Capital One VentureOne Rewards Credit Card Review

Full Review of Capital One VentureOne Credit Card

Pros Explained

• Unlimited Rewards on Every Purchase: This card offers unlimited 1.25 miles per dollar on every purchase.
• Decent One-Time Offer: New cardholders earn 20,000 bonus miles—worth $100 when redeemed for travel or cash back—after spending $1,000 within the first three months of opening an account. 
• Flexible Redemption Options: Cardholders can book travel however they want, whenever they want, with Capital One's Purchase Eraser tool. Simply book travel at your preferred outlet and then redeem miles for a statement credit against the purchase within 90 days. Cardholders may also redeem miles through Capital One’s travel portal or transfer miles to eligible travel partners.
• No Annual Fee: This card charges no annual fee. Its sibling, the Capital One Venture card, charges $95 per year.
• No Commitment to Specific Brands or Types of Travel: Cardholders are not committed to any specific brand or type of travel with this card. The miles you earn can be used for various kinds of travel, including hotels, flights, and car rentals.

Cons Explained

• Mediocre Rewards Rate on Every Purchase: This card's reward rate of 1.25 miles per dollar spent on every purchase is lower than competing no annual fee travel rewards cards on the market. Similar cards offer 1.5 points per dollar.

The VentureOne card is a decent choice for occasional travelers interested in a no annual fee travel card with a simple earnings structure. Rewards are earned on every purchase—there are no rotating bonus categories or spending caps to worry about. Miles can be redeemed for travel, cash back, gift cards, or an account credit.

It’s also a good fit for those who travel internationally. This card doesn't charge foreign transaction fees and, since it's a Visa, is widely accepted.

Capital One VentureOne Rewards One-Time Offer

Cardholders who spend $1,000 within the first three months of opening an account will earn 20,000 rewards miles. After you qualify for the reward, Capital One will credit the bonus to your rewards balance within two billing cycles.

This bonus equals $100 when redeemed for travel or cash back, which is a decent bonus for spending a small amount. It represents a 10% return on the card's initial spending, not including the $12.50 you'd earn from the required $1,000 spending within three months or the continued rewards over the course of a year.

Naturally, the value of miles varies with how and where they are redeemed. Miles with this card are worth 1 cent per dollar when redeemed for travel as well as 1 cent per dollar when redeemed for cash back, according to Investopedia's points valuation study.

While the bonus with this card is decent, it's not the best available. The Discover it Miles card, for example, matches all of the miles you've earned at the end of your first year.

Rewards Earning Details

Earn unlimited 1.25 miles per dollar on every purchase. Miles received as rewards from Capital One never expire as long as you keep your account open.

Rewards Redemption Details

Capital One offers incredibly flexible redemption options. You can redeem miles for travel, cash back, gift cards, or an account credit. However, you'll get the most value redeeming miles for travel or cash back, which are both worth 1 cent per mile. Gift cards are worth just 0.8 cents per mile.

You can redeem miles for travel via the issuer's travel portal, or you can use Capital One’s Purchase Eraser tool to book travel however you want and redeem miles later. Miles can also be transferred to travel partners.

Transferring Points

Cardholders can transfer miles to one of Capital One’s travel partners in most cases at a ratio of 1 Capital One mile to 0.75 partner miles (or 0.75 partner points in the case of hotel partners), though it can be as low as 1 Capital One mile to 0.50 partner miles or points. That's notably lower than the 1 cent per mile you would get by booking travel through Capital One's travel portal or by using its Purchase Eraser tool, though still much better than redeeming miles for cash back (which only provides half a cent of value. The value of miles that are transferred to partners are considered to be the best redemption option, and generally range from .975 cents in the case of JetBlue transfers (since we value JetBlue miles at 1.3 cents each and transfer at a rate of 1 Capital One mile to 0.75 JetBlue miles) to an estimated value of 1.62 cents (when redeemed for certain international flights).

