Capital One Spark Cash Select for Good Credit review: Not as valuable without intro APR

Capital One Spark Cash Select for Good Credit

Bankrate Score

Rating: 3 stars out of 5

3.0

Annual fee

$0

Intro offer

N/A

Rewards rate

1.5% - 5%

Earn unlimited 5% cash back on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel. Earn unlimited 1.5% cash back for your business on every purchase, everywhere — with no limits or category restrictions.

Recommended Credit Score

Good to Excellent (670 – 850)

A FICO score/credit score is used to represent the creditworthiness of a person and may be one indicator to the credit type you are eligible for. However, credit score alone does not guarantee or imply approval for any financial product.

The American Express Blue Business Cash™ Card

Bankrate Score

Rating: 4.3 stars out of 5

4.3

See Rates & Fees , Terms Apply

Apply now

on American Express's secure site

Annual fee

No annual fee

Intro offer

$250 statement credit

Earn a $250 statement credit after you make $3,000 in purchases on your Card in your first 3 months.

Rewards rate

1% - 2%

Earn 2% cash back on all eligible purchases on up to $50,000 per calendar year, then 1%. 1% cash back on all eligible purchases after spending $50,000 per calendar year.

Recommended Credit Score

Good to Excellent

A FICO score/credit score is used to represent the creditworthiness of a person and may be one indicator to the credit type you are eligible for. However, credit score alone does not guarantee or imply approval for any financial product.

Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card

Bankrate Score

Rating: 4.2 stars out of 5

4.2

See Rates & Fees

Apply now

on Chase's secure site

Annual fee

$0

Intro offer

Earn $750 bonus cash back

Earn $750 bonus cash back after you spend $6,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.

Rewards rate

1.5%

Earn unlimited 1.5% cash back on every purchase made for your business.

Recommended Credit Score

Good to Excellent (670 – 850)

A FICO score/credit score is used to represent the creditworthiness of a person and may be one indicator to the credit type you are eligible for. However, credit score alone does not guarantee or imply approval for any financial product.

• The American Express Blue Business Cash™ Card

  The American Express Blue Business Cash™ Card is a better flat-rate no-annual-fee option, earning 2 percent cash back on your first $50,000 in spending per calendar year (1 percent after). You’ll also get an intro APR on purchases for 12 months and a $250 statement credit after spending $3,000 within three months, which should be easy for most small-business owners to achieve.

• Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card

  The Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card not only gives the same 1.5 percent flat-rate cash back as the Spark Cash Select, but also offers a massive $750 cash back bonus after spending $6,000 in the first three months and a 12-month intro APR on purchases. You can also pool your cash back with Ultimate Rewards-earning cards, which allows you to access Chase’s travel partners. 

• Rewards value

  The best business cards offer rewards in key business spending categories, so a primary factor in a business card’s rating is its rewards value. This includes the card’s average rewards rate, estimated annual rewards earnings, sign-up bonus value and reward redemption value.

  To estimate a business card’s average annual rewards earnings, we first calculate its average rewards rate based on how much it earns in different bonus categories and how closely its categories align with the average small-business owner’s spending habits. In other words, we assess whether the card earns rewards at a high rate in the most popular business spending categories. 

  We researched 10 key business spending categories including dining, gas, office supplies, travel, telecommunications, insurance and more to get a sense of the average small-business owner’s spending habits. We assumed an average annual spend of around $40,000 per year based on Bankrate survey data. 

  Using this data, we are able to assign a weighting to each of a card’s bonus categories. We also estimate the redemption value of points or miles from various issuer, airline and hotel rewards programs.

  This weighting and rewards valuation allows us to estimate a card’s average annual rewards earnings — how many points or miles you’d earn with a given card if your spending was about average and you used the card for all of your business purchases — as well as what those points are worth. We also use point valuations to determine a card’s sign-up bonus value.

  With these calculations complete, we assign each card a score based on how its average rewards earnings, sign-up bonus value, rewards rate and redemption value stack up against other business cards, factoring in the card’s annual fee.

  The better these values, the higher its score will be, making it more worthy of inclusion in our list and increasing its potential ranking.

• Fees and intro APR

  We also score business cards based on how much it costs to keep them in your wallet or carry a balance. 

  To start, each business card is scored based on whether it offers an intro APR and how its ongoing APR compares to the rates available on other business cards. This is because an intro APR on new purchases or balance transfers can be a lifesaver if you need to pay down debt, finance a large business purchase or free up cash flow. 

  While intro APRs are not uncommon on business cards, they aren’t a given, so cards that offer this sort of payment flexibility will score higher in our card rating system.

  Even more important to both a card’s score and its inclusion in our list, however, is how its annual fee influences its overall value. We consider a card’s annual fee in two ways — how it ranks relative to the fees you’ll find on other cards in the category and how it impacts a card’s overall rewards value. 

  Cards with an annual fee will always be at a slight disadvantage in our scoring system since annual fees inherently cut into your rewards value. However, if a card offers terrific value via its ongoing rewards and perks, it can earn a high score and a spot in our list even if it carries a high annual fee. 

  With this in mind, we rate a card based primarily on how its ongoing rewards value and ongoing perk value (such as annual credits or bonuses) stack up against those of other cards in the category when you subtract annual fees.

• Flexibility

  We rate each business card’s flexibility based on the restrictions it imposes on earning and redeeming rewards. 

  Flexibility factors include whether a card only allows you to earn a high rewards rate on only a small amount of spending or requires you to meet a certain earning threshold before you can redeem rewards. We also examine whether your points are worth less when you opt for some redemption options over others and whether a card gives you the flexibility to transfer rewards to travel partners. 

• Perks

  We also score each card’s set of features – its perks and benefits — against five tiers of features to provide a rating. Top-tier perks include benefits like airport lounge access, travel credits, elite status with an airline or hotel and credits for expedited security screening membership programs.

  We give extra weight to perks especially useful or valuable for small-business owners, like being able to qualify with no personal guarantee, digital advertising credits, free employee cards and accounting perks.

What cardholders think

Capital One Spark Cash Select for Good Credit

4.2

44 ratings

In May 2024, Bankrate collaborated with third-party SliceMR to survey 6160 cardholders nationwide. Bankrate and Slice MR collected, averaged and presented website analytics and cardholder responses to six questions on a 5-point scale. Responses are unedited and have not been reviewed or approved by credit card issuers.

73% of customers recommend this card

Score breakdown

5 stars

57%

4 stars

16%

3 stars

20%

2 stars

2%

1 star

5%

Score by category

Overall 4.2 / 5

Extra perks 4.1 / 5

Privacy and security 4.1 / 5

Customer service 4.3 / 5

Online portal or mobile app 4.3 / 5

In May 2024, Bankrate collaborated with third-party SliceMR to survey 6160 cardholders nationwide. Bankrate and Slice MR collected, averaged and presented website analytics and cardholder responses to six questions on a 5-point scale. Responses are based on individual cardholder’s product details, and therefore cannot be verified for accuracy. Users received an incentive for their feedback. User ratings are unedited and have not been reviewed or approved by credit card issuers, nor do these ratings reflect Bankrate’s own reviews of these cards.