At Capital One we want our internet services to be reliable, useful and easy to use. To help us improve our websites, provide you with relevant advertising and useful functionality, our websites use cookies. That means we sometimes place or access small bits of information on your device, including small text files known as cookies. A device can refer to a computer, smartphone or tablet.
But before we can use some cookies and similar technologies, we need your consent to store or access them on your device.
So you can understand more about how cookies work, this page will tell you:
- What cookies are
- How we use cookies
- How to manage your cookies
What is a cookie?
When websites talk about cookies, they're not talking about the edible kind.
Cookies are small text files that your device downloads from websites as you browse around the internet.
There are two main types of cookie:
Session cookies
Session cookies are only active during the time you're viewing a particular website. They recognise your device as you move between pages, and are often used to keep you logged in when you move from page to page on a website.
Persistent cookies
This type of cookie remains active on your device for a set period of time. They can be used for things like remembering you for your next visit and recognising you when you return to a website. They are very useful for remembering your username for example.
When we talk about cookies in this policy, we also mean technologies that act in the same way as cookies, such as web beacons and flash cookies, floodlight tags and pixel tracking which may be used on our websites.
Who uses cookies?
The source of each cookie can vary. Some cookies are owned and created by the website you're viewing at the time - we call these first-party cookies. Others can be supplied by an independent company and are known as third-party cookies.
How we use cookies and how to manage them
We include both Session and Persistent Cookies on our Capital One websites, and use both our own
(first party) and partners' (third party) cookies.
Don't worry about personal information being tracked, as none of these cookies store personally identifiable information.
You can choose to opt in or out of some of the cookies we use on our websites, and we will only read or write cookies for the preference level you have set. Just so you know, any cookies set prior to you changing your settings will still be on your device but you can remove them using your browser settings if you choose to.
There are four kinds of cookies:
As their name suggests, Strictly Necessary Cookies are essential for our websites to work properly. For example, our session cookie remembers the journey through the Capital One site so you get the right application form for the card you want.
If you disable these cookies in your browser, certain areas of our site will no longer work. It also means we can't protect your security during certain processes, like when you apply for a credit card.
Here are some examples of how we use Strictly Necessary Cookies:
- Enable you to apply for a credit card
- To help keep your information secure
- To make secure payments to your credit card when you use Online Account Services
- Enable us to pay our partners for advertising a Capital One product
We use cookies to help us improve our services and our website. They gather information about how you use our site; including which pages you visit and which areas you click on.
They also allow us to test new pages and evaluate their effectiveness, making sure we deliver the most relevant information to you and helping us design a better experience.
Some examples of what Performance Cookies do:
- Provide statistics on website usage
- Help us improve the website by identifying errors
- Help us test different website designs
You can choose to opt in or out of Performance Cookies, however if you do decide to opt out, you may find we are unable to optimise our website or provide as relevant content as we otherwise may have been able to.
If you use Online Account Servicing, our partner Adobe Digital Marketing Suite provide statistics, or web analytics, about website usage. If you would like to opt out of all Adobe Digital Marketing Suite cookies on our site (and any other websites that use Adobe Digital Marketing Suite), please go to the Adobe Digital Marketing Suite website.
These cookies help make our site easier to use by remembering the choices you make, for example we may store a cookie on your device to remember your username each time you login.
We will tell you when an area of the site needs a cookie to work, so if you ask us to "Remember my username" we'll let you know that we're using a cookie to do that.
If you use Online Account Services, we'll use a cookie to remember that and we may choose to show you different information when you visit our website that we believe is more relevant to you.
Some examples of what Functionality Cookies do:
- Remember your username
- Remember if you have changed your cookie preferences
- Identify that you are a Capital One customer
Don't worry about personal information being tracked, as none of these cookies store personally identifiable information.
You can choose to not to allow these cookies, but you will then find you can't use some of the helpful features we have available on our websites. You can enable or disable individual cookies through the internet browser on your device, or where we provide a tick box to certain features, e.g. remembering your user name, simply do not tick the box if you do not want cookies to be used.
We sometimes partner with third parties to deliver more relevant advertisements and to compile web statistics. These third parties may use cookies, web beacons and other tracking technology to monitor your visits to both Capital One and other websites. They monitor your online behaviour and identify website usage, helping advertisers show you advertising and content that is more relevant to you. This is also known as behavioural advertising.
Don't worry - none of these cookies store personally identifiable information and we only use trusted behavioural advertising partners who display the adchoices logo. Just so you know, these third parties will have their own privacy policies and they may be different from ours.
Some examples of what Targeting and Advertising Cookies do:
- Provide advertisers with information about your visit to our websites so they can show you advertising that is relevant to you.
- Limit the number of times you see an advertisement.
- Help measure the effectiveness of an advertising campaign.
You can choose to opt in or out of Targeting and Advertising Cookies on our websites. If you do opt out, it's doesn't mean that you will not see any Capital One advertising on the internet, but it may mean that the advertising you do see will not be tailored to your likely interests or preferences.
If you would like to know more about Targeting and Advertising cookies, opting out or altering other advertising cookies from across the web, visit Your Online Choices
Manage your preferences
You can choose to opt in or out of some of the cookies we use on our websites, and we will only read or write cookies for the preference level you have set. Just so you know, any cookies set prior to you changing your settings will still be on your device but you can remove them using your browser settings if you choose to.
Don't worry about personal information being tracked, as none of these cookies store personally identifiable information.
When you click 'save preferences' we will place a Functionality Cookie on your device so we can remember your cookie preferences for future visits.
If you delete all your cookies you will need to update your preferences with us again. And if you use a different device, computer profile or browser to visit our websites you will have to tell us your preferences again
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Stay in control of your cookies
Using this page we can help you manage your Capital One cookies on Capital One websites. If you want to manage ALL your cookies, you can always enable or disable individual cookies through the internet browser on your device.
You can find out how to do this by checking the instructions or preference settings. You can set your browser to inform you when cookies are active, or you may choose not to accept cookies at all.
You'll also find useful information on how to manage your cookies at All About Cookies.
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