Costs & Pricing

Metric	Spark 1.5% Cash Select	Engine X
Annual fee	$0	$0
Employee card fee	$0	$0; unlimited physical and virtual cards
Purchase APR	16.74%–26.74% variable after intro (based on creditworthiness)	N/A — charge card. No purchase interest if paid by due date. No published purchase APR range. Marketing “0%” means no annual fee plus charge-card float until the due date, not an intro APR.
Intro APR (purchases)	0% for 9 months, then 16.74%–26.74% variable	Not offered (not a revolving product)
Foreign transaction fee	$0	$0 (International Transaction Fee: $0 / None). Ordinary Visa FX conversion still applies (rate not separately itemized).
Late payment fee	Not disclosed on public product page (aggregators: up to $39; cash-back hub footnote mentions 2.99% — unresolved)	$40 per late payment

Rewards & Value

Metric	Spark 1.5% Cash Select	Engine X
Base earn rate	Unlimited 1.5% cash back on every purchase (no category restrictions)	1.5% back in Engine points on Qualifying Card Purchases (everyday / off-Engine spend, including flights even if booked on Engine)
Welcome bonus	$750 cash after $6,000 purchases in first 3 months	20,000 Engine points after the company activates an Engine X card and completes $2,000 in Qualifying Off-Platform Purchases within 30 days of first Card activation. Off-platform = card spend not booked through Engine.com. Engine travel bookings do not count. Employee/additional-card off-platform spend does count (company-level). First-time Engine X customer; one bonus per company. Offer ends 11:59 p.m. ET, 31 December 2026 (incentive terms updated 1 Jun 2026).
Redemption value	Face-value cash (statement credit or check); any amount; does not expire while account is open	Official cents-per-point not disclosed. Points have no cash value and are redeemable only through the program. Checkout shows a point-to-dollar value before confirm. Secondary (TPG, 20 Aug 2026): statement credit described at ~50% of booking value — unofficial; do not hard-code 1¢ or 0.5¢ as issuer fact. Disclose user-selectable factor: 1.0× if redeemed for Engine bookings; 0.5× if using TPG’s statement-credit haircut.
Transfer partners	Cash itself does not transfer. If you also hold a Capital One miles card, cash can convert at 1¢ = 1 mile (widely documented; not on the Select product page).	Not offered (no Chase/Amex/airline transfers)

Credit & Eligibility

Metric	Spark 1.5% Cash Select	Engine X
Personal guarantee	Not quoted on product page; market practice = required for Capital One small-business revolving cards	Official apply page: “We also do not require personal guarantees.” Program terms: company is the liable party. Owner KYC still collected. Confirm no hidden guaranty in the Issuing Bank Terms accepted at offer.
Credit check	Hard pull on apply (commonly all three bureaus). Pre-approval advertised as no impact to personal score.	Official: no hard pull, will not impact personal credit score. Soft-pull vs none-at-all on a bureau file is not separately named. Last-4 SSN is for identity verification (CIP), not described as a full credit pull.
Employee cards	Free; custom spend limits; card lock; account-manager role (primary remains liable)	Unlimited physical + instant virtual, including 1099 / temporary workers. Spend controls by employee, project, expense type, category, merchant, transaction. Physical cards ~8 business days. Company remains liable.
Product type	Revolving business credit card (fixed credit line)	Business charge card + spend-management card (pay-in-full each cycle; assigned line of credit; no revolving APR). Not a consumer credit card. Sibling: Direct Bill (credit line limited to Engine hotel/flight/car bookings — not this card).

Pros & Cons

Spark 1.5% Cash Select

Pros

• $0 annual fee; unlimited 1.5% cash back with no category tracking
• Live $750 / $6,000 / 3-month welcome bonus
• 9-month 0% intro APR on purchases
• $0 foreign-transaction fee; free employee cards that earn the same rate
• Cash back never expires while the account is open; redeem any amount

Cons

• 1.5% trails 2% flats and category-heavy Ink/Amex products at scale
• 5% travel only inside Capital One Business Travel; no lounge/GE credits
• Balance transfers not available
• Revolving Spark cards commonly report to personal credit
• Excellent-credit bar; full Schumer (late fee, penalty APR) not on the public product page

Engine X

Pros

• $0 annual fee and $0 employee/virtual-card fees
• 6% (scaling to 10%) Engine points on Engine hotel and rental-car bookings — unusual on-platform travel earn at $0 fee
• No personal guarantee and no hard personal credit pull (official apply language)
• Charge card + Autopay + spend controls + unlimited cards for employees and 1099s; travel booking, policy, and folios in one dashboard
• $0 foreign-transaction fee in the fee table

Cons

• Elevated earn does not apply to flights or off-Engine hotels; marketing “up to 10% on travel” is broader than the legal category
• Pay-in-full charge card; $40 late / $40 returned-payment fees; no revolver
• Points have no cash value; official ¢/point not published; statement-credit value may haircut vs booking (secondary)
• Sole proprietors ineligible; U.S. entity + EIN required
• No published lounge, TSA/Global Entry, or card-insurance benefits guide; product is new (Mar 2026) so limit ranges and servicing quality are thinly documented

Verdict

Spark 1.5% Cash Select

Spark Cash Select is the clean no-fee 1.5% Capital One option — plus a $750 bonus and 9 months of 0% on purchases. It is not Spark Cash Plus (NPSL, $150) and not Classic (fair credit, 1%). Best as a simple daily driver or year-1 0% tool; once annual spend is high enough that a 2% flat or category card wins, move the volume.

Engine X

Engine X is a TMC + charge card, not Direct Bill and not Ramp/Brex. Most SMBs stay Silver (6% / 1.5%). Skip it if travel will not move onto Engine, if you need revolving credit or transferable miles, or if you are a sole prop. Confirm the live 20,000-point offer (through 31 Dec 2026) requires $2,000 off-Engine spend within 30 days of first card activation.