The Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card is designed for people who love to travel or who travel often for business, as it helps cardholders achieve miles for flights faster.
Offering 2x the unlimited miles on all spending, the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card is considered one of the best credit cards in terms of travel rewards. Let’s see if that is true.
What’s Ahead:
Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card key facts
Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card
In A Nutshell
Capital One’s leading product is the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card and it shows. A one-time 75,000 mile bonus after spending $4,000 in the first 3 months is flat out AWESOME, and 2X miles per dollar spent is about as good as it gets with a travel rewards credit card.
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What We Like:
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Earn 75,000 bonus miles when you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
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2X miles earned for $1 spent on all purchases
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Receive up to a $100 credit for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck®
- Best for those with good and excellent credit: This card is offered to those with 700 and higher credit scores.
- Unlimited rewards: Earn unlimited 2x miles on every purchase.
- Introductory offer: The Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card provides 75,000 bonus miles once you have spent $4,000 within the first 3 months.
- APR: Rates for purchases vary at 17.49% - 25.49% (Variable) APR.
- Annual fee: Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card comes with an annual fee of $95.
- Travel perks: You’ll have no foreign transaction fees with this card.
- Auto assistance: Cardholders receive roadside assistance for emergencies, such as tire changing, and are covered when renting a car.
- Use points for shopping: Cardholders can use points to make purchases on Amazon.com, perhaps one of the easiest ways to make use of your points.
How many miles can I earn?
In order to receive the 60,000 miles signup bonus, you’ll have to spend $3,000 in the first 3 months.
Now, let’s say you spend $2,000 per month. You’ll earn 4,000 miles each month along with the signup bonus, giving you 108,000 miles for the first year you have your Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card. That’s a big number for award travel. The following year, the same spending will earn you 48,000 miles, which is still a hefty amount of miles!
Earnings during year one Earnings in subsequent years
$95 $95
Sign-up bonus 60,000 miles after spending $3,000 in the first 3 months N/A
2x rewards for spending $2,000 per month 48,000 miles 48,000 miles
Total rewards earnings 148,000 miles 48,000 miles
Just how good are the miles you’ll earn with the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card? You could fly partner JetBlue from JFK in New York City to LAX in Los Angeles roundtrip for 29,500.
This means for just $11.20 in fees you could fly cross country after your first year FIVE times. The second year, with your 48,000 miles earned, you’ll still bang out a free flight + left over miles.
The current loyalty partners are:
- Accor Live Limitless
- Aeromexico Club Premier
- Air Canada Aeroplan
- Air France-KLM Flying Blue
- Avianca LifeMiles
- British Airways Avios
- Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
- Choice Privileges (coming later in 2021)
- Emirates Skywards
- Etihad Airways Guest
- EVA Air Infinity MileageLands
- Finnair Plus
- Qantas Frequent Flyer
- Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
- TAP Air Portugal Miles&Go
- Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles
- Wyndham Rewards
Fly any of those often?
If you don’t, you aren’t entirely out of luck, as some of the airlines are part of alliances with airlines you may use. For example, AeroMexico and Air France are in the SkyTeam alliance with Delta Airlines. This means you can transfer your miles, although it is sometimes tricky and a bit of a pain.
Other considerations
Is it worth it to pay a $95 fee to have your Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card? Consider this: Capital One® gives you $100 to enroll in Global Entry and TSA PreCheck. Not only does that mean your fee paid for Global Entry, you’ll skip the lines at security in U.S. airports and customs.
In 2020, the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card did lose some of its best offers, including 10x the miles through bookings with Hotels.com. These make the card more beneficial beyond the first-year bonus and payout for Global Entry. But it does offer its Capital One® Travel, where you can earn 5x the miles if you book your hotel or rental car through the service. This means if you spend $100 for a hotel night, you’ll earn 500 miles versus the 200 miles you’d earn if you booked on your own — that can add up quickly.
Summary
The Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card provides 2x the rewards for every dollar you spend – rewards you can actually use. There are no catches: rewards never expire and there isn’t a cap on how many rewards you can earn, so you can take your time saving up miles to cash in for an expensive flight or upgrades.
You’ll be able to earn over 75,000 miles the first year you have your card, and nearly half that every subsequent year. When coupled with some of the additional benefits offered up, the annual fee just may be worth it.
Disclaimer
Money Under 30 makes every effort to maintain accurate information. Opinions expressed are the author’s alone and have not been approved or endorsed by the credit card issuer.