Everything You Need to Know About Banking with Capital One (2024)

You’ve likely seen your share of “What’s in your wallet” ads by now. After all, it’s been Capital One’s tag line since 1999 and endorsed by everyone from Taylor Swift to the Muppets to John Travolta dressed as Santa Claus. But what, other than its creative advertising, makes Capital One stand out from the financial pack?

The largely online institution is one of the nation’s top 10 banks by assets and offers a wide range of financial products and services. Its credit cards, long the brand’s bread and butter, are standouts—particularly if you’re eyeing travel rewards or cash back. It also has a strong suite of banking and savings products as well.

With a combination of online pricing and big-bank convenience, many Capital One products are Buy Side favorites. Here’s a look at what Capital One has to offer—and which of its products you should have on your radar.

Why Capital One

Capital One is perhaps best known for its credit cards, which offer attractive rewards for travelers, diners and business owners alike. The Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card and the Capital One SavorOne Cash Rewards Credit Card are consumer favorites—and both are highly rated by Buy Side’s experts.

Its savings accounts are also a big draw. Its 360 Performance Savings account, currently our best-rated high-yield savings account, pays much more than national averages—almost 10 times more, in fact, and according to securities filings, its average rate across all savings products was 3.02% in the third quarter of 2023. The bank also offers an interest-earning checking account, auto loans and CDs with terms ranging from six months to five years—many of which Buy Side has highlighted in monthly roundups of the best CD rates.

Overall, the Virginia-based bank is ideal for consumers looking for an online bank with a range of products and services (many online banks offer savings accounts or CDs and nothing more). Consumers in 20-plus states—including New York, Texas and the Washington, D.C., area—can also enjoy in-person banking services at about 300 branch locations. The bank even offers over 50 “Capital One cafes,” a unique bank-meets-coffeehouse combination currently in four states and growing. (And who doesn’t want a nice cup of Joe when hitting up the ATM or opening your next bank account?)

Capital One downsides

While we recommend many Capital One products, there are some important downsides about the bank to consider. For one, its interest rates on savings accounts aren’t the highest out there—especially when compared with the best high-yield rates offered by some fully online banks.

The company has also had complaints from long-time savings account holders who say Capital One failed to pay them the higher interest rates offered on new—and very similarly named—accounts, resulting in significant amounts of lost interest. (We’ll go more into this later on.)

Its 280-plus physical branches are also limited compared to the largest traditional banking institutions. Chase, for example—the nation’s biggest bank—has nearly 5,000 branches.

Finally, from a product standpoint, Capital One also has less to offer than many other big-name banks. The bank offers no mortgages, home equity loans or personal loans. There are also no investment or retirement account options.

Capital One’s origin story

Capital One hit the scene in the late 1980s, as the credit card-focused spin-off of Signet Banking Corp.—then a regional bank based in Virginia. The brand was the brainchild of founder Richard Fairbanks (still the company’s CEO today), who saw an opportunity to reach more consumers using a more personalized and data-powered approach to banking.

The company went public in 1994, expanding into car loans a few years later (it’s now the nation’s No. 5 auto loan originator by volume), and in 2005, Capital One started offering savings and checking accounts. Since then, it’s also expanded its reach through a long lineup of acquisitions, including ones with ING Direct, Chevy Chase Bank and North Fork Bank, to name a few.

In the mid-2000s, Capital One also began airing its memorable viking TV commercials—cheeky ads that saw tough-guy vikings traveling to the Grand Canyon (thanks to Capital One’s travel credit cards) or shining shoes (because reward cards made their pillaging careers irrelevant).

Today, Capital One is perhaps best known for its“What’s in your wallet” and “banking reimagined” taglines, mottos that encourage consumers to look beyond traditional banks and credit cards. The institution currently serves more than 100 million customers nationwide and is the 10th largest bank in the U.S. by assets. Its retail banking locations and cafe network spans 20-plus states.

Buy Side recommends

Buy Side has named a number of Capital One products on our best lists. The bank currently tops our best high-yield savings account, top-rated savings account for kids and best travel credit card rankings

Here’s a look at some of the products the Buy Side team has reviewed and recommended.

