Capital One Venture Credit Score Needed (Real Data Points) [2021]

The Capital One Venture is now one of the best travel rewards credit cards on the market.

That’s because Capital One recently made changes to its rewards program and now allows for one to one transfer ratios to some great travel partners. They also added some new travel partners and will be opening up airport lounges very soon as well.

But what type of credit score is needed to get approved for the Capital One Venture? And what type of starting credit limit can you expect if you are approved?

In this article, I will break down the credit score requirements to help give you a sense of your approval odds and also provide you with some insight into getting approved for Capital One cards.

Credit score needed for approval

Generally speaking you want to have a credit score of at least 700 before you apply for the Capital One Venture.

However, as shown by some of the data points below sometimes you can get approved with a credit score under 700. Also, sometimes having a great credit profile is NOT the best way to get approved for Capital One cards, including the Venture. (I will explain more below.)

Tip: Use WalletFlo for all your credit card needs. It’s free and will help you optimize your rewards and savings!

Capital One Venture overview

CAPITAL ONE VENTURE benefits

Before jumping too deep into all of the data points and the approval process, it’s a good idea to know what type of value you can expect with the Capital One Venture. Often, you can find this card offering a pretty strong welcome bonus, sometimes up to 100,000 miles!

Typically, to earn this 100,000 mile bonus you will need to spend a lot of money (e.g., $20,000) over a long duration such as 12 months. If you are not able to meet the higher spend threshold, you usually can still earn a smaller amount of miles such as 50,000 miles with a much lower amount of spend (e.g., $3,000).

The Capital One Venture earns 2X miles on every purchase. This is a great bonus structure for people who don’t want to worry about rotating categories or multiple bonus categories. Every purchase on your card earns the same 2X.

Now that you can transfer your miles out to various programs at a ratio of 1 to 1 this means that you are effectively earning 2 miles per dollar spent for those programs. If you value the miles for those programs at around 1.5 cents per point then all of a sudden you are now earning ~3% on every purchase. That is a pretty exceptional earning rate.

The Capital One Venture also comes with a $100 TSA Pre-Check or Global Entry credit.

The annual fee for the Venture is $95. That is a pretty typical annual fee for a card that offers the ability to transfer miles to various travel partners. The good news is that if you spend $3,166 in a year and you value your miles at around 1.5 cents per mile then you will completely offset the annual fee at that point with spend alone.

Singapore Airlines first class chair
Singapore Airlines first class (a Capital One travel partner)

Capital One approval process

Capital One is a pretty unique bank when it comes to credit card applications. Because they do things a little bit differently you definitely want to know what you are getting yourself into before you apply.

Capital One pulls all major credit bureaus

First, Capital One likes to pull all three major credit bureaus whenever you apply. This means that you will most likely get a hard pull on your credit report for: Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion.

This is one of the drawbacks of applying for a Capital One card because most other banks only pull from one or two bureaus at a time. And some banks such as American Express may not even pull from any bureaus.

This does not mean that you should never apply for a Capital One card but it does mean that you should expect a temporary ding on all of your credit reports if you apply.

Note that this method of pulling all three credit bureaus can actually work in your favor in some cases as I will explain below.

Related: How Long Do Hard Inquiries Stay on Your Credit?

Capital One sometimes declines people with great credit

The next thing to note is that Capital One will often decline people with spotless credit profiles.

If you do enough research you will find plenty of data points where individuals have been denied Capital One credit cards despite having credit scores near 800, flawless payment history, and super-low utilizations. It is one of the biggest complaints credit card enthusiasts have about Capital One.

Related: Capital One Credit Wise Review

Why exactly is this the case?

Many people speculate that Capital One is more interested in applicants that don’t have spotless credit histories, especially when it comes to utilization.

This is because those type of applicants will be more likely to pay interest on their credit card bills every month.

That interest can be a major revenue source for Capital One over time so they may be more interested in approving those applicants over people who have a firm grasp on how to avoid interest.

What does this mean for your credit card strategy?

If you have a spotless credit history and your credit score is very high or perhaps even a perfect credit score then one suggestion could be to purposely have a high utilization for a couple of months before you apply.

