For a limited time, the Capital One® Spark® Miles for Business card is offering 50,000 miles when you spend $5,000 in your first three months, and then 150,000 additional bonus miles if you spend $50,000 total in your first six months. In addition, the Capital One® Spark® Cash for Business card (which is nearly identical, with the exception of awarding $.02 in cash back per dollar spent, rather than two miles) is offering a $500 bonus after spending $5,000 in your first three months, and an additional $1,500 bonus if you spend $50,000 total in six months.
While these bonuses look very similar, we recommend getting the Spark Miles card over the Spark Cash, since each mile is worth 1.4 cents according to The Points Guy’s valuations, and can be transferred to several airline programs (details below), or can effectively be used as cash back with the card’s Purchase Eraser feature.
Capital One finally added airline transfer partners to its lineup of credit cards just last month, which means that the Capital One Spark Miles for Business is particularly enticing.
We don’t cover a ton of business cards here, but if you run any business large or small (even something as tiny as a photography side hustle could qualify), they’re a great second “track” that you can use to accrue miles for travel.
As rewards cards go, the Spark Miles for Business is about as simple as they come. You’ll earn two points per dollar on all purchases; never more, and never less, with no limit to the number of miles you can earn.
Even better, you’ll earn you 50,000 bonus miles when you spend $4,500 in your first three months, which is fairly steep, but not much of a stretch if you’re using it for business expenses.
Just note that the card does carry a relatively small $95 annual fee, which is waived in the first year.
The Spark Miles for Business isn’t a flashy card—it won’t get you into airline lounges or earn you status at any hotels—but it nails the basics, including no foreign transaction fees, free employee cards, 90 days of purchase protection, and perhaps most impressively of all, primary rental car insurance. Capital One also recently added an up to $100 TSA Precheck/Global Entry credit that can be used once every four years to cover your application fee.
You can combine your Spark Miles from your business account with Venture Miles from your personal account, and use them in the exact same way. That means they can be used to either “erase” travel purchases from your statements at a rate of $.01 per point, or transfer to about a dozen airline partners, at varying rates:
2:1.5 (2 Venture/Spark miles = 1.5 airline miles)
- Aeromexico
- Air Canada Aeroplan
- Air France/KLM
- Alitalia
- Avianca
- Cathay Pacific
- Etihad
- EVA
- Finnair
- Hainan
- Qantas
- Qatar
2:1 (2 Venture/Spark miles = 1 airline mile)
- Emirates
- Singapore
Obviously, none of those are the U.S.-based airlines, but these partners could come in handy for international trips, and some even offer potential savings on domestic flights. For example, Air France’s Flying Blue program often has great redemption rates on U.S. Delta flights, and Air Canada Aeroplan miles can save you points on United flights.
The Spark Miles’ 50,000 points welcome offer can take you a lot of places, and that’s especially true if you make the most of your airline transfers. The Points Guy values Spark/Venture miles at 1.4 cents each for this very reason (meaning 50,000 miles would be worth about $700), but even if you only use the dead-simple Purchase Eraser feature, the bonus would be worth $500.
It’s definitely not the right card for every person, or even for every business, but with a solid suite of perks like 2x miles on every purchase, primary rental car insurance, the Spark Miles for Business is a versatile, affordable option.
Gizmodo Media Commerce has partnered with The Points Guy Affiliate Network for our coverage of credit products. Gizmodo Media Group and The Points Guy may receive a commission from card issuers.
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