Spark Miles Select From Capital One Review

Spark Miles Select from Capital One is a travel business credit card. With a flat rate of 1.5 miles per $1 spent (plus five miles per $1 spent on hotels and car rentals booked via Capital One Travel) and no maximum, miles are easy to earn and redeem. Miles can be used for most travel purchases, such as flights, hotels, and car rentals.

For businesses that have a lot of travel expenses, Spark Miles Select may be a prudent choice. However, business owners might be able to get more flexibility from Capital One’s equivalent cash back card, Spark Cash Select. Additionally, businesses planning on spending over $19,000 on the card annually might want to look at Capital One’s Spark Miles card, which offers a higher flat rate.

Are you interested in learning more? Read on for the details!

Spark Miles Select From Capital One At A Glance

Eligibility

Capital One designed the Spark Miles Select card to be used by those aged 18 or above and with excellent credit. Per its website, Capital One recommends excellent credit users to have:

• Never declared bankruptcy or defaulted on a loan
• Been no more than 60 days late for a payment in the past year on credit cards, medical bills, or loan repayments
• A loan or credit card for at least three years with a credit limit of $5,000 or higher

If we distill “excellent credit” into a single score, those with a credit score of at least 740 are often considered to have excellent credit. Note that this number is just a guideline — Capital One does not market a minimum credit score for this card.

Unsure of your credit score? Check out one of our favorite (and free!) credit score websites.

Rewards For Spending

The Spark Miles Select is an all-around strong card when it comes to rewards — plus there’s an early spend bonus thrown in too.

An Early Spend Bonus Worth 20,000 Miles

If you spend $3,000 on purchases within three months of opening your card’s account, you’ll collect 20,000 bonus miles. Capital One claims this early spend bonus is equivalent to $200 in cash, although your exact value may vary, depending on how you redeem your miles.

Unlimited 1.5x Miles On All Purchases

The Spark Miles Select base rewards scheme isn’t flashy, but it gets the job done: You’ll nab 1.5 miles per dollar spent on all purchases. There’s no cap on what you can earn, plus no restrictions on purchase categories.

5x Miles On Hotels & Rental Cards

A relatively new feature with both of Capital One’s business travel cards is the opportunity to earn five miles per dollar spent. This opportunity is quite limited, however. You only earn at the 5x rate when booking hotels and rental cars through Capital One Travel. All other charges made outside of Capital One Travel (such as room charges or upgrades) will collect miles at the card’s standard 1.5x rate. Additionally, booking hotels and rental cars outside of Capital One Travel won’t trigger the 5x rate.

Redeeming Rewards

As Spark Miles Select is a travel card, there are a few ways you can use your rewards to save money.

Use Miles For Travel

The easiest redemption option is to use your miles through Capital One’s travel portal. When booking travel through Capital One, you’ll be able to use your miles on airfare, hotels, packages, car rentals, and more. The marketing literature of the card promises no blackout dates, seat restrictions, or required minimum redemption amount.

Multiple Redemption Options

Besides travel, Capital One allows you to redeem miles for cash as a check or account credit, gift cards from an array of merchants, and more. Note that if you choose one of these redemption methods, the cash value of your miles may vary from the standard $0.01 per mile rate.

Temporary Redemption Options

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic — and because most cardholders likely aren’t traveling much — Capital One has introduced two temporary methods of redemption. As of right now, you can redeem your miles for purchases from eligible:

• Restaurant takeout and food delivery services — Capital One has listed DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Postmates as example delivery services
• Wireless phone service providers — example companies include Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, and more

These redemption options earn a standard rate of $0.01 per mile. They’ll be available for redemption through June 30.

Transfer Miles To 10+ Travel Partners

If you don’t find a redemption method through Capital One that suits your fancy, you have the option to transfer your miles to select air travel loyalty programs. At the time of writing, Capital One offers the ability to transfer miles to 15 partners, including JetBlue, Emirates Skywards, Air Canada, and Air France.

Rewards Don’t Expire

As is true with all Capital One business credit cards, miles earned with the Spark Miles Select card won’t expire for the duration your account is active. You may be able to transfer miles between select Capital One accounts, but note that once your account is closed, any unredeemed rewards will be lost.