So let’s say your utilization is typically 5% every month. In that scenario you may want to increase that utilization to somewhere around 20% to 30% for a couple of months. That is because this may signal to Capital One that you are an applicant who is more likely to pay interest.

If you are going to go this route then make sure that you do not have any credit needs during the couple of months you are doing this because your credit score will likely take a noticeable hit. Also, make sure not to go too crazy with increasing your utilization because you don’t want your credit score to completely tank.

And remember if you go this route you can still completely avoid paying any interest. The key to this method is to simply let your statement close with a higher balance but then pay off that balance completely when your bill is due.

Related: Capital One Amazon Offers & Discounts Guide

Credit score data points

Below, you can find a number of data points that we found after doing a lot of online research. The first several data points have self-reported information related to the applicant’s credit score.

It’s important to remember that people may sometimes inaccurately report their credit score but these data points do give us at least some type of data to look at so I believe they are helpful.

You will notice that some applicants had credit scores in the lower 600s such as in the 620s. However those applicants also had credit scores at or near 700 in at least one of the bureaus.

So if you happen to have one bureau with a pretty low score there still may be hope for you if your other bureaus have higher scores. (This is the one positive of Capital One pulling from all three credit bureaus.)

Approval #1

  • Credit Score Details: Experian 671
  • Approval Date: 03/01/2020
  • Credit Limit: $5,000

Approval #2

  • Credit Score Details: 750sh on all Bureaus
  • Credit Approval: 01/09/2019
  • Credit Limit : $5,000

Approval #3

  • Credit Score Details: Transunion 628/Equifax 705
  • Credit Approval: 02/20/2018
  • Credit Limit: $15,000

Approval #4

  • Credit Score Details: Transunion 714/Equifax 715/Experian 618
  • Credit Approval: 10/14/2017
  • Credit Limit: $12,000

Approval #5

  • Credit Score Details: Transunion 706 (FICO 8)/Equifax 775 (FICO 8)/Experian 700 (FICO 8)
  • Credit Approval: 07/29/2017
  • Credit Limit: $10,000

Approval #6

  • Credit Score Details: Transunion 675/Experian 682/Equifax 679
  • Credit Approval: 04/05/2018
  • Credit Limit: $15,000

Approval #7

  • Credit Score Details: Equifax 691/Transunion 626/Experian 664
  • Credit Approval: 08/06/2018
  • Credit Limit: $9,000

Approval #8

  • Credit Approval: 12/30/2018
  • Credit Limit: $15,000

Approval #9

  • Credit Approval: 03/20/2020
  • Credit Limit: $5,000

Approval #10

  • Approval Date: 07/28/2019
  • Credit Limit: $15,000

Approval #11

  • Approval Date: 03/27/2019
  • Credit Limit: $5,000

Approval #12

  • Credit Approval: 02/11/2020
  • Credit Limit: $5,000

Related: Chase Sapphire Preferred Credit Score & Income Needed for Approval

Credit limit increases?

In my personal experience, Capital One has been one of the most generous with credit limits. Still to this day they are the bank that set me up with my highest starting credit limit which was over $25,000.

The credit limit you are given will depend on a combination of your credit score and income. To maximize your credit limit with Capital One I have two recommendations.

The first is to make sure you are reporting all of the available income you can on your credit card application. There is something called accessible income which allows you to report income available to you from people like your parents or a spouse.

My second recommendation is that if you are not pleased with your credit limit then you should look into requesting a credit limit increase. Capital One can be a bit stingy with credit limit increases but it does not hurt to give it a shot since it will not affect your credit report.

Final word

With the new changes to the Capital One rewards program, all of a sudden Capital One cards are actually a lot more valuable. Getting approved for a card like the Venture can be a little bit tricky just because Capital One sometimes prefers applicants who are more likely to pay interest. You might be able to get around this by temporary increasing your utilization but just be careful that you are not hurting your odds for other credit you might need during that time.

New 100K Capital One offer

Offer no longer available

We’re starting to see a lot of new great offers roll out which is really encouraging for a few reasons.

For one, it’s now becoming easier to rack up more miles and points than it has been over the past six months.

And more importantly, it’s an indicator that things are slowly trending back towards a state of normalcy.