Capital One banking picks

Capital One offers a solid lineup of bank accounts, including accounts specifically for kids and teens, high-yield savings accounts, interest-earning checking accounts, certificates of deposit and more. While each has its own perks and drawbacks, you’ll find that Capital One banking accounts generally feature:

• Higher interest rates than the biggest national banks
• Few or no fees
• No minimum balance requirements
• A highly-rated mobile app
• A limited number of physical branch locations

Capital One’s 360 Performance Savings is a high-yield savings account offering attractive interest rates—only slightly lower than those of the most generous online-only banks. It comes with no fees and has no minimum (to open or to keep), and you can open an account in just a few minutes online.

Buy Side named 360 Performance Savings the best high-yield savings account, due to its consistently solid interest rate, simple and transparent account terms and the option to manage your account electronically or in person (depending on where you live).

Note: If you already have savings at Capital One, make sure you’re signed up for a 360 Performance Savings Account—not the older 360 Savings Account. Some long-time Capital One customers have complained their money remained in similarly named, lower-yielding accounts even after the bank created the Performance account in 2019. (Capital One has responded that the 360 Performance accounts were marketed widely.)

Capital One also offers a 360 Checking account, which Buy Side named the best overall checking account due to its attractive interest rate, strong overdraft protections and lack of fees. (To be fair, though, the account’s APY isn’t quite as high as those offered on high-yield checking accounts at some online banks.)

The Capital One Kids Savings Account took the top spot on our list of best savings accounts for kids. The account has no fees, there are no minimum balance requirements, and it comes with a relatively solid APY. (Most banks pay little or no interest on kids’ accounts.)

The account’s big standouts—especially compared to online banks that offer higher rates—are its automatic savings feature and its sub-accounts, which allow kids to work toward multiple goals simultaneously. As kids age, the bank offers a teen-specific checking account they can pair their savings with.

Capital One credit card picks

Credit cards are Capital One’s bread and butter—and its consumers have a lot of choices. The bank offers cash-back and travel-reward cards, student credit cards and cards that help you build (or rebuild) your credit. There are business cards, too (including our best cash back business card—the Capital One Spark).

Capital One is also in talks to buy Discover Financial Services. The deal would expand the bank’s card offerings to include Buy Side’s favorite secured credit card, as well as a top no-annual-fee travel card.

Here’s what you need to know about Capital One’s current credit card offerings.

• 30 cards to choose from (significantly more than other banks)
• Plenty of no annual-fee options
• Cash back and reward-earning rates aren’t the highest you’ll find

Capital One claims top spots on many of Buy Side’s credit card rankings—including the Venture Rewards card, which was named our top overall travel card. The card comes with a modest annual fee ($95) but offers a host of traveler-friendly perks—like a generous sign-up bonus, TSA precheck credits and a base rewards rate of two miles per dollar spent. For hotels, vacation rentals and rental cars booked through Capital One, you can earn five miles per dollar.

The best part? You’re not forced to use your earned miles through Capital One’s proprietary booking platform, as many other banks require. Instead, you can choose to redeem your miles as statement credits toward recent purchases.

If you spend a large portion of your cash on food, then Capital One’s SavorOne credit card is worth a look. The card offers 3% cash back on dining and at U.S. grocery stores—the highest uncapped rate we could find—and earned a top spot on our best cash back cards list because of it.

The SavorOne also offers a 3% cash back rate on entertainment and streaming services and 8% back on Capital One Entertainment purchases. There’s an easy-to-earn cash sign-up bonus, too.

Business owners looking to earn extra on company purchases can look to Capital One’s Spark Cash Plus Card, which we named our best cash-back card for businesses. The card earns the highest cash-rewards rate of any business credit card Buy Side analyzed, and there’s no cap on earnings.

The base rate is 2% on all spending, with 5% back on bonus categories like hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One. There are also multiple bonuses (a sign-up one and an annual one, if you spend enough), which could negate the card’s $150 yearly fee.

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