Card Benefits

Cardholders receive coverage from both Capital One’s business benefits and Visa Business Benefits. Both of these programs will give you a solid slate of extra perks.

Free Employee Cards

A plus on any business credit card, employee cards are free with the Spark Miles Select. You’ll be able to earn rewards on employee spending as well as set spending limits.

Fraud Coverage & Alerts

Capital One likes to market its “business-grade protection” that covers users. While that may just be a few buzz words thrown together, Spark Miles Select still has impressive protection. You’ll be able to receive email, text, or phone call alerts whenever Capital One notices fraudulent or suspicious charges on your account.

You’ll additionally be protected by $0 fraud liability. With this benefit, you won’t be held liable for unauthorized charges if your card goes missing or gets stolen.

Besides those above protection perks, you’ll have the option to lock an employee’s card if one becomes lost or stolen.

Account & Business Management

With a Capital One Card, you’ll be able to access an array of tools that help with account management. You can pick your monthly due date, trigger automatic payments, and get an itemized year-end report summarizing your annual spending.

Other management features include a recurring transaction list for repeating payments, such as subscriptions or bills. There are a bunch of transaction details included, too, such as merchant addresses, logos, phone numbers, and maps.

Finally, you’ll be able to download purchase records into formats that support Quicken, QuickBooks, and Excel.

Visa Business Benefits

The Visa Business Benefits program that comes bundled with the Spark Miles Select card includes a few perks that are not in Capital One’s core benefits package. The most notable benefits here are purchase security and extended protection. With purchase security, you may be eligible to have an item replaced, repaired, or reimbursed within 90 days of purchase. With an extended warranty, eligible items will have their manufacturer’s warranty doubled (up to one additional year).

Outside of purchase protection, Visa Business Benefits provides users with a worldwide 24/7 emergency card replacement service. Frequent travelers will also like the package’s auto damage waiver, which covers eligible rental cars against damage due to collision or theft.

Other Benefits

The Spark Miles Select card comes with numerous other benefits. These include:

• Rental collision coverage
• Travel assistance
• Roadside assistance
• Online/mobile app account access
• Eno, Capital One’s 24/7 virtual assistant

Rates & Fees

The Spark Miles Select card promises no annual or foreign transaction fees, plus a 0% introductory APR period. However, there are a few fees to take note of — just like with any credit card.

A 0% Introductory APR Of 9 Months

Those who need to carry a balance will like that the Spark Miles Select card has an intro rate for purchases of 0% for the first nine months (you’ll find this feature lacking in the Spark Miles card). After that’s up, you’ll see a relatively average APR that ranges 14.49%-22.49% (variable). While this rate is competitive against other credit cards, you won’t have to worry about it as long as you pay off your bill every month.

No Annual Fee

A plus for frugal businesses, this card carries no annual fee. This is especially impressive when you consider that the Spark Miles Select offers an enticing rewards rate of 1.5x miles per dollar.

No Foreign Transaction Fees

Like other Capital One business credit cards, the Spark Miles Select has no foreign transaction fees. Because this bit of plastic is marketed as a travel card, its lack of foreign transaction fees is crucial. Frequent overseas travelers won’t have to worry about getting dinged extra when they whip out their Spark Miles Select card abroad.

Other Fees To Keep In Mind

Despite lacking annual and foreign transaction fees, there are a couple of standard credit card fees to watch out for. These include a cash advance fee of either $10 or 3% of the amount of each cash advance (whichever number is higher) and a late payment fee of up to $39.

Is Spark Miles Select From Capital One Right For You?

You might want to apply if…

• You are unlikely to spend more than $19,000 per year on purchases besides hotels and car rentals booked through Capital One Travel
• You or your employees do a lot of travel, and you want a card with flexible travel rewards
• You want a simple way to earn travel reward miles

You might want to look for a different card if…

• You are likely to put more than $19,000 on your card per year on purchases besides hotels and car rentals booked through Capital One Travel
• You want to use rewards points for reasons other than travel

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