We still have a ways to go but we’re getting there.

With that said, the latest offer is a pretty big one.

You can now earn up to 100,000 miles when you with the new Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card.

This is a tiered offer.

If you spend $3,000 on purchases in the first three months, you will earn 50,000 miles.

And if you spend an additional $17,000 in the first 12 months of account opening, you will receive an additional 50,000 miles. Learn how to apply here.

Tip: Remember, from now until December 31, 2020, you can redeem your miles for eligible restaurant delivery, takeout and streaming service purchases.

The first half of the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card offer, 50,000 miles after spending $3,000, is a solid offer. It’s a pretty easy way to get $500 worth of travel expenses covered.

The second half of the offer obviously requires a significant amount of spend but you do get a full year to reach that goal so that is pretty doable for a lot of people.

Even if you’re not interested in spending $20,000 on this card in the first year, it could still be worth applying just for the 50,000 point bonus.

Tip: Don’t forget, that you can now also transfer your miles to various travel loyalty programs.

Finally, there is a message about eligibility that is new.

“Existing or previous Venture cardholders may not be eligible for this one-time offer.”

This new rule has not been programmed into WalletFlo yet and we also don’t have data points on if this will be enforced.

Notice that they use the word “may.”

So if you currently hold this card or if you had it in the past, be warned that you may not be eligible for this special offer. Learn how to apply here.

 

Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card vs Capital One Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card [2020]

The Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card and the Capital One Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card are two of the hottest Capital One cards. But these are two very different cards in terms of the potential value that they offer and when it comes to things like their bonus categories. In this article, I’ll go through the strengths of each card and talk about which card I would choose and why.

Capital One card eligibility

Capital One has a couple of restrictions for getting their cards.

The first is that you cannot currently have more than two Capital One branded credit cards. These are cards like the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card and the Capital One Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card. So if you already have two of those type of cards, you will need to close one of them before you pursue another one.

The other rule is the six-month rule.

This rule prohibits you from getting more than one Capital One card in a six-month period. So you just need to wait six months between your Capital One credit card applications and you will be good. 

By the way, if you would like to automate your eligibility for all of these credit card application rules, be sure to check out the new app WalletFlo. It’s a free app and it will help you optimize your credit cards by using smart automation. It’s been helping a lot of people get approved for more cards and better capitalize on their rewards so I highly recommend it.

Tip: Use WalletFlo for all your credit card needs. It’s free and will help you optimize your rewards and savings!

Early spend bonus

Capital One Venture

CAPITAL ONE VENTURE benefits

The standard offer for the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card is 50,000 miles after you spend $3,000 in the first three months. Plus, earn an additional 50,000 Bonus Points after you spend $20,000 total on purchases within the first 12 months of account opening.

Venture miles are worth 1 cent per point towards travel which means that the 50,000 point early spend bonus is worth $500 in travel. You can also redeem your points for other types of things like cash back and gift cards but you will often be losing out on value. You can read more about those redemption opportunities here. 

That’s because Capital One announced that beginning in early December 2018, you can transfer your Capital One miles to various travel partners. 

Below are the different airlines and hotels that you can transfer to along with the transfer ratios. 

  • Aeromexico (Club Premier) (2:1.5)
  • Air Canada (Aeroplan) (2:1.5)
  • Air France/KLM (Flying Blue) (2:1.5)
  • Alitalia (MilleMiglia Program) (2:1.5)
  • Avianca (LifeMiles) (2:1.5)
  • Cathay Pacific (Asia Miles) (2:1.5)
  • Emirates (Emirates Skywards) (2:1)
  • Etihad Airways (Etihad Guest) (2:1.5)
  • EVA Air (Infinity MileageLands) (2:1.5)
  • Finnair (Finnair Plus) (2:1.5)
  • Hainan Airlines (Fortune Wings Club) (2:1.5)
  • JetBlue (TrueBlue) (2:1.5)
  • Qantas (Qantas Frequent Flyer) (2:1.5)
  • Qatar Airways (Privilege Club) (2:1.5)
  • Singapore Airlines (KrisFlyer) (2:1)

Hotel partners

  • Accor Live Limitless (2:1)
  • Wyndham Rewards (2:1.5)

Having these partners is huge for two reasons.

