Capital One VentureOne Rewards Credit Card Review

Full Review of Capital One VentureOne Credit Card

Pros Explained

• Unlimited rewards on every purchase: Earn 1.25 Miles per dollar on every purchase, every day. Plus, 5 Miles per dollar on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel. Earn 1.25 miles per dollar on every purchase, every day.
• Decent one-time offer: New cardholders earn 20,000 bonus miles—worth $200 when redeemed for travel—after spending $500 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 redemption tools. 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 has a weak 1.25 points per dollar rate for other purchases outside of hotels and cars booked through Capital One Travel. Similar cards offer 1.5 points per dollar.

Who This Card Is Best For

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, an account credit, or even at checkout with Amazon and PayPal.

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

Capital One VentureOne Rewards One-Time Offer

Cardholders who spend $500 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 $200 when redeemed for travel, which is a decent bonus for spending a small amount. It represents a 40% return on the card's initial spending, not including the continued rewards you'd earn over the course of the year.

Naturally, the value of miles varies with how and where they are redeemed. Miles with this card are worth 1 cent when redeemed for travel as well as 1 cent 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 5X miles on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel, where you'll get Capital One's best prices on thousands of trip options. In addition, you earn 1.25 miles per dollar on all other purchases. 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, an account credit, or even at checkout with Amazon and PayPal. However, you'll get the most value redeeming miles for travel (1 cent per mile). Redeeming for gift cards gets you less than 1 cent per mile of value.

You can redeem miles for travel via the issuer's travel portal, or you can use the Capital One system 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 1 partner mile (or 1 partner point 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 redeeming points for purchases after the fact, 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 they generally range from 1.09 cents in the case of JetBlue transfers (since we value JetBlue miles at 1.42 cents each and transfer at a rate of 1 Capital One mile to 0.75 JetBlue miles).

Current travel partners are Accor Live Limitless, Aeromexico, Aeroplan, Air France KLM, Asia Miles, Avianca LifeMiles, British Airways, Choice Hotels, Emirates Skywards, Etihad Airways, EVA Air, Finnair, Qantas, Singapore Airlines, TAP Air Portugal, Turkish Airlines, and Virgin Red. 

How to Maximize Your Rewards

It’s beneficial to use this card for hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel. 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 to 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. That doesn’t include the 20,000 bonus miles you would earn for spending $500 within the first three months of opening your account.

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 at 30,000 miles. All totaled, those 33,750 miles would be worth $337.50 when redeemed for travel.

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 with $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. Of course, the bonus offer of 20,000 miles would still have to be added to this scenario as well.

Capital One VentureOne Credit Card’s Outstanding Benefits

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

Standard Benefits

• Extended warranties
• Capital One Shopping and Price Protection 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 third and scored six points above average in the J.D. Power 2021 U.S. Credit Card Satisfaction Study. However, in the 2022 U.S. Credit Card Satisfaction Study, Capital One's overall customer satisfaction sank to two points below the average.

Three different tools help 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.
• Price Protection: 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 in to 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.  

Final Verdict

The Capital One VentureOne rewards credit card offers a very user-friendly rewards structure and extremely flexible redemption options, but its flat-rate rewards don't quite stand up to competing cards. While its 5X miles on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel is generous, it only pays 1.25 miles per dollar spent on all other purchases.

This card is best for occasional travelers who are new to travel rewards credit cards; if you are interested in starting to earn travel rewards for purchases but aren't quite ready to commit to a miles-only rewards card, the Capital One VentureOne rewards credit card is worth considering because you'll still have the flexibility to redeem your miles for other rewards like cash back and gift cards. However, if you're a more frequent traveler and are looking to earn as many miles as possible, there are other options that can offer higher rewards.