My Capital One Credit Card Strategy: Three Rewarding Cards

There are lots of aspects to maximizing your credit card rewards, including taking advantage of the best welcome bonuses, spending categories, and card perks.

Sometimes I think it’s interesting to break down credit card strategies by card issuer, so in this post I wanted to share my current Capital One card strategy. In separate posts, I wrote about my Amex card strategy, Chase card strategy, and Citi card strategy.

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Capital One is a card issuer where my feelings have evolved significantly, as Capital One has gotten more competitive in the transferable points space. Several years ago I didn’t have any Capital One cards, while now Capital One is the card issuer with which I spend the most.

Here’s a rundown of what you need to know to be approved for a Capital One card, a summary of my strategy, and then whether there are any other Capital One cards on my radar.

Restrictions on applying for Capital One cards?

All cards issuers have some application restrictions in place to get approved for cards. Among card issuers, Capital One has the fewest consistent restrictions, though:

• Capital One doesn’t really have any consistent rules on being approved for cards, other than that you can typically earn the bonus on a card once
• Capital One sometimes pulls credit from all three bureaus, though that shouldn’t be a big deal one way or another, in my opinion
• Applying for some Capital One business cards shouldn’t count as a further card toward Chase’s 5/24 limit; specifically, the Capital One Spark Cash Plus (review) and Capital One Venture X Business (review) don’t count toward that limit, while other Capital One business cards do

For more of a sense of what it’s like to be approved for cards, see my guides to Capital One Venture X approval, Capital One Venture X business approval, Capital One Spark Cash Plus approval, and Capital One Savor approval.

Which Capital One cards do I have?

While I have around two dozen credits, I “only” have three Capital One cards:

• The Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card (review)
• The Capital One Venture X Business (review)
• The Capital One Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card (review)

How do I use my Capital One cards?

Capital One has the best credit cards for everyday spending, in my opinion, given that several cards earn 2x Capital One miles per dollar spent, with no caps and no foreign transaction fees. These rewards can then be transferred to Capital One’s excellent airline & hotel partners, mostly at a 1:1 ratio. That’s why I spend more on Capital One credit cards than any other cards. For context:

• The Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card earns 2x Capital One miles per dollar spent
• The Capital One Venture X Business earns 2x Capital One miles per dollar spent
• The Capital One Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card earns 3% cash back on dining, grocery stores (excluding superstores like Walmart and Target), entertainment, and select streaming services.

For further context, both the personal and business version of the Venture X earn Capital One miles. Meanwhile Capital One cash back can be converted into Capital One miles in conjunction with a card earning those miles, at the rate of one cent per mile. This means that 3% cash back on the Capital One Savor can get me 3x Capital One miles.

With the above out of the way, let me share how I go about using each of these cards, and justify paying annual fees.

The personal Venture X is $395 well spent

The Capital One Venture X is the personal card that I spend the most on, since you can’t beat earning 2x transferable points per dollar spent with no foreign transaction fees. I value Capital One miles at 1.7 cents each, so to me the card offers a 3.4% return on spending.

The catch, theoretically, is that the Capital One Venture X has a $395 annual fee. That’s a lot to pay for a credit card. Fortunately the card more than pays for itself, thanks to all the great perks. On the most basic level, the card offers a $300 annual travel credit and 10,000 anniversary bonus miles, which I value at more than $395.

While the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card (review) is the more basic version of the card, I actually think the premium card is easier to justify.

The business Venture X is also easy to justify

The Capital One Venture X Business has a largely similar value proposition to the personal version of the card. The card also has a $395 annual fee, and for that, you receive a $300 annual travel credit and 10,000 anniversary bonus miles, just like on the personal version of the card. To me, that justifies the annual fee on the card.

Then this is the card that I use for my everyday, non-bonused business spending, as I consider it to be pretty unbeatable. For someone who doesn’t have both versions of the card, there are other perks as well, like a Priority Pass™ membership and access to Capital One Lounge and Landing locations.

The Savor is a no annual fee no-brainer

The Capital One Savor has no annual fee. In general, there’s value to holding onto no annual fee cards in the long run, given that it can help your credit score. But in this case, it’s also a card that I use a fair bit.

The card offers 3% cash back on dining, grocery stores, entertainment, and select streaming services, and those rewards can be converted into Capital One miles, so that’s a solid return in and of itself. This is a phenomenal complement to the Capital One Venture X.

Which Capital One cards do I most want?

With most card issuers, I have at least one or two cards that I’m really interested in acquiring. However, in the case of Capital One, I’m really happy with my card portfolio. I rack up a lot of Capital One miles through everyday spending, for both personal and business purchases. On top of that, it’s great to have a no annual fee card with useful bonus categories.

I’d love to see Capital One introduce another lucrative card, but for the time being, I’m pleased with the cards that I have.

Bottom line

Capital One is a card issuer that has become increasingly popular in the points world in recent years, thanks to the constantly improving transferable points currency, plus the new cards that have been introduced. As it stands, the Capital One Venture X is the personal card that I spend the most on, while the Capital One Venture X Business is the business card that I spend the most on.

I’m also happy to have the Capital One Savor, which offers some bonus categories that you won’t find on other Capital One cards.

What’s your Capital One credit card strategy?