Capital One discontinued their highly popular Spark Cash card for new business cardmembers over the summer, and at the same time introduced Spark Cash Plus as a 2% cash back card with a $150 annual fee, and a $200 bonus each year the business spends over $200,000 on the card. That makes it 2.1% at exactly $200,000 in annual spend.

Overall I prefer the 2% travel rebate Spark Miles card ($0 annual fee the first year, then $95) whose points transfer to airline miles. However Spark Cash Plus has a limited time bonus offer for new cardmembers of $3,000:

• $500 after $5,000 spend in the first 3 months
  
• $2,500 after $50,000 spend in the first 6 months

That amounts to a 6% cash rebate on the first $50,000 spend which is certainly attractive for those who can do it.

Capital One is promoting this as what would small business owners do with “an extra $3,000 to set their business up for success at the beginning of the year” but that’s not quite the right analysis unless the counterfactual is putting this same amount of spending on a pre-existing 2% cash back card with no up front bonus.

The relevant question is whether they’re providing greater rewards for your spend, both up front (bonus) and on an ongoing basis. And this will certainly be attractive to many high spenders. Of course that’s exactly who they’re looking for with this offer!