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The Points Guy
- If you are attracted to big sign-up bonuses, simple systems for earning and redeeming miles, and valuable benefits, the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card is a great card.
- A limited-time 75,000-mile sign-up bonus - after spending $5,000 in the first three months - is worth at least $750 in free travel right off the bat - potentially more if you take advantage of 12 new airline transfer partners.
- If you don't already have it, the card also comes with a $100 credit for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck.
- The sign-up bonus will drop back down to 50,000 points soon, so make sure you don't miss out.
The Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card is a competitive travel rewards credit card that offers 2x miles per dollar on every purchase and 10x points per dollar spent on hotels when you book and pay through Hotels.com/Venture. For starting out, new cardholders can earn 75,000 bonus miles after spending $5,000 on purchases in the first three months after opening a new account.
While the card does carry a $95 annual fee (waived the first year), it offers plenty of value, useful benefits, and might be a great fit for your purchase and travel needs.
Today we will review the rewards, benefits, and costs of the Capital One Venture card to help you decide if it makes sense for your wallet.
Capital One Venture rewards
The Capital One Venture card offers 2x miles per dollar spent on all purchases, with a bonus rate of 10x miles per dollar at Hotels.com. Capital One miles are worth a flat 1 cent each when redeemed against travel purchases, which gives this card an equivalent cash-back rate of 2%.
The 75,000-mile sign-up bonus is worth at least $500 in free travel right off the bat, after spending $5,000 on purchases in the first three months you have the card.
Redeeming miles is easy. Much easier than some competing cards, in fact. Once you made a purchase from any major travel company, you can redeem points to wipe out the charge through a statement credit, which Capital One calls the "Purchase Eraser."
You can book new travel through any airline, hotel, train, cruise, or travel agency and reimburse yourself with miles when the transaction posts. Alternatively, you can book new travel through the Capital One portal, which works a lot like most big travel-booking sites online.
Starting in December, you can also transfer miles to 12 airline frequent flyer partners. This potentially gets you a higher value for miles - you can read more about that here.
You can also use miles for gift cards at the same 1 cent per mile rate, but don't use your miles for cash-back redemptions. When you do, you only get one-half cent per mile.
Capital One Venture benefits
This card comes with some great benefits reserved just for premium travel rewards cards. These can help you squeeze even more value out of the Venture card beyond what you get in rewards.
If you don't already have it, this card comes with a $100 credit for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck. Global Entry is the better program and includes PreCheck, so that benefit is worth $100 up to every four years. Because Global Entry lasts five years, that is a $20 per year value.
When you jet off across the world, or over any border, the card charges no foreign transaction fees. Those are often around 3% for lower-tier cards that don't include this benefit.
When you hit the road, this card covers you with some great travel insurance benefits. It includes rental car insurance, travel accident insurance, and a 24-hour emergency assistance number.
The card does not offer purchase protection, but it does come with an automatic extended warranty for eligible purchases.
Capital One also offers cardholders access to some exclusive events, VIP packages, and presales for concerts, music festivals, sporting events, and other ticketed events.
The benefits are not the very best you can find in the travel rewards card space, but at the $95 annual fee price point they are pretty good and cover the most common needs for frequent travelers.
Capital One Venture costs and fees
The main cost of this card is the $95 annual fee, waived the first year. If you don't pay the card off in full every month (which you should), it charges variable rate interest, currently 14.74% to 24.74% APR based on your credit. Rates can change at any time.
Cash-advance transactions charge the top 24.74% APR rate. Balance transfers cost 3% when posted at a promotional APR. Balance transfers charge no fee if they post with the standard ARP. Cash-advance transactions charge 3% with a $10 minimum.
Late payments cost up to $38 per occurrence. Avoid that by paying your bill on time.
Bottom line: Should you get Capital One Venture?
The Capital One Venture is a very good travel rewards card that offers plenty of value and opportunities to earn miles toward free travel with easy redemption options.
There are some cards in the same range that might give you a little more value, like the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card, or the ultra-high-end Chase Sapphire Reserve or The Platinum Card® from American Express. But those cards do make redemptions a bit more confusing and difficult if you want to get the maximum possible value.
The closest competitor to this card, when matching up features and rewards, is the Barclaycard Arrival Plus World Elite Mastercard. If the $95 annual fee scares you off, the lower-tier Capital One VentureOne Rewards Credit Card has no annual fee, but offers lower benefits as well.
Also keep in mind that the 75,000 mile sign-up bonus - worth at least $750 - which you can earn after spending $5,000 in the first three months, will only be available for a limited time.
Overall, if you are attracted to the big bonus, simple system to earn and redeem miles, and the valuable benefits, this is a great card. If you love to travel, you won't go wrong with the Capital One Venture card.
Click here to learn more about the Capital One Venture Rewards from Insider Picks' partner: The Points Guy.
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