Capital on Tap review: the card, the costs, and whether it still lends

Capital on Tap sells UK limited companies one product: a business credit card, with limits up to £250,000, 1% cashback on everything you spend on it, and no annual, foreign exchange, or ATM fee on the free plan. It is a real alternative to a high street bank card, mostly because the application takes minutes rather than weeks. If you came here for its business loan, that has gone. On 14 October 2026 its business loans page redirected to its card page, and the only lending it still does is servicing Bounce Back Loans taken out before the scheme closed in 2021.

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What is Capital on Tap?

Capital on Tap offers credit cards to UK businesses, designed for easy access to funds and rewards for regular spending. It appeals to small businesses thanks to fast applications and onboarding, and cashback and rewards on commercial spending. It's a popular choice as an alternative to credit cards from high street banks, which typically have slower application and approval processes.

Business owners can choose from Capital on Tap's Free and Pro credit card tiers, with the latter requiring a £299 annual fee to access further rewards and perks. Both come with unlimited free employee cards you can set individual spending limits on, virtual cards you can use before the plastic arrives, and a daily sync to Sage, Xero, QuickBooks, and FreeAgent.

It says more than 300,000 small businesses have spent over £40bn on its cards. What it doesn't do any more is lend.

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Is Capital on Tap a legitimate company?

Yes. The card is issued by New Wave Capital Limited, a company registered in England and Wales under number 07959823, which trades as Capital on Tap.

New Wave Capital is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, with firm reference number 625592 for consumer credit and 900922 for issuing electronic money. It is not a bank. If you have a complaint it doesn't resolve to your satisfaction, you can take it to the Financial Ombudsman Service within six months of its final response letter.

On its own pages it shows ratings of 4.6 out of five on Trustpilot and 4.9 on both the Apple App Store and Google Play.

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Capital on Tap's key features

Whether this card suits you comes down to the limit you're given, what you earn on your spending, what it costs you if you don't clear the balance, and whether the £299 plan is worth paying for.

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Credit limit

You can get up to £250,000 of credit on Capital on Tap's business credit cards. Treat that as a ceiling rather than an opening offer: your limit is set from what Capital on Tap can see of your company, and it reviews accounts regularly to decide whether to raise a limit or lower a rate.

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Cashback and rewards

Capital on Tap's cashback is an uncapped 1% on all card spending, earned as points: one point per £1 you spend, and 1,000 points are worth £10. The Pro tier adds a higher rate on one specific kind of spending, and only that kind. Other rewards include:

• The ability to redeem points against your balance for cash or gift cards
• Reward points conversion to Avios, Virgin, and Radisson Rewards
• 6 months free Xero use for first-time subscribers

On the free plan, 10 points convert to eight Avios or Virgin Points. On Pro, one point converts to one.

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Fees and interest rates

Rates start from 13.86% APR (variable), and Capital on Tap doesn't advertise a representative APR anywhere on its site. The rate you'll get depends on your personal and business credit history, and on the Bank of England base rate.

That gap matters when you're comparing cards. A representative APR is the rate at least 51% of successful applicants must receive, so it tells you what an approved company typically pays. A 'rates from' figure is a floor, and the only rate that tells you what this card costs you is the one in your own offer.

Interest only comes into it if you don't clear the balance. You get up to 42 days interest free on card purchases when you pay your balance in full and on time each month. Miss that, and interest accrues daily on purchases until you next pay a closing balance in full by its due date.

On fees, Capital on Tap's published position is:

• No annual fee on the free plan
• No foreign exchange fee
• No ATM fee, within a limit of two withdrawals and £400 in any 24 hours
• A 1% or 2% fee on Bill Pay, its service for paying a supplier by bank transfer

You have to pay at least a minimum payment each month by Direct Debit, set as the greater of a percentage of your balance or £100, and you can choose to repay daily, weekly, or monthly.

Capital on Tap's published credit agreement sets the charge for missing that minimum payment at £0, and the charge for sending a default notice at £0. Interest still runs on what you owe, enforcement costs are still recoverable, and two missed minimum payments in a row lets Capital on Tap treat the agreement as in default. But there is no late payment fee on its published fee schedule.

