Capital One Quicksilver Cash Rewards Credit Card review: A passable flat-rate cash back card

The Capital One Quicksilver card is a mainstay among flat-rate rewards cards. It earns cash back on all purchases, features a generous intro APR offer and charges no annual or foreign transaction fees, making it an option for any budget. This Capital One credit card or any other flat-rate cash back card could be an especially good fit if you’re looking for a supplemental rewards card or don’t spend heavily in common credit card bonus categories.

That said, a flat 1.5 percent rewards rate falls short of the rate you can find on some of the best flat-rate rewards cards, which offer 2 percent back on all purchases. Unless you plan to pool rewards with other Capital One cards, the Quicksilver may not offer the best long-term value.

The Quicksilver card is a solid flat-rate cash back card for cardholders who value simplicity, minimal fees and low-maintenance rewards. It could also be a good choice if you’re looking for an easy-to-earn sign-up bonus or intro APR to chip away at debt or finance new purchases.

Welcome offer: Generous, easy-to-earn bonus

This card comes with a $200 cash bonus welcome offer after you spend $500 in your first three months. 

That’s not only on par with the bonus value you’ll find on several other cash back cards, but it could also be easier to earn. A $500 bonus spending requirement is one of the lowest you’ll find on a no-annual-fee rewards card. While you can find welcome offers higher than $200 on other rewards cards, these tend to have annual fees and higher spending requirements. 

Welcome bonuses also aren’t available on many flat-rate cash back cards, including the Citi® Double Cash Card. While a higher cash back rate will win out in the long run, the Quicksilver card’s bonus could make it a more rewarding option in the short term. 

For example, if you spent $20,000 with the Quicksilver card and earned 1.5 percent back on those purchases, you’d net $500 in total cash back after adding in the sign-up bonus. A card that earned 2 percent back on all purchases but didn’t come with a sign-up bonus would only get you $400 back on a $20,000 spend.

The Quicksilver card’s combination of flat-rate rewards, no annual fee, a valuable welcome offer and a relatively low spending requirement should make it a good choice if you’re looking for a fast, simple way to earn rewards.

Fees: Skip costs that can add up

The Quicksilver card does not charge an annual fee, making it a solid option if you want to keep things simple and would rather not focus on offsetting card costs via rewards and perks. 

The card also carries no foreign transaction fees, so it could come in handy as a travel companion. This is especially noteworthy considering plenty of competing no-annual-fee rewards cards charge at least 3 percent in fees for every purchase made abroad. 

If you’ve recently boosted your credit score up from the “fair” range and are looking for a card for good credit, the Quicksilver card’s low fees should be a welcome sight and make it a good option if you need an easy-to-manage starter rewards card. 

Intro APR: Solid offer on both purchases and balance transfers

Along with a generous welcome bonus, the Quicksilver comes with a solid introductory APR on both new purchases and balance transfers. You can take advantage of a 0 percent intro APR on purchases and balance transfers for your first 15 months as a cardholder, after which the card’s go-to variable APR of 19.99 percent to 29.99 percent applies. 

An intro APR period of 15 months is about average for a no-annual-fee rewards card, but some competitors only offer an intro APR on either new purchases or balance transfers — not both. The Citi® Double Cash, for example, only offers an intro APR on balance transfers, not on new purchases, making it harder to take advantage of the card’s flat rewards rate if you’re paying off debt.

And while the Quicksilver card’s intro APR period is shorter than the intro APR periods you’ll find on many dedicated balance transfer cards, the Quicksilver only charges a 3 percent balance transfer fee (for balances transferred during the first 15 months. No fee for amounts transferred at the Transfer APR). Many of the best balance transfer cards charge a 5 percent balance transfer fee, which could end up costing you more than you’d save with a few extra months of 0 percent APR.

Redemption: Ultra-simple rewards program

The Quicksilver is one of the most straightforward types of rewards cards you can get in terms of both earning and redeeming rewards. 

You’ll earn cash back at the same flat rate on all purchases and you can redeem rewards as a check or statement credit or use cash back to cover recent card purchases. You can also use cash back for gift cards and online purchases at checkout on Amazon.com and PayPal. If you have a Capital One travel card like the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card, you can even turn your cash back into points at a 1:1 ratio and redeem for travel bookings.

Your Quicksilver rewards also hold a reliable value of 1 cent each, regardless of how you redeem them. Several competing  rewards cards earn points that offer a higher or lower redemption value depending on how you redeem them (for example, many cards offer lower redemption value when you opt for gift cards or merchandise). This means you won’t have to worry about tracking point values or maximizing redemptions.

To simplify things, you can also receive your cash back automatically at a set time each year or at a specific cash value. That way, you don’t have to track your rewards balance.

The Quicksilver card may be a solid choice if you’re looking for a simple, no-annual-fee rewards card or recently moved your credit score into the “good” range. However, it doesn’t have the best flat cash back rate available at this credit level and fails to deliver on tertiary perks that bring additional value.

