BEST CREDIT CARDSBEST CREDIT CARDSCAPITAL ONE QUICKSILVER REVIEW: A NO-FUSS, NO-GIMMICKS CARD

Capital One Quicksilver Review: A No-Fuss, No-Gimmicks Card

The card earns 1.5% cash back on all purchases, features a sign-up bonus as well as a 0% APR promotion.
Funto Omojola Author AvatarErin El Issa Author Avatar
Oct 1, 2024 10:44 a.m. PDT
Edited by
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The Bottom Line

4.6

NerdWallet rating

You’ll get a decent flat rate on all your spending, as well as a welcome offer and interest-free window. But there are other card options that feature more lucrative flat rate rewards.

Capital One Quicksilver Cash Rewards Credit Card
Annual Fee
$0
Rewards Rate
1.5%-5%
Cashback
Intro Offer
$200
Recommended credit score
Intro APR
0% intro APR for 15 months on purchases and balance transfers; balance transfer fee applies
Regular APR
19.99%-29.99% Variable APR
Recommended credit score
Annual Fee
$0
Rewards Rate
1.5%-5%
Cashback
Intro Offer
$200
Recommended credit score
Intro APR
0% intro APR for 15 months on purchases and balance transfers; balance transfer fee applies
Regular APR
19.99%-29.99% Variable APR
Recommended credit score

  • Annual fee

    $0

  • Rewards rate

    1.5%-5%

  • Bonus offer

    Earn a one-time $200 cash bonus after you spend $500 on purchases within 3 months from account opening.

  • Intro APR

    0% intro APR for 15 months on purchases and balance transfers; balance transfer fee applies

  • Ongoing APR

    APR: 19.99%-29.99% Variable APR

    Cash Advance APR: 29.99%, Variable

  • Balance transfer fee

    Balance transfer fee applies

  • Foreign transaction fee

    0%

View Rates and Fees
  • Earn a one-time $200 cash bonus after you spend $500 on purchases within 3 months from account opening
  • Earn unlimited 1.5% cash back on every purchase, every day
  • $0 annual fee and no foreign transaction fees
  • Earn unlimited 5% cash back on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel, where you'll get Capital One's best prices on thousands of trip options. Terms apply
  • No rotating categories or sign-ups needed to earn cash rewards; plus, cash back won't expire for the life of the account and there's no limit to how much you can earn
  • 0% intro APR on purchases and balance transfers for 15 months; 19.99% - 29.99% variable APR after that; balance transfer fee applies

Pros and Cons

Pros

No annual fee

High rewards rate

Intro APR period

No foreign transaction fees

Cons

Requires good/excellent credit

No bonus categories

Detailed Review

The Capital One Quicksilver Cash Rewards Credit Card is a good option if you value the simplicity of earning a flat rate on all your purchases. You’ll get 1.5% cash back on nearly every purchase, without a bunch of bonus categories to remember or spending limits to keep track of.

The card features other attractive benefits as well, including a solid sign-up bonus, an introductory 0% APR period and low fees (see rates and fees). And if you don’t mind managing multiple cards, you can pair it with a tiered-rewards or rotating bonus card to maximize your earnings.

However, there are a number of flat rate cards on the market that will out-earn the Capital One Quicksilver Cash Rewards Credit Card.

🤓Nerdy Tip

Capital One offers a suite of Quicksilver-branded cards for different kinds of consumers. This page describes the standard Quicksilver, which is for people with good to excellent credit. There are also cards designed for good credit, fair or average credit and for college students, as well as a secured version for those looking to build credit.

Capital One Quicksilver Cash Rewards Credit Card: Basics

  • Card type: Cash back.

  • Annual fee: $0.

  • Sign-up bonus: Earn a one-time $200 cash bonus after you spend $500 on purchases within 3 months from account opening.

  • Rewards: Unlimited 1.5% cash back on all purchases, plus 5% cash back on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel.

  • Interest rate: 0% intro APR on purchases and balance transfers for 15 months; 19.99% - 29.99% variable APR after that; balance transfer fee applies.

  • Foreign transaction fees: None.

  • Credit score requirement: The Capital One Quicksilver Cash Rewards Credit Card is available to applicants with good to excellent credit. However, some applicants with less-than-excellent credit may be offered a different version of this card, one that has the same cash back rewards but not the sign-up bonus or intro APR period. If this is the case, you'll be told during the application process and given the chance to accept or decline.

Compare to Other Cards

ANNUAL FEE
$0
INTRO APR
0% intro APR for 15 months on purchases and balance transfers; balance transfer fee applies
REGULAR APR
19.99%-29.99% Variable APR
RECOMMENDED CREDIT SCORE
ANNUAL FEE
$0
INTRO APR
0% intro APR on balance transfers for 18 months
REGULAR APR
18.74%-28.74% Variable APR
RECOMMENDED CREDIT SCORE
ANNUAL FEE
$0
INTRO APR
0% intro APR for 15 months on purchases and balance transfers
REGULAR APR
17.74%-27.74% Variable APR
RECOMMENDED CREDIT SCORE
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Benefits and Perks

Simple rewards earning and redemption

Those who value simplicity will appreciate the straightforward 1.5% cash back rewards on the Capital One Quicksilver Cash Rewards Credit Card.

And the ease of use doesn't apply only on the rewards-earning side. The Capital One Quicksilver Cash Rewards Credit Card doesn't have a minimum redemption amount, so you’ll be able to redeem your cash back for any amount and at any time.

Sign-up bonus

The Capital One Quicksilver Cash Rewards Credit Card has a solid sign-up bonus: Earn a one-time $200 cash bonus after you spend $500 on purchases within 3 months from account opening. While you can find higher sign-up bonuses on credit cards with annual fees, you'd have a hard time finding a higher bonus on a card with no annual fee.

