Compare the Features and Benefits of Capital One Spark Miles for Business and
Citi® Double Cash Card

💳 This card earns Capital One Miles. Capital One often runs transfer bonuses where you can get even more points when you transfer to airline or hotel partners at designated times. Transfer bonuses are awesome. Get 20%, 30%, 40% or more bonus miles when you transfer points at the right times. But they are easy to miss!

You can see all past Transfer Bonuses from Capital One Miles here.

Even better? Get notified when a new transfer bonus comes out and again before it ends (either or both, your choice). Sign up for free alerts right here. 🔔

The Spark Miles is a uniquely simple small business credit card.

With 2X Capital One Miles earned per dollar spent on all eligible purchases (plus the option to earn 5X miles on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel), you can really rack up the miles fast.

And while Capital One Miles used to simply be worth a penny each towards travel, that’s changed entirely since Capital One made their miles transferable.

Many small business owners don’t worry about bonus categories, but they do want as many rewards points for their business spend as possible. And they want, on top of that simplicity, to know they are getting a top end rate of return on spend.

The Spark Miles accomplishes both goals. 2X miles on everything with no limit is among the best options among all small business credit cards. While the Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express also earns 2X points on purchases, it is capped at $50,000 in spend per year whereas the Capital One Spark Miles has no limit.

And then for redeeming your points, you can simply spend them for travel at a penny a point, or you can use the airline and hotel transfer partners.

As for card benefits, the card comes with Primary Car Rental CDW coverage, as long as you are renting for business purposes and also carries extended warranty and purchase protection benefits, provided by Visa Business Signature. Some of these benefits don’t even display on the Capital One marketing pages, but they are on the guide to benefits.

Overall, it’s a super simple card that is an excellent choice for small business owners that love to travel on their time off.

Need to Know: Capital One generally will make an credit inquiry with all three credit bureaus. Your card and revolving balance will also be reported to your personal credit file. That likely doesn’t bother you unless you’re maxing out the card, but if it does, you can browse other credit cards that do not report the credit line to your personal credit profile.

The Citi Double Cash® Card isn’t a card loaded with features and benefits.

But it has one killer feature that makes the card a must-have for nearly everyone and that’s the simple fact that it earns 2% on every purchase with unlimited 1% cash back when you buy, plus an additional 1% as you pay for those purchases. To earn cash back, pay at least the minimum due on time.

And before we forget, it also comes with a pretty amazing intro offer for balance transfers, as outlined in the Key Facts at the top of the page and in the 0% Intro APR on Balance Transfers section above.

You don’t have to think about bonus categories with this credit card. The answer to “what will I earn here” is always 2% as long as you pay your bill.

Just one caveat: the Double Cash does not come with some expected benefits, like trip protections or purchase protection. However, it does have extended warranty making it a solid choice for retail purchases.

That said, why is it a must have credit card for nearly everyone?

Three reasons:

1) There is no consumer credit card issued by a major bank that earns a higher % of cash back with no annual fee, no limit on cash back, and no “other requirements.” None.

2) You can use this as your one credit card if you are completely averse to using multiple credit cards (although you’ll need to be aware of the foreign transaction fees charged if you travel internationally). But even better is to use this as your “default” card. What I mean by that is you may have a card that earns 4X on dining and groceries and another that earns 3% on drugstores, but that’s it. What about an insurance payment? What about daycare?

On most other credit cards, if you aren’t spending in a bonus category, you only earn 1X or 1% back. For example, the Citi Strata℠ Premier Card pays 3X in certain categories (Air/Hotel, Gas, Restaurants and Supermarkets) and 1X in everything else. So you can “Double Up” by having both cards.

The Citi Double Cash card earns 2X Thank You® points on everything. If your purchase is in a Citi Premier card bonus category, go ahead and make the purchase with your Citi Strata℠ Premier Card. If it’s in any other category, make the purchase with your Double Cash card. That way, you’ll get one percent when you make the purchase and another percent when you pay it. With a Double Cash card in your pocket, you can always take it out when you have no bonus category available, ensuring that you never, ever earn less than 2% back on any purchases.

3) While you’ll earn cash back rewards with this card, it earns it as ThankYou® points. If you only have the Double Cash alone, that keeps things simple. It’s cash! You can cash out as a statement credit, via direct deposit to your bank account, or by check.

Pair with a Citi Strata℠ Premier Card – a great credit card strategy

In that case, once again, you simply pair this card with a Citi Strata℠ Premier Card. That would allow you to pool all of your ThankYou® points together and, because of the Premier, you’ll unlock access to all of the transfer options listed below, the best kind of credit card rewards:

What are some of the ways you can use Citi ThankYou® points for outsized value with a Citi Strata℠ Premier Card?

We outline all of that on the Citi Strata℠ Premier Card page, since that is the card that unlocks these features. Please take a look at the Citi Strata℠ Premier Card review for everything you need to know about using Citi ThankYou® points.

The Citi Trifecta: With the Citi Strata℠ Premier Card and then a Citi Rewards+ Card, earn a 10% Points Rebate on Redemptions

Unfortunately, the Rewards+ is no longer available to new applicants. However, if you already have one you’re reaping an additional benefit.

Each calendar year, Citi will rebate back 10% of the first 100,000 ThankYou® Points that you spend, so you can get back up to 10,000 points per year Best of all, it isn’t tied in any way to your spending on the card. Just having the Rewards+ in your profile and linked to the same ThankYou account will ensure that you get the rebate.

Citi Application Rules

Citi won’t approve more than 2 cards in a 60-day period, although we recommend 65 days, just to be safe. This means that if you decide to apply for the Double Cash and combo with a Citi Strata℠ Premier Card card, you are good to get both at any time. A 3rd Citi card would require waiting tunnel 60days passed.

Bottom Line

The Citi Double Cash is quite simply a card that should be in 99% of wallets. The 2% cash back on everything (1% when you purchase and 1% when you pay your bill), with no annual fee, is too good to pass up, even if you are using it in conjunction with other credit cards to maximize your bonus categories – as you should be!