Capital One isn’t the most popular credit card issuer (due to #1 on this list) but sometimes they offer big sign up bonuses so they are still worth considering (especially when you combine #2 and #3 for multiple cards with frozen reports). Here are some things everybody should know about Capital One credit cards.
The List
- Capital One pulls your credit report from all three credit bureaus. This matters because new applications on your credit report affect your FICO score, other issues will usually only pull from one of the three bureaus meaning you get a chance to spread those new inquiries out.
- Capital One will still approve you if you have one credit report frozen. This goes back to the point we made above, but basically you can freeze either your TransUnion or Experian credit reports and still get approved. Freezing Equifax doesn’t look like it’ll work.
- You can get the sign up bonus on Capital One cards more than once. As long as you’re approved, you should get the bonus. There doesn’t seem to be any minimum waiting period.
- Capital One has limits when it comes to how many cards you can have with them. Maximum of two personal cards, but only Capital One branded cards (e.g not co-branded cards like the Sony card) count. Cards that have been product changed due to other cards being discontinued do not count either (even if they are Capital One branded cards).
- Capital One does not match higher sign up bonuses. So make sure you’re applying for the best offer.
- You can request a credit limit increase with Capital One online, once every six months. It’s a soft pull as well.
- They also allow you to do credit limit reallocations online.
Unfortunately we still do not know if it’s a hard or soft pull, both cards need to have been opened for at least six months. (Update: Seems to be a soft pull) - You can view what cards you’re pre-approved for online. Although I haven’t seen anybody saying they were offered a higher than publicly available bonus using this.
- Capital One doesn’t really have a reconsideration department if you’re denied for one of their credit cards. You need to receive an official e-mail from them with the status of your application you can then try calling one of the many numbers available for them. If you’re new to reconsideration calls, we recommend reading this first.
- They do not expedite new cards. If an existing card is lost or stolen, they might expedite a card but you’ll need to kick up a fuss and sometimes even pay a fee.
- Capital One will report your statement balance as your credit used to the credit reporting agencies. So if you want to lower your credit utilization, pay your card off before your statement closes.
- They do have a referral program. This was added in 2019
- They do allow product changes between different cards. But they have a weird set of rules that we don’t understand, sometimes they’ll process the request and sometimes they deny it. Either way, there is no hard pull. You can also check for potential product changes here.
- Minimum spending requirements start as soon as the card is approved.
- They will refund the annual fee if the card is cancelled within 30 days of the annual fee posting.
- Capital One doesn’t really offer retention bonuses, but they’ll usually waive the annual fee on your cards.
- Some Capital One business credit cards DO get reported to the personal credit bureaus. Keep this is mind as these cards will show up on your credit report. An exception is the Spark Cash Plus and the Venture X Business cards which are not reported.
- You won’t usually be able to reinstate a Capital One credit card which you closed voluntarily if you later change your mind.
- You cannot check your credit card application status online, instead you must call (800) 903-9177.
- Capital One will always proceed to do the auto-pay for the full statement balance, even if you make payments beforehand.
- It is possible to get an instant credit card number by downloading the app.
- You’re limited to one Capital One card per six months.
- Cannot change your cash advance limit, it’s usually set at 30% of your credit limit.
Things We Aren’t Sure About
- Currently there isn’t anything we are unsure about, we will update this section if there is.
Final Thoughts
Hopefully, you learned something new, we’ve done a similar thing for the majority of the other credit card issuers. I’d recommend reading those posts (linked below):
