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. 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 (see Rates and Fees).
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 (see Rates and Fees).
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® Card, 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 (see Rates and Fees).
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.