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Capital One Miles are easy to earn, easy to use and — with the no-annual-fee Capital One VentureOne Rewards Credit Card — easy on the budget.
The Capital One VentureOne earns miles that you can transfer to 22 airline and hotel loyalty programs or redeem for 1 cent each toward eligible travel purchases. Best of all, through Monday, Dec. 8, new cardholders can receive a $100 credit to use toward flights, stays and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel during your first cardholder year. Plus earn 20,000 bonus miles after spending $500 on purchases within the first three months from account opening.
This Capital One welcome bonus is worth at least $300 in travel, which is a great offer compared to other no-annual-fee travel cards.
It's a high bonus for a no-annual-fee consumer card
Paying an annual fee for a credit card is not for everyone. For those who value simplicity and don't want to crunch the numbers every year to decide whether or not the benefits outweigh a card's annual fee, it makes sense to stick to no-annual-fee credit cards. The tradeoff is that they usually have lower welcome bonuses and fewer benefits.
A typical intro bonus for a credit card without an annual fee is $200, if it has one at all. The Capital One VentureOne's welcome bonus is worth at least 50% more than that in travel.
It also has a big advantage over no-annual-fee cash-back cards — like the Capital One Quicksilver Cash Rewards Credit Card — because the miles you earn with the VentureOne are transferable.
The Capital One Quicksilver has a similar limited-time bonus: You'll receive a $100 credit for flights, stays and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel during your first cardholder year. On top of that, you can earn a $200 cash bonus after spending $500 on purchases within the first three months from account opening.
On the surface, these offers have the same value because you can use Capital One Miles to offset travel purchases at a rate of 1 cent per mile (20,000 = $200 in travel). However, you can increase the value you receive with hotel and airline transfer partners.
Choice Privileges is a 1:1 transfer partner with Capital One, and at the time of writing, you can book the Hobo Oslo Ascend Collection Hotel for 15,000 Choice points (although the points required vary by date). Paying cash for the same room on the same night costs roughly $271, and you'd still have 5,000 miles (worth $50 in travel) leftover. With one simple redemption, you can use the VentureOne's bonus to book over $400 in travel.
The spending requirement is reasonable
To earn the Capital One VentureOne card's welcome bonus, you'll need to spend $500 on purchases within the first three months. That's like earning a 60% return on your spending and averages out to roughly $167 a month, which makes this one of the easiest welcome bonuses to earn.
Many of the best credit card sign-up bonuses require you to spend six or 10 times as much in the same time frame.
You'll earn more on every purchase
Outside of special bonus spending categories, most rewards credit cards earn 1X miles/points or 1% cash back on everyday spending. The VentureOne earns at least 1.25X miles on every dollar you spend.
This isn't as high as the 2X miles you can earn with cards like the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card, but that card also has a $95 annual fee. Plus, the VentureOne also earns 5X miles on hotels, vacation rentals and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel.
The Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card has a reasonable annual fee and earns flexible travel rewards, which makes it a great travel card for both beginners and frequent travelers.
- Valuable welcome offer
- You can transfer miles to Capital One's travel partners
- Global Entry or TSA PreCheck application fee credit
- No foreign transaction fees
- Lacks ongoing travel benefits such as statement credits or lounge access
- Limited bonus spending category that only applies to certain Capital One Travel bookings
Highlights
Highlights shown here are provided by the issuer and have not been reviewed by CNBC Select's editorial staff.
- LIMITED-TIME OFFER: Enjoy $300 to use on hotel and vacation rental bookings through Capital One Travel in your first cardholder year, plus earn 75,000 bonus miles once you spend $4,000 on purchases within the first 3 months from account opening – that's more than $1,000 in travel value
- Earn unlimited 2X miles on every purchase, every day
- Earn 5X miles on hotels, vacation rentals and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel
- Miles won't expire for the life of the account and there's no limit to how many you can earn
- Receive up to a $120 credit for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck®
- Use your miles to get reimbursed for any travel purchase—or redeem by booking a trip through Capital One Travel
- Enjoy a $50 experience credit and other premium benefits with every hotel and vacation rental booked from the Lifestyle Collection
- Transfer your miles to your choice of 15+ travel loyalty programs
- Top rated mobile app
Balance transfer fee
$0 at the Transfer APR, 4% of the amount of each transferred balance that posts to your account at a promotional APR that Capital One may offer to you
Foreign transaction fee
None
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