Capital One Quicksilver Cash Rewards Credit Card Review

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The Capital One Quicksilver Cash Rewards Credit Card is a good starter credit card for consumers with a credit score in the “good” to “excellent” range and those who don’t want to pay an annual fee but still want to earn rewards. 

This card works almost exactly the same as the Capital One QuicksilverOne Cash Rewards Credit Card. However, it’s available only to those with a “good” to ”excellent” credit score, and it doesn’t charge an annual fee (whereas the QuicksilverOne is available with “average” credit and charges an annual fee of $39). 

The Quicksilver from Capital One offers a decent 1.5% flat cashback rate on all purchases (as well as 5% cash back on all purchases made through Capital One Travel). Additionally, by meeting a specific spending threshold, you can earn a valuable cash welcome bonus* which is pretty impressive considering that this card doesn’t charge an annual fee.

There are also several other benefits that come with the Quicksilver Card that make it an attractive option. 

However, before you sign up for the Quicksilver Card, it’s worth considering other similar options. There are several other $0 annual fee cards that are available in the same credit score range that offer superior cashback rates. Still, the Quicksilver Card is easy to understand, doesn’t charge an annual fee and has several other noteworthy perks. 

Pros	Cons
1.5% cash back on all purchases	No additional bonus categories
5% cash back on Capital One Travel purchases	Requires good/excellent credit
No annual fee	High APR
0% intro APR for 15 months*
No foreign transaction fees

Capital One Quicksilver Cash Rewards Credit Card Spending Bonuses

The Capital One Quicksilver Card earns cash back on every purchase you make with your card. Here are the spending categories for the Quicksilver Card: 

• 5% cash back on purchases through Capital One Travel
• 1.5% cash back on all other purchases

As you can see, the Quicksilver Card is primarily marketed toward those who want a simple rewards structure. With the Quicksilver from Capital One, you can forget about keeping track of bonus categories and rest assured that you’ll earn 1.5% cash back on every purchase you make with your card. 

Plus, if you’re planning an upcoming trip, you’ll earn 5% cash back on all purchases made through Capital One Travel, which is an outstanding rate for a no-fee card.

However, as previously mentioned, other cards offer better cashback rates than the Quicksilver Card. So, before you sign up for this card, you’ll definitely want to consider your other options.

Any cash back that you earn with the Quicksilver Card goes directly into your Capital One account, and you can redeem it at any time in any amount. Capital One gives you the option to receive a check, apply your rewards as a statement credit or use your cash back to purchase gift cards.

In general, purchasing gift cards is the worst option out of the three. Capital One also has an auto-redemption feature that can automatically apply cash back rewards as a statement credit once your balance reaches a certain level (either $25, $50, $100 or $200).

Capital One Quicksilver Cash Rewards Credit Card Benefits

The main attraction for the Quicksilver Card is definitely the ability to earn 1.5% cash back on all purchases without paying an annual fee. However, this card also comes with several other notable perks that really sweeten the deal. Whether you’re already a Quicksilver cardholder or you’re considering signing up for this card, it’s worth getting familiar with all of the benefits that the Quicksilver Card offers. 

Uber One Monthly Membership

When you sign up for the Capital One Quicksilver Card, you’ll automatically become eligible for a complimentary six-month membership to Uber One. Here are some of the benefits of Uber One: 

• Unlimited $0 delivery fee on eligible food, groceries and more on Uber Eats
• Up to 10% off eligible orders with Uber Eats
• Up to 5% off eligible rides with Uber
• Member-only perks and promotions

You’ll need to sign up for an Uber One membership directly through the Uber or Uber Eats app and use your Quicksilver as your payment method. Then, you need to confirm that you’re on a monthly plan and that you aren’t using any Uber Cash. Once you confirm your enrollment, the membership fee will be charged to your Quicksilver Card and you’ll receive a statement credit for each month for the duration of the six-month complimentary membership period. 

