Capital One Spark 1.5% Cash Select for Good Credit vs Costco Anywhere Visa Business Card by Citi 2023

Written by investor.com

In head-to-head competition, which of these rewards credit cards wins out? Here’s what each has to offer and how they fare when put to the ultimate test — the cash back you’ll earn for using them.

Capital One Spark 1.5% Cash Select for Good Credit
Earn unlimited 1.5% cash back for your business on every purchase, no limits or category restrictions. Plus, earn unlimited 5% cash back on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel. 0% introductory APR for the first 12 months that the account is open. .

Costco Anywhere Visa Business Card by Citi
Earn 4% cashback on eligible gas and EV charging worldwide for the first $7,000 per year and then 1% thereafter; 3% on restaurants and eligible travel purchases worldwide; 2% on all other purchases from Costco and Costco.com, and 1% on all other spending.

Which credit card earns more cashback overall?

Is the Capital One Spark 1.5% Cash Select for Good Credit good?

Is the Costco Anywhere Visa Business Card by Citi good?

Methodology

The results of the investor.com Credit Card Business Rewards Calculator are based on the monthly spending amounts you enter and the annual dollar value of the rewards each credit card program pays per $1 spent. Credit card companies often express this payout amount as a percentage (e.g., 1.5% of every dollar spent) or on a points basis (e.g. ,1.5 points for every dollar spent). We converted all of them to a dollar amount (“Cash Back Per Year”) to make comparing offers easier.

To calculate the amount of cash back you could earn per year, we factored in:

• Tiered rewards rates: Some business cards pay a flat cashback rate on all purchases. Others pay higher cashback rates on purchases that fall under specific spending categories. The investor.com algorithm incorporates each issuer’s unique reward’s program to determine the “Cash Back Per Year” tally.
• Spend category inputs: Based on the rewards cards in our database, cell phones, dining, gas, office supplies, travel and "other" are the categories most often used by business credit cards that feature tiered rewards programs. We encourage you to customize the monthly spend inputs for the most accurate results.
• Monthly spend: The default dollar amounts for each spend category in the Business Credit Card Calculator are based on average small-business spending data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and other sources. Click the arrow on the “Spend Categories” to customize the monthly spend inputs and find the business card with the highest payout rate for your small-business spending.
• Rewards spending caps: Some cards impose category- or time-based limits (monthly, quarterly, annually) that affect the amount of rewards you can earn. For example, a card may pay 3% cash back on office supplies on up to $1,000 of spending each quarter, then revert to the base/default rewards rate until the following quarter. We accounted for bonus spending caps and timeframe in the calculations.
• Default rewards rates: Purchases that exceed a spending cap are usually subject to a lower default rewards rate (e.g., 1% or 1.5%). We mathed that out too.
• Annual fees: If a rewards card charges an annual fee, we deducted that amount from the “Cash Back Per Year” total to provide a true accounting of a card’s annual rewards payout.

What’s not included in the “Cash Back Per Year” total is the cash value of any sign-up/introductory bonus. We highlight any Welcome Bonus separately. While sign-up bonuses can be the most lucrative part of getting a new cashback rewards credit card, not everyone will want or be able to do what it takes to earn the extra cash. (It usually requires spending a certain amount in a specified time period after the card is activated.)