Capital One Venture Card Review: 2x Miles & 75K Bonus Miles

Link: Apply now for the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card

The Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card is an extremely popular travel rewards card — it offers an excellent return on everyday spending, whether you’re making purchases at home or abroad, and also offers some great perks. The card is even offering an improved welcome bonus at the moment.

In this post I wanted to take a closer look at the card. In particular, with the introduction of the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card (review), how does the card stack up? Let’s take a look.

Capital One Venture Card Guide For June 2023

The Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card has a variety of valuable benefits, including a big welcome bonus for new members, a phenomenal rewards structure, a Global Entry or TSA PreCheck credit, access to Capital One Lounges, and much more. Let’s take a closer look at how all of this works.

Venture Card Welcome Bonus Of 75,000 Miles

The Capital One Venture Card currently has a huge welcome bonus where you can earn 75,000 Venture miles after spending $4,000 within the first three months. This bonus is 50% bigger than before, so this is an exceptional offer. Personally, I value Capital One miles at 1.7 cents each, so to me that bonus is worth $1,275.

Venture Card Application Restrictions

Capital One has very few consistent restrictions regarding being approved for credit cards. You’re not eligible for the Capital One Venture Card if you currently have the card or have had the card in the past. However, you are eligible if you’ve had any other Capital One credit card, including the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card.

Venture Card $95 Annual Fee

The Capital One Venture Card has a $95 annual fee. There is no cost to add authorized users to the card. This is a reasonable annual fee in line with those of other mid-range transferable points cards, especially when you consider the card’s excellent perks and rewards structure.

Venture Card 2x Miles Rewards Structure

The Capital One Venture Card offers unlimited 2x Venture miles. Based on my valuation of Capital One miles, this is the equivalent of a 3.4% return on everyday spending, which is industry-leading.

I love how straightforward this card’s rewards structure is, and also find this to be one of the most rewarding cards for everyday spending. The card has no foreign transaction fees, and there’s not a better card out there for non-bonused purchases abroad. I’ll talk a bit more below about how Capital One Venture miles can be redeemed.

Venture Card 5x Miles Bonus Categories

While the Capital One Venture Card offers unlimited 2x miles on all purchases, there are some further opportunities to earn bonus points. Specifically, the card offers 5x Venture miles on hotels and rental cars booked through the Capital One Travel portal.

Venture Card Capital One & Plaza Premium Lounge Access

The Capital One Venture Card offers two lounge visits per year. You can either use this for yourself twice, or you can visit a lounge once with a guest. You can access the following lounges with this benefit, simply by showing your card:

• You can visit a Capital One Lounge; currently the only lounge is at DFW (it’s incredible), but additional lounges are expected to open at DEN and IAD soon
• You can visit a Plaza Premium Lounge, which includes lounges like the Virgin Atlantic Clubhouses in the United States

Venture Card Global Entry Or TSA PreCheck Credit

The Venture Card offers a Global Entry or TSA PreCheck credit once every four years. Just charge the membership fee to your Capital One Venture Card, and it will automatically be reimbursed. It doesn’t matter who the fee is paid for, as long as you charge it to your eligible card.

Venture Card Rental Car Coverage

The Venture Card offers rental car coverage when renting a car and paying with the card. You’ll want to check the full cardmember agreement for details.

Venture Card Purchase & Travel Protection

In addition to rental car coverage, the Venture Card offers purchase security and extended protection (coverage on items lost or stolen within 90 days), travel and emergency assistance services, and more. You’ll want to consult the cardmember agreement for full details.

How To Redeem Capital One Venture Miles

The Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card earns 2x Venture miles per dollar spent, but how can they be redeemed? There are two main ways to redeem Venture miles:

• They can be redeemed for one cent each toward the cost of a travel purchase
• They can be transferred to Capital One’s airline and hotel partners, typically at a 1:1 ratio

Redeem Venture Miles Toward Travel Costs

One way to redeem Venture miles is at the rate of one cent per mile toward the cost of a travel purchase. This means you’re earning two cents per dollar spent toward travel, since the card offers unlimited 2x Venture miles.

If you want to redeem your Venture miles toward the cost of a travel purchase, the best way to do so is using the statement credits feature. With this, you can simply make an eligible travel purchase using your card, and then you can go online after the fact and use your Venture miles to pay for the purchase within 90 days of the date of purchase. Your credit will then be applied within two to three days.

Eligible travel purchases using your Venture miles include purchases made from airlines, hotels, rail lines, car rental agencies, limousine services, bus lines, cruise lines, taxi cabs, travel agents, and timeshares.

It’s so nice to have the flexibility to make your travel purchase however you’d like, and then have the purchase reimbursed after the fact. Alternatively, you can book through the Capital One Travel Portal, and pay for your purchase directly with miles.