If you don’t want to spend any money on Uber One after the six months is up, just make sure that you cancel your membership before the end of the promotional period.

No Annual Fee

The Capital One Quicksilver Card charges no annual fees, which means that there’s little downside to adding this card to your wallet. You won’t have to worry about your cashback rewards offsetting any annual fee. All of your rewards are pure savings. 

No Foreign Transaction Fees

Capital One doesn’t charge foreign transaction fees for purchases or other transactions made outside of your home country. This feature is standard across all of Capital One’s credit card offerings. Since Capital One is marketed heavily toward avid travelers, you can use their cards (including the Quicksilver Card) in any country in the world without incurring additional fees.

$0 Fraud Liability

If your Quicksilver Card is ever lost or stolen, you can rest assured knowing that you’re covered by Capital One’s $0 fraud liability protection. This means that you won’t be responsible for charges on your card that you didn’t make yourself. 

If Capital One notices a suspicious transaction on your card, you’ll be immediately notified via text, email and phone. Then, you’ll be asked to either confirm that the charge in question was made by you or report the charge as fraudulent. If the charge was fraudulent, you’ll be reimbursed for the full amount.  

Welcome Bonus

Not all $0 annual fee cards come with welcome bonus offers. However, the Quicksilver Card from Capital One has a fairly valuable welcome cash bonus* that you can earn by spending a certain amount of money in a certain period of time after account opening. See the Quicksilver Card’s current welcome offer.

Capital One Quicksilver Cash Rewards Credit Card Drawbacks

Capital One Quicksilver Card is certainly a solid option for those who want to earn a flat cashback rate on all purchases without paying an annual fee. However, this card is not without drawbacks. So, before you decide whether or not you want to add the Quicksilver Card to your wallet, you need to be aware of where this card falls short.

High APR

If you don’t pay off your credit card balance in full every month, you might want to stay away from the Capital One Quicksilver Card. This card may have a higher-than-average ongoing variable APR, depending on your credit score, which means that carrying a balance will be expensive.

If you don’t carry a balance from month to month, you won’t have to worry about this card’s high APR. But if you don’t tend to pay off your balance in full every month, you’ll probably want to find a card with a lower interest rate. 

Requires Good/Excellent Credit Score

You’ll need a credit score that’s in the “good” or “excellent” range to be approved for the Capital One Quicksilver Card. If your credit score is over 700, you should qualify for the Capital One Quicksilver Card with ease. However, sometimes it’s possible to qualify for this card with credit scores lower than 700, but the chances are slimmer.

There are also several Capital One credit cards available to people with credit scores lower than “good” or “excellent” (such as the Capital One QuicksilverOne Cash Rewards Credit Card). Unfortunately, these cards tend to offer inferior rewards or charge annual fees. 

If your credit score isn’t currently in the “good” or “excellent” range, you can raise your score by making your payments on time month after month, keeping your credit utilization ratio low (by using no more than 20% of your total credit) and keeping your older credit accounts open to boost the average age of your lines of credit. 

No Bonus Categories

One of the biggest draws of the Quicksilver Card is the fact that it offers a flat cashback rate on all purchases. This means that you don’t ever have to think about spending categories. This is great for people who have highly variable spending habits. However, the majority of people tend to spend a significant chunk of their budget in one or two spending categories. In that case, it may be better to go with a credit card that specifically rewards you for making transactions in those categories. 

For instance, many people spend a large chunk of their budgets on gas and groceries. For those people, one of the best cards is the Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express, which has $0 annual fee and offers 3% cash back at U.S. supermarkets, at U.S. gas stations and on U.S. online retail purchases (on up to $6,000 per year in each category, then 1% thereafter). Plus, you’ll earn 1% cash back on all other purchases. 

So, if the majority of your expenses are in the three aforementioned categories, then you’re definitely better off going with the Amex Blue Cash Everyday card over the Capital One Quicksilver Card.

