Review: Capital One VentureOne Rewards Credit Card

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Reward card users can get pretty upset when they have difficulty redeeming the points and miles they earn. Airlines make award seats hard to find at the lowest mileage levels, and then they often tack on additional fees. In addition, most reward cards charge an annual fee, which doesn’t make sense for those with more modest spending habits. The Capital One VentureOne Rewards Credit Card allows cardholders to earn miles that can be redeemed for any flight with any airline. And best of all, this card comes with no annual fee.

Advantages

  • Earn Capital One miles. Cardholders earn 1.25 miles for each dollar spent. Miles can be redeemed for 1 cent each as statement credits toward any travel-related expense including airfare, hotels, and car rentals.
  • It is easy to redeem Capital One miles. Cardholders simply go online to select any travel expense they want to apply their miles to.
  • Receive a sign-up bonus. New cardholders can earn a one-time bonus of 10,000 miles, equal to $100 in travel, when they make $1,000 worth of purchases within the first 3 months of opening an account.
  • Low fees. There is no annual fee for this card, and no foreign transaction fees for any Capital One products. Most other cards charge a 3 percent foreign transaction fee on all charges processed outside of the United States.

Disadvantages

  • Less-than-amazing sign-up bonus. The sign-up bonus is worth only $100. That is not much when other cards offer bonuses worth several hundred dollars.
  • Not the highest rate of return for spending. The Venture Rewards card from Capital One offers double miles on all purchases, but it has an annual fee of $59. Still, the fee is worth it for those who spend more than $4,000 a year.
  • No additional perks and benefits. Most airline-affiliated credit cards offer checked baggage fee waivers, priority boarding, and discounts on in-flight purchases. Since this card is not affiliated with any airline, it can’t offer these things.

Bottom line

Get it if: You want to earn miles that can be used for any travel expense.

Forget it if: You are loyal to a particular carrier and want the benefits of their co-branded credit card.

Note: While we attempt to be completely objective when reporting on credit cards, this site may be compensated by issuers when a reader applies for a credit card through the links within credit card stories or on our credit card search page.

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