Capital One has positioned itself as a recognized financial brand in America, celebrated as one of the nation’s top 10 largest banks. Its identity as a banking authority doesn’t come without a considerably large product backing.

Whether you’re looking to build credit, take advantage of cash back bonuses, or need a card to support your travel expenses, Capital One (not to be confused with the less-respected Credit One) offers consumers a selection of cards designed to support a variety of lifestyle habits and necessities.

Cash Back Rewards

The Capital One Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card is made for foodies, with a focus on dining out. If your typical habits include the daily coffee trip or frequent nights out on the town you could find a good value here, but check out the SavorOne below for a similar no-fee option.

The Capital One SavorOne Cash Rewards Credit Card is a lesser version of the Savor, but that doesn’t make it a worse card. Its (slightly) lower rewards are compensated by no annual fee and an intro APR, and depending on how much you’ll spend on dining and entertainment, it could easily be a better pick than the Savor.

The Capital One Quicksilver Cash Rewards Credit Card is a solid flat-rate card, without any category restrictions to consider. This makes it ideal to fill in the gaps between the bonus categories of your other cards. If you can’t qualify for this card you may qualify for the QuicksilverOne below, which is similar but with an annual fee.

The Capital One QuicksilverOne Cash Rewards Credit Card could be a good choice if your credit isn’t the best. This credit card offers decent flat-rate rewards with no limit but lacks a one-time bonus, and comes with a small fee.

Travel Rewards

The Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card is a new entry, coming with access to the new Capital One Travel airport lounges. Cardholders get complimentary access with two free guests, and additional guests have a reduced fee. You won’t find many Capital One lounges yet, but the card also has a Priority Pass Select membership to back it up.

There’s a nice selection of valuable travel perks, like a $300 annual credit, annual bonus miles, and fee credits for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck.

The Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card was created for travelers of all kinds. You can transfer miles to participating airline partners, and you’ll even get an expedited airport security statement credit — a rare find on a card at this fee level.

When you redeem for travel with Capital One, there are no blackout dates or seat restrictions whatsoever, and your miles will never expire.

If you like the Venture card but you’d rather not pay an annual fee, the Capital One VentureOne Rewards Credit Card might suit you better. You’ll earn rewards at a lesser rate, and the welcome bonus is smaller, but you’ll also get a 0% intro interest rate.

Building Credit: Unsecured and Secured Credit Cards

The Capital One Platinum Credit Card is a simple card made for people with average or limited credit, and could make a good stepping stone up to more rewarding credit cards. Consider it if you’re still navigating the credit-building process and are having trouble qualifying for better cards, but also check out the Journey Student card below, a similar option but with cash back rewards (it doesn’t require you to be a student).

If your credit is poor and you’re ready to work your way back up, the Capital One Platinum Secured Credit Card can help you do just that.

As a secured card it requires a security deposit to fund your credit line, but in this case you’ll be asked to make a starting deposit of $49, $99, or $200, depending on your creditworthiness. No matter which amount you’re required to deposit, you’ll get an initial credit line of $200 (you can deposit more for a higher credit line).

It’s a small credit limit, but most secured cards give you a limit that simply matches your deposit. The Capital One Secured card also automatically considers you for a higher credit line after six months, another feature that sets it apart from other cards of this type.

Student Credit Cards

Capital One offers several tiers of popular types of rewards credit cards.

However, no matter which card you choose, don’t expect to get a high credit limit.

How to choose a Capital One credit card for fair and poor credit

When looking at the Capital One credit card selection for fair and poor credit, ask yourself:

• Do you want a no-annual-fee card? Most credit cards in this category have no annual fee. But if you’re looking to get the Capital One QuicksilverOne Cash Rewards Credit Card card, expect to pay a small annual fee of $39. Make sure the fee is worth the card benefits.
• Do you have poor credit? Capital One offers a secured card for poor credit. But unlike similar cards, you won’t pay an annual fee for the card. Also, the secured deposit starts as low as $49 and the APR isn’t astronomical.
• Are you a student? Students get to apply for one of the best beginner credit cards where you earn flat cash back on all purchases without paying an annual fee.
• Do you need a business credit card? Capital One is one of the rare major credit card providers that offer a business credit card for fair credit.

Pros and cons of Capital One credit cards for average credit

Credit cards for fair and poor credit can be extremely beneficial if you’re trying to build credit without paying an annual fee. But there are some downsides and limitations to consider as well. Here’s a quick breakdown of what you can expect:

Do I need a Capital One credit-building card?

Capital One credit cards for fair or poor credit can be a solid starting point for getting your finances in order. This is especially true if you’ve had financial difficulties in the past — like defaults on your payments or bankruptcies — or if you’re a student getting a first credit card.

How can I qualify for Capital One credit building cards?

