Capital One Spark Cash review: Initial rewards spark but questionable long-term value

The Capital One Spark Cash Plus is the premium Capital One cash back business charge card, charging a higher $150 annual fee (See Rates & Fees). However, higher-spending businesses will likely prefer this option since the annual fee is refunded if you spend $150,000 annually. The welcome offer can also provide significantly more value, particularly if your business has much greater spending needs. For a much higher spending requirement of $30,000 in the first three months, you’ll earn a $2,000 cash bonus. Also, for every $500,000 spent in the first year, you’ll earn an additional $2,000 cash bonus.

The main difference in the value of these cards is how much your business spends. Both cards have the same rewards and benefits package, so if your business can’t take advantage of the higher spending incentives, the Spark Cash would be the better choice.

If your business has modest spending needs, you may want to consider the American Express Blue Business Cash™ Card. It’s a no-annual-fee card offering the same 2 percent flat earning rate on up to $50,000 in annual spending (1 percent after). While its welcome offer is much smaller than the Spark Cash’s, the spending requirement is less than half of the Spark Cash, and you’ll also get an intro APR offer on purchases and a potentially lower ongoing APR. These features are ideal if your business needs to finance purchases. 

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.

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.

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. 

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.*

Before you apply for a business card, you’ll need all business owners' legal names, addresses and Social Security numbers. You’ll also need your legal business name, address and business tax ID number.

To get approved for the Capital One Spark Cash, it’s recommended to have excellent credit: a FICO score of 800 or higher or a VantageScore of 781 or higher. Capital One does check your personal credit when applying for business credit cards.

Yes, Capital One allows you to convert cash back to miles if you have an eligible miles-earning card. Depending on how you redeem the miles, converting your cash back to miles can provide extra value.