How I Got Approved for the Capital One Spark Cash Plus

Jess

The card_name came out with an elevated welcome offer back in August, and I’ve been on a mission to snag this card ever since. It’s marketed as a cash-back card, but if you have another card that earns Venture miles (like the card_name or card_name), you can convert the cash back you earn from the Capital One Spark Cash Plus into Capital One Venture miles. This business card also doesn’t count towards 5/24. Because approval for this card can be a little tricky, I’m sharing how I got approved for the Capital One Spark Cash Plus.  

 

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The standard welcome offer is $1,200 cash back, which you can convert to 120K Capital One Venture miles.  But since August it’s been $2,000 cash back, which you can convert to a whopping 200K Capital One Venture miles!

For Capital One products listed on this page, some of the benefits may be provided by Visa® or Mastercard® and may vary by product. See the respective Guide to Benefits for details, as terms and exclusions apply.

 

Minimum Spend 🤪

Before I get too far into the details of how I finally got approved, you should know that the minimum spend on this card is quite high. You’ll have to spend $30,000 in the first 3 months to earn the $2,000/200,000-point welcome offer. That averages out to about $10,000/month. Yikes!

I planned to open this card towards the end of 2024 because I know that I have some significant expenses in December and the beginning of January 2025 (mostly estimated taxes) that make this welcome offer doable. Maybe you’re in a similar position this time of year!

The Spark Cash Plus is also a charge card, which means you will not have a set credit limit and will have to pay your balance in full every month.  

 

Third Time’s the Charm!

Here’s how I finally got approved for this card on the third attempt: 

    • 9/9/24—First application:  immediate denial. Reason was “too many accounts of this type.” WHOOPS! Forgot that you won’t be approved for the Spark Cash Plus if you currently have the card_name. I had actually been intending to close my Venture X business card because it had been exactly a year since I opened it (and I don’t need both the personal Venture X card and the Venture X business card). My exact open date for the Venture X business card was 9/12/23.

 

    • 9/14/24—I close my Venture X business card (you can actually do this online via your Capital One portal).

 

    • 10/15/24—Second application:  immediate denial. Reason: “Based on your credit report from one or more of the agencies on the back of this letter, there have been too many recent inquiries.” The agency listed on the letter was Experian. All of my recent Chase inquiries were showing up on my Experian credit report. I do some additional research and decide to freeze my Experian credit report. (Note that you will want to freeze the credit report with the most inquiries on it—this may or may not be Experian for you.)

 

    • 11/2/24—I freeze my Experian report. The following day I receive an email confirming that it’s frozen.

 

    • 11/16/24—Third application:  immediate approval!

 

Converting Cash Back to Venture Miles

Because the card_name earns 2x miles on every purchase, after meeting the $30,000 minimum spend, I will have earned 60,000 miles from spend and 200,000 miles from the welcome offer. That’s 260,000 Capital One miles from one welcome offer and just a $150 annual fee! I am planning to put these miles towards flights to Tanzania for an African safari for my 40th birthday in February 2026.

It will come in the form of cash back ($2,600), and I plan to convert that cash back to Venture miles via my Capital One online portal. 

To convert cash-back points into Venture miles, log into your Capital One online account and select “View Rewards.” Select your Spark Cash Plus account, then select “Combine rewards.” I’m choosing to move the miles to my personal Venture X card account. 

 

 

From there, simply enter the amount of cash back you’d like to convert to miles, and select “Confirm.” That’s it! Your cash back has now become Capital One miles that can be transferred out to travel partners. 

 

The transfer was instant—in just a matter of minutes I went from having $100 in cash back to 10,000 Capital One Venture miles added to my account. 

 

Bottom Line

Persistence paid off! I did make some mistakes along the way, but in the end, I got the approval I wanted. (Had I remembered to close my Venture X Business card first, I could have saved myself an application.) But I’m so excited for these miles and can’t wait to put them towards even more nearly free travel! 

 

 

Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities. American Express is a Travel Mom Squad advertiser, but we always show the best public offer even when we don’t earn a commission. Terms Apply. 

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  1. Lauren Sanders says:

    How did you freeze your experience man account? Was it with a phone call, or can you do it online?

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