editorial Disclosure: Opinions, reviews, analysis & recommendations are UponArriving’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities. 

How to Get A Capital One Credit Line Increase (Tips) [2022]

Capital One has some of the best credit cards out there. The only problem is that sometimes you are not given a credit limit big enough for your spending needs (or desires).

When this happens, all is not lost and you still have an opportunity to request a credit line increase.

But there are certain things you need to know about this process in order to maximize your odds of getting approved, especially when it comes to Capital One. 

In this article, I will tell you everything you need to know about getting a Capital One credit line increase, including things like hard pulls/inquiries, phone numbers, and what to do if denied. 

How to request a Capital One credit line increase

You can request a Capital One credit line increase online by going here.

Once you follow that link, click on the link shown below and you will be prompted to sign in to your Capital One account and input the details discussed further below.

After submitting your details, you might receive a decision immediately or your application might go under manual review.

If your application goes under manual review and you’ve signed up for paperless documents, you’ll receive a letter in the Online Document Center (ODC) in three to five days. If you haven’t signed up for paperless documents, you’ll receive a letter via mail within seven to ten days of your request.

Also, note in some cases (usually not common) you might have to send in your information for verification and that can add another seven to ten days to the process.

Tip: Use the app WalletFlo to give you auto-reminders of when to request credit limit increases!

If you want to request a Capital One credit increase via phone then you can call the phone number: 1-800-955-7070. I’m not sure if there’s a backdoor number for credit line increases but that number should do the trick. 

Capital One credit line increase application

After signing into your account, you should see the pop up for entering in your information for a credit line increase request. The pop-up will ask you to input the following details:

  • Total annual income
  • Employment status
  • Occupation
  • Monthly mortgage or rent
  • How much you spend on all of your credit cards each month
  • How much you will spend on your Capital One card in a month
  • Maximum desires line of credit

Keep in mind that in some cases Capital One might request for you to verify the information that you’ve input, so consider that when inputting details like income and rent. 

Income

Income is one of the biggest factors when it comes to credit limit increases. Yet, many people are not aware of how they can include income from other people in order to increase their approval odds. This is known as “accessible income” and you can read more about it here.

Capital One is very transparent about accessible income and here is what they state you can include:

  • Personal income, which is income you have earned, including full-time, part-time, or seasonal jobs, self-employment, interest or dividends, retirement and public assistance.
  • Shared income, which is money from somebody else that is regularly deposited into your individual account or into a joint account that person shares with you. If you are 21 or over, you may also include somebody else’s income that is regularly used to pay your expenses.
  • Optional Income: Alimony, child support or separate maintenance income doesn’t need to be included, unless you want it to be considered.

If you’re applying for a credit line increase for your Spark business credit card, you’ll need to provide your total annual income.

Employment status

You will have the option to choose from the following:

  • Employed: You work full or part time for a company or business you don’t own.
  • Self-Employed: You own a business where you work full-time or part-time.
  • Unemployed: You aren’t currently employed full-time or part-time and don’t own a business, even if you’re collecting unemployment benefits or public assistance.
  • Retired: You no longer work full-time or part-time, but currently have a source of income or are living off of savings or other retirement benefits.
  • Student: You’re enrolled in classes full time (even if you have a full-time job).
  • Other: None of the above apply, or you’re unemployed but do have regular access to income from somebody else.

I don’t have hard data on how these categories affect your odds but obviously choosing something like unemployed, where you may not have an income stream, could raise some red flags to a bank that is trying to lend you credit. So be truthful but also aware of how your chosen options will affect your approval odds.

Occupation

Again, I’m not sure how relevant your occupation truly is to your credit line increase. 

Monthly mortgage or rent

This information is very important to banks because it will tell them more about your monthly financial obligations. If you have a lower income with a high monthly mortgage or rent, then your odds of getting a good credit limit increase will begin to go down.  If you don’t have a monthly mortgage or rent payment, you can enter $0.

Monthly spend

Capital One will ask you to input the estimated monthly spend for all of your credit cards and for the card that you are requesting a credit line increase with.

This is important data for Capital One because they want to see if it will be worth it to grant you a credit line increase based on your estimated spend and how profitable of a customer you will be. 

If your estimated monthly spend is at the same level as your current credit limit, then that will not tell Capital One that you have a crucial need for a credit line increase. However, if your current credit line is only 50% of your proposed spending then that will be a trigger for Capital One that you probably need a credit line increase. 

Maximum desired line

This is where you will enter your maximum desired credit line. So if your current credit limit is $5,000 but you desire a $10,000 dollars credit line, then you will input $10,000. Capital One will approve you for the maximum amount of credit that they can and then you will have an opportunity to choose a lower credit limit if you wish. 

