What Are Cookies?
Cookies are small text files, downloaded from websites to your computer or smartphone as you browse and use the Internet.
There are two main types of cookie:
- A session cookie only exists for the duration of your visit to a website. They recognise your computer or smartphone as you move between pages. These cookies can be used, for example, to maintain secure logins.
- A persistent cookie stays on your device for a set period of time and can be used, for example, to remember you when you next visit the website.
The source of each cookie also varies. Some cookies are owned and created by the website you are viewing ('first-party' cookies), but others are supplied by an independent company ('third-party' cookies).
When referring to cookies, this also includes similar online tracking devices such as web beacons and flash cookies that we may use.
Capital One, Cookies and You
The Capital One website uses both session and persistent cookies to:
- Gather information about how customers use our website, including which pages they visit and which parts they click on
- Test new content and evaluate its effectiveness
- Temporarily store data as part for example, of customer surveys.
- Identify user behaviour for marketing purposes e.g. to enable advertisers to show you adverts that are relevant to you. This is known as behavioural advertising
None of the cookies used on our site store personally identifiable information.
We use both our own (first party) and partner companies'(third party) cookies to support these activities.
We may partner with third parties to deliver advertisements and surveys and to monitor activities on our own websites and other websites. Our banner advertisements and text links contain small graphics with unique codes and use cookies to perform tracking and reporting activities. These unique codes are not personally identifiable and work in conjunction with the cookies. Our partners may use cookies, Web beacons or other online tracking devices to deliver advertisements they believe may be of interest to you, based on information about your visits to this and other websites and to compile statistics about website visitors. These third parties are subject to their own privacy policies, which may be different from ours.
Managing Your Cookies
You can enable or disable cookies on your smartphone and/or computer's Internet browsing software. Please check the instructions or preference settings to do so. You can also find useful guidance and information on how to manage your cookies at allaboutcookies.org.
If you choose, you can set your browser to inform you when cookies are sent or you may choose not to accept cookies. If you haven't done this, our system will issue cookies when you visit the site.
Services Requiring Enabled Cookies
Some cookies are essential for our website to work correctly. For example, our session cookie remembers your journey through our site so you get the right application form for the card you want.
Please note that if you disable all cookies via your browser, then certain parts of this site will no longer work e.g. applying for a credit card.
Meeting EU Legislation on Cookies
We take the European Union's revised e-Privacy Directive very seriously, and are currently working towards implementing its requirements in compliance with UK law.