Consumers Who Want a Big Welcome Bonus
The Venture card comes with one of the more generous welcome bonuses available: 75,000 miles once you spend $4,000 on purchases within 3 months from account opening.
That bonus is equal to $750 if you book a flight or hotel stay directly through the Capital One Travel portal. If you can earn this bonus and spend your miles on Capital One travel purchases, you’ll easily cover several years worth of the annual fee.
The challenge is spending enough to earn the bonus. If you normally wouldn’t charge that much, you might struggle to earn the bonus. You should never overspend just to hit a bonus requirement.
But if you plan on using your card to charge—and pay back in full by each due date—most of your daily living expenses, including groceries, clothing purchases, streaming services and entertainment costs, then you might easily reach the mark without overspending or running up a balance that you can’t pay off in full.
You Want a Simple Rewards Plan
The rewards program that comes with the Venture card couldn’t be simpler: Almost every dollar you charge with the card will earn you 2 miles.
There’s only one exception: You’ll earn 5 miles for every dollar you charge when booking hotel rooms and rental cars through the Capital One Travel portal.
Redeeming rewards is easy, too. You’ll log onto your account and decide whether to redeem your rewards for credit towards your travel charges, flights, cash back in the form of a statement to your account, gift cards, hotel stays or car rentals. Note that redeeming for cash back will result in a diminished value compared to redeeming against travel purchases.
You can also transfer your miles to more than a dozen loyalty program partners or use your miles to shop on Amazon.com. Travel partners include British Airways, Air France KLM, Aeroplan, Emirates Skywards and Choice Hotels.
You Are a Frequent Traveler
The more you travel, the more you’ll get out of your Venture card.
First, there are the extra miles you’ll earn when you book hotel stays and rental cars through the Capital One online portal. You’ll earn 5 miles when you use your card in this way, a premium of 3 miles for every dollar when compared to other Venture purchases.
Then there are the travel perks that come with this card.
If you want to skip the long security lines the next time you fly, you’ll also receive a credit of up to $100 for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck®. TSA PreCheck is available at more than 200 airports and will let you skip crowded lines. You also won’t have to take off your shoes and belt when passing through security. Global Entry allows you to skip the customs line and use a Global Entry kiosk when you are returning to the United States after traveling abroad.
If you use your Venture card to pay, Capital One will reimburse you for the application fee for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck up to $100 within two billing cycles. Both Global Entry and TSA PreCheck are valid for five years. You can receive one credit from Capital One for each of your Venture card accounts every four years.
The Venture card also offers lost luggage reimbursem*nt if you pay for your flight with your card. You’ll also qualify for free auto rental collision insurance if you pay for your rental car with your Venture card and decline your rental company’s collision damage waiver.
You receive 24-hour travel assistance, too. If your Venture card is lost or stolen, Capital One will send you an emergency replacement card and a cash advance. It will also disable your lost or stolen card so that no one else can use it to make purchases.
And a final travel perk? This card charges no foreign transaction fees, something that will save you money if you travel to international destinations (rates & fees).
You Want Additional Protections When Shopping
The Venture card also offers perks when you use it to make retail purchases.
Say you buy an expensive flat-screen TV and it breaks just after the manufacturer’s warranty period ends. The Venture card’s extended warranty program can help. With this perk, you can extend a manufacturer’s warranty for up to an additional year on all warranties of three years or less. You will have to purchase the item with your Venture card to qualify for this protection.
The card also comes with purchase security. If you purchase an item with your Venture card, you may be eligible to repair, replace or receive reimbursem*nt for a damaged product, see coverage terms for details.