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Applications and eligibility

Capital on Tap has a simple online application process with quick approval decisions. Its own figure is a decision in two minutes, with most applicants getting an instant decision and a virtual card they can use straight away; the physical card follows in two to five business days.

In terms of Capital on Tap eligibility, applicants must meet the following criteria:

• You're an active director, or a shareholder with 25% or more, who resides in the UK.
• Your business is a private limited company (Ltd), a limited liability partnership (LLP), or a public limited company (PLC) registered in the UK and listed as active at Companies House.
• There are no unsatisfied CCJs against you or your business in the last 12 months.
• Your business isn't in an industry Capital on Tap treats as high risk, and you have a business bank account for the monthly payment.

There is no turnover requirement, and Capital on Tap says there is no minimum trading period either. So a company incorporated a few months ago can apply, though it's likely to be offered a lower limit. If that's where you are, it's worth reading about business credit cards for startups before you apply anywhere. Unincorporated businesses, charities, trusts, and dormant or dissolved companies aren't eligible at all.

When you apply, Capital on Tap runs a soft search on your personal credit file, which only you can see. The hard search goes on your company's file when you sign the credit agreement rather than when you apply, and that mark is visible to other lenders. It also asks a director for a personal guarantee: its FAQ says most business credit cards, including its own, require one, and its agreement says it typically does.

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What's the difference between Capital on Tap's Free and Pro tiers?

The £299 buys airport lounge access, a better points conversion rate, and a metal card. It does not buy better cashback on your credit spending, which is the part most people assume they're paying for.

Here is what each plan gives you:

The 1.25% is worth understanding before you weigh it up. Preloading means topping your card up with your own money so you can spend beyond your credit limit, and those funds get used first. So the higher rate applies to spending you've funded yourself, not to credit.

Capital on Tap publishes its own break-even for the fee, and it's worth reading carefully, because it counts all the cashback on that spend – including the 1% the free plan already pays you. On the extra 0.25% alone, the spend you'd need is an order of magnitude higher.

So Pro earns its fee through the lounge access and the first-year bonus, not through cashback. If nobody in your company flies, the free plan gives you the same 1% and the same limit.

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Pros and cons of the Capital on Tap business credit card

As with all business credit cards, there are benefits and drawbacks to consider, depending on your company's credit needs and cash flow situation. Here are the main pros and cons of using Capital on Tap:

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Capital on Tap advantages

• You can apply online in minutes and get a quick approval decision
• UK companies get access to credit of up to £250,000, with no turnover or trading-history requirement
• The credit card comes with uncapped 1% cashback and rewards on spending
• There is no annual fee on the free plan, and no foreign exchange or ATM fee

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Drawbacks of Capital on Tap's credit card

• Unlocking the full set of rewards comes with a significant annual fee (£299), so make sure the perks justify the cost
• While rates can be as low as 13.86% APR (variable), the actual rate you'll pay depends on your credit history, and with no representative APR published you can't tell what an approved company typically gets
• The credit limit offered is subject to review and can be adjusted based on business performance
• Nothing you take out as cash gets the 42 interest-free days

Capital on Tap also names two situations on its own product page where it suggests you look elsewhere, and both are worth taking at face value. The first is unpredictable income: 'if your income is unpredictable, relying on credit may lead to missed payments, high fees, and damage to your credit profile'. The second is financing a large one-off purchase, where it says a card with a 0% introductory rate 'would generally be a more cost-effective choice than a rewards-focused card'.

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What businesses Capital on Tap suits

The card works best for a company with regular, predictable card spending that it clears every month: travel, software, advertising, supplier payments on card. It suits businesses that operate abroad particularly well, because there's no foreign exchange fee on overseas spend and the reward points convert into flights and hotel nights. It suits a young company too, since there's no turnover rule to fail.

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Does Capital on Tap still do business loans?

No. Capital on Tap has stopped offering business loans. On 14 October 2026 its business loans URL returned a permanent redirect to its business credit card page, its loans and business funding URLs both returned 404s, and no lending product appeared in its navigation or its published sitemap.