If you’re uncertain whether your credit is in a place that can qualify for these cards, you might consider a few quick steps to improve your odds. This includes:

• Review your debts. You’ll want to make sure the money you owe is legitimate and not the result of an error by the bank or retailer.
• Dispute incorrect debts or fees. If you have any debts hanging overhead you feel aren’t legitimate, dispute those charges with the bank.
• Pay off your legitimate debts. This can help bump your credit score by improving your credit utilization ratio.

These steps can offer a quick bump to your credit score and might push you over the line for a Capital One card for average credit.

What if I can’t qualify for these Capital One cards?

If you can’t get approval for any of these cards, you may want to shop for credit cards similar to those offered by Capital One. In this case, you’ll want to carefully look at the following factors when comparing your options:

• Annual fee. It’s hard to find a no-annual-fee card for building credit, but you do have options. If you have to apply for a credit-building card with an annual fee, at least make sure the fee you’ll pay is low.
• Hidden fees. Some credit cards for building credit come with a host of hidden fees. Make sure you read the card’s terms and conditions before you apply. As a rule of thumb, you’ll want to stay away from credit cards with unusual fees, such as monthly fees, service fees and other maintenance-type fees.
• Reports to all three major credit bureaus. Make sure the card provider reports your card activity to all three credit bureaus — Experian, Equifax and TransUnion. Aside from good credit practices, this is the best way to ensure your credit score improves as quickly as possible.

Bottom line

If you have poor or fair credit, consider applying for a Capital One credit card. Your options are much more varied compared to those offered by other issuers and include a secured credit card, a student card, a business card, a cashback card and no-annual-fee cards.

But if you don’t find any of these cards appealing, compare other secured credit cards or unsecured credit cards for building credit until you find the right card for your needs.

Frequently asked questions

Is a secured card better than an unsecured card for building credit?
Both secured and unsecured cards can help you build credit with responsible use. However, secured cards typically have lower fees and may come without an annual fee, whereas unsecured cards usually come with a high annual fee and high interest rates.

Can I increase my credit limit?
Yes, Capital One will review your credit card account and offer a credit limit increase if you use your card responsibly. If you don’t get an automatic credit limit increase, consider requesting one.

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Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card

Annual fee: $395

Sign-up bonus: Earn 100,000 bonus miles after you spend $10,000 on purchases within the first six months of account opening. Also, get up to a $200 statement credit for vacation rental purchases charged to your card within the first year. 

Rewards: 10 miles per dollar on car rentals and hotels booked through Capital One Travel, 5 miles per dollar on flights booked through Capital One Travel and 2 miles per dollar spent on all other eligible purchases.

Benefits: The Capital One Venture X Rewards Card is the issuer’s first premium rewards credit card. As such, there are excellent travel benefits such as up to a $300 annual travel statement credit for bookings made through Capital One Travel and a 10,000-mile boost on your account anniversary. Cardholders can get access to Capital One’s network of lounges and Priority Pass lounges for you and up to two guests. You can add up to four authorized users for free on the card and share these lounge benefits with them, which helps families and friends access lounges for a fraction of the cost. 

Related:Capital One Venture X Rewards Card review

Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card

Annual fee: $95

Sign-up bonus: Earn 60,000 bonus miles after you spend $3,000 on purchases within the first three months of account opening.

Rewards: 2 miles per dollar spent on all purchases.

Benefits: The Capital One Venture Rewards Card first earned its place by offering a consistent 2x on all purchases and a simple fixed-value redemption structure. Its 15+ transfer partners put it in a league of its own. Most partners  transfer at an improved 1:1 ratio, while there are still a few remaining programs that transfer at a 2:1.5 and 2:1 ratio, effectively giving the card an earning rate of up to 2 partner miles or points per dollar spent.

Flexibility is one of the most valuable elements of a good points strategy, and the Venture card delivers loads of it by allowing you to decide on a case-by-case basis whether to use it as a fixed-value or transferable-points card. The card offers a Global Entry/TSA PreCheck application fee credit (up to $100) every four years.

Related:Capital One Venture Rewards Card review

Capital One VentureOne Rewards Card

Annualfee: $0

Sign-up bonus: Earn 20,000 bonus miles after you spend $500 in the first three months of account opening.

Rewards: 1.25x on all purchases.

Benefits: The Capital One VentureOne is the no-annual-fee version of the popular Capital One Venture Rewards Card. It’s a spectacular introduction into the Venture’s flexible miles that are also transferable to Capital One’s 15+ airline and hotel transfer partners. You’ll also enjoy no foreign transaction fees with this card, along with important protections such as travel accident insurance,secondary rental car coverage and extended warranty. Benefits only available to accounts approved for the Visa Signature card. Terms apply.

Capital One Spark Miles for Business

Annual fee: $95, waived the first year

Sign-up bonus: Earn 50,000 bonus miles after you spend $4,500 in the first three months of account opening.

Rewards: 2x on purchases.

Benefits: The Spark Miles from Capital One is a business credit card that gives you access to the same great airline and hotel transfer partners as the Venture family of cards. Businesses can enjoy free employee cards and no foreign transaction fees. You also get up to $100 in credit for 

Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card

Annual fee: $395

Sign-up bonus: Earn 100,000 bonus miles after you spend $10,000 on purchases within the first six months of account opening. Also, get up to a $200 statement credit for vacation rental purchases charged to your card within the first year. 