If your largest spending categories are dining, entertainment and groceries, then you should consider the Capital One SavorOne Cash Rewards Credit Card, which offers 3% cash back in those categories as well as several other lucrative spending bonuses. 

Bigger Spenders Can Earn More Elsewhere

The Capital One Quicksilver’s flat cashback rate of 1.5% is solid for a card that doesn’t charge an annual fee. However, if you’re planning on spending a lot of money on your card annually you may be better off going with a card that charges an annual fee and offers even better spending bonuses and benefits.

For instance, the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card has an annual fee of $95, but it offers great rewards in the form of Chase Ultimate Rewards points and comes with an array of great benefits that make the Sapphire Preferred Card one of the best cards in the industry. 

Other Cards to Consider

If you have a credit score in the “good” or “excellent” range (typically considered to be 700 or above), then you can pretty much choose from any credit card on the market. So, before you decide to sign up for the Quicksilver Card, it’s definitely worth considering your other options first. There are several other cards out there that offer better rewards than the Quicksilver Card, some of which charge annual fees and some of which don’t. 

Capital One SavorOne Cash Rewards Credit Card

If you’re set on getting a card that doesn’t charge an annual fee, then you’re definitely going to want to consider the Capital One SavorOne Cash Rewards Credit Card. This is another no-fee card from Capital One available to those with good or excellent credit scores that offers better rewards than the Quicksilver Card for most people. With the SavorOne card, you’ll earn the following cash back bonuses:

• 10% cash back on purchases through Uber and Uber Eats (through Nov. 14, 2024)
• 8% cash back on purchases through Capital One Entertainment
• 5% cash back on purchases through Capital One Travel
• 3% cash back on dining, entertainment, popular streaming services and at grocery stores (excluding superstores such as Walmart and Target)
• 1% cash back on everything else

As you can see, the cashback rates offered by the SavorOne Card are much more beneficial to most people than those offered with the Quicksilver Card, which offers 5% cash back on Capital One purchases and 1.5% cash back on everything else. 

For most people, dining, entertainment, popular streaming services and grocery stores constitute a large portion of their expenses, and the ability to earn 3% cash back in those categories while not paying an annual fee is attractive.

Other than the different spending bonuses, the SavorOne Card and the Quicksilver Card are nearly identical. They both have $0 annual fee, no foreign transaction fees, offer welcome bonuses*, have 15-month intro APR periods*, come with $0 fraud liability protection and offer complimentary six-month Uber One membership (through Nov. 14, 2024). 

Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card

If you’re open to a card that charges an annual fee, one of the best options is the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, which has an annual fee of $95 that’s applied for the first year. However, with the fantastic rewards and benefits that come with this card, you can easily offset that annual fee and get some serious value out of this card. 

With this card, you earn the following spending bonuses: 

• 5X Chase Ultimate Rewards points on travel purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards portal
• 3X points on dining
• 3X points on online grocery purchases (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
• 3X points on select streaming services
• 2X points on all other travel
• 1X point on everything else

The Chase Sapphire Preferred Card also comes with a $50 annual hotel credit that can be used toward bookings made through the Chase Ultimate Rewards travel portal. So, if you use that benefit every year, your annual fee drops to just $45. Plus, this card offers a generous welcome bonus that you can earn by spending a certain amount within a specific time frame after account opening. 

On top of all that, Chase Ultimate Rewards points get a 25% value boost when you redeem them for travel through the Chase Ultimate Rewards travel portal. For instance, 60,000 Chase points are worth $750 in travel when booked through Chase Ultimate Rewards. Additionally, every cardmember year, you’ll get an anniversary bonus worth 10% of your total spending for that year. So, if you spent $50,000 in a calendar year, you’d earn a bonus of 5,000 points for that year.