Eligibility

Certain people will not be eligible for a credit line increase with Capital One. 

Three months old

If your account is not at least three months old, chances are you will not be eligible for a credit line increase with Capital One. Many other banks have minimum time requirements and it is often a good rule of thumb to wait six months until after you have been approved for a credit card to request a credit line increase. 

Change in credit limit over last six months

If you have had a credit line increase or decrease in the last six months, you will likely not be eligible for a credit line increase. This includes if you merge/consolidate Capital One credit card accounts, so keep that in mind. 

At the same time, if you were denied for a credit line increase, you don’t have to wait six months. In that case, you might put in a request every 90 days or so. 

Secured credit cards

If you have a secured credit card you may not be eligible for a credit limit increase.

Automatic increases

There is something known as the “Capital One Credit Steps program” that offers you a credit limit increase after you make a certain amount of on-time payments.

Typically, you’ll start off with a very low credit line (maybe of like $300 with a card like the Capital One Platinum Credit Card) and then the credit limit will be automatically increased if you meet the requirements. 

Tips for a Capital One credit limit increase

If you want to increase your odds of being eligible for a Capital One credit line increase, there are certain things that you can try.

Spend big on your card

One of the biggest tips I have is for you to put spend on your credit card. And by spend, I don’t just mean buying a stick of gum every five months.

If you want a credit limit increase, Capital One will want to see that you are using their credit card on a regular basis. So in the months leading up to your request, you should be putting as much spend on your card as you possibly can. 

Pay off a high balance

Another factor that Capital One is going to look at, is how often do you pay off high balance. For example, it will look really good if you constantly run up your credit line up to 80% or 90% and then pay off that entire balance for each month.

This is the best way to show Capital One that you truly need a credit line increase based on your spending and this is something that other banks often look at as well. It might also help give you a little nudge if you set up auto pay to pay off your balance in full.

Merge your credit limits

Some people struggle to get a credit line increases and so what they do is simply combine credit limits. So for example if you had a Capital One Quicksilver Cash Rewards Credit Card and a Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card , you might be able to move the credit over from your Quicksilver over to your Venture card. You find many online reports of people doing this like this person who combined a $6,000 and $10,000 credit limit

Update: Capital One might be restricting merged credit limits now.

How much of an increase to request?

You might be wondering how much of a credit line increase you should request. Should you go big and ask for something like a 200% increase or should you play it more conservatively and go with the request around 25% of your credit limit? 

I typically recommend for people to request an increase of around 25% to 35% of their current credit limit. However, if you have a low credit line such as $1,000 or $2,000 then you might want to go much higher than that. I will say that based on my research and personal experience, Capital One seems to be one of the slower-moving issuers when it comes to credit line increases. 

If you make your request online and want a lower amount, you’ll be able to tell them the amount you would like before accepting the increase. So my advice would be to go higher rather than risk going lower. 

Capital One should NOT conduct a hard pull

Capital One will not conduct a hard pull on your credit report when requesting a credit line increase.

What to do if denied for a credit line increase

If you are not approved for a Capital One credit line increase then there are some steps you might want to take. The first step is to review your denial letter, and see the reasons for why you were denied a credit line increase. In some cases, you can actively work to address these things or simply wait for the necessary amount of time to pass.

Here is some insight into what the different letters might mean.

Your Capital One account is too new

This just means that you need to wait at least three months to request a credit line increase. Typically, you should wait approximately 6 months to make your credit line increase request.

There has recently been a change to the credit line on this account

This means that you have waited less than six months from the time of the last change to your credit line. Again, you must wait at least half a year to make your request.

This Capital One account was recently past due

If you have made a late payment in the last 12 months, chances are you will not get approved for a credit limit increase. Also, this might depend on the severity of your late payment. If you miss a late payment by 30 days you won’t have to wait as long as someone who missed a payment by 60 days.

You can use Capital One Credit Wise to check your credit report to see if you have late payments.

Your average monthly payment has been too low

Capital One may not want to increase your credit limit if you are not going to be able to pay off your balance. If you see this reason and your rejection letter, it just means that you were not paying off enough of your monthly bill. Ideally, you would be running a lot of charges on your card each month and paying them off 100%. If you are only making minimum payments then your odds of getting an increase go down dramatically.

Recent usage of this account’s existing credit line has been too low

As pointed out for, Capital One wants to see that you are using a lot of your credit line. Try to come close to maxing it out each month and paying the entire balance off (ideally before the card reports your balance to your credit report). 

The credit reporting agency has reported a recent credit delinquency

This just means that you messed up somewhere and have a late payment with another creditor on your credit report. Again, if this delinquency came in the last 12 months, you may have difficult issues trying to get a credit line increase. 

