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What are Capital One application rules?
Capital One has made tremendous changes to their program, and I thought it would be beneficial to put together a quick guide regarding application rules. Years ago it used to be quite easy to pick up a Capital One credit card, but in the past few years the rules have gotten more stringent and hopefully this will help you navigate the rules. It’s also something worth examining since I think they offer the best ultra premium credit card on the market for most people: The Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card
Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card
If you’re looking to add a super premium card to your wallet without having to calculate whether you’re recouping the annual fee every year… the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card may very well be the best fit for you. 2x miles everywhere, lounge perks, and great travel partners make this a killer card
Welcome Offer
75k Capital One Miles after $4k in 3 months
Annual Fee
$395
Points Earned
Transferrable Capital One Miles
The Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card offers 2x miles on every single purchase you make, a $300 annual credit when booking in Capital One Travel, 10k Miles every year you keep the card ( worth a minimum of $100 in portal ), Priority Pass, Cap1 Lounge Access + when booking via the Capital One Travel Portal you’ll earn 10x miles on hotels and car rentals + 5x miles on flights.
The travel credit and 10k anniversary bonus miles alone recoup the $395 annual fee and they have a great list of transfer partners.
It’s an absolutely killer offer from Capital One.
- 2x miles on every single purchase without limit
- 10x miles hotels and rentals cars in Capital One Travel Portal
- 5x miles flights and vacation rentals booked through Capital One Travel
- $300 Annual Credit within the Capital One Travel Portal
- 10k bonus miles after each anniversary
- Lounge access
- Capital One Lounge Access
- 1 location currently and 2 more scheduled for 2022
- 2 guests allowed and $45 for every guest after that
- Authorized Users get access as well
- Add 4 Authorized Users free of charge
- Priority Pass Select access
- Unlimited complimentary access for you and two guests to 1,300+ lounges, including Plaza Premium lounges
- Capital One Lounge Access
- Receive up to a $120 credit for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck®
- Credit valid every 4 years
- Complimentary Cell Phone Insurance
- Hertz President’s Circle Status
- Enjoy a $100 experience credit and other premium benefits with every hotel and vacation rental booked from the Premier Collection
- No fee for up to 4 authorized users
- $395 Annual
The best ever offer was 100k after $10k spend in 6 months when the card first debuted, but 75k has been the offer ever since.
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists what the highest offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
How many Capital One credit cards can I have?
This is a great question and the anecdotally the answer has always been 2 personal cards total. This doesn’t include cobranded cards like BassPro or Cabela’s, and traditionally hasn’t included small business cards ( but I have recently heard of denials for this reason in June 2024) . It used to be that it was only 2 personal cards but over the past year or so this may have expanded.
There are exceptions to this rule and some have been approved for more than 2, but it’s worth keeping in mind.
How often can I get a Capital One credit card?
The rule has normally been regarded as such: Capital One will limit you to 1 new card every 6 months. This rule applies not only to personal cards, but to business cards alike. To further clarify, if you get a Capital One Venture Rewards, you’d have to wait 6 months to get a Capital One Spark Miles even though one is personal and the other is business.
- Remember that if you already have 2 personal cards it doesn’t matter if its been 6 months, you won’t get approved
There have been some exceptions to this rule
- It seems that people have been approved even if you have gotten another Capital One card in the past 6 months
- Don’t count on this unequivocally, but there have been data points to back this up
You can only hold one charge card at a time
The Capital One Venture X Business and the Capital One Spark Plus Cash are both charge cards meaning that they need to be paid in full every month. The consensus has been that if you hold one charge card, the bank will probably not approve you for another.
How often can I get a bonus? 48 months
Up until recently, as long as you were approved, you’d get the bonus. Some people even have two of the same card – although Capital One does reserve the right to deny a bonus and has kept fairly vague terms.