All in all, if you spend a solid amount of money on your credit card annually, the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card is almost certainly a better option for you than the Capital One Quicksilver Card. Even though the Sapphire Preferred Card has a $95 annual fee and the Quicksilver card has no annual fee, the Sapphire Preferred card’s membership fee can be easily offset with its increased spending bonuses and superior benefits. 

Chase Freedom Flex℠

If you’re willing to put in the time to track rotating bonus categories, then the Chase Freedom Flex℠ credit card might be a good option for you. This card doesn’t charge an annual fee and is only available to those with credit scores in the “good” or “excellent” ranges. It also comes with a nice welcome bonus that can be earned by spending a certain amount of money in a certain period of time. 

Here are the spending bonuses offered by the Freedom Flex card: 

• 5% cash back on up to $1,500 on combined purchases in bonus categories each quarter you activate
• 5% cash back on travel purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards portal
• 3% cash back on dining (including takeout and delivery) and drugstores
• 1% cash back on all other purchases

The fact that you can earn 5% cash back on up to $1,500 in a rotating category each quarter is quite lucrative. If you maximize the bonus categories every quarter, it could earn you up to $300 cash back each year. However, you’ll have to keep track of which bonus categories are eligible to earn 5% cash back each quarter, and you’ll have to manually activate those bonuses through your Chase account to receive 5% cash back. 

The ability to earn 3% cash back on dining with the Freedom Flex card is also valuable. Plus, your cashback rewards will never expire for as long as your Freedom Flex card stays active.

If you’d prefer to earn a flat cashback rate on all purchases and not have to worry about bonus categories, then the Quicksilver Card is probably a better option for you. However, if you’re willing to take the time to track bonus categories, then you can probably earn more cash back with the Chase Freedom Flex. 

The Bottom Line

Overall, where the Capital One Quicksilver Card really shines is in its simplicity. This card doesn’t charge an annual fee, meaning you’ll never have to worry about whether you’re earning enough cash back to break even. All cash back that you earn is pure savings. 

Additionally, the Quicksilver Card earns a flat cashback rate of 1.5% on all purchases (except for purchases through the Capital One Travel portal, which earn 5% cash back). This means that you don’t have to think about which spending categories are earning more cash back than others. The Quicksilver from Capital One is a simple way to rack up cash back rewards without having to put in much effort. 

Additionally, the Quicksilver Card comes with several other perks that help sweeten the deal, including a complimentary six-month Uber One membership (through Nov. 14, 2024), no foreign transaction fees and $0 fraud liability protection. If you’re looking for a $0 annual fee card that offers cashback rewards, you certainly won’t be disappointed by the Quicksilver Card. 

However, before you sign up for the Quicksilver Card, you should definitely consider its drawbacks and whether another card might be a better option for you. The Quicksilver has a relatively high ongoing APR, which means it’s going to be expensive if you’re carrying a balance from month to month. Plus, you can qualify for this card only if you have a credit score in the “good” to “excellent” range.

You should be aware that several other cards don’t charge annual fees and outcompete the Quicksilver card in terms of the cash back rewards that they offer. 

For instance, the Capital One SavorOne Card offers 8% cash back through Capital One Entertainment, 5% cash back through Capital One Travel, and 3% cash back on dining, entertainment, popular streaming services and at grocery stores (excluding superstores such as Walmart and Target). Depending on your spending habits, you could potentially earn far more cash back with the SavorOne Card than with the Quicksilver Card. 

Finally, if you’re willing to open a card with an annual fee, you can earn considerably better rewards with cards like the Chase Sapphire Preferred ($95 annual fee) or the Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express ( $0 introductory annual fee for your first year, then $95, rates and fees) that offer a higher return on your spending.

For Capital One products listed on this page, some of the above benefits are provided by Visa® or Mastercard® and may vary by product. See the respective Guide to Benefits for details, as terms and exclusions apply.

*There are two versions of the Quicksilver Cash Rewards Credit Card, one for excellent credit and one for good credit. The intro APR and welcome bonus offer are only available with excellent credit.