Your current credit score is too low. Please see the back of this letter for determining factors.

This is pretty straightforward, it just means that your credit score is too low. You should look into different ways to increase your credit score if this happens. Read more about these rejection reasons here. 

Have a good reason for requesting a higher limit

Although it is not always necessarily required for you to have a legitimate reason for requesting a credit limit increase (especially when doing it online) it won’t ever hurt your odds to have a good reason. A common reason for wanting a higher credit limit is if you have a major purchase coming such as a:

  • Honeymoon
  • Wedding
  • Family vacation, etc. 

This just helps to get the bank added confidence and assurance that this is a planned out move and that you have thought out your request. You could also just tell the bank you’re trying to improve your credit score, since that’s a pretty reasonable reason for wanting more credit. 

Credit line increases with other issuers

You might also be interested in reading about getting credit limit increased with other issuers. 

Final word

Overall, the process for getting a Capital One credit line increase is pretty simple. You first need to make sure that you are putting substantial spend on your card and ideally you would be paying off a high percentage of your credit line in full every month.

Make sure that all of your employment/income information is up-to-date and that you’re including as much income as necessary. And finally, be sure to wait the sufficient amount of time necessary to get an increase.

Capital One 75K Early Spend Bonuses

Advertiser Disclosure: UponArriving has partnered with affiliate partners and may receive a commission from card issuers. UponArriving does not display all credit card offers and affiliate relationships may impact how offers are presented. 

Capital One is now offering the opportunity for you to earn a valuable welcome bonus with either the Capital One® Venture X Rewards Credit Card or the Capital One® Venture® Rewards Credit Card.

Let’s take a look at these two cards and see what they have to offer right now.

Note: you cannot apply for both of these at the same time.

Early Spend Bonuses

Capital One® Venture X Rewards Credit Card

  • Earn 75,000 bonus miles when you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months. Learn how to apply.

Capital One® Venture® Rewards Credit Card

(This is one of the best offers ever for this card.)

You can use Capital One miles to erase any travel purchase at a rate of one cent per mile so 75,000 bonus miles equates to at least $750 in travel.

But now that you can transfer Capital One miles to various travel partners, you can get way more value for these miles meaning that you can get a lot more than $750 in travel!

Here are the 1:1 ratio travel partners:

1:1 Transfer Ratio

  • Aeromexico Club Premier
  • Aeroplan®
  • Asia Miles
  • Avianca LifeMiles
  • British Airways Executive Club
  • Choice Privileges®
  • Emirates Skywards
  • Etihad Guest
  • Finnair Plus
  • Flying Blue
  • Qantas Frequent Flyer
  • Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
  • TAP Miles&Go
  • Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles
  • Virgin Red

Not only do you have solid transfer partners but many of these are also transfer partners of other programs like Chase Ultimate Rewards, Citi, and others. This can make aspirational redemptions much more realistic.

For example, you could book a Singapore Airlines first class saver award from the US (including East Coast) to Singapore for 132,000 miles (plus fees) or from the US to Europe for 86,000 miles (plus fees). With a bonus from one of these cards you are already halfway there.

But then you could combine your earnings from another awesome bonus like the 80,000 welcome bonus offered by the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card after spending $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months.

That would give you more than enough miles to fly first class in something like the photo below! You might even be able to swing a round-trip depending on where you are going.

Why I like the Capital One® Venture X Rewards Credit Card

The Capital One® Venture X Rewards Credit Card is attractive because it offers some pretty solid bonus earning including:

  • 10x on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel
  • 5x On flights booked through Capital One Travel
  • 2x On all other purchases

I’ve never been one to look forward to booking hotels through a travel portal but earning 10X on rental cars through a travel portal is very good and the 5X on flights is also very solid.

Unfortunately, the Capital One® Venture® Rewards Credit Card earns a standard rate of 2X on all purchases.

The Capital One® Venture X Rewards Credit Card is a mid-tier premium card (IMO) with an annual fee of $395. But that fee is not a problem for a lot of people because you can offset it with a $300 statement credit for bookings through Capital One Travel.

So again if you have any type of car rentals or flights planned you can easily offset the vast majority of this annual fee with your normal spending which is always the goal with travel credits.

Final word

These are solid bonuses that can help you build up a large balance of miles especially because so many other bank programs transfer to the same partners. I really like the Capital One® Venture X Rewards Credit Card for the good bonus but also for the ability to earn high bonus rates on both rental cars and flights. Learn how to apply.

Advertiser Disclosure: UponArriving has partnered with affiliate partners and may receive a commission from card issuers. UponArriving does not display all credit card offers and affiliate relationships may impact how offers are presented. 

