If you’re a small-business owner who travels regularly, using the right credit card for your expenses can translate into serious savings on your trips. The Capital One® Spark® Miles for Business and the Ink Plus® Business Credit Card are among the best choices available for business owners, but which one wins out? Let’s compare.
Rewards
The Capital One® Spark® Miles for Business is as simple as it gets when it comes to earning rewards. Cardholders receive an unlimited 2 miles per dollar spent on every purchase. Points are worth a penny each when redeemed for travel.
With the Ink Plus® Business Credit Card, things get more complicated, but also more rewarding in the right situation. The card offers 5 points per dollar on the first $50,000 spent in combined purchases at office supply stores and on phone, internet and cable TV services each account anniversary year; 2 points per dollar on the first $50,000 spent in combined purchases at gas stations and hotel accommodations when purchased directly with the hotel each account anniversary year; and an unlimited 1 point per dollar spent elsewhere.
The Ink Plus® Business Credit Card points will get you a 20% discount on travel booked through the Chase Ultimate Rewards travel booking platform. So the rewards rate for this card can be as high as 6.25% if you use your points for travel.
Winner: Depends on your spending
If your business spending falls largely within the Ink Plus® Business Credit Card’s bonus categories, you’ll get a lot more value out of this card than you would the Capital One® Spark® Miles for Business. But if a lot of your expenses aren’t covered by the Ink Plus® Business Credit Card’s bonus categories, the Capital One® Spark® Miles for Business is the better choice.
Sign-up bonus
The Ink Plus® Business Credit Card offers one of the highest sign-up bonuses in the business: Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. That's $750 toward travel when you redeem through Chase Ultimate Rewards®. The Capital One® Spark® Miles for Business has a respectable sign-up bonus, but it’s worth quite a bit less: Earn a one-time bonus of 50,000 miles once you spend $4,500 on purchases within the first 3 months.
Winner: Ink Plus® Business Credit Card
No other business card offers a higher sign-up bonus than the Ink Plus® Business Credit Card on an ongoing basis. Some other cards — like the Starwood Preferred Guest® Business Credit Card from American Express — may offer better bonuses for a limited time, then go back to a lower one.
Redemption flexibility
Many travel cards require you to redeem your points or miles with a certain airline or hotel, giving you limited options.
With the Capital One® Spark® Miles for Business, you can either redeem your miles directly by booking travel through Capital One’s travel portal, or you can use the card to pay for travel and then redeem your miles for a full or partial statement credit against the purchase. There is no minimum redemption amount to get full credit for a purchase; partial redemptions start at 2,500 miles, or $25. You can also redeem for cash back, but this isn’t a good option because you’ll get only half a cent per mile versus a full cent when redeeming for travel.
With the Ink Plus® Business Credit Card, you can book travel with points through the Ultimate Rewards booking tool. You can also transfer your points to one of Chase’s 10 travel partners (see the list here) or redeem for cash at a rate of 1 cent per point, compared with 1.25 cents per point when redeeming for travel.
Winner: Capital One® Spark® Miles for Business
If you want to redeem strictly for travel — which is the point of travel cards — the Capital One® Spark® Miles for Business offers as much flexibility as you can ask for in a travel card. Plus, you’re not tied down to the card’s booking tool. If you find a better deal elsewhere, go for it and redeem your miles for statement credit.
That said, there is value in what the Ink Plus® Business Credit Card offers. For example, if you don’t plan on traveling for a while and need a little cash, its per-point redemption value for cash back is twice what the Capital One® Spark® Miles for Business offers. Its transfer partners can also be valuable if you can get a good redemption on a flight or hotel stay.
Fees
If you’re worried about your bottom line, any nonessential expenses should be spared. The Capital One® Spark® Miles for Business’s annual fee is low considering the value it offers: $0 intro for first year; $59 after that. With the Ink Plus® Business Credit Card, you’ll pay a $95 Annual Fee for a higher sign-up bonus and the potential for better rewards.
Neither card charges a foreign transaction fee and while the Ink Plus® Business Credit Card charges a balance transfer fee of 5%, the Capital One® Spark® Miles for Business has no balance transfer fee.
Winner: Capital One® Spark® Miles for Business
If reducing what you pay in fees is your top priority, the Capital One® Spark® Miles for Business is your best bet. However, the lower annual fee doesn’t necessarily make it the better choice for everyone. The Ink Plus® Business Credit Card more than makes up for not waiving the fee the first year with its sign-up bonus, and you should be able to make up for it in subsequent years if you spend a lot within the card’s 5% bonus categories.
Interest rate
While the Nerds recommend paying off your balance on time and in full each month, that may not always be possible. These two cards are fairly evenly matched here:
- The ongoing APR is 17.24% (Variable) for the Capital One® Spark® Miles for Business.
- The ongoing APR is 15.49%-19.49% Variable for the Ink Plus® Business Credit Card.
Winner: Depends on your credit
You might get a lower APR with the Ink Plus® Business Credit Card based on your creditworthiness, but you might get a higher one. So if you have excellent credit, you’re more likely to get a better interest rate with the Ink Plus® Business Credit Card. If you have only good credit, however, you may be better off with the Capital One® Spark® Miles for Business, since its rate doesn’t change based on your credit.
Making your choice
There’s no across-the-board winner. In the end, the nature of your business and its expenses will determine which card is best for you. Looking at both cards side-by-side with no variables, the Ink Plus® Business Credit Card offers a lot more value upfront and over the long term.
But if your business doesn’t spend according to the card’s bonus categories, you’re looking at a 1.25% rewards rate on most of your purchases when redeeming for travel, not including any value you may get by transferring your points to an Ultimate Rewards partner. In that case, you’re better off with the Capital One® Spark® Miles for Business.
Ben Luthi is a staff writer at NerdWallet, a personal finance website. Email: bluthi@nerdwallet.com Twitter: @benluthi
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