Capital One’s New Spark Cash Plus Charge Card

That’s right. Capital One is has launched a “no preset spending limit” card (aka a “charge card” as opposed to a “credit card”) which requires payment in full each month.

What is the Spark Cash Plus Card?

The new Capital One Spark Cash Plus replaces the Spark Cash credit card (note that the Spark Miles card remains a credit card).

It will be pretty similar to the no longer available Spark Cash. The main differences are the no preset spending limit and the annual fee, which is set at $150 and is not waived the first year.

It also has a significant early spend bonus to earn up to $1,000 if you can spend $50,000 within 6 months. Else, you’d get $500 for $5,000 in spend within 3 months.

Capital One provided me with the following bullet points for the new Spark Cash Plus card:

• Unlimited 2% cash back on every purchase
• Enjoy a one-time bonus of up to $1,000: $500 once you spend $5,000 in the first three months, and an additional $500 once you spend $50,000 in the first six months
• Earn an annual $200 cash bonus for every year you spend $200,000 or more on the card
• No preset spending limit; your purchasing power adapts to your spending and payment behaviors
• Free employee cards
• $0 fraud liability if your card is lost or stolen
• Your balance is due in full every month, otherwise you’ll be charged a 2.99% monthly late fee
• No foreign transaction fees
• Annual fee of $150

Who is the Spark Plus Card Made For?

It’s clear that they recognize that many business owners spend a LOT on credit cards. I personally have business points consulting clients that spend into the tens of millions each year. And at a certain point, those pesky credit limits on traditional cards like the Chase Ink small business credit cards mean too much hassle.

With “no preset spending limit” the card should ramp up the amount you are allowed to spend with your actual monthly spend. Meaning that if you spend $100,000 a month on average, that won’t be a problem and you don’t need a $100,000 credit limit.

It’s for this reason that, historically, I’ve had clients with that much spend pick up American Express cards with no preset spending limit, like the Amex Business Platinum and Amex Business Gold cards, so that the credit limit is of no concern (because there isn’t one!)

But Amex lacks a 2% cash back product in that category. Amex has the Blue Business Cash, but that is a traditional credit product with a $50,000 annual limit on the 2% – dropping to 1% after that limit is reached.

So the new Spark Cash Plus is the perfect card for a business owner with significant spend. That doesn’t mean they shouldn’t have other credit cards for specific bonus categories – of course they should! – but this becomes a perfect catch all card.

Does the Spark Cash Plus Report to Your Personal Credit?

No! I have confirmed directly with my contacts at Capital One who provided the following:

Capital One may do a hard pull on personal credit when customers apply for a new small business product. For new Spark Cash Plus customers, Capital One will no longer report to personal credit bureaus as long as an account remains in good standing.

This is the same policy as for Spark Cash cards that were opened after October 2020.

What Happens to Existing Spark Cash Cardmembers?

If you already have a Spark Cash credit card, you can keep it. You will not be converted into the Spark Cash Plus. If you want a Spark Cash Plus, you will need to apply for one.

Can you Convert Your Spark Cash Plus “Cash” into Capital One Miles?

I don’t see any reason why you would not be able to send your “cash” to a Spark Miles credit card which would convert it into miles ($1.00 would convert to 100 points) if you want to transfer to Capital One’s airline/hotel partners.

Currently you can easily do so from a Spark Cash card (or even from a Quicksilver!).

You’d then have access to these transfer partners:

Capital One Airport Lounge Discounts

Per Capital One: Capital One Business cardholders will also be eligible for special entry rates at the recently-announced Capital One airport lounges opening later this year at Dallas/Fort Worth Airport (DFW) airport, and in 2022 at Denver International Airport (DEN) and Dulles International Airport (IAD).

The entry fee, and therefore the discounted entry fee, is not yet available.

How to Apply

You can use this link which supports MilesTalk.

Bottom Line

The only downsides to this new card are the annual fee (now $55 more than the old Spark Cash) and the inability to carry a balance (which you shouldn’t anyway!). Beyond that, large business spenders will love the ability to put as much spend as they need on this card with no preset spending limit and also not worry about it reporting to their personal credit profile. Note that Capital One will still pull your personal credit (hard inquiry) and probably pull from all three bureaus to boot. That’s what they do…

Thoughts?

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You can find credit cards that best match your spending habits and bonus categories at Your Best Credit Cards. 

New to all of this? My “introduction to miles and points” book, MilesTalk: Live Your Wildest Travel Dreams Using Miles and Points is available on Amazon and at major booksellers.