Editorial Disclosure: Opinions, reviews, analysis & recommendations are UponArriving’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities. 

Capital One Adding New Airport Lounge

Capital One looks to be expanding its future airport lounge network with the addition of a new lounge coming to Denver International Airport (DEN), opening in 2022.

This will be in addition to lounges at Dallas/Fort Worth Airport (DFW) airport, opening this fall, and Dulles International Airport (IAD), opening in mid 2022. 

As more details come out about these new airport lounges, I’m starting to get more excited about them. Based on the features, they really look like they are going to offer a true premium lounge experience, perhaps on par with Centurion Lounges.

If they can execute the service aspect, there may be some real competition, especially since it looks like Capital One is going to be expanding their lounge network at a good pace.

The only negative I have about the lounges is that the renderings don’t look that different from what you see in other lounges, but I will hold out judgment until we see some actual images of the real life facilities.

The new lounge in Denver is going to operate in partnership with Plaza Premium Group, will be approximately 11,200 square feet, and will be located in Concourse A on the mezzanine level.

Capital One stated that they are going to offer a premium in-lounge food and beverage experience, including delicious, health-conscious eating options that are served plated as small bites, a handcrafted beverage menu and an industry-leading, dedicated grab & go section.

Here are some of the highlights of the lounge:

  • A ready-to-eat food station will feature freshly curated grab & go snacks including artisanal nut mixes, fresh fruits, juice shots and rotating warm selections like breakfast sandwiches in the mornings or fresh-from-the-oven cookies in the afternoons. 
  • Unique beverage options include a fully stocked bar with craft cocktails on tap, local beers and regional wines
  • A full-service coffee and espresso bar featuring La Colombe cold brew on tap at select locations, and a custom six-tap system featuring artisanal sodas and flavored waters. 
  • Capital One partnered with creative agency Other Side of the Brain to create an original soundscape for the Lounge that provides travelers with an enriching, memorable and transformative experience as soon as they step foot into the space:
  • Relaxation rooms with eye covers, blankets and other luxury amenities to help you recharge away from the crowds
  • Shower suites with complimentary towels and hotel-inspired custom toiletries 
  • Ample, quiet working space, including private meeting rooms, with individual power outlets at every seat, a flight status display to keep you on schedule and complimentary high-speed WiFi
  • Kid-sized tables and chairs for families
  • A private nursing room for parents to tend to little ones
  • Secure lockers with plenty of room for carry-on luggage and personal items

Capital One also released some details of the new DFW lounge.

Amenities in the DFW lounge include:

  • The Capital One Lounge at DFW features more than 55 pieces of original artwork by local artists from the region. 
  • A cycling and yoga room with Peloton Bikes, resistance bands, and all of your yoga needs 
  • Relaxation rooms with eye covers, blankets and other luxury amenities to help you recharge away from the crowds
  • A shower suite with complimentary towels and hotel-inspired custom toiletries 
  • Ample, quiet working space with individual power outlets at every seat, a flight status display to keep you on schedule and complimentary high-speed WiFi 
  • Kid-sized tables and chairs for families
  • A private nursing room for parents to tend to little ones
  • Secure lockers with plenty of room for carry-on luggage and personal items
  • Multi-faith rooms offering a private space for travelers to pray, meditate or reflect

Final word

Looking at all of these amenities makes me think Capital One is pretty serious about competing with American Express. We still don’t have details on admission policies and prices which I think is the major question mark with these lounges.

A lot of people think a premium credit card from Capital One is on the way, which would be very exciting.

With crowding becoming so much of an issue at many Centurion Lounges, having a similar competitor enter the market will only be a good thing for travelers.

Capital One Improves Savor Cards

Capital One just upgraded the bonus earning rates for two of us most popular cards.

Capital One Savor 

The Capital One Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card previously earned:

  • 4% on dining and entertainment
  • 2% on groceries

However, it just got upgraded to the following rates:

  • 4% on dining and entertainment
  • 4% on streaming services, including Hulu, Disney+ and Netflix
  • 3% on groceries

Streaming is a category where most people have pretty limited spending so the 4% back can only go so far. But with so many streaming services now out there the savings could add up over the span of 12 months to help you offset the annual fee.

Let’s say you are spending $100 a month on streaming services. That’s $1,200 a year and 4% of that comes out to $48. The annual fee is $95 so with that bonus category alone you can offset about half of the annual fee. Not bad.

But of course the real value with this card is the 4% back on dining and entertainment. Purchasing expensive tickets to one event could get you some dramatic cash back savings (sometimes up to 8%) and foodies who eat out a lot will quickly accumulate tons of cash back month after month.

