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It’s a common belief that business credit cards usually don’t affect your personal credit score. Capital One is a rare exception because Capital One reports business credit activity. Your personal credit report will include your Capital One business credit card traits including your payment history and credit utilization.
Capital One Reports Business Credit Activity
Because they can, Capital One reports your business credit activity to your personal credit report. Discover is the only other national bank to have a similar reporting policy. Banks including Chase, American Express, Citi, and Bank of America don’t report your business activity to the personal bureaus.
These Capital One business credit cards report to your personal credit reports:
- Capital One Spark Miles for Business
- The Capital One Spark Miles Select for Business
- Capital One Spark Cash for Business
- The Capital One Spark Cash Select for Business
- Capital One Spark Classic for Business
If you’re thinking about applying for a Capital One Spark business credit card, it’s worth weighing the pros and cons to avoid a potential credit surprise. Also, knowing the Spark business card approval odds can help you determine if the time is right or if you want to work on your credit score or look at another option.
At first glance, this extra reporting may not seem like a problem if you pay your monthly statement in full. However, you might experience these unintended consequences.
Learn more: Business Credit Cards
The information for the Capital One Spark Cash for Business, Capital One Spark Miles Select for Business, and Capital One Spark Classic for Business has been collected independently by Johnny Jet. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.
Missed Payments
Most banks only report negative events from your business cards to your personal credit reports. One example can be missing payments or defaulting on the count. One reason for this is that most small business credit cards require a personal guarantee, even if you’re an LLC or corporation. Banks can use the personal guarantee to use your non-business assets to collect payment.
One business credit card that doesn’t require a personal guarantee is the Brex for Startups Credit Card. However, you must be an incorporated business (i.e., LLC, S-Corp, or C-Corp) to qualify for a Brex Card.
High Credit Utilization Ratio
Some months are more expensive than others. Having to use most of your business credit limit can cause a large drop in your personal credit score. Repaying your balance will restore your score.
Another unintended consequence is that you may strive to maintain a maximum 30% credit utilization ratio for your business credit card to avoid a personal score drop. This can be a nuisance even when you pay your balance in full each month.
Too Many New Credit Cards
Each bank has different credit card application rules. Chase has some of the most restrictive, thanks to their 5/24 rule. Adding 5 or more new credit cards to your personal credit report in 24 months jeopardizes your approval odds for a new Chase credit card.
Benefits of Capital One Business Credit Cards
The reporting of your business credit activity shouldn’t discourage you from getting a Capital One business credit card. These can be some of the best flat-rate rewards credit cards for earning business rewards.
Earn Unlimited Double Miles
The Capital One Spark Miles for Business earns unlimited 2 miles per $1 spent. Hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel earn 5x miles per $1 spent. Getting double miles on every purchase can help you accumulate more miles than a tiered rewards card with bonus categories you rarely use.
Flexible Redemption Options
In addition to easily earning bonus miles on every purchase, you can easily redeem your miles for rewards. The Spark Miles credit cards let you redeem your miles for travel statement credits without a redemption minimum. Two other options include booking upcoming travel and transferring to airline partners.
The Capital One airline transfer partners include over a dozen frequent flyer programs. Some of the best are Avianca, Flying Blue, Emirates, and Singapore Airlines.
For instance, booking first-class flights with Star Alliance carriers lets you waive the fuel surcharge. You can also transfer to Singapore Airlines to book low-cost award flights on Alaska Airlines to Hawaii or fly Singapore Suites.
No Foreign Transaction Fee
All of the Capital One business credit cards have no foreign transaction fees. This is unique as most business credit cards without an annual fee still charge a foreign transaction fee. That’s not the case with the Capital One Spark Miles Select, Spark Cash Select, or Spark Classic.
Related article: Best Business Credit Cards With No Annual Fee
Build Business Credit
Having a business credit card lets you build business credit. Capital One can report your business credit card activity to the business credit bureaus. This can make it easier to qualify for future business credit applications.
Free Global Entry
Having the Capital One Spark Miles for Business gives you one additional travel benefit. You get a Global Entry or TSA PreCheck application fee credit for the primary card user.
