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).