Related: Capital One Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card Credit Score: What Are My Approval Odds?

Capital One SavorOne

The Capital One SavorOne Cash Rewards Credit Card is also getting an upgrade in the bonus category department.

The Capital One Savor One previously earned:

  • 3% on dining and entertainment
  • 2% on groceries

However, it just got upgraded to the following rates:

  • 3% on dining and entertainment
  • 3% on streaming services, including Hulu, Disney+ and Netflix
  • 3% on groceries

Getting 3% on all of those categories is really good for a no annual fee credit card. It’s definitely more of a strong contender with the Chase Freedom cards with the increased bonus earnings.

Final word

A lot of times when you see new bonus categories come in and get increased there is a bit of a shuffle and some bonus categories drop. That is not the case this time with Capital One so that is a major plus for the new changes.

Capital One Venture Credit Score Needed (Real Data Points) [2021]

The Capital One Venture is now one of the best travel rewards credit cards on the market.

That’s because Capital One recently made changes to its rewards program and now allows for one to one transfer ratios to some great travel partners. They also added some new travel partners and will be opening up airport lounges very soon as well.

But what type of credit score is needed to get approved for the Capital One Venture? And what type of starting credit limit can you expect if you are approved?

In this article, I will break down the credit score requirements to help give you a sense of your approval odds and also provide you with some insight into getting approved for Capital One cards.

Credit score needed for approval

Generally speaking you want to have a credit score of at least 700 before you apply for the Capital One Venture.

However, as shown by some of the data points below sometimes you can get approved with a credit score under 700. Also, sometimes having a great credit profile is NOT the best way to get approved for Capital One cards, including the Venture. (I will explain more below.)

Tip: Use WalletFlo for all your credit card needs. It’s free and will help you optimize your rewards and savings!

Capital One Venture overview

CAPITAL ONE VENTURE benefits

Before jumping too deep into all of the data points and the approval process, it’s a good idea to know what type of value you can expect with the Capital One Venture. Often, you can find this card offering a pretty strong welcome bonus, sometimes up to 100,000 miles!

Typically, to earn this 100,000 mile bonus you will need to spend a lot of money (e.g., $20,000) over a long duration such as 12 months. If you are not able to meet the higher spend threshold, you usually can still earn a smaller amount of miles such as 50,000 miles with a much lower amount of spend (e.g., $3,000).

The Capital One Venture earns 2X miles on every purchase. This is a great bonus structure for people who don’t want to worry about rotating categories or multiple bonus categories. Every purchase on your card earns the same 2X.

Now that you can transfer your miles out to various programs at a ratio of 1 to 1 this means that you are effectively earning 2 miles per dollar spent for those programs. If you value the miles for those programs at around 1.5 cents per point then all of a sudden you are now earning ~3% on every purchase. That is a pretty exceptional earning rate.

The Capital One Venture also comes with a $100 TSA Pre-Check or Global Entry credit.

The annual fee for the Venture is $95. That is a pretty typical annual fee for a card that offers the ability to transfer miles to various travel partners. The good news is that if you spend $3,166 in a year and you value your miles at around 1.5 cents per mile then you will completely offset the annual fee at that point with spend alone.

Singapore Airlines first class chair
Singapore Airlines first class (a Capital One travel partner)

Capital One approval process

Capital One is a pretty unique bank when it comes to credit card applications. Because they do things a little bit differently you definitely want to know what you are getting yourself into before you apply.

Capital One pulls all major credit bureaus

First, Capital One likes to pull all three major credit bureaus whenever you apply. This means that you will most likely get a hard pull on your credit report for: Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion.

This is one of the drawbacks of applying for a Capital One card because most other banks only pull from one or two bureaus at a time. And some banks such as American Express may not even pull from any bureaus.

This does not mean that you should never apply for a Capital One card but it does mean that you should expect a temporary ding on all of your credit reports if you apply.

Note that this method of pulling all three credit bureaus can actually work in your favor in some cases as I will explain below.

Related: How Long Do Hard Inquiries Stay on Your Credit?

Capital One sometimes declines people with great credit

The next thing to note is that Capital One will often decline people with spotless credit profiles.

If you do enough research you will find plenty of data points where individuals have been denied Capital One credit cards despite having credit scores near 800, flawless payment history, and super-low utilizations. It is one of the biggest complaints credit card enthusiasts have about Capital One.

Related: Capital One Credit Wise Review

Why exactly is this the case?

Many people speculate that Capital One is more interested in applicants that don’t have spotless credit histories, especially when it comes to utilization.

This is because those type of applicants will be more likely to pay interest on their credit card bills every month.