The one exception is historic. Capital on Tap still services Bounce Back Loans for companies that already have one: you can repay in full or in part at any time with no charge, and the Pay As You Grow options are still open to you. That government scheme closed to new applications on 31 March 2021, so it isn't a route to new borrowing.

If you came looking for a Capital on Tap loan, that leaves a fair question: can you turn the card into money in your bank account? You can, three ways, and all three cost you from the first day.

A drawdown moves money from your credit limit into your business bank account, usually within minutes, though Capital on Tap says it can take up to two hours. Interest starts accruing daily the moment it lands and keeps going until you repay it in full, because the 42 interest-free days apply to card purchases and not to cash. An ATM withdrawal works the same way, with no fee but no more than £400 across two withdrawals in any 24 hours. Bill Pay, which pays a supplier by bank transfer using your credit line, carries the 1% or 2% fee and no chargeback rights.

So the card is cheap when you're buying things and clearing the balance, and it becomes a short-term loan at your own rate the moment you move money out of it.

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Other business credit cards worth comparing

If a card is what you're after, five other issuers are worth putting beside Capital on Tap: American Express, Barclaycard, Funding Circle, Lloyds Bank, and Metro Bank. What usually decides it is the representative APR, any annual fee, how many interest-free days you get, whether cashback has a monthly spend threshold, and whether you need the issuer's own current account. We compare the main business credit cards on exactly those points, and on what card protection does and doesn't cover when the cardholder is a company.

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When the money you need can't go on a card

A business credit card pays people who take cards. Payroll, a tax bill, rent, and a supplier who only takes a bank transfer all sit outside that, and every route from a card to your bank account starts charging you immediately.

That's a different problem from needing a higher spending limit. If payday comes before a big customer pays you, a Flexi-Loan can cover wages so your team is paid on time.

An iwoca Flexi-Loan is a business loan with flexible repayment options, built for that gap. You choose a fixed term of between 12 months and five years, so you know the repayment schedule from the outset. Because there's no fee for repaying early, you can clear it as soon as the cash arrives – many of our customers only take out our finance for a few weeks, or even days. You also get 30 days to draw down after we approve you, so you can line the funding up before you need it rather than paying interest on money that's sitting still, and you don't have to take the full amount.

Flexi-Loan in action: VCare24. Victoria Simpson's social care company delivers care long before local authorities pay for it, and staff need paying every month in between. She draws around £200,000 to cover payroll and pays it back within a week, as the payments come in. Read Victoria's story

This gap bites hardest on companies whose costs land before their income does, and on anyone whose biggest outgoings are payroll and tax rather than stock and subscriptions.

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If a card is what you want from us

The iwoca Credit Card earns 1% cashback on all card spend, gives you up to 42 days interest free when you repay in full, and has limits up to £250,000, with no annual, foreign exchange, or late payment fee. The 42 days is a 30-day billing cycle plus 12 days to pay.

It's at its best cleared every month, like any rewards card. If what you want is a low rate on a balance you plan to carry for months, one of the cards above will usually serve you better.

Interest rates on the iwoca Credit Card start at 14.99% per year, with representative 35.40% APR (variable). A Flexi-Loan runs from £1,000 to £1m, and our business loan calculator shows what it would cost for your own amount and term. We lend to UK limited companies, and every new Flexi-Loan needs a personal guarantee from at least one director.

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The bottom line: which business credit card is right for you?

It comes down to two things: whether you clear the balance every month, and how much of what you need to pay can go on a card at all.

If you clear it every month, the rate barely matters and the rewards decide it, which is where Capital on Tap is strong. If you plan to carry a balance, the rate is the only thing that counts, and you need your own offer in front of you before you can judge it. And if most of what you need to pay can't go on a card, no card is the answer to it, whoever issues it.

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Capital on Tap FAQs

Is Capital on Tap the same as Capital One?

No. They're unrelated companies with similar names. The Capital on Tap card is issued by New Wave Capital Limited, company number 07959823, which has no connection to Capital One.

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Is the Capital on Tap card a Visa or a Mastercard?

Visa. Capital on Tap's own pages point cardholders to the Visa Zero Liability Policy and handle disputes through the Visa chargeback process.