Is the Capital One Venture card worth it?

Apr 2, 2021

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When you’re unsure whether a travel rewards credit card is the right one for you, oftentimes, you have to analyze your travel goals and determine which card fits your style. If your end goal is to save on travel, the current limited-time 100,000-mile bonus available with the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card will guarantee you’ll save $1,000 or more on your next trip. And — there’s a real chance you could save more than that.

The Venture Card recently introduced its highest sign-up bonus ever of up to 100,000 Venture miles after meeting minimum spending requirements. The mid-tier card comes with a manageable $95 annual fee, but that’s easily offset by the increased sign-up offer and additional benefits, as you’ll see later.

Official application link: Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card available with up to a 100,000-mile bonus when you spend $20,000 on purchases in the first 12 months from account opening, or still earn 50,000 miles if you spend $3,000 on purchases in the first three months.

The card delivers a simple earning structure of 2x miles per dollar on every purchase and has two distinct advantages over many other rewards cards: simplicity and flexibility. You can use your Venture Miles to pay for flights, hotels, Airbnb stays and an array of other eligible travel expenses. These travel purchases can be offset by a statement credit when redeeming your miles in that way or you can also transfer those miles to 13 airline and two hotel partners, making it a versatile addition to your wallet.

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Ok, but is the card worth it for you? Without further ado, let’s take a look at the Venture Rewards card in more detail.

In This Post

Sign-up bonus

For starters, the card has a limited time, elevated welcome offer of up to 100,000 bonus miles.

This is a two-tiered bonus, but if you can earn the full bonus, TPG values these miles at $1,400. You can earn just the first 50k miles or all of the 100k bonus miles. Fortunately, you’re given an entire year to meet the second half of the minimum spending requirements.

The bonus is structured of 50,000 miles after you spend $3,000 on purchases within the first three months of the account opening. Then, you have a full 12 months to earn a second set of 50,000 miles with a total of $20,000 in spending on the card in the first year. This full 100,000-mile sign-up bonus awards 40,000 more miles more than its previous 60,000-mile welcome offer and is tied as the highest sign-up bonus ever available on the Venture Rewards card.

Earn Capital One miles

One of the top reasons many people love their Capital One Venture Rewards Card is its straightforward earning structure of 2x Capital One miles on virtually anything you buy. You also don’t have to worry about miles expiring as long as you keep your account open and there’s no limit to how many miles you can earn.

A big factor to why the card is so attractive is that there are no categories to memorize and no quarterly bonus categories to activate — it’s an ideal card for busy people who want to simplify their earning strategy and redemption options.

Redeem Capital One miles

This is where the card truly distinguishes itself. The two foremost ways to redeem your Capital One miles are at a fixed-value or by transferring them to airline and hotel partners.

With the fixed-value option, you can redeem miles at 1 cent apiece toward eligible travel expenses charged to the card. For example, say you reserved an Airbnb home for $700 for an upcoming vacation. You could theoretically redeem 70,000 miles to offset the Airbnb purchase and cover the entire stay from the miles earned on your Venture Rewards card.

Use your Venture miles toward booking an Airbnb. (Photo courtesy of Airbnb)

This particular redemption option comes in handy when you don’t want to jump through hoops to find award availability or you like to stay at non-chain hotels. This is a popular redemption approach when you find cheap airfare and prefer to save your other valuable transferable points for more aspirational redemptions.

Another way to redeem your hard-earned Capital One miles is to transfer them to partner airlines or hotels. This can be a great choice when you are ready to maximize some award chart sweet spots and really stretch your miles.

Perks & benefits

The Capital One Venture card comes with a credit to cover Global Entry or TSA PreCheck enrollment fees. (Photo by George Frey/Bloomberg/Getty Images)

The Venture Rewards card packs a punch with ongoing benefits and limited-time perks for a nominal annual fee. First off, cardholders receive a statement credit of up to $100 every four years for your Global Entry or TSA PreCheck application fee, which isn’t a benefit commonly found on low-fee cards.

Considering people have been staying home more and putting some travel plans on hold — Capital One added three new categories where you can redeem miles at a fixed-value of 1 cent per mile for a limited-time. Through April 30, 2021, you can use your Capital One miles to redeem for purchases made in the past 90 days on food delivery and streaming services.

The Venture Rewards card is embedded with some useful travel benefits for regular travelers, including travel accident insurance and secondary auto rental coverage. When making everyday purchases, you’ll also get extended warranty protection. The Venture Rewards doesn’t charge foreign transaction fees, so you can use the card overseas without accumulating extra charges.

Bottom line

The Capital One Venture Rewards Card is a personal favorite not only of mine — but also of Brian Kelley, The Points Guy.

It earns an uncomplicated 2x miles on every purchase and is one of the best credit cards for everyday spending. Factor in the massive 100,000-mile limited-time bonus and the card becomes a fantastic addition to many wallets. Redemptions are made easy with the option for a simple fixed rate of 1 cent apiece towards travel purchases, as well the option to transfer miles and book awards with a variety of hotel and airline partners.

In addition to the Global Entry/TSA PreCheck $100 application fee credit and some limited-time perks, this card delivers serious value in exchange for a moderate annual fee. For these reasons, it merits consideration as a worthy addition to your credit card portfolio.

Apply now for the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card with up to a 100,000-mile bonus.

Want to learn more about the card? Read our in-depth review of the Capital One Venture card.

Featured photo by Eric Helgas/The Points Guy

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Juan Ruiz As TPG’s credit cards editor, Juan manages credit card content and other points and miles features. When he’s not dissecting credit card products or teaching at a public university, Juan is maximizing his points and miles for family travel with his wife and twin daughters. Favorite City: Tokyo Where to Next: Hawaii, Colombia, Spain