That interest can be a major revenue source for Capital One over time so they may be more interested in approving those applicants over people who have a firm grasp on how to avoid interest.

What does this mean for your credit card strategy?

If you have a spotless credit history and your credit score is very high or perhaps even a perfect credit score then one suggestion could be to purposely have a high utilization for a couple of months before you apply.

So let’s say your utilization is typically 5% every month. In that scenario you may want to increase that utilization to somewhere around 20% to 30% for a couple of months. That is because this may signal to Capital One that you are an applicant who is more likely to pay interest.

If you are going to go this route then make sure that you do not have any credit needs during the couple of months you are doing this because your credit score will likely take a noticeable hit. Also, make sure not to go too crazy with increasing your utilization because you don’t want your credit score to completely tank.

And remember if you go this route you can still completely avoid paying any interest. The key to this method is to simply let your statement close with a higher balance but then pay off that balance completely when your bill is due.

Related: Capital One Amazon Offers & Discounts Guide

Credit score data points

Below, you can find a number of data points that we found after doing a lot of online research. The first several data points have self-reported information related to the applicant’s credit score.

It’s important to remember that people may sometimes inaccurately report their credit score but these data points do give us at least some type of data to look at so I believe they are helpful.

You will notice that some applicants had credit scores in the lower 600s such as in the 620s. However those applicants also had credit scores at or near 700 in at least one of the bureaus.

So if you happen to have one bureau with a pretty low score there still may be hope for you if your other bureaus have higher scores. (This is the one positive of Capital One pulling from all three credit bureaus.)

Approval #1

  • Credit Score Details: Experian 671
  • Approval Date: 03/01/2020
  • Credit Limit: $5,000

Approval #2

  • Credit Score Details: 750sh on all Bureaus
  • Credit Approval: 01/09/2019
  • Credit Limit : $5,000

Approval #3

  • Credit Score Details: Transunion 628/Equifax 705
  • Credit Approval: 02/20/2018
  • Credit Limit: $15,000

Approval #4

  • Credit Score Details: Transunion 714/Equifax 715/Experian 618
  • Credit Approval: 10/14/2017
  • Credit Limit: $12,000

Approval #5

  • Credit Score Details: Transunion 706 (FICO 8)/Equifax 775 (FICO 8)/Experian 700 (FICO 8)
  • Credit Approval: 07/29/2017
  • Credit Limit: $10,000

Approval #6

  • Credit Score Details: Transunion 675/Experian 682/Equifax 679
  • Credit Approval: 04/05/2018
  • Credit Limit: $15,000

Approval #7

  • Credit Score Details: Equifax 691/Transunion 626/Experian 664
  • Credit Approval: 08/06/2018
  • Credit Limit: $9,000

Approval #8

  • Credit Approval: 12/30/2018
  • Credit Limit: $15,000

Approval #9

  • Credit Approval: 03/20/2020
  • Credit Limit: $5,000

Approval #10

  • Approval Date: 07/28/2019
  • Credit Limit: $15,000

Approval #11

  • Approval Date: 03/27/2019
  • Credit Limit: $5,000

Approval #12

  • Credit Approval: 02/11/2020
  • Credit Limit: $5,000

Related: Chase Sapphire Preferred Credit Score & Income Needed for Approval

Credit limit increases?

In my personal experience, Capital One has been one of the most generous with credit limits. Still to this day they are the bank that set me up with my highest starting credit limit which was over $25,000.

The credit limit you are given will depend on a combination of your credit score and income. To maximize your credit limit with Capital One I have two recommendations.

The first is to make sure you are reporting all of the available income you can on your credit card application. There is something called accessible income which allows you to report income available to you from people like your parents or a spouse.

My second recommendation is that if you are not pleased with your credit limit then you should look into requesting a credit limit increase. Capital One can be a bit stingy with credit limit increases but it does not hurt to give it a shot since it will not affect your credit report.

Final word

With the new changes to the Capital One rewards program, all of a sudden Capital One cards are actually a lot more valuable. Getting approved for a card like the Venture can be a little bit tricky just because Capital One sometimes prefers applicants who are more likely to pay interest. You might be able to get around this by temporary increasing your utilization but just be careful that you are not hurting your odds for other credit you might need during that time.

Big (positive) Capital One changes coming

Capital One is currently offering a pretty strong 100K offer for the Capital One Venture. With thew new offer you can earn:

  • 50,000 miles if you spend $3,000 on purchases in the first 3 months
  • Another 50,000 miles when you spend $20,000 total on purchases in the first 12 months from account opening
  • Learn how to apply

This 100K offer was already pretty interesting but it just got wayyy more appealing with the announcement of the new Capital One changes.

