Capital One is a bank holding company based in McLean, Virginia. It offers credit and debit cards, auto loans, personal loans, bank deposit accounts, and business lending and treasury management (handling a company's cash and payments) to consumers, small businesses and larger companies. Customers reach it online and through branches, cafés, call centers and ATMs. It also issues credit cards in the U.K. and Canada. Capital One says it was the largest credit card issuer in the U.S. at the end of 2025, measured by card loan balances.
Most of its money comes from interest on loans, minus what it pays for deposits and other funding. It also earns fees, mostly paid by merchants, when its cards are used and when payments run over its networks. It reports three segments: Credit Card; Consumer Banking, which includes deposits, auto loans and its payment networks; and Commercial Banking, which serves companies with annual revenues between $20 million and $2 billion. It competes with other card issuers, including those using Visa and Mastercard, American Express, banks, credit unions and financial technology firms.
In May 2025 Capital One bought Discover, for consideration valued at $51.8 billion. The deal brought in the Discover and PULSE payment networks and Diners Club, so Capital One now also runs networks that process card payments. In January 2026 it agreed to buy Brex for $5.15 billion. It had about 76,300 employees at the end of 2025.