Current travel partners are Aeromexico, Air France KLM, Air Canada, Alitalia, Asia Miles, Avianca LifeMiles, Emirates Skywards, Etihad Airways, EVA Air, Finnair, JetBlue, Qantas, Singapore Airlines, Wyndham and Accor. 

How to Maximize Your Rewards

It’s beneficial to use this card for daily and other travel expenses to earn 1.25 miles on every dollar spent. Plus, you can eliminate paying foreign transaction fees when you use this card when traveling internationally. 

Average Case

Families or individuals who use this card for vacations can leverage this big spending category for their advantage. For example, let's estimate that a big summer vacation costs $3,000, including airfare, hotels, and food.

By using this card to pay for the trip, you would earn 3,750 miles valued at $37.50 when redeemed for travel or $18.75 when redeemed for cash back. That doesn’t include the 20,000 bonus miles you would earn for spending $1,000 within the first three months of opening your account, which is worth another $100 when redeemed for cash.

Then, let's assume that our family or individual spends an average of $2,000 a month in everyday purchases on the card. That would add the lion's share of the earnings or 30,000 miles. All totaled, those 33,750 miles would be worth $337.50 when redeemed for travel or $168.75.

Aspirational Case

More frequent travelers and everyday spenders can enjoy even bigger returns with this card. For example, people who travel often and spend $2,000 per month on travel expenses along $3,000 of everyday spending could earn 6,250 Capital One miles each month. After a year those 75,000 accumulated miles would be valued at $750 if redeemed for travel booked through Capital One or $375 if redeemed for cash back. And, this scenario doesn’t consider the bonus offer of 20,000 miles.

Capital One VentureOne Credit Card’s Outstanding Benefits

• No foreign transaction fee
• 24/7 travel assistance 
• Travel accident insurance
• Eno, which monitors your purchases for potential mistakes, unexpected charges, and recurring bill increases

Standard Benefits

• Extended warranties
• Capital One Shopping and Paribus tools to help you save when shopping online
• Fraud protection and $0 fraud liability
• Access to sporting, music, and culinary events
• Free dark web and Social Security number monitoring with CreditWise

Cardholder Experience

Capital One placed fifth on J.D. Power's 2018 customer satisfaction survey with a rating of 803, right behind Chase.

Three different tools help to boost the customer experience for cardholders:

• CreditWise: Offers free access to your credit score in addition to dark web and Social Security number monitoring.  
• Capital One Shopping: Automatically finds the best price before you buy when shopping online.
• Paribus: Automatically finds savings on previous online purchases and gets money back.

The company's mobile app allows customers to pay bills, track spending with instant purchase notifications, lock their card, redeem rewards, and more. Customers can also log into the secure website at any time.

The customer service department can be contacted at 800-227-4825.

Security Features

CreditWise and Eno are two of Capital One's main security perks.

CreditWise sends automatic alerts if your email address or Social Security number is found on the dark web. It also offers information about your credit, such as your credit score and changes to your credit report.

Eno monitors your account for things like duplicate charges or recurring bill increases and sends alerts when changes occur. In addition, it automatically creates virtual numbers for online purchases.

Cardholders also have $0 fraud liability and the ability to lock their card at any time via the mobile app or website, or by phone.  

Our Verdict

This card offers a very user-friendly rewards structure and extremely flexible redemption options, but it's flat-rate rewards don't quite stand up to competing cards. At 1.25 miles per dollar spent, it's on the lower end of the earnings spectrum.

The Bank of America Travel Rewards card, for example, earns 1.5 points per dollar on all spending with no annual fee. And the Discover it Miles card also has no annual fee and earns 1.5 miles per dollar spent.

If you're going to spend more than $9,500 on a travel card each year, you may benefit more from the Capital One Venture card. It offers an excellent 2 miles per dollar spent, and the $95 annual fee can be made up quickly with its bonus offer of 60,000 miles for spending $3,000 within the first three months of opening an account. The Venture card also offers a $100 application fee credit for Global Entry or an $85 credit for TSA Pre-check.