The Offer
Awhile ago a reader told me that it was possible to get the Capital One Business Spark card with no annual fee if you applied in branch. The flyer they showed me (shown below) mentions the no annual fee and I was able to confirm that this wasn’t only for the first year, it was for the life of the card.
It didn’t mention any sign up bonus, so I didn’t bother mentioning this bonus. That’s because if you apply online you can get a cash bonus of $300 when you spend a total of $5,000 within three months and add a second user (authorized user) within 60 days of account opening.
Yesterday reader Bay11 let me know that they were able to get the following bonus when they applied in branch (with the no annual fee):
- $50 for adding second user within 60 days of account opening
- $250 for spending a total of $5,000 or more within three months of account opening
The Fine Print
- No annual fee ever
- 2% cash back on all purchases
- Must apply in branch (if you apply online you’ll be charged $59 from year two onwards)
Our Verdict
A $300 cash bonus is very competitive (best cash bonuses can be viewed here), couple that with the fact it earns 2% cash back and it’s a Visa and it has no fee and this is a very compelling offer. The problem? Capital One pulls all three credit bureaus when they run your credit, if your able to spread your inquiries over all three credit bureaus then that’s the equivalent of applying for three cards. To understand this better I’d recommend reading through my credit card application strategy.
One way to account for this is to apply for multiple Capital One cards in the same day, doing this should result in these inquiries being combined (although there aren’t a lot of data points either way). If this is the case, then it could make sense to also apply for the Capital One Venture card which also comes with a $400 sign up bonus. $700 in bonuses is much more attractive for 3 credit pulls than only $300.
Sometimes Capital One offers a bonus of $500 on this card, so it’s well worth checking for targeted bonuses from Capital One first. There is also a $250 checking bonus for Capital One business checking customers (and a $100 bonus from Capital One 360).
What are your thoughts on this offer? Share it in the comments. Do you know of any other similar in branch offers, please let me know below.