The first is that some of these travel partners are simply fantastic. Some of these programs offer great redemption rates and allow you to mitigate or completely avoid expensive fees on your award redemptions.

Several of the programs that I really like include: Aeroplan, Avianca, EVA, Cathay Pacific, Flying Blue and Etihad. These give you some solid ways to redeem on partners like United, American, and Delta so all three legacy carriers are covered with the new partners.

Having these transfer partners also means that you can now get much more value from your points than 1 cent per point. If you transfer your points out to these partners for business class or first class bookings you can often easily get over 10 cents per point.

For example, in the past I’ve used Aeroplan miles to fly SAS in business class to cover flights worth $15,210 for two people. On that redemption we got 14 cents per point in value! That’s 14X the value you’d get with a standard redemption on travel with the Venture.

The potential for this outsized value is what makes the Venture card truly one of the contenders now.

Capital One Savor

The current offer for the Capitol One Savor is for $300 once you spend $3,000 on purchases within 3 months from account opening. (One point there was an offer for $500 after you spend $3,000 on purchases within 3 months from account opening.)

The early spend bonus for the Savor card is simply $300 cash back and you cannot transfer your points earned to travel partners.

So the Venture offers way more flexibility and a much higher ceiling for the value of your points that the Savor can’t really compete with. On the other hand, if you don’t want to transfer your points out to airline partners then the Savor could actually be a great option for you since it offers straightforward cash back for its rewards.

SAS business class on the A330.

Bonus spending

Capital One Venture

The Venture does not have true bonus categories but it earns 2 miles per dollar spent on every purchase. When you redeem your points towards travel, you’ll get 1 cent per point so it’s an effective 2% back on you purchases which isn’t bad.

Here’s what Capital One considers travel:

Purchases made from airlines, hotels, rail lines, car rental agencies, limousine services, bus lines, cruise lines, taxi cabs, travel agents and time shares are generally considered to be travel purchases

So every purchase is like getting 2% back for those purchases listed above but now that you can transfer your points to airlines at a 2:1.5 ratio, it is like earning 1.5 miles per dollar spent for the airline transfer programs which is pretty competitive.

Capital One Savor

The Capital One Savor offers a variety of bonus categories which include the following:

  • 4% cash back on dining
  • 4% cash back on entertainment
  • 2% cash back at grocery stores
  • 1% cash back on all other purchases

This is where the Savor really offers a tremendous amount of value. If you’re trying to maximize cash back on dining then the Savor will be the better option out of these cards. Capital One states that the following counts as dining:

Purchases at restaurants, cafes, bars, lounges, fast-food chains and bakeries.

Capital One notes that some merchants that sell food and drinks that are located within larger establishments (such as hotel restaurants or grocery store food counters) as well as some food trucks or food carts may not categorize themselves as dining merchants.

Not many cards offer 4% cash back on entertainment so that’s another strong point of the card. Here’s what Capital One counts toward entertainment:

movie theaters, record stores, video rentals (excluding digital streaming and subscriptions services), tourist attractions, amusement parks, aquariums, zoos, dance halls, billiard and pool establishments, bowling alleys and ticketed events (e.g., live theater, bands, orchestras and commercial sports operations).

The 2% back at supermarkets is not that impressive but here is what counts for that category:

A supermarket, meat locker, freezer, dairy product store and specialty market. Excludes superstores like Walmart and Target.

Always keep in mind “purchases made through third-party payment accounts, mobile or wireless card readers, mobile or digital wallets or similar technology may not receive a higher percentage reward, depending on how the technology is set up to process the purchase.”

A major difference between the Savor card and the Venture card is that your cash back for the Savor card can be applied at $.01 per point toward any type of purchase. So you are not limited to travel purchases to maximize your cash back.

Unfortunately, soon after the Savor upped its bonus category game to 4% back on dining, other cards also stepped up their game. For example, the Amex Gold Card offers 4X on dining and U.S. supermarkets, which can come out to much higher than 4% back since Amex has several great transfer partners.