Now… you may see the following language on applications leading us to think they have a 48 months across the board:
“Existing or previous cardmembers are not eligible for this product if they have received a new cardmember bonus for this product in the past 48 months.”
This means that if you currently have the card, you probably won’t be able to get another, although this language is so new that we don’t have many data points. It also means, if you have had the card, canceled, but it’s been fewer than 48 months since you got the original bonus…you won’t get it. Good to know.
What are the 15+ Capital One transfer partners?
Here’s a pretty chart regarding Capital One transfer partners. I’m really impressed with how far Capital One has come in just a few years regarding their push to establish themselves in the travel rewards ecosystem. This is an impressive list of 15+ partners and all but two are 1:1
How has Capital One made improvements to their program?
Not only did they introduce transfer partners a couple of years back, but they recently ago they improved nearly all of their partners to 1:1. This is amazing since both the Capital One Venture Rewards and Capital One Spark Miles earn 2x miles on every single purchase.
- The following partners are now 1:1
- Aeromexico Club Premier
- Air Canada Aeroplan
- Avianca LifeMiles
- Air France Flying Blue
- British Airways Executive Club
- Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
- Choice Privileges
- Etihad Guest
- Emirates
- Finnair Plus
- Qantas Frequent Flyer
- Singapore Airlines
- TAP Air Portugal Miles&Go
- Turkish Airlines Miles and Smiles
- Wyndham Rewards
- Accor transfer 2:1
- EVA transfers 2:1.5
Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card
The Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card is a fantastic go-to that earns 2x miles everywhere. It’s simple, straight forward, and earns great rewards.
Welcome Offer
75k Miles after $4k in 3 months
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Capital One Miles
Every wallet needs a card that you use when you can’t get a big category bonus. You know, the every day card. And that is where the The Capital One Venture Rewards credit card shines.
Earn unlimited 2x Capital One Miles on every single dollar you spend and have the ability to transfer them to 18 partners. There are some fringe benefits as well like up to $120 Global Entry/TSA PreCheck® credit every 4 years, travel protections, and limited lounge access.
Personally, I carry the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card, but this is a great card for a lower annual fee.
- 2x miles on every purchase
- Receive up to a $120 credit for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck®
- Earn 5X miles
- on hotels booked via Capital One Travel
- rental cars booked via Capital One Travel
- vacation rentals booked via Capital One Travel
- Enjoy a $50 experience credit and other premium benefits with every hotel and vacation rental booked from the Lifestyle Collection
- Enjoy two complimentary visits per year to Capital One Lounges or
- to 100+ Plaza Premium Lounges through our Partner Lounge Network
- Transfer miles to 18+ partners
- $95 annual fee
There have been 100k offers that require $20k spend over 12 months, but personally I think the 75k offer is more attractive and allows you to allocate that spend elsewhere.
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists what the highest offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
Overall
Capital One has made the most exciting changes to their program this year, and they have moved to the top of my list of cards to add to my wallet. The betterment of their transfer partner list and transfer rate have made this program arguably one of the best in the space. If they would loosen their rules on how many cards you can hold and the ability to convert cashback rewards into miles – this would be a truly allstar program. A big part of me believes this is in the works, although I have no evidence to support this inclination other than the moves they’ve made over the past few years tells me “they get it.”
You can redeem British Airways Avios to fly QSuites from the US to Doha for 70k miles. One of the many fantastic redemptions of the Cap1 program.
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Welcome Offer
Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 2x on all other travel
- 10% Anniversary Bonus
- Every year you keep the card, your total spend will yield a 10% points bonus. If you spend $10k in a year, you’ll get 1k bonus points
- Chase Sapphire Preferred continues to redeem at 1.25c in the Chase Travel℠ and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver ( primary ), purchase protections, etc.
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- Redeem in Chase Travel℠ for 1.25 cents per point
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Get complimentary access to DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2027.
- $95 Annual Fee
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is exceptional starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex® and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash® , Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.
The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.