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Running a business takes a lot of elbow grease. It can also take a lot of spending.
One easy way to oversee employee spending is to give some or all of your employees access to a company credit card or charge card. You’ll also earn cashback rewards for every purchase they make.
The catch? The Captial One Spark Cash Plus card is not a traditional credit card — it is a pay-in-full charge card. This means you must pay off the card’s account balance in full every single month.
Quick Facts: Capital One Spark Cash Plus
- Rewards rate: 5% cashback on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel; 2% on all other purchases
- Welcome offer: Earn a $2,000 cash bonus when you spend $30,000 in the first 3 months
- Annual fee: $150 (waived if you spend $150,000 that year)
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Overview of the Capital One Spark Cash Plus
The Capital One Spark Cash Plus is not a traditional credit card — it’s a charge card. It comes with no APR because you must pay the balance in full each month. While it’s never a good idea to carry an account balance (doing so leads to sky high-interest charges), with the Capital One Spark Cash Plus card, you don’t have the option in a pinch.
You need to be ready to pay off your account balance in full every single month. Otherwise, you will be charged a late payment fee and Capital One will flag your account as past due until full payment is received.
Pros
- Cashback on all purchases
- No preset credit limit
- Free employee cards
- No foreign transaction fees
Cons
- Annual fee
- Must pay balance in full each month
- Penalty fee for late payments
LEARN MORE: Capital One Spark Cash Plus
Benefits of the Capital One Spark Cash Plus
The Capital One Spark Cash Plus comes with a relatively standard set of cardholder perks and benefits, like:
- No foreign transaction fees
- Free employee cards
- Roadside assistance
- Capital One Travel deals
- Fraud and security alerts
- Extended warranty
- $0 fraud liability for lost or stolen cards
LEARN MORE: Capital One Spark Cash Plus
How the Capital One Spark Cash Plus Works
Remember — the Capital One Spark Cash Plus card isn’t a credit card, it’s a charge card. A charge card allows you to make purchases on credit, similar to a credit card. However, unlike a credit card, a charge card requires you pay the entire balance in full by the end of the billing cycle, typically monthly.
You can set up automatic payments to make sure you never miss that required payment and can assign an account manager to oversee transactions and payments so they can resolve any problems that arise.
You will receive a handy year-end summary that will give you an itemized report of company spending, which will make budgeting and tax season so much easier. This card gives you the option to download purchase records into a variety of formats, such as Quicken, QuickBooks, and Excel, so you can create an accounting process that works well for your team.
To make things even easier, you can quickly review detailed information about merchants from past transactions, such as their phone number, address, and logo (when available).
Applying for the Capital One Spark Cash Plus only takes about 10 minutes, and you can receive a decision in a matter of seconds. Make sure you know the legal names, addresses, and Social Security numbers for all business owners before applying. You should also gather your legal business name, address, and business tax ID number (TIN).
The Capital One Spark Cash Plus is a fairly flexible business charge card. Once your account is open, you can issue a card to as many employees as you would like for free. For each employee, you can set a custom spending limit. You will also have access to virtual cards and have the option to choose your own monthly due date.
Who Should Get the Capital One Spark Cash Plus?
The Capital One Spark Cash Plus is a solid fit for business owners who have a lot of employees who need access to a company charge card. This card makes it easy to oversee employee spending and enables you to earn a lot of rewards for their spending.
The flat-rate cashback system also makes it easy to earn rewards — the last thing any busy business owner needs to worry about is things like rotating rewards categories.
Who Shouldn’t Get the Capital One Spark Cash Plus?
The Capital One Spark Cash Plus card may not be the best fit for business owners who don’t spend much, as you may end up paying an annual fee for very little benefit.
Alternatives to the Capital One Spark Cash Plus
Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card
- Rewards rate: 3x points on every dollar spent on shipping, advertising with social media and search engines, internet, cable, phone, and travel — up to the first $150,000 spent in combined purchases in these categories; 1x per dollar spent everywhere else
- Welcome offer: Earn 90,000 bonus points after you spend $8,000 on purchases in the first 3 months
- Annual fee: $95
. . .
The Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card has a lower annual fee and you can earn boosted rewards on select business categories in addition to travel.
You get the most bang for your buck when you redeem rewards for travel purchases through Chase TravelTM, making this card a good fit for businesses that require a lot of employee travel.
LEARN MORE: Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card
Capital One Spark Cash Select
- Rewards rate: 1.5% cashback on every purchase with no minimums or expiration date; 5% cashback on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel
- Welcome offer: $500 bonus when you spend $4,500 within the first 3 months
- Annual fee: $0
. . .
If the Capital One Spark Cash Plus card appeals to you, the Capital One Spark Cash Select is also worth considering. The Spark Cash Select card is a credit card, not a charge card, so you can carry a balance with it if needed.
This credit card doesn’t charge an annual fee and earns you a flat cashback rate on all purchases, plus a boosted rate on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel.
Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express
- Rewards rate: 2x points on everyday business purchases (up to the first $50,000 annually, then 1x points); 1x points on all other purchases
- Welcome offer: Earn 15,000 Membership Rewards Points after spending $3,000 in purchases in your first 3 months
- Annual fee: $0 (rates and fees)
. . .
If avoiding an annual fee is your priority and you want to have a business credit card, not a charge card, you may want to check out the Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express.
This card doesn’t charge an annual fee but still comes with a strong rewards rate.
You can also provide free employee cards with customizable spending limits, and designate an account manager to monitor the team’s card use.
LEARN MORE: Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express
The Bottom Line
If you're a business owner with excellent credit who expenses more than $150,000 per year, the Capital One Spark Cash Plus may be a good choice for your business costs. You can set cards up for individual employees and even earn rewards for their spending.
Just make sure you'll use it enough to offset the annual fee and remember to pay it off every month since it's a charge card and therefore doesn't allow you to carry over your balance.
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Disclosure: Opinions expressed here are the author's alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, hotel, airline, or other entity. This content has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of the entities included within the post.
