Capital One VentureOne Card Review

Frequent flyers looking to round out their rewards earning game may want to consider the VentureOne card. Unlike some of its no annual fee competitors, the VentureOne card lets you transfer your miles to select airline frequent flyer programs. So if you usually fly on one of Capital One’s travel partners, and are looking for a card to supplement your miles earnings, the VentureOne card may be a good fit for you.

In addition, cardholders who plan to spend big on hotels in the near future will get a lot out of the VentureOne card. Every time you book a prepaid room though Hotels.com (until January 31, 2020), you’ll earn 10 miles per $1 spent—which is a huge amount of value for a no annual fee card.

• Simple and predictable rewards: You won’t earn a lot of miles, but you won’t ever be left guessing about it, either. You earn 1.25 miles per $1 spent. If you charge $1,000, you’ll earn 1,250 miles, no matter what you purchased. 
• Big hotel earning bonus (for a limited time): The most valuable benefit on the VentureOne card is its temporary Hotels.com promotion, offering 10 miles per $1 spent on prepaid hotel rooms. If you consider that 1 mile is worth 1 cent when redeemed for travel with this card, that’s like a 10% discount off your room rate.
• Miles transfer to airline partners: The VentureOne card is one of the few no-annual fee travel cards that lets you transfer miles to partner airline frequent flyer programs.
• Good APR for a rewards card: The VentureOne card’s minimum 13.74% APR is significantly lower than what's charged by many travel cards. The VentureOne card also offers 0% APR on new purchases for 12 months—rare for a travel rewards card. 
• Easy-to-get new cardmember bonus: We also like that the VentureOne card offers a generous bonus for new cardholders, but doesn’t require a ton of spending to get it. You just need to charge $1,000 before your card’s three-month anniversary. In exchange, you’ll receive 20,000 bonus points, which are worth at least $200 in free travel. 

• Low rewards earnings rate: This card only offers 1.25 miles per $1 spent, which is below what many comparable cards offer. You should have no trouble finding a comparable no annual fee travel card that offers at least 1.5 points for every $1 you spend. 
• Limited travel partners: Capital One’s list of airline transfer partners is also fairly limited—at least for now. So even if you’re a frequent flyer, your favorite airline may not be represented. JetBlue is currently the only domestic airline that partners with Capital One. That said, Capital One does partner with several large foreign airlines, such as Air France and Emirates. 

If you spend $1,000 within the first three months of having the card (about $334 a month), you’ll earn 20,000 bonus miles. That’s worth at least $200 in free travel, which is pretty good for a no annual fee card. Many no annual fee credit cards, for example, offer bonuses that are worth just $150. 

That said, it's not the most generous promotion available, so you may wish to shop around.

Earnings rewards through the VentureOne card is simple: You get an unlimited 1.25 miles for every $1 that you spend. That can add up quickly. If you charge $1,000 a month, you’ll earn $150 worth of travel by the end of the year. 

However, you can almost certainly do better by looking at other cards that offer better rewards—1.5 points per $1 spent or 2% cash back are common.

One plus is that you don’t have to rush to redeem your rewards. Capital One miles don’t expire as long as your account remains open. You will forfeit your rewards, though, if you close your account or leave it dormant, causing Capital One to close it for you. 

Capital One also makes it easy to redeem your rewards. If you decide to redeem your rewards for travel, you have two fairly simple options. You can purchase travel yourself and then use Capital One’s “Purchase Eraser” tool to “erase” the purchases from your credit card statement. Note that you must use Purchase Eraser within 90 days of your purchase.

Or you can use your rewards miles to pay for travel that you have booked through Capital One’s rewards center. Travel purchases that you can purchase directly with rewards include hotel rooms, car rentals, and airfare. 

In addition, you can transfer your points to one of Capital One’s airline partners. For all but three of them, you’ll need to transfer 2 Capital One miles to get 1.5 airline miles. But for JetBlue, Emirates, and Singapore Airlines, 2 Capital One miles will only buy you 1 airline mile. So, depending on the value of the airline mile transfer, you may be better off using one of the other methods we’ve outlined above to pay for your flight. 

You can also redeem Capital One miles for gift cards (0.8 cent per mile) and cash back (0.5 cent per mile).

You’ll get the most value out of the VentureOne card if you use it for hotel purchases—at least until the end of January 2020. Just make sure you book prepaid rooms with Hotels.com through the offer link provided by Capital One. The 10-mile bonus only counts toward rooms you’ve paid for at the time you book your reservation.

Otherwise, use your card for everyday purchases and spend your miles on travel—either with the eraser tool, or via Capital One’s rewards center. Frequent flyers looking for additional rewards on purchases not covered by their go-to rewards card can use VentureOne to fill in the gaps—without paying another annual fee.  

Depending on creditworthiness, Capital One may provide you with either a Visa Signature or Visa Premier credit card. If you qualify for a credit limit over $5,000, you may be given a Visa Signature card, which offers additional cardholder benefits. Some of these benefits are perks our editors have deemed as being “excellent” because they’re more valuable than the standard perks offered by many rewards cards.

Coverage for lost luggage: If your carry-on or checked baggage is lost on a trip paid for with your Venture card, you could be reimbursed for up to $3,000. (Visa Signature card only). 

Travel accident insurance: If an accident happens while you and your family are traveling on a trip paid for with your card, you could be reimbursed for up to $250,000 against accidental death or dismemberment. (For Visa Premier cardholders the maximum benefit is $100,000.)

Note that some of these features are only available with the Visa Signature card.

• Rental car collision insurance (secondary to your own policy)
• Extended warranties
• Insurance for stolen or damaged purchases
• Roadside assistance hotline
• Concierge for booking event tickets, travel, and other services
• Travel and emergency assistance hotline
• Sports, music, and event ticket presales, plus VIP access at some events

Capital One scored 807 out of a possible 1,000 in the 2019 J.D. Power credit card customer satisfaction survey and tied for third place out of 11 companies with an "about average" score. You can expect 24/7 customer service via phone or chat. There’s a bot (“Eno”) that can answer questions about your account.

Capital One offers a well-regarded credit card smartphone app, too, which scored a little higher in a separate J.D. Power survey: third overall and 894 points out of 1,000. 

For credit-score watchers, Capital One provides a free credit score monitoring tool called CreditWise (available to non-cardholders, too), which gives you a look at your VantageScore.

Capital One offers a full suite of security tools, including identity theft warnings. You can use virtual card numbers for online purchases if you don’t want a merchant to know your real account number. You can also lock your card if you misplace it and aren’t certain whether you need to report it as stolen. And you can get alerts if the company notices a change to your TransUnion credit report or if it spots unauthorized use of your Social Security number.

No surprises in the fine print. This card’s fees are aligned with industry standards.