All About the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card

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February 18, 2025

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The Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card is an excellent card that has a solid welcome offer, a low annual fee, and earns flexible miles. The card is comparable to the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, which is often referred to as the “best beginner card.” I would argue that the Venture is also an excellent beginner card. Beyond that, it’s a great card for anyone who is looking to diversify their points stash with other flexible options.

Venture basic info

The Venture card has a standard welcome offer of 75,000 Capital One miles when you spend $4,000 in the first three months of the account being open. Currently, there is an additional $250 Capital One Travel credit that is included in the welcome offer.

This makes the card a money-maker! The annual fee for the card is $95, so when accounting for the travel credit, you’re making $155 by opening the card.

The Venture card will count against Chase’s 5/24 rule, but it’s definitely worth a spot.

It’s important to note that Capital One limits card applications to one every six months. So, if you have recently opened another Capital One card (like a Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card), you will need to wait until it’s been a full six months before applying for this one.

Venture benefits

TSA PreCheck or Global Entry statement credit when you use your card to pay the enrollment fee
Access to Capital One transfer partners
No foreign transaction fees
Travel insurances- primary rental car coverage, lost luggage reimbursement, trip delay reimbursement, trip interruption/cancelation insurance, travel accident insurance
Shopping protections- purchase protection, extended warranty, cell phone insurance
Hertz Five Star status
5X on hotels and rental cars booked in the Capital One travel portal
2X on all other purchases

Earning more miles

Capital One has a decent-sized lineup of cards that earn Capital One miles. Beyond that, if you have a Capital One card that earns cash back, it can be turned into miles if you also have a miles-earning card.

Furthermore, Capital One lets you combine miles with any other Capital One member for free; you just have to call to do it. So, if you and a player two each open cards, all of the miles you earn can be combined into one of your accounts.

Here are your card options for earning more Capital One miles:

Here are the cards that earn cash back, which can be turned into miles as long as you have one of the cards listed above (or the Venture):

Using miles from your Venture

The miles you earn on this card can be used in three main ways- cashed out, in the travel portal, and transferred to travel partners. To do any of these things, log on to your Capital One account and click on your miles.

RELATED: All About Capital One Miles

Transferring to partners

If you’re looking to get the most bang for your miles, transferring them to travel partners is the way to do that. You can transfer miles and redeem them for flights and hotels that are worth well over one cent per point, which is the value you will get by redeeming miles any other way.

Capital One has more than 15 transfer partners:

Aeromexico
Air Canada
Air France/KLM
Avianca
British Airways
Cathay Pacific
Emirates
EVA Air
Finnair
Qantas
Singapore
TAP Air Portugal
Turkish
Virgin Red (can be moved to Virgin Atlantic)
Accor
Choice
Wyndham

To transfer your miles, log in and click on your miles, then choose “convert rewards.” Select which program you’d like to transfer to.

A box will pop up and you can enter your information, then click next and choose how many miles you want to transfer. Finally, confirm the transaction. Most miles transfers are instant, but you may need to refresh your airline or hotel loyalty account.

Cashing out miles

Any purchase made on your card that is considered travel can be credited back to your account with your miles. Basically, you’ll trade in the miles to get a statement credit that covers the cost of the travel after you’ve booked it.

A box will pop up with any purchases that are eligible to be covered with miles. Choose which travel purchase and how many miles you want to use. You can cover a portion of the purchase or all of it. Select continue, then confirm the transaction. It takes 1-3 days for the credit to post to your account.

The travel purchase must be made on your Venture to be eligible to be covered with miles. Miles are redeemed at a one cent per point value, meaning every 10,000 miles is worth $100.

We like to use this option for things that are harder to cover with miles- like rental cars and theme park tickets. If you want to use them for theme park tickets, you’ll need to purchase through a third-party site like Undercover Tourist so that the purchase codes as travel on your credit card statement. We’ve done this multiple times for Disney tickets!

Using miles in the travel portal

You can use your miles to book rental cars, hotels, and flights in the Capital One travel portal. Like using them to cover travel purchases, they are worth one cent per point (so 10,000 miles = $100).

Honestly, you shouldn’t ever use them this way because you’re missing out on the miles you could be earning from spending on your card!

Here’s what to do instead:

Use the travel portal to book your flight, hotel, and/or rental car, and use your Venture to pay.
You’ll receive 5X miles for hotels and rental cars and 2X for flights.
Then, once the miles have been posted, use them (plus any other miles earned) to cover the purchase!

That way, you are still using miles to cover the cost, but you’re earning extra miles first by putting that spending on your card.

Wrapping Up

The Venture card is an excellent option for anyone looking to earn flexible miles that can be used in a variety of ways, all for a low annual fee. It has a good group of benefits and the miles earned can easily be combined with any other miles-earning cards. Plus, you get 2X for all your purchases, so you know you’re always getting a good return for you spending. It’s a great go-to card to keep in your wallet long-term.

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.