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One of the easiest ways for credit card issuers to grab your interest is by dangling a lucrative welcome bonus, one that promises the instant gratification of lots of rewards miles right up front, as well as points or some other perk as an immediate thank-you gift for signing up.
Granted, that shouldn’t necessarily be the deciding factor you consider when weighing all the different options you’re confronted with. But sometimes the offers are so big, so near-unheard-of, that they demand attention all by themselves. That’s certainly the case with the Capital One® Spark® Miles for Business, which for most of the rest of this month is still offering a welcome bonus of up to 200,000 miles merely for signing up and hitting the requisite spending targets.
Here’s what you need to know:
The basics: Let’s start with that welcome offer of up to 200,000 bonus miles. The Spark Miles card is offering 50,000 miles after you spend $5,000 with the card in your first three months. This is a business card, remember, and businesses tend to expense amounts that are much larger than an individual’s and which is why the second part of this offer is as follows — if you can spend $50,000 in your first six months with the card, you’ll be given a ridiculously high bonus award of 150,000 additional miles. NOTE: Time is running out to grab this offer, which goes away on January 27.
There’s an annual fee of $95 to be aware of, but the great thing is the fee is waived during your first year. In terms of the rewards rate, the Spark Miles card earns you 5x miles on hotels, rental cars booked via Capital One Travel and 2x miles on everything else.
Other benefits to know about: The Spark Miles card also offers a TSA PreCheck/Global Entry application fee credit of up to $100 that’s not available via Spark Cash. There aren’t any domestic carriers on Capital One’s list of transfer partners, though you can still redeem miles for domestic routes through partners — such as American Airlines flyers being able to use Etihad Guest to book first-class flights on American Airlines for 33,333 Capital One Miles each way. Additionally, you can just redeem your miles for 1 cent each for eligible travel expenses without having to worry about the transfer process at all.
The final word
Here’s one of the many great things about this card — you’re getting at least $2,000 in value via the limited-time offer. As such, we can’t stress this enough: This is one of the most valuable card rewards on the market today. And you can’t go wrong with either. As we noted, if you use rewards more than straight-up cash for your travel, the Spark Miles card definitely deserves some consideration.