Rewards: Relatively low rate for a card in this class

The Quicksilver card’s flat 1.5 percent cash back rate is higher than the rate you’ll find on most cards available with fair credit and beats out the base rewards rate offered on most tiered rewards cards. 

That said, if you have at least a good credit score, you should be able to qualify for a card with a higher rate, including many of the best flat-rate cash back cards. Several of these cards earn a flat 2 percent cash back, including the Citi® Double Cash Card, which offers up to 2 percent back on purchases (1 percent when you buy, 1 percent when you pay off your balance).

While a 0.5-percent higher rate may not seem like much, it can make a big difference in the long run. For example, if you spend $15,000 on general purchases per year for three years with a card that earns a flat 2 percent cash back, you’ll net $900 in rewards; setting aside the sign-up bonus, the Quicksilver would only earn $675 on that spend.

You may also earn more overall if you opt for a card that carries a higher rewards rate in key spending categories like groceries and gas. 

For example, if you spent $300 per month on groceries and $500 per month on general purchases, a card with a 3-percent grocery rewards rate and a 1-percent base rate would net you more cash back per year than the Quicksilver would via a flat 1.5 percent rewards rate ($168 versus $144).

Perks: Only a few noteworthy benefits

This card doesn’t carry much value outside of its streamlined rewards program.  

Perhaps its most noteworthy perks are related to Uber rideshare and food delivery. You can get up to six months of complimentary Uber One membership statement credits through Nov. 14, 2024 with your Quicksilver card. 

Uber One comes with unlimited $0 delivery fees on eligible food, groceries and more on Uber Eats, up to 10 percent off eligible Uber Eats orders and other Uber perks like member pricing and top-rated drivers.

If you often order food for delivery or take rideshares, this could be a valuable perk, saving you not only the $9.99-per-month Uber One membership cost, but potentially hundreds in other delivery and service fees. 

But, remember, this offer only lasts up to six months. 

Otherwise, the card features mostly minor perks you can find on other cards. Although you won’t have to worry about offsetting an annual fee via perks and rewards with this card, extra benefits could help make it more competitive with no-annual-fee cards that carry a higher flat rewards rate. For instance, the Wells Fargo Active Cash® Card comes with up to $1,200 per year in cellphone protection against damage or theft (across two potential claims, minus a $25 deductible) when you pay your cellphone bill with the card. While cellphone protection isn’t necessarily a considerable benefit that brings outstanding value to your card, it adds an extra layer of protection that could help you save money in an uncontrollable circumstance, like damage or theft.

Since the Quicksilver offers few perks, you’ll get the most long-term value out of the card’s ongoing rewards. However, since there’s no annual fee, you won’t have to worry about meeting a certain threshold in reward earnings to justify carrying the card.

Here’s a look at the sort of value you can expect to get in your first year and beyond with the Quicksilver card, based on our card value rating methodology, which assumes an annual spend of $20,500:

Bankrate credit cards editor Re’Dreyona Walker uses the Quicksilver Cash Rewards card for its flat-rate rewards and convenient virtual card numbers:

“My favorite features of this card are the flat-rate rewards on every purchase and the virtual card number, which is great for making quick and safe online purchases. I like that I don’t have to track tiered rewards like I do with my other rewards cards. The welcome bonus was also easy to earn, and the application was also short and painless.”

— Re’Dreyona Walker, Editor at Bankrate

The Quicksilver card’s 1.5-percent flat cash back rate is decent compared to the average card’s rate on general purchases, but it falls short of the rate you’ll find on the best flat-rate cards. The card’s APR may also be too high for some cardholders. 

If you want a card with lower interest or more perks, consider these alternatives:

Flat-rate cards make it easy to earn rewards on all of your everyday spending, but you can enjoy higher rewards rates in specific spending categories with other cards. This means you could get a ton more value by pairing your Quicksilver card with a card tailored to your spending habits. 

Consider these popular options:

The Capital One Quicksilver Cash Rewards Credit Card is a popular choice among cardholders who want a straightforward cash back card that earns rewards on all purchases. Other than the possible interest charges you’ll accrue from carrying a balance, there are no ongoing fees or bonus categories to worry about. Capital One can even automate the redemption process.

But if you don’t mind tracking a bonus category or two, you might be able to rack up more cash back and receive specialized benefits on a different cash back card.

For Capital One products listed on this page, some of the above benefits are provided by Visa® or Mastercard® and may vary by product. See the respective Guide to Benefits for details, as terms and exclusions apply

We rate credit cards using a proprietary card scoring system that ranks each card’s estimated average rewards rate, estimated annual earnings, welcome bonus value, APR, fees, perks and more against those of other cards in its primary category.

Each card feature is assigned a weighting based on how important it is to people looking for a card in a given category. These features are then scored based on how they rank relative to the features on other cards in the category. Based on these calculations, each card receives an overall rating of 1-5 stars (with 5 being the highest possible score and 1 being the lowest).

We analyzed over 150 of the most popular rewards and cash back cards to determine where each stacked up based on their value, cost, benefits and more. Here are some of the key factors that influenced this card’s overall score and how the score influenced our review: