Capital One Credit Cards

You can activate your Capital One credit card online (www.capitalone.com/activate) or over the phone by calling 1-(877) 383-4802. Calling is probably the better option if you’re in a hurry because activating your card online requires creating an account first. But both aren’t too hard to do and don’t take all that much time. You can also find the instructions in the letter where you got your Capital One credit card or on the sticker attached to your credit card when you first get it.

You can easily check for Capital One pre-approval online. The process should take you minutes at most. All you have to do is put in some basic personal info, let them know what kind of cards you’re looking for, and click “See Your Card Offers.” Capital One will then show you which of their cards you seem to be a good fit for, based on a preliminary look at your credit (which doesn’t hurt your score at all). Pre-approval doesn’t mean guaranteed approval, but it’s about as close as you can get. Most people who are pre-approved get approved.

You may also receive a pre-approval offer by mail sometime. In that case, all you have to do is plug the “Reservation Number” and “Access Code” here to get access to the card application, which will be flagged as pre-approved when Capital One reviews it.

If you don’t have an offer yet, don’t worry. Checking online is quick and easy.

Here’s how to check for Capital One pre-approval online:

1. Go to Capital One’s pre-approval page.
2. Enter your name, date of birth, Social Security number and address.
3. Select the type of card that appeals to you most: travel rewards, cash back, low interest or not sure.
4. Rate your credit level: excellent, average or rebuilding.
5. Check the box that indicates you know this isn’t a credit card application.
6. Click “See Your Card Offers.”

After a few seconds, you should see any cards that Capital One thinks you’d likely get approved for. You’ll be able to apply for any of them right away, if you wish. Capital One offers credit cards to people of all credit levels, from Capital One Secured for damaged credit, to Platinum and QuicksilverOne for limited credit, to Venture for good and excellent credit. So the odds are good that you’ll come away with at least one Capital One pre-approved credit card offer.

To check the status of your Capital One credit card application, simply call 1-877-277-5901. Press “3” when you hear the menu, then say “application status.” You will be asked to enter your phone number so Capital One can find your records. You may also be required to enter your Social Security number to confirm your identity. Once you do so, you will receive a status update.

There is no Capital One foreign transaction fee. Or, in other words, the Capital One foreign transaction fee is 0%. That goes for every single Capital One credit card and debit card, too from travel rewards cards like Venture to cash back cards like Quicksilver. Want proof? The Capital One website says: “Capital One does not charge a fee for using your credit card for foreign currency transactions.”

That means you won’t pay extra just for shopping at foreign merchants, whether you’re traveling abroad or buying things online from merchants in other countries. Typically, a foreign transaction fee will cost you an extra 1%-3% of the purchase amount. Capital One, Discover, USAA and PenFed are the only major credit card companies that don’t charge foreign fees on any of their cards.

Even though there are no Capital One credit card foreign transaction fees, there’s still one thing you need to watch out for: Dynamic Currency Conversion (DCC). Capital One doesn’t impose this on you, but they can’t protect you from it, either, unfortunately. Dynamic currency conversion is when a merchant charges you in U.S. dollars rather than the local currency and uses an unfair exchange rate to inflate the price. You should always tell merchants to charge you in the local currency. And if you see on your receipt that they didn’t, you should ask them to void the transaction and do it over.

As long as you avoid DCC, you won’t have to worry about extra charges when using a Capital One credit card abroad, thanks to your $0 Capital One foreign transaction fee.

There is no Capital One member fee because you don’t have to pay just to be a customer. And there are no member dues or anything like that because Capital One is a bank, not a cooperative like a credit union. But there are some Capital One member fees for specific credit cards. For example, Capital One Venture does not have a membership fee the first year your account is open but charges $95 per year after that. 

Capital One credit cardmembership fees can be charged as annual fees or monthly fees (annual fee divided by 12). Whether you’re charged by year or by month depends on how you apply. If you apply online, it will be set up for annual and you’d have to call customer service after approval to ask to switch to monthly. If you apply by phone, you can choose to have a monthly fee right from the start, if you want.

Not every Capital One card has a membership fee, and those that do charge such a fee differ in the price.

Here are the Capital One member fees by card:

• Capital One Platinum: $0
• Capital One SavorOne: $0
• Capital One Secured: $0
• Capital One Quicksilver: $0
• Capital One QuicksilverOne: $39 annually/$3.25 monthly
• Capital One Venture: $95 annually/$7.92 monthly ($0 the first year)
• Journey Student Rewards from Capital One: $0

As you can see, many Capital One cards don’t charge a membership fee at all. If your card is one of the few that does, the fee will be charged to your card like a normal purchase. That will happen each year after your account anniversary (or right away the first year).