Venture Card Guide

The Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card is a solid travel card that earns flexible points. Plus, there are so many ways to use your miles! If anyone is considering the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card but doesn’t want to commit to the high annual fee, the Venture Card is a great alternative. 

Venture Card Overview

Venture Card Basics

Annual Fee – $95

Earning Rates

• 2x points on every purchase
• 5x points on hotels, vacation rentals, and car rentals booked through Capital One Travel
• 5x points on eligible Capital One Entertainment purchases

Application Tips

Capital One can be finicky with approvals. There isn’t a clear formula to follow to know you’ll get an approval — in fact sometimes it seems like people with higher credit scores have a hard time getting approved!

One question that you’ll see on the application is different than other banks. It will ask you if you typically carry a balance on your credit card. This question is optional and non-binding. It seems like (though we don’t have confirmed data, only anecdotes) that if you check that you WILL carry a balance, you may be more likely to be approved.  

Even if you already have a Venture X, you could apply for a Venture card as well! You’d then be able to combine the points if you decide to only keep one card long term. 

One myth floating around is that you can only have 2 Capital One cards — fine print actually shows you could hold five. 

Freeze Experian Credit Report

It seems like you’ll have your best chance if you have relatively few new credit cards in the past 6 months. That’s one reason we recommend in our Three Year Plan that a Venture X (or Venture) be one of the very first cards you get. 

You can also help your chances by freezing one of your three credit reports. Capital One will always pull your credit from all three credit bureaus. They will still approve an application even if you have your Experian report frozen.

Data points seem to show that a lot of people get approved with the Experian report frozen. This doesn’t seem to be true for having the TransUnion report frozen.

This is especially helpful if you have a number of inquires for business cards that ultimately didn’t hit your credit report as new cards, just as inquiries. 

You can freeze your Experian report here. Just note that every time you log in, they will try to upsell you on a premium membership. Be sure to decline. 

 

 

Then at the bottom of the page, you can find this link to Freeze your credit for free

I recommend you leave your reports frozen as the default anyway for better identity production.

Capital One Venture Card Benefits

TSA Precheck / Global Entry Credit

When you pay for a TSA Precheck or Global Entry membership with the Venture card, you get a statement credit for up to $120 to cover the purchase (valid once every 4 years). You can use this benefit for yourself or use it to pay for a friend or family member’s membership.

No Foreign Transaction Fees

The Venture card has no foreign transaction fees. It’s always nice to be able to use a card out of the country without worrying about those pesky transaction fees! 

Hertz Five Star Status

Get free upgrades and other perks when you rent a car with Hertz.

Travel Insurance with the Venture Card

Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver

Rent an eligible vehicle with your card and you could be covered for damage due to collision or theft. Learn more about Capital One’s rental car insurance. But note that this card provides secondary coverage in the United States, so we don’t recommend it for travel within the US. Better options to pay for a rental would be the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card or the Capital One Venture X card. 

Travel Accident Insurance

When you use your Venture card to pay for certain travel expenses, you get automatic insurance for covered losses at no extra cost.

Travel Assistance

Members have access to travel assistance services 24/7. This includes pre-trip planning help like ATM locations and currency exchange rates. You can also get help for things while you’re traveling such as a referral for an English speaking doctor or lawyer in the area.

Extra Benefits

Capital One Travel

• You can get a $50 experience credit when you book a hotel in the lifestyle collection —  the lifestyle collection hotels are usually high end so many people won’t use this benefit but it’s good to know about!
• The price prediction tool can help you save money on bookings
• Price drop protection – if you book and the price goes down later, you can get up to $50 travel credit

Capital One Dining

• Get reservations for in-demand tables at local restaurants
• Access to exclusive experiences
• Some restaurants offer extra perks when you book a reservation through Capital One Dining (I’ve gotten free appetizers and desserts this way!) 

Capital One Entertainment

Get access to sporting events, theatre shows, concerts, and more through Capital One Entertainment.

Ways to Use Venture Miles

Here are some of my favorite family friendly uses for Venture miles.

Use your miles to Cover any travel purchase — even Disney!

While this is not the way to get the max value from your miles — it is a very easy redemption option that still provides value! If you have 75,000 miles, you can use them to cover $750 of travel purchases.

This works for anything that codes as a travel expense. You can cover Airbnbs, hotels, or cheap flights. This is also the easiest way to pay for Disney Vacations using points.

Transfer to Wyndham Rewards and use the points to book Vacasa Rental homes

Rental homes cost 15,000 Wyndham points per bedroom per night. This makes homes with lots of bedrooms very expensive but one bedrooms can be a great value. The pricing does not take into account if homes have lofts or basements with extra sleeping areas. Some one-bedroom homes actually sleep up to 8. Or you can book a 2 bedroom house for 30,000 points. Read my full post on Booking Vacation Rentals with Points for all the details.

See more options here

Capital One Transfer Partners

You can transfer your Capital One miles to all of the following airlines and hotels:

1:1 transfer ratio

• • Aeromexico Club Premier

• • Air Canada – Aeroplan®

• • Cathay Pacific – Asia Miles

• • Avianca LifeMiles

• • British Airways Executive Club

• • Choice Privileges®²

• • Emirates Skywards

• • Etihad Guest

• • Finnair Plus

• • Flying Blue

• • Qantas Frequent Flyer

• • Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer

• • TAP Miles&Go

• • Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles

• • Virgin Red

• • Wyndham Rewards

2:1.5 transfer ratio

• • EVA Air – Infinity MileageLands

2:1 transfer ratio

• • ALL – Accor Live Limitless

5:3 transfer ratio

• • JetBlue TrueBlue

Pool Your Miles

Capital One allows you to transfer your Venture miles to anyone with a Capital One miles account, for free. This is a great way to pool miles with friends and family for a trip you want to take together! If you have a Venture X or Venture X Business card, you can also pool those miles together in one account.

My Take on the Capital One Venture Card

This card is a good entry-level travel card. The annual fee is reasonable and the benefits are solid. While this card doesn’t come with as many perks as the Venture X or Venture X Business, the annual fee is also considerably lower. If you’re wanting to dip your toes into Capital One points, the Venture is a good place to start. 

Comparison to Venture X