Capital One Platinum Card Benefits

Capital One Platinum’s Low Fees

$0 Annual Fee

It won’t cost you anything to own this card. This is excellent for an unsecured credit card designed for beginners. Many other starter credit cards either require a security deposit or have at least a small annual fee. As a result, Capital One Platinum is great for building credit inexpensively.

$0 Foreign Transaction Fee

When you use your card to make purchases from a merchant in a foreign country, either online or in person, you won’t owe any extra fees.

No Balance Transfer Fee

The card spares you from balance transfer fees, but it doesn’t offer an introductory APR on balance transfers at this time, so it’s not the best card to transfer a balance to. The card’s regular APR is 29.49% (V) and the balance transfer fee is $0 at the Transfer APR, 4% of each transferred balance at a promo APR that Capital One may offer.

Capital One Platinum Credit-Building Benefits

Credit Reporting

Capital One Platinum will report your balance and payment history to the three major credit bureaus – Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion – each month. This can help you build credit. While this is normal for credit cards, it’s worth highlighting here because this card’s primary purpose is building credit.

Of course, credit reporting will only help you if you use your account responsibly. You should make at least your minimum payment on time every month, and pay the full balance if possible. You should also strive to keep your credit utilization below 30% of your credit limit.

CreditWise

CreditWise is a free service from Capital One that can provide your credit score and alert you to changes on your TransUnion and Experian credit reports. In addition, it will also monitor the dark web and alert you if your Social Security number or email address appears there. While this service is advertised as a feature of Capital One credit cards, you can actually still use it even if you don’t have a Capital One product.

It’s also worth noting that you can check your credit score and report for free on WalletHub by signing up for a free account, and WalletHub Premium offers advanced identity theft protection.

Capital One Platinum Purchase Benefits

Capital One Eno Virtual Assistant

Eno is a 24/7 virtual assistant you can access through Capital One’s website or mobile app. Some of its functions include:

• Answering questions about your Capital One account
• Monitoring your charges for suspicious activity and notifying you
• Checking your account for duplicate charges
• Notifying you about recurring payments or the end of free trial periods
• Alerting you to credits/refunds you receive from merchants
• Explaining why your card has been declined
• Summarizing charitable donations during tax season
• Creating virtual credit card numbers to protect you during online transactions

Virtual Card Numbers

Creating virtual card numbers is one of the functions of Capital One Eno, but it’s an important enough feature that it deserves its own category. A virtual credit card number is a way for you to make purchases online using your credit card account without giving merchants access to your actual card information.

Capital One Eno can create a unique virtual card number, expiration date and security code for any merchant. While the information is different from what’s actually on your card, the merchant processes it as if you’ve typed in your normal card details. You can then use your virtual card number for any future purchases from the merchant, and you can even save it as a payment method on their website.

The difference compared to giving your real credit card information is that if the merchant gets hacked, the hackers will only have access to the virtual information, not your actual card details. That means they can’t go on a spending spree with your card.

50% Off Handcrafted Beverages

Capital One Platinum gives you access to 50% off handcrafted beverages at any Capital One Café location. Capital One Cafés are “community spaces” run by Capital One that sell food and beverages, offer free Wi-Fi and work spaces, and have Capital One ambassadors who can chat with you about the bank’s products.

There are more than 50 Capital One Café locations spread across 18 states and the District of Columbia.

Ability to Lock Your Card

You can use the Capital One mobile app to lock your Capital One Platinum card, which prevents it from being used for purchases, aside from recurring payments or previously authorized purchases. This is useful if your card is lost or stolen, as it can give you peace of mind while you wait to find your card or get a new one delivered.

Locking your card can also be useful if you simply want to stop yourself from being able to use the card in order to avoid overspending. You have the ability to lock an authorized user’s card without locking your own card, too.

Once you’ve locked a card, you can use your online account or the mobile app to unlock it at any time.

$0 Fraud Liability

You are not liable for any fraudulent purchases made with your card, as long as you report them to Capital One. While this is a feature that is present on all major credit cards, it’s one that’s extremely important. Having $0 fraud liability helps make using a credit card much more attractive and secure than other payment methods.

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.

Tap to Pay

Capital One Platinum incorporates “tap to pay” technology, so you can simply tap it on a card reader rather than having to insert it (though the card is capable of both). One of the main benefits of tap to pay is that it’s safer, as you won’t fall victim to credit card skimmer devices made by fraudsters. It’s also more convenient as it speeds up checkout.

Other Capital One Platinum Benefits

Capital One mentions several other card benefits on their website, but they are things that come fairly standard on credit cards. They include:

• Automatic consideration for a credit limit increase as soon as six months after you open your account
• 24/7 customer service
• Emergency replacement of lost or stolen cards
• The ability to set up automatic payments on your account
• The ability to add authorized users for free
• The option to choose your own due date
• A mobile app where you can manage your account
• Fraud alerts when Capital One detects suspicious activity on your account
• The ability to set up email or text reminders about payments and other things regarding your account
• An online list of your monthly recurring transactions
• Help locating ATMs when traveling

Benefits Capital One Platinum Doesn’t Have

There are a lot of common credit card benefits that Capital One Platinum does not provide, but that’s pretty normal for a card focused on helping beginners build credit.

Capital One Platinum does not give you:

• Travel insurance
• Rental car insurance
• Purchase protection
• Return protection
• Price protection
• Extended warranties on purchases
• Roadside assistance
• Rewards
• Initial bonus
• Introductory 0% APR