Charles H. Miller
The Capital One® Spark® Cash credit card is easy to grasp and is unsurprisingly among the most popular Capital One’s cards for small businesses, offering 2% cash back on every transaction. Also, it enables business owners to get additional cards to give to their employees and earn cash back on their purchases, as well. To make for an even sweeter deal, there’s a $500 sign-up bonus, after spending $4,500 on purchases within the first three months of account opening. The annual fee is $59, but it is waived in the first year. Here are the details…
Highlights
- $500 one-time cash bonus
- 2% cash back on all purchases
- Free employee cards
- 17.24% APR
- $59 annual fee, waived in the first year
How It Works?
Cash Back: The card awards 2% cash back on all purchases. There is no limit to the amount of cash back you can earn, and your rewards do not expire. There are no minimum requirements for cash back redemptions, which come in the form of a statement credit or check.
Bonus offer: One-time $500 after spending $4,500 on purchases within the first three months of account opening.
Free employee cards: With the option to set individual limits, and track spending. Also, you will be earning cash back on purchases your employees make.
Small business tools: Including the ability to download quarterly and year-end summaries of custom, itemized reports, to help manage and organize your finances.
Visa business benefits: Auto rental collision damage waiver, purchase security and extended protection, as well as travel and emergency assistance services.
APR: 17.24%, you are best off paying your balance in full and on time, though that depends on your company’s creditworthiness.
Annual fee: $59, waived in the first year.
Costs
- 17.24% Variable APR
- $0 Balance Transfer Fee
- $0 Foreign Transaction Fee
- $59 Annual Fee (waived the first year)
At Capital One’s secure website
Pros
- Sign-up bonus that will easily justify the annual fee (even though it’s waived in the first year).
- You get to earn cash back from both your and your employees’ purchases.
- No balance transfer fee – typically saves you 3 to 5 percent per transfer.
- No foreign transaction fee makes this card neat both for using inside the U.S. and while traveling abroad.
Cons
- Annual fee – yes, it is waived in the first year, but we don’t like it anyway.
- Where’s introductory APR? Which would make this an even better card, at least during the first year or so.
- Speaking of APR – it’s rather high, though that depends on your creditworthiness – perhaps you won’t get a better rate anyway.
Is This The Card For You?
With $500 bonus, the Spark Cash for Business Credit Card is an easy sell. There are some cards offering more bells and whistles, but $500 bonus for a card you will be using on a daily basis is pretty good. You will also be earning 2% cash back on every purchase you make, as well as on purchases of your employees (if you give them to use these cards). These, additional employees’ cards are free, BTW.