Visa Signature Benefits
The Spark Miles, Spark Miles Select, Spark Cash, and Spark Cash Select are all Visa Signature products. This is the second-highest Visa credit card tier.
Some of the complimentary Visa-provided benefits you may enjoy include:
- Secondary car rental insurance
- Lost luggage reimbursement of up to $3,000
- Price protection on select purchases
- On-site benefits and discounts at Visa Luxury Hotel and Resort Collection
- Special shopping, entertainment, and travel discounts
Although you may not use these additional benefits often, it’s worth hanging onto your benefits guide. You may never know how these perks can save you money.
Summary
In conclusion, Capital One reporting your business credit activity to your personal credit reports can temporarily penalize your credit situation. You will need to be smart with how you use your Capital One business credit card and time your future credit card applications. Having another best small business credit card can give you more flexibility in building business credit with minimum effect on your personal credit.
FAQs
Does my business credit card show up on my personal credit report?
Most business credit card activity won’t appear on your personal credit report. Two exceptions are Capital One and Discover small business credit cards. These two banks report your monthly activity including your payment activity and monthly balance. A high credit limit usage on your business credit card can penalize your personal credit score with Capital One or Discover.
Other banks may only report delinquencies to your personal credit report. This is when the bank must use the personal guarantee and use non-business assets to cover a business credit card balance that’s in bad standing.
The hard inquiry for a new credit card may appear on your personal credit report. This can temporarily influence your approval odds for new personal credit card cards. However, it shouldn’t have an ongoing impact.
Does Capital One Spark Business report to the personal credit bureaus?
Yes, Capital One states they may report your card activity to the personal and business credit bureaus. Your business credit card activity will appear as a small business credit card. Any negative events (like a missed payment or high credit utilization ratio) can reduce your personal credit score in the near future.
Which business credit cards do not report to personal credit?
Most national banks including Chase, American Express, Bank of America, and Citi don’t report your business credit card activity on a normal basis. But, both Chase and US Bank may report to the personal bureaus if your account becomes delinquent. This will cause your personal score to drop.
Capital One and Discover do report your monthly business credit activity to the personal bureaus.
However, all small business credit cards that require a personal guarantee have the ability to report your activity as often as they desire. Thankfully, only Capital One and Discover are the most frequent reporting.
The best way to avoid having your business activity land on your personal file is to have a Brex credit card, one of the best credit cards for startups. You must be an organized business like an LLC, S-Corp, or C-Corp to qualify. And you will need an Employer Identification Number (EIN) to apply. The Brex for Startups Card doesn’t require a personal guarantee and applying doesn’t impact your personal credit score. Everything only reports to the business credit bureaus.
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Yes, I definitely was not expecting them to report on my personal credit after receiving my Cap1 business card. I have a small business that I am just starting, so I utilize the card A Lot. I got the card because I was using my personal cards to build inventory and my personal credit was being affected. To my surprise, this card has the same effect plus the additional credit inquiry. What a waste….
Did Cap1 at least report to the business bureaus too?
Yes, Capital One still reports to the personal and business credit bureaus.
Yes, that’s one reason I stopped using the Spark business card especially if you will have to put some spend on it. It’s not really conducive unless you are like a freelancer, the benefits are minuscule where there are many other cards just better than anything this card is doing if you are able to qualify. It’s a starter card for your business IMO.
does not report to business credit bureaus
This card is useless for business owner. I applied for Spark business credit card and get approved. Now my spark business credit card is showing on my personal credit report. My understanding before I applied that Capital One Spark will no longer report to personal reports but this is not true. Had I know that spark will report to personal reports, I would not apply. When business credit card activity shows up on personal credit reports, it’s treated the same as any other credit card debt by both the FICO and VantageScore credit scoring methods. If you have a good credit, there is no need to apply for spark.
Yes, disappointment.
Capital One Spark Business has NOT reported to the business bureaus, I have had the card going on 2 years, and when I check NAV (Equifax, DnB, Experian) it does not report, but it surely reports to my personal, unfortunately, I had followed bad advice about credit utilization usage on business accounts and it ended up costing me and my business as most places require PGs.