1:1 Transfer partner tier

Beginning on April 20th, Capital One miles can be transferred to select travel loyalty programs at a 1:1 ratio. (This is an improvement from the prior ratio of 2:1.5.)

These programs include:

  • Avianca (LifeMiles)
  • Etihad (Etihad Guest)
  • Cathay Pacific (Asia Miles)
  • AeroMexico (Club Premier)
  • Finnair (Finnair Plus)
  • Qantas (Qantas Frequent Flyer)
  • Wyndham Rewards

These 1:1 partners like Avianca, Etihad, and Asia Miles have real value.

Avianca is already a partner of Amex Membership Rewards and Citi ThankYou Points so this makes it even easier to build up that balance which can be used on Star Alliance flights with super low taxes/fees. Etihad and Asia Miles are also great programs with the multiple transfer routes as well.

So the new 1:1 transfers make your Capital One miles more valuable and therefore make the Capital One Venture a much more attractive option. You are basically earning 2X for those programs on everyday spend which is very good. In fact, we will now be updating the WalletFlo point valuation for some Capital One cards.

Etihad First Class Lounge

New travel partners

Capital One is also adding four new loyalty programs:

  • British Airways (Avios)
  • Choice Hotels (Choice Privileges)
  • TAP Air Portugal (Miles&Go)
  • Turkish Airlines (Miles&Smiles).

British Airways (Avios) and Turkish Airlines (Miles&Smiles) are two very solid programs but the drawback is that they will be will be in the 2:1.5 tier. That’s not terrible but if these two partners had been part of the 1 to 1 tier this would’ve been an even more next level change.

Still, I would highly recommend looking into Turkish Airlines. They have some very good sweet spots and some pretty customer friendly change and cancellation policies.

The other new partners will be in the 1:1 tier. I don’t have experience with those partners so I’m not sure about their value proposition.

New airport lounges

Capital One is also stepping into the airport lounge space. They will be setting up two lounges: Dallas/Fort Worth Airport (DFW), opening in late summer 2021, and Dulles Airport (IAD), coming in 2022.

Based on the renderings these lounges look to be close to Centurion Lounges in terms of quality. It also looks like they are going to be very equipped with:

  • High-speed Wi-Fi
  • Restaurant-quality in-lounge dining
  • Grab-and-go food (local chef menus)
  • Coffee bars
  • Quiet work zones
  • Individual power outlets at every seat
  • Soundproof relaxation rooms stocked with blankets, eye covers and earplugs
  • Soundproof multi-faith room
  • Family area an private nursing rooms
  • Luggage lockers
  • Cycling and yoga rooms
  • Private shower suites with luxury bath amenities

You don’t see many lounges with wellness-focused amenities (cycling and yoga rooms) so Capital One is getting a little innovative with their lounges which is really cool to see.

These lounges could be a great way to mix it up and perhaps avoid the larger crowds that sometimes plague Centurion Lounges.

In terms of food and beverages, it sounds like they are making some serious efforts to uphold a high-quality standard and to make “sad salads” a thing of the past. They are said to be offering a restaurant-quality in-lounge dining experience with unique touches like craft cocktails on tap, local beers, and regional wines.

Capital One cardholders will be eligible for special entry rates depending on the card they have. So that will be the other question: How much will it cost cardmembers to get in? Could a Venture /Spark Card get you in for $25? Can you bring guests?

It also makes you wonder if Capital One is eventually planning on rolling out with a more premium product that grants lounge access when they have a few more lounges.

New travel portal

The new travel portal for Capital One will be launching later this year in partnership with Hopper.

I’m not super excited for what looks like another online travel agency portal but there may be some additional features that stick out like special assistance for Capital One members and the ability to earn and use rewards. I doubt that the redemptions will be super compelling especially in light of the new travel partners but we will see. It’s possible this portal may have something special to offer.

Final word

This is really exciting for people who can get on board with Capital One. Having the ability to transfer 1:1 with Avianca (LifeMiles), Etihad (Etihad Guest), and Asia Miles is very exciting to me. Because you can also transfer points from other programs to these partners it’s going to make it that much easier to build up big balances.

The new lounges are also very exciting and I would assume that they already have plans to open up new ones in 2022 and beyond. The lounges look like they will be competitive with Centurion Lounges and even offer additional amenities but I am also curious about the admission policy and prices.

If you were on the fence about the Capital One Venture these new changes might mean it’s time to finally jump on the card.

Capital One Venture 100K Offer

The Capital One Venture is back with another exciting 100K offer.

The offer

  • Earn 50,000 miles if you spend $3,000 on purchases in the first 3 months
  • Earn another 50,000 miles when you spend $20,000 total on purchases in the first 12 months from account opening

Normally, this is a pretty interesting offer but things are much more interesting now that we know about the upcoming changes.

