Best Capital One credit cards of December 2024

Capital One’s cash back credit cards carry lucrative earning rates in many categories that can easily match your spending, like dining, travel and everyday purchases. Foodies, jetsetters and even no-frills cash back enthusiasts should have no problem choosing a card that suits them.

Editor’s choice: Capital One Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card

With its family of Venture cards, Capital One gives travelers ways to earn towards their next trip. Most notably, the Venture X card has many travel perks and benefits that competitor luxury travel cards carry, but with a much lower annual fee. 

Plus, Capital One’s list of travel partners can provide more value to your points when you transfer them.

Editor’s choice: Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card

Capital One’s best credit cards include a lineup built specifically for people with little to no credit. Its platinum and secured cards offer multiple ways to establish and build credit, some even offering rewards.

Editor’s choice: Capital One Platinum Secured Credit Card

If you’re a student, you can take advantage of one of Capital One’s cards. They don’t typically charge an annual fee and offer cash back rewards on many of your purchases. Also, you can plan to use your Capital One student card if you study abroad since many don't carry a foreign transaction fee.

Editor's choice: Capital One Savor Student Cash Rewards Credit Card (See Rates & Fees)

The interest rate on a Capital One credit card depends on your credit score and history. Secured cards and credit cards for limited credit might carry higher interest rates than average. A good interest rate is usually one that is at or below the national average APR, which is currently just under 21 percent. 

The “best” option depends on your own financial situation first, but Capital One has a few leading credit cards:

• The Capital One Venture X card: Best premium travel card
• Capital One Quicksilver Cash Rewards card: Best cash back credit card
• The Capital One Savor: Best dining and grocery store credit card

In many cases, it’s as simple as calling or filling out your request online. A history of on-time payments and low credit utilization will work to your advantage when making your request.  However, a few scenarios might prevent a credit line increase on your Capital One card:

• The account was opened within the past few months.
• The card is a secured credit card.
• You’ve recently received a credit line increase or decrease.

While you may not be able to request a credit line increase for a secured card, Capital One usually automatically reviews a secured card account for an increase after a period of time with responsible card use. 

Contact customer service at the number on the back of your current card to start the upgrade process. Capital One can tell you which cards you can upgrade to if you’re eligible.

Typically, Capital One looks to see if you are in good standing and meet the eligibility requirements of the new card. If approved for an upgrade, your credit line will transfer to the upgraded account along with your account number. While upgrading won't affect your credit score, you may lose out on any sign-up bonuses the upgraded card has. 

Since many cardholders are eager to earn rewards, a key criteria for a card’s inclusion in our list is whether it offers impressive rewards value. This includes a card’s average rewards rate, estimated annual rewards earnings, sign-up bonus value and reward redemption value.

To estimate a card’s average annual rewards earnings, we calculate its average rewards rate based on how much it earns in different bonus categories, as well as how closely those categories match the average person’s spending habits. In other words: Does the card earn rewards at a high rate in the most popular spending categories?

We use consumer spending data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) to get a reliable third-party measure of people’s spending habits. The most recent BLS data estimates average total spending in 2021 was $66,928 per consumer. We then narrow our focus to which purchases are likely to be put on a credit card and earn rewards, subtracting expenditures like housing, vehicle purchases and education. This gives us a total “chargeable” annual spend of around $22,500.  

This includes the following spending by category:

• Groceries: $5,200
• Dining out: $3,000
• Entertainment: $2,500
• Gas: $2,100
• Apparel and services: $1,700

Using this data, we assign a weighting to each of a card’s bonus categories. For example, a card’s grocery rewards rate receives a 23 percent weighting based on how much of the average person’s budget is spent on groceries. We also estimate the redemption value of points or miles from various issuer, airline and hotel rewards programs.

This weighting and rewards valuation allows us to estimate a card’s average annual rewards earnings — how many points or miles you’d earn with a given card if your spending was about average and you used the card for all of your purchases — as well as what those points are worth. We also use point valuations to determine a card’s sign-up bonus value

With these calculations complete, we assign each card a score based on how its average rewards earnings, sign-up bonus value, rewards rate and redemption value stack up against other cards in its primary category.

The better these values, the higher its score will be, making it more worthy of inclusion in our list and increasing its potential ranking.

Here’s a deeper look at the factors considered as part of a rewards card’s “Value” rating:

We also rate all cards based on how their ongoing average APR compares to the average APR you’ll find other cards in their primary category. However, the impact of an especially high or low APR on a card’s overall score depends on its primary category.

For rewards-earning cards, this factor has only a minor influence on the card’s score and whether the card is included in our list, since rewards card users generally try to avoid carrying a balance. That said, rewards-earning cards may get a solid boost in score and be more worthy of inclusion in our list if they also offer an intro APR on balance transfers or new purchases, since such offers aren’t always present on these cards.

More important to these cards’ scores and their inclusion in our list is how their annual fees influence their overall value. We consider a card’s annual fee in two ways — how it ranks relative to the fees you’ll find on other cards in the category and how it impacts a card’s overall rewards value. 

Cards with an annual fee will always be at a slight disadvantage in our scoring system since annual fees inherently cut into your rewards value. However, if a card offers terrific value via its ongoing rewards and perks, it can earn a high score and a spot in our list even if it carries a high annual fee. After all, the highest rewards rates and most valuable perks are often found on cards with annual fees.

Interest rates and intro APR offers play a much larger role in a card’s score and whether it’s included in our list when the card is designed specifically for users looking to save on interest charges, such as dedicated balance transfer or low-interest cards. 

Other fees considered include cash advance and late payment fees, along with penalty APRs. 

Along with rewards value and cost, we consider other factors that could give cards great long-term value, like flexible rewards redemption and especially unique and valuable perks.

We rate rewards-earning cards based on the restrictions they impose on earning and redeeming rewards and consider this when deciding on a card’s inclusion in our list. 

These restrictions could include only allowing users to earn a high rewards rate on a small amount of spending or requiring users to meet a certain earning threshold before they can redeem rewards. We also examine whether points are worth less when you opt for some redemption options over others and whether a card gives you the flexibility to transfer rewards to airline and hotel partners. 

We also evaluate each card’s perks based on their value, usefulness and uniqueness. Cards that offer top-tier benefits like airport lounge access or travel credits are likely to stand out, but we also aim to highlight cards that offer valuable under-the-radar perks, like cellphone protection or one-off credits for everyday expenses like dining and streaming services.