Editor’s note: This post has been updated with the latest credit cards information and benefits. It was originally published on Aug. 16, 2019.
The $95/year Capital One® Venture® Rewards Credit Card has been on the radar of many award travelers since it added airline transfer partners and became a flexible point currency. However, that wasn’t the only Venture card to get this boost. The no-annual-fee Capital One® VentureOne® Rewards Credit Card offers the same great redemption options but with fewer perks. Does it make sense to add it to your wallet?
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Continue reading to see if the budget-friendly VentureOne is right for you.
In This Post
Venture vs. VentureOne Card
Here’s a quick table that compares these cards side-by-side:
| Benefit | Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card | Capital One VentureOne Rewards Credit Card |
| Welcome Bonus | Earn 50,000 bonus miles once you spend $3,000 on purchases within the first three months from account opening | Earn 20,000 bonus miles once you spend $1,000 on purchases within the first three months from account opening |
| Earning rates | 2 miles per dollar spent on every purchase | 1.25 miles per dollar spent on every purchase |
| Redemption | Redeem your miles at a fixed-rate of 1 cent apiece toward travel or transfer them to Capital One’s airline partners. | Redeem your miles at a fixed-rate of 1 cent apiece toward travel or transfer them to Capital One’s airline partners. |
| Additional Perks | Up to $100 credit for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck enrollment fees; Visa Signature benefits like purchase security and lost luggage reimbursement; no foreign transaction fees | Visa Signature benefits like purchase security and lost luggage reimbursement; no foreign transaction fees |
| Annual Fee | $95 (waived for the first year) | $0 |
Aside from the annual fee and welcome bonus, the biggest difference between these cards is the earning rate on everyday spending and the $100 Global Entry/TSA PreCheck application-fee credit.
Who Is this card For?
It used to be that Venture cards were for those who wanted to keep things simple, since there were no transfer partners or bonus spending categories. This isn’t the case anymore since Capital One added airline and hotel transfer partners, although the cards are still good for people who like a straight-forward option for earning and redeeming travel rewards.
You should pick the VentureOne over the standard Venture card if you plan to spend less than $12,667 on everyday purchases per year. The biggest difference between the cards is the earning rates on everyday purchases — 2x miles for Venture versus 1.25x miles for VentureOne — and that number is the breakeven point to earn back the Venture’s $95 annual fee.
Related reading: Credit card showdown: Capital One Venture Card vs. Capital One VentureOne Card
Welcome bonus
The Capital One VentureOne comes with a sign-up bonus of 20,000 miles after you spend $1,000 in purchases within the first three months within account opening. Based on TPG valuations (not provided by the issuer), which peg Capital One Venture miles at 1.4 apiece, this welcome bonus is worth $280. That’s a lot less than the standard Venture card’s bonus, but it’s still more valuable than what most other no-annual-fee cards are offering. Additionally, the spending requirement for this bonus is much easier to meet than the standard Venture card.
Earning
The VentureOne earning scheme is practically identical to the $95-a-year card, but with a slightly lower return on everyday spending. For all purchases, you’ll earn a flat 1.25 miles per dollar, which equates to a solid 1.75% return. While this is decent, it isn’t the best return for everyday spending.
Redeeming
There’s an easy way to redeem Venture miles and a slightly more advanced (yet much more rewarding) way to redeem them. The straightforward path is to redeem your miles using the Purchase Eraser redemption option. This allows you to sign into your Venture Rewards online account and redeem them for a flat 1 cent apiece for a statement credit against eligible travel purchases you’ve made with the card in the last 90 days. This includes many travel expenses that traditional miles won’t cover, such as Uber rides and Airbnb stays. There are no award charts or blackout dates and no minimum redemption amount is required. By taking this route, your 20,000-mile sign-up bonus would be worth $200 toward travel.
To get even more value from your welcome bonus, you’re going to need the more advance redemption option, and this involves maximizing Capital One’s transfer partners. Capital One has 15 airline partners along with two new hotel partners to which you could transfer your miles, including Avianca LifeMiles, Etihad Guest and JetBlue TrueBlue. Transfers for most partners are at a 2:1.5 ratio, so you’re essentially earning .9375 airline miles per dollar on your spend. However, as is the case with American Express Membership Rewards and Citi ThankYou Rewards, Capital One routinely offers transfer bonuses — like a 25% bonus when transferring to Avianca LifeMiles and a 100% bonus when transferring to Emirates Skywards.
Now, I know I said that this redemption option is slightly more advanced — and it is — but it’s actually not as bad as it sounds. We have plenty of guides that will teach you how to best redeem your miles using transfer partners:
- Best Ways to redeem Capital One miles for domestic flights
- Best Ways to redeem Capital One miles on Star Alliance airlines
- Best Ways to redeem Capital One miles on Oneworld airlines
- Best Ways to redeem Capital One Miles on SkyTeam airlines
Main benefits and perks
The VentureOne card comes with the standard suite of Visa Signature travel and shopping benefits, including:
- Travel Accident Insurance — Get up to $250,000 in coverage for common carrier accidental death or dismemberment when you pay for your entire travel fare with your card.
- Lost Luggage Reimbursement — Get up to $3,000 per trip if your bags are lost or stolen during a trip paid for with your card.
- Purchase Security — Coverage of up to $500 per item in the event of theft or damage to an eligible item charged to the card within the first 90 days of purchase.
- Extended Warranty — Double the manufacturer’s warranty or up to one extra year for warranties of three years or less, with a maximum of $10,000 per claim and $50,000 per cardholder.
In addition to these Visa Signature perks, the VentureOne is among the few no-annual-fee cards that doesn’t charge foreign transaction fees, making it a great option to use outside of the U.S. With a Capital One card, you’ll also get cardholder-exclusive perks like access to a limited-edition Taylor Swift album bundle and special access to the James Beard Foundation’s 2019-2020 Taste America series.
Which cards compete with the Capital One VentureOne Card?
There are also several no-annual-fee cards that compete with the VentureOne. For instance, there’s the Citi® Double Cash Card, which earns 2% cash back on every purchase — 1% when you make the purchase, and then another 1% when you pay it off. Coupled with an eligible ThankYou points-earning card, you’re earning 2 ThankYou Points per dollar.
There’s also the The Amex EveryDay® Credit Card from American Express that earns up to 1.2 American Express Membership Rewards points per dollar on everyday purchases — 1x point per dollar plus a 20% points bonus when you use your card 20 or more times in a month — and 2x points on the first $6,000 you spend at U.S. supermarkets each year (then 1x).
The information for the Amex EveryDay Card has been collected independently by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.
Bottom line
The Capital One VentureOne Rewards Credit Card is a solid card. There aren’t many no-annual-fee cards with the ability to transfer points directly to travel partners, so it’s nice that this card offers that. This card also beats other no-fee cards when it comes to perks such as purchase protection and no foreign transaction fees.
APPLY HERE: Earn 20,000 bonus miles with the VentureOne card
Additional reporting by Carissa Rawson.
Featured image by Eric Helgas / The Points Guy.
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