You’d think “select” rewards would be better than non-select rewards, but Capital One offers a few different Spark Business credit cards, and the Spark Miles Select Card is certainly not the best one. You see, the Capital One Spark Miles Card offers 2 miles per $1 spent as well as a decent initial bonus, while the Capital One Spark Miles Select for Business only gives you 1.5 miles per $1 and does not have an initial bonus. I suppose the difference lies in the fact that the non-select business card has an initial fee beginning in the second year while the Spark Miles Select Business Credit Card never has an annual fee. But many rewards business credit cards don’t have annual fees. Besides, it might be worth it to pay a bit extra to get better rewards than either the Capital One Spark Miles Select Business Credit Card or the Capital One Spark Miles Business Credit Card offers. And if you do not travel often for business, another rewards currency (i.e. cash or points) will likely be more rewarding than Capital One Spark Miles, Select or not. For instance, the Capital One Spark Cash for Business offers a full 2% cash back across all purchases and only has a $59 annual fee that begins in the second year. The Ink Bold with Ultimate Rewards gives you a 50,000 point initial bonus redeemable for $500 cash or $625 in travel and offers 5 pts per dollar on your first $50,000 in business expenses each year ($95 annual fee beginning in the second year). Both cards would also provide more opportunities for a non-traveling small business owner to redeem than the Capital One Spark Miles Select Business Credit Card, which means more opportunity to benefit from your card and less of a threat of rewards devaluation.

Your basic strategy should be to focus on getting whichever business rewards card provides the most cost-effective value. Focus on cards with rewards targeted to your biggest expenses and if a card has an annual fee, simply determine whether its rewards will be worth the extra cost based on your spending habits. Also remember that the best business credit card strategy involves using a rewards business credit card for everyday expenses and a 0% personal credit card for funding. This will not increase your personal liability but it will enable you to get the best card terms as well as debt stability (issuers can increase interest rates for business credit cards at any time, but personal credit cards are protected by the CARD Act). As you can probably guess, the Capital One Spark Miles Select for Business Credit Card does not offer the best rewards of any business credit card, so it should not be part of your strategy.