Convert Venture Miles Into Airline Or Hotel Points

As an alternative (and this is my preferred way to redeem points), you can transfer Capital One Venture miles to airline miles and hotel points. Currently, Capital One has the following 18 airline and hotel partners:

Capital One miles transfer to all of these partners at a 1:1 ratio, with the exception of EVA Air Infinity MileageLands and Accor Live Limitless. In addition to the normal transfer ratios, we sometimes see Capital One offer transfer bonuses, which can get you even more value for your Venture miles.

Generally speaking, you’ll find this to be most valuable if you’re looking to fly international first or business class, since those will be the flights that are likely to be priced most reasonably with airline miles, while they could be prohibitively expensive using cash.

Is The Venture Card Right For You?

There are a lot of great travel credit cards out there, so how can you decide if the Capital One Venture Card is right for you? If you’re looking to earn airline miles and you spend a lot in non-bonused categories (both within the United States and abroad), then the Capital One Venture is an excellent option. Earning the equivalent of 2x airline miles on everyday spending is as good of a rewards structure as you’ll find on any credit card.

Beyond that, let’s look at some of the other things to consider if you might be thinking of picking up the Venture Card.

Similar Alternatives To The Venture Card

If it’s a simple cashback card you’re after, I think the no annual fee Citi® Double Cash Card (review) is a great option. The card earns Citi ThankYou points that can either be redeemed as cash back, or can be transferred to Citi ThankYou airline and hotel partners in conjunction with some other cards. So the card potentially earns 2% cash back or 2x airline miles after making a purchase and then paying for it.

If you’re looking for an extremely lucrative card that earns travel rewards, there are a few other options that are worth considering:

• The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card (review) is offering a bonus of 60,000 Ultimate Rewards points after spending $4,000 within three months
• The Citi Premier^® Card (review) is offering a bonus of 60,000 ThankYou points after spending $4,000 within three months. Plus, for a limited time, earn a total of 10 ThankYou® Points per $1 spend on hotel, car rentals, and attractions (excluding air travel) booked on the Citi Travel℠ portal through June 30, 2024.
• The American Express® Gold Card (review) is offering a bonus of 60,000 Membership Rewards points after spending $4,000 within six months

Quick Comparison: Venture Vs. VentureOne

There are three versions of the Venture Card. In addition to the $95 annual fee Venture Card, there’s also the no annual fee Capital One VentureOne Rewards Credit Card (review). What’s the difference between Venture and Venture One?

• The Venture has a $95 annual fee, offers a bonus of 75,000 Venture miles, and offers 2x Venture miles per dollar spent
• The VentureOne has no annual fee, offers a bonus of 20,000 Venture miles after you spend $500 within 3 months, and offers 1.25x Venture miles per dollar spent

It should be a no-brainer to apply for the Venture over the VentureOne, given the much better welcome bonus and the better return on spending. After a year, you can always decide to downgrade to the VentureOne if the Venture isn’t working for you.

See this post for a more in-depth comparison of the different Venture cards.

Quick Comparison: Venture Vs. Venture X

The Capital One Venture X Card is an ultra-premium card, so how does that compare to the Capital One Venture Card? The card has a $395 annual fee, so the fee is significantly higher, but it also offers several great perks that should more than justify the annual fee. Among other things, the Venture X offers:

• The same great welcome bonus of 75,000 Venture miles
• A $300 annual travel credit plus 10,000 anniversary bonus miles, which to me more than justifies the $395 annual fee
• A Priority Pass membership plus unlimited access to Capital One Lounges and Plaza Premium Lounges
• Great travel benefits, including primary rental car coverage and cell phone protection
• Amazing authorized user perks, as you can add up to four authorized users at no extra cost, and they each receive a Priority Pass membership and access to Capital One Lounges as well

To me, applying for this card is an absolute no-brainer, as the value is incredible. I think it also makes perfect sense to pick this up over the Venture Card.

Bottom Line

The Capital One Venture Card is an excellent travel rewards card. This is a well-rounded card that will offer you the equivalent of up to two cents toward travel, or up to two airline miles or hotel points for every dollar spent. The card is even offering a huge improved welcome bonus of 75K miles.

If you want a straightforward rewards card that offers a consistent and industry-leading return for all purchases and a lot of flexibility, then the Capital One Venture Card is a great option. Earning two airline miles per dollar spent is pretty unbeatable.

I’d say the main consideration is that the $395 annual fee Capital One Venture X Card is an even better option, as the card offers incredible perks that should more than justify the annual fee for most.

If you’re someone who spends a lot in specific categories, like dining or travel, then something like the Chase Sapphire Preferred or Citi Premier might be a good option.

If you want to learn more about the Venture Card or apply, follow this link.

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.