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

Capital One Venture X

 

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. This doesn’t include business cards or their cobranded cards like BassPro or Cabela’s. However… recently, this rule has always been strictly enforced.

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 when it comes to the Capital One Venture X and the Capital One Spark Cash Plus

• It seems that people have been approved for both of these cards even if you have gotten another Capital One card in the past 6 months
  • Don’t count on this unequivocally, but there have been a lot of data points to back this up

How often can I get a bonus?

If you’re approved, you’ll get the bonus. Some people even have two of the same card – although Capital One does reserve the right to deny a bonus and keeps fairly vague terms.

What are 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 partners and all but two are 1:1

Itemized list of partners and transfer ratios:

Transfer partner	Ratio
Aeromexico	1:1
Air Canada / Aeroplan	1:1
Air France / Flying Blue	1:1
Avianca LifeMiles	1:1
British Airways Avios	1:1
Cathay Pacific Asia Miles	1:1
Emirates Skywards	1:1
Etihad Guest	1:1
EVA Infinity MileageLands	1:1
FinnAir Plus	1:1
Qantas Frequent Flier	1:1
Singapore Airlines Krisflyer	2:1
Tap Air Portugal Miles&Go	1:1
Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles	1:1
Accor Live limitless	2:1
Choice Privileges	1:1
Wyndham Rewards	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

A bit more on the Capital One Venture X

• 2x on every single purchase without limit
  • 10x hotels and rentals cars in Capital One Travel Portal
  • 5x flights in Capital One Travel Portal
• $300 Annual Travel Credit within the Capital One Travel Portal
• 10k bonus miles after each anniversary
• Lounge Access
  • Capital One Lounge Access
    • 2 guests allowed and $45 for every guest after that
    • Authorized Users get access as well
  • Priority Pass Select access
• $100 TSA PreCheck or Global Entry credit
• Complimentary Cell Phone Insurance
• Hertz President’s Circle Status
• No fee for up to 4 authorized users
• $395 Annual Fee

Capital One Venture X

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 85k Cathay Pacific Asia Miles to fly QSuites from the US to Doha. One of the many fantastic redemptions of the Cap1 program.