The Capital One VentureOne Rewards Credit Card is a popular no annual fee travel rewards credit card. I wanted to review the card in this post, and talk about whether this is a good product to consider applying for. Let’s go over some of the key features of the card, and then I’ll share my take.
In this post:
No annual fee & no foreign transaction fees
The Capital One VentureOne Card has no annual fee and no foreign transaction fees. For those who like to avoid paying fees, this really sets the card apart. There aren’t many solid travel rewards credit cards out there that have no foreign transaction fees, so this is a great option abroad.
1.25x Venture miles on all purchases
The Capital One VentureOne Card has a straightforward rewards structure, and offers a flat 1.25x Venture miles on all purchases. Capital One miles can be redeemed in a variety of ways, including for one cent each toward the cost of a travel purchase, or they can be transfered at a 1:1 ratio to a variety of airline and hotel partners.
Personally I value Capital One miles at 1.7 cents each, so by my math the card offers a ~2.125% return on spending.
20,000 Venture bonus miles
The Capital One VentureOne Card has a welcome bonus of 20,000 Venture miles after spending $500 within the first three months. That’s a good bonus for a no annual fee card, but suffice it to say there are more rewarding credit card bonuses out there.
Should you apply for the Capital One VentureOne Card?
There are three versions of the Capital One Venture Card, so is the Capital One VentureOne Card the right card for you?
If you look at the card individually, it has some things going for it. It’s rare to have a no annual fee card that has no foreign transaction fees and earns more than one transferable mile per dollar spent. So if (for whatever reason) you’re absolutely committed to not paying an annual fee and want a “one size fits all” travel rewards card, this should probably be it.
It’s also worth comparing this card to the other cards in the Venture lineup. I think there’s a case to be made for applying for the $95 annual fee Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card (review) instead. Why? Most significantly:
- The card has a welcome bonus of 75,000 Venture miles, which is nearly 4x as big of a bonus
- The card offers 2x Venture miles per dollar spent, rather than 1.25x Venture miles; that makes this one of the best cards for everyday spending
- Generally speaking it’s possible to downgrade a credit card if you’ve had it for a year and decide you don’t want it; so you could apply for the better card with the bigger bonus, and then down the road it should be possible to downgrade it to the no annual fee version, giving you the best of both worlds
Personally I think the best play is to apply for the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card (review). Now, the card has a $395 annual fee, so I think a lot of people otherwise considering a no annual fee card would be put off by that price point.
But let me just say that the card offers endless perks, like a $300 annual travel credit, 10,000 anniversary bonus miles, a Priority Pass membership, unlimited access to Capital One Lounges, primary rental car coverage, cell phone protection, and incredible authorized user perks. This is the premium card with the annual fee that’s easiest to justify, in my opinion.
Bottom line
The Capital One VentureOne Card is a solid no annual fee card that offers a bonus of 20K Venture miles, has no foreign transaction fees, and offers 1.25x miles on all purchases. While that’s a well rounded card, I think the much better play is to consider the Capital One Venture Card. The card has a much bigger welcome bonus, a better rewards structure, and more perks.
Do any OMAAT readers have the no annual fee Capital One VentureOne Card, and if so, what has your experience been?
My wife signed up for a capital one credit card a recently. Advertisement indicated you get 50 or 80K points after spending $2500 She did this and then was denied points by Capital one as she previously had a card within a certain time frame they say precluded award of points. This was very well hidden on advertisement to us. Very deceptive on their part. Most credit cards will not issue you a bonus card...
My wife signed up for a capital one credit card a recently. Advertisement indicated you get 50 or 80K points after spending $2500 She did this and then was denied points by Capital one as she previously had a card within a certain time frame they say precluded award of points. This was very well hidden on advertisement to us. Very deceptive on their part. Most credit cards will not issue you a bonus card if you will not qualify for bonus points. Said points were coming after two months when phoned then they said she did not meet the criteria for points, Capital One fooled us and took advantage with their lack of detail and fool people and take advantage of them. Deception, misleading and lets call it what it is intention to deceive.
Capita Crooks.
I’ve read that with this card you can pair with the Savor One to boost your earnings potential without an annual fee. I personally have this card and plan to get the Savor One after 6 months.
The value of miles is subject to how one calculates it. If one is a person who buys business class seats for long distance travel then the miles are worth a lot. If one is a person who often travels economy or premium economy but will agree to an upgrade or use miles for it but refuse to pay for the seat, then the value of miles is much less.
Agreed. I have a Cap1 card which is my daily go-to choice. But the only way to get Lucky's 1.7¢ valuation is to convert these miles to a limited choice of foreign airline miles and spend them on luxury tickets. That's great for some, but for many the value of our miles is dropping pretty close to 1¢ or even lower. As long as Capital One allows after-purchase redemption on their huge variety of travel...
Agreed. I have a Cap1 card which is my daily go-to choice. But the only way to get Lucky's 1.7¢ valuation is to convert these miles to a limited choice of foreign airline miles and spend them on luxury tickets. That's great for some, but for many the value of our miles is dropping pretty close to 1¢ or even lower. As long as Capital One allows after-purchase redemption on their huge variety of travel purchases, their miles never drop below a penny and at that rate are still a decent value.
My SO has this card, but that's because we downgraded the Venture to it in order to keep the points alive. We don't really use the card for any spend except in one instance. There was a promotion a while back through Hotels.com where you could get 10 pts/dollar by using a Venture card (total points, not in addition to the card bonus). So, the deal was actually better for the Venture One since it...
My SO has this card, but that's because we downgraded the Venture to it in order to keep the points alive. We don't really use the card for any spend except in one instance. There was a promotion a while back through Hotels.com where you could get 10 pts/dollar by using a Venture card (total points, not in addition to the card bonus). So, the deal was actually better for the Venture One since it boosted the points from 1.25 to 10 (versus the 2 to 10 for the Venture).