Why I’m happily holding on to my Capital One Venture X Rewards card for a third year
I've just paid my third annual fee for the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card, and I did so with zero hesitation.
The reason is simple: Year after year, this card essentially pays me to keep it open, and I come out ahead.
Here's why this card has been one of the most rewarding I've ever held — long after the excitement of the first-year welcome bonus wore off — and why I plan to keep it for years to come.
Related: Capital One Venture Rewards vs. Capital One Venture X: Worth the extra $300?
Why I'm happy to pay the annual fee again
While the $395 annual fee on the Venture X is not insignificant, it is lower than the annual fee of most competitors' premium cards.
In my second year, I utilized the card's benefits to obtain nearly $800 in value from a Caribbean winter getaway to the beautiful, sunny island of Grenada, including my costs for TSA PreCheck and Global Entry, which I'm loving as they continue to save me a significant amount of time every time I pass through a U.S. airport.
Here are the benefits I value in my third year of card membership:
- Annual credit: $300 in credits each cardmember year for bookings made through the Capital One Travel portal.
- Anniversary bonus: 10,000 bonus miles every account anniversary (starting on my first anniversary), worth $185 by TPG's December 2025 valuations.
- Lounge access: Complimentary access for myself plus up to two guests to Capital One Lounges and over 1,800 Priority Pass lounges. Unfortunately, guest lounge access will be tightened in 2026.
- Impressive portal earning rates: I earn 10 miles per dollar spent on hotels and car rentals, and 5 miles per dollar spent on vacation rentals and flights booked via Capital One Travel.
- Terrific everyday earning rates: I earn 2 miles per dollar spent on all other purchases.
The $300 Capital One Travel credit and 10,000 anniversary miles easily cover the $395 annual fee for me each year, so the lounge access and generous earning rates push me further ahead as I earn tens of thousands of Capital One miles on this card over and above the anniversary bonus each year.
Related: Highest offer in 4 years: Just how good is the Capital One Venture X’s 100,000‑mile bonus?
Venture X is the default in my wallet
I have lots of travel credit cards with different perks and earning rates. It can be exhausting trying to remember which card earns bonus rewards every time I need to pay for something, especially if there's a line of people behind me in a busy cafe or bar.
My Venture X card earns 2 miles per dollar spent on all purchases, which is higher than any other card I own, including the popular Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card (see rates and fees). That's why I've set it as the default card in my Google Pay app.
My husband is an authorized user on all of my cards, and while he loves the benefits of redeeming points and miles, like snagging an award seat in Qatar Airways' Qsuite business class, he's not nearly as obsessed with credit cards as I am.
It isn't logical for him to memorize earning rates across multiple cards, so I've set him up with the Venture X card as his default card in Google Pay. This way, when in doubt, he can simply tap to pay and earn 2 miles per dollar spent.
How I'm maximizing my Venture X as a third-year cardholder
In 2026, I’m planning a tour of the Kentucky Bourbon Trail.
I'll use the $300 travel credit from my Venture X to reduce the hotel costs in Lexington, where the tours leave from. As I'll be staying several nights, the total accommodation costs will likely exceed $300. However, for any out-of-pocket hotel costs over that amount, I'll earn 10 miles per dollar spent by booking my stay through the Capital One Travel portal.
I'm going to fly into Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport (CVG) on British Airways from London, so I will use the 10,000 anniversary miles (as well as tens of thousands of miles I've earned on the card in the last year) to pay for the flights by transferring them to the British Airways Club program at a 1:1 ratio.
Given that I'll need a car to drive from Cincinnati to Lexington, I'll book this through Capital One Travel as well, both to earn 10 miles per dollar spent and to take advantage of the built-in auto rental collision damage waiver, which I hopefully won't need to use.
Bottom line
My Venture X card retains its place as the go-to card in my wallet because its value outweighs the annual fee.
And currently, new applicants can earn a best-ever welcome bonus of 100,000 bonus miles after spending $10,000 on purchases within the first six months of account opening, so if you've ever considered adding this card to your wallet, there's never been a better time to apply now.