How to Maximize Your Capital One Venture Card Rewards

How to Maximize Your Capital One Venture Card Rewards

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There are plenty of no-fee credit cards available that offer travel rewards, so if you’re going to spend $95 on an annual fee for a credit card, it better be worth your while. 

The Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card could fill that slot. The ability to earn double miles on every purchase and the ease of redeeming them landed it among our picks for the best travel credit cards.

Those Capital One miles can then be used to “erase” any travel-related purchases from your statement, or can be transferred to airline and hotel partners. The Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card also offers 60,000 bonus miles when you spend $3,000 on purchases in the first three months from account opening. 

The value you can get out of the card’s rewards and benefits can easily offset the $95 annual fee. Here are the things you need to do in order to unlock maximum value from this card.

  • Intro bonus:
  • Annual fee:

    $95

  • Regular APR:

    17.24% – 24.49% (Variable)

  • Recommended credit:

    670-850 (Good to Excellent)

  • Learn more externa link icon at our partner’s secure site.
  • Intro bonus:
  • Annual fee:

    $95

  • Regular APR:

    15.99% – 22.99% Variable

  • Recommended credit:

    670-850 (Good to Excellent)

  • Learn more externa link icon at our partner’s secure site.
  • Intro bonus:
  • Annual fee:

    $95

  • Regular APR:

    15.99% – 23.99% (Variable)

  • Recommended credit:

    670-850 (Good to Excellent)

  • Learn more externa link icon at our partner’s secure site.

Maximizing Capital One Venture Card Rewards Points

Earning rewards with the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card is straightforward: you will get 2x miles per dollar spent on almost everything. While some travel credit cards have better perks or higher reward rates in specific categories, the draw of this card is the simplicity of earning double miles for all purchases. This card’s flexibility really stands out when you’re ready to redeem the miles you’ve earned.

Pro Tip

You can use the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card to get perks outside of travel, including presale ticket access to certain dining, music and sports events, extended warranty protection on purchases, and auto rental collision damage waiver.

You can redeem miles for any travel purchases you make with your Venture card within 90 days, book travel through Capital One’s rewards portal, transfer miles to travel partners, and more.

Redeem to Erase Travel Purchases, or to Book Travel With Capital One

When you’re ready to redeem your miles, you’ll likely get the maximum value for them by using them to book travel. If you don’t want to transfer your miles to travel partners, you can always book travel with one fewer step, by using the Capital One travel portal.  

If you use Capital One’s travel portal, every mile earned is worth 1 cent. In that case, your 60,000-point sign-up bonus would be worth $600. The portal, which works similarly to most third-party booking sites, offers a simple way to redeem Capital One miles; you can search for flights, hotels or car rentals and pay for your trip with miles, cash or a combination of the two.

It’s even simpler to redeem your miles by “erasing” recent travel charges made with the card, through Capital One’s Purchase Eraser. 

To do so, log into your account, click on “Rewards miles,” and select the “Cover travel purchases” option. Your eligible travel purchases from the last 90 days will show up with the number of miles needed to pay each in full.

Going that route with your redemptions can be very useful if you’re using the card to make travel-related purchases outside of airlines and hotels. 

Transfer to Travel Partners

The Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card is one of a few Capital One credit cards that allow you to transfer your miles to partner loyalty programs. Capital One currently partners with 16 airlines — JetBlue in the U.S., and many major international airlines that serve the U.S. — and three hotel chains. Once you’ve transferred the miles to a loyalty program, you can use them to book flights or hotel stays with the airline or hotel.  

By transferring, you may be able to get even more value out of your points beyond the 1 cent value on Capital One’s portal. Capital One miles transfer at three different ratios depending on the partner (1:1, 2:1.5 or 2:1), but in some cases, you can use fewer points to book the same flight or hotel by transferring them versus redeeming in the portal. The value of your miles can vary significantly across travel partners, so it’s important to figure out how valuable your miles are with a certain loyalty program before transferring. 

For example, 60,000 Capital One miles won’t get you 60,000 miles with every program, but sometimes you can find a great deal to boost your miles’ value above the base 1 cent. 

Here’s a complete list of Capital One’s transfer partners:

  • Aeromexico Club Premier
  • Air Canada Aeroplan
  • Air France-KLM Flying Blue
  • Alitalia MilleMiglia
  • ALL Accor Live Limitless
  • Avianca LifeMiles
  • British Airways Executive Club
  • Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
  • Choice Privileges (coming later in 2021)
  • Emirates Skywards
  • Etihad Guest
  • EVA Infinity MileageLands
  • Finnair Plus
  • JetBlue TrueBlue
  • Qantas Frequent Flyer
  • Singapore KrisFlyer
  • TAP Portugal Miles&Go
  • Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles
  • Wyndham Rewards

Redeem for Cash Back, Paypal, Amazon and Gift Cards

Even when you’re not traveling, you can maximize value with your Venture card. You can redeem miles for cash back, gift cards, or purchases made via PayPal or Amazon.com. This is an attractive option if you’re looking to use your points for purchases other than travel, but you’ll likely get more value for your rewards with travel redemptions.

Everyday Purchases

Because the Venture Rewards card earns 2x miles per dollar spent, you can maximize your rewards by using your card for all your regular spending. Doing so can be especially helpful if you’re working to meet the minimum spending requirement of $3,000 in three months to earn the 60,000-point sign-up bonus.

But charge only what you can afford to pay off, and make sure you pay your bill in full each month. Overspending on credit cards quickly leads to high-interest debt if you make a habit of carrying a balance.

Bottom Line

There’s a lot you can do with the miles you earn with the Capital One Venture Rewards card — from booking travel directly through Capital One, to transferring miles to 19 travel partners, to redeeming miles to offset any recent travel purchases. 

You can also redeem your miles for cash back, gift cards, or purchases made via PayPal.com or Amazon.com, although you may not get as much value from those redemption options. You’ll get the most value out of your miles by redeeming them for travel, instead.  

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