Best Capital One Credit Cards: NerdWallet’s Picks

Best for Travel: the Capital One® Venture^℠ Rewards Credit Card

The Capital One® Venture^℠ Rewards Credit Card is one of the very few credit cards to offer 2% cash back on all purchases. Of the 2% cohort, it’s one of the most traveler-friendly. Not only is it one of the two carried on the Visa/MasterCard networks, bringing you one of the best acceptance rates, it’s the only one with no foreign transaction fee, which can set you back up to 3% of every purchase made abroad.

The Venture gives 2 No Hassle Miles for every $1 spent anywhere, in addition to a handsome 25,000-mile signup bonus. And No Hassle Miles are really not a hassle: rather than being restricted to just one airline or hotel, you can redeem your miles as a statement credit offsetting travel expenses. This means that you can spend $503.11 on gas, hotel rooms, airfare, inflight meals, whatever, and trade in 50,3011 miles to wipe away the charge. Much more flexible than having to buy tickets on non-blacked-out dates in increments of 25,000. The Venture’s $59 annual fee is waived the first year, and it offers the nice perk of complimentary concierge service.

Best No-Fee Card: the Capital One® Cash

Launched in August 2011, the Capital One® Cash has no annual fee but gives 1.5% rewards on all purchases. You earn a flat 1% rewards rate, but at the end of the year, receive a 50% “anniversary” bonus of all the points you’ve earned, spent or unspent. Plus, unlike the Capital One® Venture^℠ Rewards Credit Card One, you receive cash back, which is the easiest form of rewards to deal with. Finally, it has a yearlong 0% introductory APR period.

Best for Bad Credit: the Capital One® Secured Mastercard®

The Capital One® Secured Mastercard® is one of the best secured credit cards out there. A secured card lets you build or rebuild your credit score, and is far more accessible than an unsecured (regular) card. You post a certain amount of money upfront as collateral, and receive it back once you close the account. The collateral helps the bank feel comfortable lending to you, and you know you’ll get it back eventually.

Capital One is one of the best bad credit lenders, because they’ll lend to you right out of bankruptcy. Most other issuers want you to be out of bankruptcy for a year or more. Also, CapOne has one of the lowest minimum security deposits, ranging from $49 to $200. Orchard Bank’s is much higher at $200 minimum. Finally, the terms are some of the best: the annual fee is a low $29, and the 22.9% interest rate is better than most credit cards for bad credit (but don’t run a balance!) If you’d like to reestablish your credit history, this is a good way to go.

Best Capital One Credit Card for Businesses: the Capital One^® Spark^℠ Cash for Business

The Capital One^® Spark^℠ Cash for Business is our favorite business credit card offering: 2% Cash Back on all purchases, $100 signup bonus, and a $59 annual fee that’s waived the first year.

Capital One has a few other standout offerings. The lender tends to perform well in niche markets, such as those with no credit history or recent immigrants to the US. They have a number of offerings with low interest rates or rewards for those with fair credit, and nicely tell you the range of FICO scores that the card is intended for. Among the noteworthy and often-ignored Capital One credit cards:

For balance transfers or low APRs: The Capital One® Platinum Prestige Credit Card has one of the best balance transfer deals around: 0% interest on transfers and purchases for 15 months. The ongoing interest rate, too, is among the best in the industry and approaches levels seen only by credit unions. That said, outside of the Platinum Prestige, CapOne’s low APR offerings leave something to be desired.

For immigrants: Since your credit history doesn’t transfer from other countries, you’ll have to start over and build up a new payment history. Capital One offers a secured card just for immigrants. The Capital One® Cash Rewards for Newcomers gives 2% back on travel and 1% back on all other purchases. It also has no foreign transaction fee and no annual fee. It’s one of the best secured credit cards around, offering no fees as well as rewards.

For students: The best Capital One credit card for students is the Journey^℠ Student Rewards from Capital One®, which gives 1% back on all purchases, plus an additional 25% rewards increase if you pay on time. That’s a 1.25% rewards rate, with an incentive for good behavior. Plus, it has no annual fee, which can be key for cash-conscious students.

About Capital One No Hassle Miles

We’re fans of the No Hassle Miles rewards program, not least because the miles’ value stays constant at 1 cent per point no matter how many you redeem. Plus, they don’t expire as long as your account is active and in good standing. You have a couple of very flexible options when it comes to redeeming them:

• Travel: Capital One’s policy is that you can take a travel expense, add two zeroes to it, and trade in that many points to offset the expense. So, for example, if you pay $45.33 in airline change fees, you can swap out 4,533 No Hassle Miles to cover the cost.
• Gift cards: Unlike some other programs, CapOne lets you redeem a small number of miles for a gift card without screwing you over on the redemption rate. You can trade in 10,00 No Hassle Miles for a $10 gift card to somewhere useful, like Target, Amazon or Starbucks. Other programs will make you accrue 25,000 points before getting a good value, or only have $10 gift certificates for record stores you’ve never heard of.

In addition, NHM don’t expire, putting it ahead of Bank of America WorldPoints, Citi ThankYou Points, and most airline miles.