Capital One VentureOne credit card review: Simplicity and flexibility built into a single no annual fee card

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If you’re looking for a simple travel rewards credit card that also carries some flexibility in terms of your redemption options, you should consider the Capital One VentureOne Rewards Credit Card. It’s a no annual fee credit card offering a welcome bonus of 20,000 Capital One miles after meeting minimum spending requirements.

That’s worth at least $200 in travel, and can be redeemed for pretty much any travel-related purchase such as airfare and hotels. But you also have some flexibility in your redemption options because you can also transfer your miles to several Capital One transfer partners.

Here’s our full Capital One VentureOne credit card review.

Capital One VentureOne credit card review: Simple yet flexible rewards

Current bonus

Simplicity is the name of the game built into the Capital One VentureOne credit card. With it, you’ll have the opportunity to jump start your balance of Capital One miles by earning a welcome bonus of 20,000 miles after you spend $500 on purchases within the first three months of account opening. That’s worth at least $200 in travel and can be redeemed toward any travel-related purchase.

Benefits and perks

Earning rate

You’ll earn 1.25 Capital One miles per dollar you spend on all purchases. There are no rotating bonus categories or confusing aspects to this card’s earning structure.

No foreign transaction fees

Some cards charge a 3% fee when you swipe them outside the U.S. That can really add up if you do a lot of spending while on vacation. In fact, you may be charged that fee when making reservations at an overseas hotel, even if you’re making your purchase from your house!

The Capital One VentureOne waives this fee, so it’s a good card to take during your travels.

Extended Warranty

Sometimes the things we buy break down every now and then, but the Capital One VentureOne Rewards Credit Card has you covered as it offers extended warranty protection to protect your eligible purchases even after the original manufacturer’s warranty has expired. So next time you can forgo that additional expense of a separate third-party warranty.

Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver

The Capital One VentureOne Rewards credit card offers secondary rental car insurance. This means that coverage is in excess of anything your primary rental car insurance pays out.

Again, hopefully you’ll never have to use this benefit, but it could end up being very useful if your primary car insurance coverage limits aren’t enough to pay for certain damages. When it comes to cars, the dollar amount of repairs can add up very quickly, so this could end up saving you a lot of money.

Benefits (extended warranty and auto rental waiver) only available to accounts approved for the Visa Signature card. Terms apply.

How to redeem miles

You can use Capital One miles in a few ways, including:

• Redeem miles for a statement credit to offset the cost of a travel purchase made in the last 90 days
• Move miles to Capital One transfer partners, including Qantas and Singapore Airlines

To redeem for a statement credit, you can make any travel purchase as you normally would. Then, within 90 days of that purchase, you can login to your Capital One account, and simply “erase” it with your miles.

Travel purchases can include any number of things, including airfare, hotels, trains, buses, taxis and much more.

You can also transfer your miles to any of Capital One’s travel partners, of which you’ll currently have 13 options. Points will transfer to most partners at a ratio of 1:1.

Here are Capital One’s transfer partners:

• Accor
• Aeromexico
• Air France and KLM (Flying Blue)
• Air Canada (Aeroplan)
• Asia Miles (Cathay Pacific)
• Avianca
• Emirates
• Etihad
• EVA
• Finnair
• Qantas
• Singapore Airlines
• Wyndham

Here’s more about the best ways to use Capital One miles.

Is the annual fee worth it?

The Capital One VentureOne Rewards Credit Card has no annual fee, so it’s definitely worth adding to your wallet. And considering you can earn an intro bonus of 20,000 bonus miles (worth at least $200) after you spend $500 on purchases within three months of account opening, you’ll come out a winner from day one.

Who is the Capital One VentureOne for?

To give you a sense of your chances of being approved for the Capital One VentureOne Rewards Credit Card, you’ll need to meet Capital One’s definition of excellent credit. You’ll want to make sure your credit report has no bankruptcies, defaults, or late payments past 60 days.

Keep in mind though that these are just general guidelines, and there’s no guarantee of being approved even if you meet all of the criteria. That’s because the bank may look at additional factors from your credit card application. 

Also, data points show that Capital One likely won’t approve more than one application (personal or business) every six months, and you’re limited to a total of two personal Capital One cards at a time.

Insider secret

If you have the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card with a $95 annual fee (we’ll talk about that card in just a second), you can downgrade it to the no annual fee Capital One VentureOne to keep the miles you’ve accrued without paying an annual fee.

Similar cards to the Capital One VentureOne

The Capital One Venture Rewards credit card is the bigger brother version of the VentureOne card. Although it does carry an annual fee of $95.

The card also carries a more valuable welcome bonus. You can earn 75,000 miles when you spend $4,000 on purchases within three months from account opening. You’ll also have the following perks:

• 2 Capital One miles per dollar you spend on all purchases
• Statement credit for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck
• No foreign transaction fees

In summary, the card offers a stronger earning rate for your purchases, a statement credit of up to $100 for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck, and a more valuable welcome bonus – all of which can more than offset the card’s $95 annual fee.

Bottom line

If you meet Capital One’s definition of excellent credit, you’ll have a great chance of being approved for the Capital One VentureOne Rewards Credit Card. Because the card carries no annual fee, it won’t cost you anything to hang onto for the long run.

Plus, you can pretty much automatically come out ahead from day one because you can earn an intro bonus of 20,000 Capital One miles after you spend $500 on purchases within the first three months from account opening.

That’s worth $200 when you redeem for any travel-related purchases you’ve made in the past 90 days, but you also have the flexibility of transferring to any of the Capital One transfer partners for potentially even more value.

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