Capital One is set to add new transfer partners, a 1:1 transfer tier, new airport lounges, and a new travel portal.

In short, they are stepping up their game big time. For this reason, those potential 100,000 miles now amount to a new level of value.

Learn how to apply

Capital One Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card Credit Score: What Are My Approval Odds?

The Capital One Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card is one of the best cash back credit cards, especially for dining and entertainment. But how high of a credit score do you need to get approved?

This article will give you an idea of what you can expect your approval odds to be based on your credit score. 

Interested in finding out the top travel credit cards for this month? Click here to check them out! 

Capital One Savor Credit score: What’s Needed?

There are reports of being approved for the Capital One Savor card with credit scores in the mid to upper 600s, so you definitely don’t need a perfect credit score to get approved for the Capital One Savor.

But keep in mind that the applicant there was applying for the old Capital One Savor card and the new version is a more premium product which means it will usually require a higher credit score.

The Capital One Savor card is not a card meant to rebuild your credit so if your score is in the low to mid 600s, it is probably not be for you. But if you’re in the high 600s, you might stand a decent chance.

My advice would be to try to get up above 720 or at least 700 to increase your approval odds for the Savor. In addition, I would try to establish at least a year of credit history with some issuer to increase those approval odds.

Tip: Use WalletFlo for all your credit card needs. It’s free and will help you optimize your rewards and savings!

Capital One Savor benefits

The original Capital One Savor was released in the fall of 2017 but it was later re-launched in 2018 and it came with an upgraded package. Here’s what the new and improved Capital One Savor offers:

  • 4% cash back on dining
  • 2% cash back on groceries
  • 1% cash back on everything else
  • Rewards don’t expire for the life of the account, and you can redeem cash back for any amount
  • World Elite MasterCard benefits
  • $95 annual fee
  • No foreign transaction fees

Bonus spending

  • 4% cash back on dining and entertainment
  • 2% cash back on groceries
  • 1% cash back on everything else

The Capital One Savor is one of the best cards for cash back on dining and entertainment with 4% cash back. You have to factor in the $95 annual fee which will obviously cut into the savings but if you spend a substantial amount of money on dining and entertainment then earning that 4% back can most definitely be worth it.

No foreign transaction fees

CapitalOne cards, like Discover cards, come with no foreign transaction fees. This is great if you don’t have a MasterCard with no foreign transaction fees because you’ll be able to take your 4% earnings on dining abroad with you and not have to worry about any issues if they don’t take Visa but do take MasterCard.

Drawbacks

One of the drawbacks to applying for a Capital One card is that they pull from all 3 credit bureaus. You can have one of your bureaus frozen like Experian to mitigate the damage, however.

Capital One Savor credit limits

It’s hard to predict what your credit limit will be for the Savor credit card. However, there are reports of others getting credit limits as high as $30,000. More realistically, with an average credit score, you’ll probably get started off with a credit limit of $5,000 to $10,000.

The actual limit you get will depend on your credit score and income but in the past Capital One has always been one of the most generous issuers for me when it comes to credit limits. They also allow you to request credit limit increases, usually after 6 months, so you can always try to work your way up the credit limit ladder with those requests.

Improving your credit score

If you think you’re on the cusp of getting approved then you may just need to work a little bit on your credit score. If you need a quick refresher on how credit scores are determined, click here

Related: How to Raise Your Credit Score by 200 Points

Your credit score is determined by the following categories:

Payment history

Obviously, you want your payment history to be squeaky clean. If you have a late payment within the last couple of months, consider waiting a few more months to apply for another credit card. If you have multiple late payments, you might need to wait 6 to 12 months before applying and possibly even longer.

Utilization

You want to try to keep your utilization around 10% but no higher than 30% for good approval odds. It’s really important to know how to properly pay off your credit card bill to maintain good utilization.

Credit history

As stated, you probably want to apply for this card after you’ve established some credit history for a while. I would shoot for at least a couple of years of solid credit history.

New credit

Capital One can be a little sensitive to new accounts opened up so try to space out your applications so that you’re not applying for a bunch of Capital One cards right after applying for other cards.

Mixed credit

This looks at your mix of revolving credit accounts and installment accounts and is the least important factor for your FICO score. You shouldn’t stress too much over this factor.

Depending on which factor is holding you back, there are different ways to quickly improve your credit score. You can read about these different methods here

Final word

The Capital One Savor is a great cash back rewards credit card but you’re going to need to have at least a decent credit score to get approved. Capital One advertises this card as needing “Excellent” credit so you know that your score needs to be in decent shape before applying.

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