Rewards: 10 miles per dollar on car rentals and hotels booked through Capital One Travel, 5 miles per dollar on flights booked through Capital One Travel and 2 miles per dollar spent on all other eligible purchases.

Benefits: The Capital One Venture X Rewards Card is the issuer’s first premium rewards credit card. As such, there are excellent travel benefits such as up to a $300 annual travel statement credit for bookings made through Capital One Travel and a 10,000-mile boost on your account anniversary. Cardholders can get access to Capital One’s network of lounges and Priority Pass lounges for you and up to two guests. You can add up to four authorized users for free on the card and share these lounge benefits with them, which helps families and friends access lounges for a fraction of the cost. 

Related:Capital One Venture X Rewards Card review

Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card

Annual fee: $95

Sign-up bonus: Earn 60,000 bonus miles after you spend $3,000 on purchases within the first three months of account opening.

Rewards: 2 miles per dollar spent on all purchases.

Benefits: The Capital One Venture Rewards Card first earned its place by offering a consistent 2x on all purchases and a simple fixed-value redemption structure. Its 15+ transfer partners put it in a league of its own. Most partners  transfer at an improved 1:1 ratio, while there are still a few remaining programs that transfer at a 2:1.5 and 2:1 ratio, effectively giving the card an earning rate of up to 2 partner miles or points per dollar spent.

Flexibility is one of the most valuable elements of a good points strategy, and the Venture card delivers loads of it by allowing you to decide on a case-by-case basis whether to use it as a fixed-value or transferable-points card. The card offers a Global Entry/TSA PreCheck application fee credit (up to $100) every four years.

Related:Capital One Venture Rewards Card review

Capital One VentureOne Rewards Card

Annualfee: $0

Sign-up bonus: Earn 20,000 bonus miles after you spend $500 in the first three months of account opening.

Rewards: 1.25x on all purchases.

Benefits: The Capital One VentureOne is the no-annual-fee version of the popular Capital One Venture Rewards Card. It’s a spectacular introduction into the Venture’s flexible miles that are also transferable to Capital One’s 15+ airline and hotel transfer partners. You’ll also enjoy no foreign transaction fees with this card, along with important protections such as travel accident insurance,secondary rental car coverage and extended warranty. Benefits only available to accounts approved for the Visa Signature card. Terms apply.

Capital One Spark Miles for Business

Annual fee: $95, waived the first year

Sign-up bonus: Earn 50,000 bonus miles after you spend $4,500 in the first three months of account opening.

Rewards: 2x on purchases.

Benefits: The Spark Miles from Capital One is a business credit card that gives you access to the same great airline and hotel transfer partners as the Venture family of cards. Businesses can enjoy free employee cards and no foreign transaction fees. You also get up to $100 in credit for 

At any bank, if you have a low credit score, you’re only likely to get a credit limit increase if you’re getting close to your existing credit limit. So if you got that email, you probably had a few thousand dollars of Capital One credit card debt at an interest rate of at least 20 percent. That implies you were probably paying Capital One around $40 in interest capital one credit card for no credit month or more. You might want or need to borrow more money on capital one online account access login of what you’ve already borrowed, but I always thought it was a little bit sick for us to be telling people to “enjoy” their higher credit line. It felt more than a little like shouting, “Enjoy getting into more debt, suckers!” before disappearing in a cloud of smoke and speeding off in a Tesla.

In my coworkers’ defense, nearly everyone agreed with me that repeating “more.more.more” in that email was redundant, if not manipulative, and we eventually changed the text. But the pitch still represented an irreconcilable gap: While the recipients of the email might, at best, regard it as one additional debt instrument to deploy for the next financial emergency lying in wait, Capital One employees must have imagined that borrowers were positively excited to take on more debt as soon as possible. 

Sadly, this latter view was not completely unreasonable. Capital one credit card for no credit Scott Schuh and Scott Fulford have shown in a paper for the Federal Reserve of Boston, people who get credit limit increases tend to keep their “utilization” constant. In other words: If a person is carrying a $1,500 balance when they have a $3,000 credit limit, you’d expect them to start carrying a $4,000 balance if the limit is raised to $8,000. If most people use the full credit-limit increases they are offered, the thinking goes, that must mean that most people want to borrow more money. If you lend them more money, you are “meeting customers’ needs.” 

Because the borrower’s pain was not at the forefront for analysts, lingo like “pBad” (the percentage of people who can’t repay their loans), “second-order risk” (when customers who would have been able to repay a small loan default because they borrowed more than they could handle), “flow rates” (the percentage of people who will miss the next payment), “HBRs” (high-balance revolvers, or people who have a lot of debt) is not analogous to a military planner referring to “collateral damage” to talk about dead civilians. It is far more abstract. 

Capital One offers several tiers of popular types of rewards credit cards.