Capital One Venture X: The Best Card For Families

Link: Apply now for the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card (Rates & Fees)

The Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card (review) has become an incredibly popular premium credit card. That’s not too surprising, given that the card’s value proposition speaks for itself.

Generally I look at credit card value propositions in the context of what a card has to offer for the primary cardmember. However, sometimes it makes sense to look at the overall value of a card for a family. Is there such a thing as a perfect credit card for families? Well, I’d argue the Capital One Venture X is unbeatable in that regard, and I challenge anyone to disagree with me (okay, I’ll probably regret that). 😉

The Capital One Venture X pays for itself

First for some background, the Capital One Venture X has a $395 annual fee (Rates & Fees). However, in reality the card shouldn’t cost anyone nearly that much, as there are endless reasons to pick up this card. Among other things, the card offers:

• A $300 annual travel credit redeemable through Capital One Travel; this should be good as cash to most cardmembers, as it can be used for flights, hotels, or rental cars
• 10,000 anniversary bonus miles, which can be redeemed for $100 toward a travel purchase, or can be transfered to airline and hotel partners
• Amazing airport lounge access, including a Priority Pass membership, Plaza Premium Lounge access, and access to Capital One Lounges
• Rental car coverage
• Cell phone protection
• Hertz President’s Circle elite status
• 2x Capital One miles per dollar spent with no caps on earnings and no foreign transaction fees, making this one of the best cards for everyday spending, and one of the best cards for foreign purchases

The card is also offering an excellent welcome bonus of 75,000 Capital One miles upon completing minimum spending, and anecdotally lots of people are having success getting approved.

This is truly a card that pays for itself — the $300 annual travel credit and 10,000 anniversary bonus miles should more than cover the annual fee on an ongoing basis, and then the rest is just the icing on the cake.

Why the Capital One Venture X is perfect for families

While the value proposition of the Capital One Venture X is there for just a single user, what makes this card exceptional is the unrivaled value it offers to families. Capital One lets you add authorized users to the Venture X at no extra cost (Rates & Fees), and best of all, each authorized user gets many of the same perks as the primary cardmember.

This is ideal for families who want to add their significant other, children, parents, etc., to their credit card (Capital One also doesn’t have a minimum age to add authorized users). Authorized users receive:

• All the same lounge access perks as the primary cardmember, including a Priority Pass membership, access to Plaza Premium Lounges, and access to Capital One Lounges
• Earn 2x Capital One miles on spending with no foreign transaction fees; the primary cardmember is on the hook for paying and racks up the points, but this is a great everyday spending card to give to a spouse or children if you’re looking to maximize rewards in an easy way
• The same protections, including cell phone protection, rental car coverage, etc.
• Hertz President’s Circle elite status

Let me share how I’ve made this work in my own situation. I’ve added my parents to the Capital One Venture X, so that they can get airport lounge access. They used to have the Chase Sapphire Reserve® Card (review), but now they’ve downgraded that to the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card (review), as the primary incremental benefit for them was the lounge access. They’re saving quite a bit of money thanks to that.

While I think it’s probably a bit early to get our infant son a credit card, I know plenty of people who have added their college-aged kids to the card, and they’ve loved having airport lounge access.

While there are several good premium credit cards, other popular options don’t let you add authorized users for free:

• The Chase Sapphire Reserve® Card (review) charges $75 per authorized user
• The Platinum Card® from American Express (review) charges $195 per authorized user (Rates & Fees)

By comparison, being able to authorized users at no cost on the Capital One Venture X is unbelievably generous (Rates & Fees).

Bottom line

The Capital One Venture X has an amazing value proposition in general, but the area where the card really shines is for families. That’s because you can add authorized users to the card at no extra cost (Rates & Fees), and they get many of the same perks as the primary cardmember, including airport lounge access.

Being able to gift airport lounge access to family and close friends is an awesome opportunity, especially since it doesn’t come at any sort of opportunity cost. So if you are considering this card, be sure to think of it beyond just the value to the primary cardmember (even though that math also checks out there).

To those with the Capital One Venture X, have you added authorized users to the card to maximize value?

The following links will direct you to the rates and fees for mentioned American Express Cards. These include: The Platinum Card® from American Express (Rates & Fees).

Upon enrollment, accessible through the Capital One website or mobile app, eligible cardholders will remain at upgraded status level through December 31, 2024. Please note, enrolling through the normal Hertz Gold Plus Rewards enrollment process (e.g. at Hertz.com) will not automatically detect a cardholder as being eligible for the program and cardholders will not be automatically upgraded to the applicable status tier. Additional terms apply.

For Capital One products listed on this page, some of the above benefits are provided by Visa® or Mastercard® and may vary by product. See the respective Guide to Benefits for details, as terms and exclusions apply.