0% intro APR offer

This card features an introductory APR of 0% intro APR on purchases and balance transfers for 15 months; 19.99% - 29.99% variable APR after that; balance transfer fee applies(see rates and fees). The lengthy window for purchases and balance transfers can offer some breathing room on interest payments and can help those who need to make a big purchase or pay down transferred debt. Weigh the cost of the balance transfer fee against current long-term interest payments to determine if it's right for you.

Low fees

The Capital One Quicksilver Cash Rewards Credit Card is a good option for the fee-averse. It charges an annual fee of $0. And because it has no foreign transaction fees, it can be a good option to take with you when traveling internationally.

Drawbacks and Considerations

You can get a higher flat rate

The Capital One Quicksilver Cash Rewards Credit Card set the 1.5% standard for an entire generation of cash-back credit cards. But nowadays, there are a growing number of cards on the market that offer a flat rate of at least 2% back.

For example, the Wells Fargo Active Cash® Card pays an unlimited 2% cash back on purchases. It also features a sign-up bonus as well as an introductory interest-free period on purchases and balance transfers: 0% intro APR on Purchases for 12 months and 0% intro APR on Balance Transfers 12 months from account opening on qualifying balance transfers, and then the ongoing APR of 19.74%, 24.74%, or 29.74% Variable APR.

Limited opportunities for bonus rewards

The card only earns more than 1.5% for a very specific type of purchase through the issuer: 5% cash back on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel. Otherwise, it earns 1.5% on everything. Flat-rate rewards are ideal for people with varied spending habits. However, if you spend a significant chunk of your budget in specific spending areas, like gas and groceries for example, consider a card that specifically rewards these types of transactions. The $0-annual-fee Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express, for instance, earns 3% cash back at U.S. supermarkets, at U.S. gas stations and on U.S. online retail purchases (on up to $6,000 per year in spending in each category). Other purchases earn 1% back. (Terms apply — see rates and fees.)

If you spend a lot at the supermarket, take a look at the Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express. It charges a $0 intro annual fee for the first year, then $95. Still, it packs richer rewards: 6% cash back at U.S. supermarkets, on up to $6,000 a year in spending (then 1%); 6% cash back on select U.S. streaming subscriptions; 3% cash back at U.S. gas stations and on transit; and 1% cash back on all other purchases. These cards also include welcome offers for new cardholders and 0% introductory APR periods. (Terms apply — see rates and fees.)

Alternatively, if you don't mind logging into your account every quarter to opt into bonus rewards categories, you may want to opt for a 5% rotating bonus category card like the Chase Freedom Flex® or the Discover it® Cash Back.

Both of these cards earn 5% cash back in categories that change every three months; you have to opt in to the category each time it changes. The 5% cash back is good on up to $1,500 per quarter in spending (enrollment required). All other spending earns 1% cash back. The current bonus categories for both cards can be found here.

How To Decide If It's Right For You

The Capital One Quicksilver Cash Rewards Credit Card is a simple and easy-to-use option. Although the card doesn't pay the highest flat cash-back rate on the market, it offers a compelling combination of rewards and redemption simplicity, low fees, sign-up bonus and 0% APR period (see rates and fees).

But if what you mostly care about is a card's ongoing rewards rate, you can find richer options.

To learn more about how your cash-back credit card options might stack up, check out our best credit cards page.

To view rates and fees of the Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express, see this page. To view rates and fees of the Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express, see this page.

Alternate Pick: Higher rewards rate
2% cash back on all purchases

The $0-annual-fee Wells Fargo Active Cash® Card offers an excellent rewards rate on everything you buy, as well as a bundle of other goodies not often found on cards like it.


Methodology

NerdWallet reviews credit cards with an eye toward both the quantitative and qualitative features of a card. Quantitative features are those that boil down to dollars and cents, such as fees, interest rates, rewards (including earning rates and redemption values) and the cash value of benefits and perks. Qualitative factors are those that affect how easy or difficult it is for a typical cardholder to get good value from the card. They include such things as the ease of application, simplicity of the rewards structure, the likelihood of using certain features, and whether a card is well-suited to everyday use or is best reserved for specific purchases. Our star ratings serve as a general gauge of how each card compares with others in its class, but star ratings are intended to be just one consideration when a consumer is choosing a credit card. Learn how NerdWallet rates credit cards.

Frequently asked questions

The Capital One Quicksilver Cash Rewards Credit Card earns 1.5% cash back on all purchases. The annual fee is $0, and new cardholders get this offer: Earn a one-time $200 cash bonus after you spend $500 on purchases within 3 months from account opening.(see rates and fees).

The annual fee for the Capital One Quicksilver Cash Rewards Credit Card is $0.

The Capital One Platinum Credit Card is designed for people with fair or average credit (generally defined as a score of 630 to 689). It can help you build credit if used carefully, but it doesn’t offer rewards. The Capital One Quicksilver Cash Rewards Credit Card offers 1.5% cash back on all purchases, but you'll need good credit or better to qualify.

Both cards earn 1.5% cash back, but the Capital One Quicksilver Cash Rewards Credit Card requires good to excellent credit to qualify. It has a $0 annual fee and a sign-up bonus (see rates and fees). You can qualify for the Capital One QuicksilverOne Cash Rewards Credit Card with fair credit, but it charges a $39 annual fee and doesn’t offer a bonus (see rates and fees).

To qualify for the Capital One Quicksilver Cash Rewards Credit Card, you'll need good to excellent credit — generally defined as a score of 690 or higher. You'll also have to meet other approval criteria, such as having sufficient income.

About the authors

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