Capital One Venture vs VentureOne - which rewards card is right for you?
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- The Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card offers 2x miles per dollar with a $95 annual fee (waived the first year).
- Capital One VentureOne Rewards Credit Card gives you 1.25 miles per dollar with no annual fee.
- Both cards have good benefits and make redeeming miles very easy.
- The breakeven point is at $10,000 in annual purchases. You have to know how much you spend to know which card is best for you.
If you want to earn reward miles redeemable for virtually any travel experience, Capital One offers two cards worth considering.
The Venture and VentureOne cards both give you Venture Miles with every purchase. Venture Miles are among the most flexible in the credit card landscape, as you can use them reimburse yourself for airfare, hotel, cruise, taxi, rideshare, train, and other travel-related purchases.
Venture is the higher end of the duo, with a $95 annual fee (waived the first year) and an unlimited 2x miles per dollar. VentureOne has no annual fee, but only gives you 1.25 miles per dollar. Depending on your spending habits, that $95 annual fee may be well worth it, however. Let's look at these two travel rewards credit cards and which may make more sense for you.
How the Venture cards work
Venture and VentureOne are very similar cards in most aspects. Both have the same general benefits, give you Venture miles with every purchase, have similar interest rates, and make using your miles very easy.
Both cards are geared toward users with excellent credit. If you fall short of that mark and want to stick with Capital One, consider Capital One Quicksilver Cash Rewards Credit Card or Capital One QuicksilverOne Cash Rewards Credit Card, which are available to those with good or average credit respectively.
You can redeem miles as a statement credit, which effectively wipes the charge off of your account. Miles are worth one cent each when you book travel through Capital One or use the Purchase Eraser to reimburse yourself for past purchases. You can also transfer to over a dozen different airline rewards programs, though you should redeem with care as miles are not always transferred at a 1:1 ratio and redemption options may be more limited.
For benefits, both cards charge no foreign transaction fee, give you 10x miles per dollar through January 2020 when booked and paid via Hotels.com/Venture, and include some useful travel and purchase protections. They are not the very best in the industry for benefits but do a lot more than many competing cards. Those include an auto rental collision damage waiver, travel accident insurance, and an automatic extended warranty on eligible purchases.
What sets them apart
Now that you know what these cards have in common, let's look at what makes Venture worth $95 per year in many situations.
Venture currently offers a 50,000-mile bonus after spending $3,000 in the first three months. That's worth $500 for travel statement credits alone, more than 6 years of annual fees. After that, it gives you 2x miles per dollar. If you spend $4,750 per year on the card, you will earn enough miles per year to break even on the annual fee.
The Venture card also includes a credit for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck, a value of up to $100 every five years, or $20 per year to help offset that annual fee.
VentureOne never charges an annual fee. It offers 20,000 bonus miles after spending $1,000 in the first three months. That's worth $200 in travel redemptions. It has a slightly lower interest rate, which is important if you plan to carry a balance. In most cases, interest costs are more than you get in rewards, so you should avoid using credit cards if you can't pay them off in full each month.
Choosing Venture or VentureOne
If you absolutely hate annual fees, you should clearly go with VentureOne. Otherwise, the best card for you depends on your spending habits. For this analysis, we'll assume you would get Global Entry anyway, as that $100 every five years is well worth it for frequent flyers.
There is no breakeven point with VentureOne, as every mile you earn is a "profit" with no annual fee.
Venture has a breakeven point of $3,750 per year after taking the $20 per year for Global Entry into account. But if you spend that on VentureOne, you come out ahead by 4,687 miles per year. I am a money nerd, so I made a spreadsheet to calculate the precise point where you do better with Venture. If you spend $10,000 per year on both cards, you will be exactly even. Spending more, you are better with Venture. If you spend less, you should get VentureOne.
That comes out to an average monthly $833.33 in purchases, or about $208 per week. This math does not include the new account bonus, which is worth $300 more with the Venture card. It also does not take into account that the annual fee is waived the first year. If you are right on the edge, the Venture card is probably the better choice.
Use your points wisely
Whichever card you choose, remember that all redemptions are not created equal. If you want to get the very best value, look at redeeming with a luxury airline partner like Singapore Air, Etihad, or Emirates for a premium class seat. But some redemptions give you less than the 1 cent per mile you get directly through Capital One. Never redeem for less than one cent per Venture mile.
If you are in the market for a new credit card, there are other general travel rewards cards worth considering as well. But when it comes to flexibility in using your miles, both Venture cards are near the front of the pack. If used responsibly, you can do well with either.