Capital One 48 Month Rule

It seems like there is a Capital One 48 month rule in place for some of their most popular cards. From the best we can tell these terms were added in the last week or so. We are still not sure if they are terms in theory only or if they have the tech in place to enforce them. My guess would be the terms will be fully enforced but we will have to see what the data points show over the next several weeks etc. This is a big change from what their terms used to be. Let's take a look at what they had before, and what we are seeing now on the Capital One Venture, Capital One Venture X and other personal cards' application rules.

Old Capital One Application Terms

In the past with Capital One it was possible to get the welcome offer on the same product more than once. You could even get the offer if you currently held one of the same cards. The terminology was a bit murky on what the time frame was between cards. Here is what it said:

The bonus may not be available for existing or previous account holders.

That didn't really give us a timeframe at all, at least not one set in stone like the new Capital One 48 month rule does. The main Cap One application rules people focused on were that they generally will only approve you for one card every six months. That rule counts for personal and business cards combined. The other rule people paid attention to was that you could only carry two personal cards at one time.

The New Capital One 48 Month Rule Terms

Here is what we are now seeing with the Capital One 48 month rule on personal cards:

Existing or previous cardmembers are not eligible for this product if they have received a new cardmember bonus for this product in the past 48 months.

The way Derrick, Brian and I are reading these terms is you can still get it as a current cardholder, but it has to have been more than 48 months since last getting the welcome offer. Holding multiples should still be possible, but remember there is a two personal card rule anyway.

I don't see any terms about family of cards either, similar to what the Chase Sapphire Preferred and Reserve have, which is good news. That means you should still be able to get a Venture X and then a Venture welcome offer within the same 48 month period. As always, that could change. No one expected this Capital One 48 month rule after all.

Business Cards Have The Old Terms, For Now

While all of the Capital One personal cards I checked had the new Capital One 48 month rule terms, the business cards still have the old terminology. Here is what I saw on the Spark 2% Cash Plus:

The bonus may not be available for existing or previous Spark cardholders.

Who knows if they will change that down the road. Maybe they will have more loose rules for business cards like some other lenders do. I know Capital One has been focusing on growing the sector so I wouldn't be surprised to see them stay as is there for a while.

Capital One 48 Month Rule: ToP Thoughts

Banks throwing out new language and term are unfortunately a part of the game. This rule is similar to what Citi has enacted on their American Airlines and ThankYou points earning cards. Our main job is to stay diligent and keep ahead of the changes the banks throw at us. We will update our credit card reviews and bank application rules data base over the next few days to reflect all of these moving parts.

If you had planned on grabbing the Venture X or Venture card soon this is something we wanted to make you aware of. It shouldn't be an issue on the Capital One Venture X since that is so new no one has had it long enough, but it could affect some Venture cardholders.

HT: Travel Freely