So while I like the bonus categories for the Savor card, it’s not exactly the most compelling credit card for dining at this point due to the strong competition in this sector.

Get 4% back on dining with the Savor.

Tip: Use WalletFlo for all your credit card needs. It’s free and will help you optimize your rewards and savings!

Annual Fee

Capital One Venture

  • $0 intro for the first year, $95 after that

Capital One Savor

  • $0 intro for the first year, $95 after that

Both cards waive the annual fee for the first year so you can really get a sense of the value of the card before ever being forced to pay an annual fee.

Foreign transaction fees

Both of these cards do not come with foreign transaction fees.

$100 Global Entry/TSA Pre-Check credit

The Venture also comes with a $100 Global Entry/TSA Pre-Check credit. Many cards offer this benefit now although it’s still not super common for a card with a $95 annual fee to offer the perk.

Final word

In my opinion, the Venture is the far superior card for travelers. That’s because it comes with a strong bonus and most of all it has some of the best transfer partners out of any card. Meanwhile, the Savor is a good card for dining and entertainment, but it’s not the best dining card for many due to alternative options. However, if you are just looking for a strong cash back card for dining the Savor card is still not a bad option.

What are the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card Benefits?

The Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card is a well-known credit card but surprisingly a lot of people don’t know a ton about the Capital One Venture Benefits. Thankfully, this is a relatively straight forward credit card so you don’t have to learn about a lot of confusing and complicated benefits. In fact, if you’re looking for a simple credit credit with a solid sign-up bonus then the Capital One Venture might be just for you. 

Update: Some offers are no longer available — click here for the latest deals!

CAPITAL ONE VENTURE benefits

The #1 Capital One Venture benefit: the sign-up bonus

  • The current sign-up bonus is for 50,000 miles for spending $3,000 within 3 months.

That means that once you hit the minimum spend you’ll have earned 56,000 miles worth $560.

While there are many great cash back cards out there that earn a similar 2% return, most don’t offer such a high sign-up bonus and and that’s one of the main reasons I include the Capital One Venture in my Top 10 Travel Credit Cards.

Simplicity

One of the benefits to the Venture card is that it offers a much simpler alternative for using reward points than other cards. For the Venture, you earn “miles” through spending at a rate of 2 miles/per dollar spent. So if you spend $3,000 you earn 6,000 miles.

These miles are then redeemed at a rate of one cent per mile after you make a qualifying travel purchase. So for example, let’s say you booked a hotel for a total of $400. You would then log in to your online account after the charge posts in order to use the Capital One “Purchase Eraser” feature.

You’d then select to have your miles credited to your account for that $400 hotel stay and if you had at least 40,000 miles, the statement credit would be applied to your account within 2 to 3 business days, cancelling out your hotel expense like it never even happened.

Extended time to redeem your points 

One major Capital One Venture benefit is that Capital One gives you additional time to redeem your miles.

You are technically required to redeem your statement credit within 90 days from the date of purchase. However, you can actually call and request an extension for up to 6 months on this time restriction.

No minimum redemption amount!

One of the best Capital One Venture benefits is that there is no minimum requirement for redemptions. This is a huge benefit because it allows you to use this card to cover any of the random travel expenses you will incur as you travel, such as parking, taxis, busses, etc.

Other similar cards have much higher minimums — sometimes requiring you to cover a $100 minimum purchase.

What constitutes “travel” for the Capital One Venture?

Another major Capital One Venture benefit is that the travel category for the Capital One Venture is very broad. This means that many different purchases will qualify for you to use your points to cover the purchase.

Here are the terms taken straight from Capital One’s website:

Purchases made from airlines, hotels, rail lines, car rental agencies, limousine services, bus lines, cruise lines, taxi cabs, travel agents and time shares are generally considered to be travel purchases and availability for redemption is based on the merchant category code assigned to them by the merchant.

Capital One Venture benefits.
I use the Venture to cover high fuel surcharges like those found on British Airways first class awards.

Additional Capital One Venture Benefits

The Venture comes with a number of other additional travel benefits.

  • No foreign transaction fees
  • Fraud coverage
  • Security alerts
  • Travel upgrades and savings
  • 24 hour concierge service

It’s always nice to have a solid Visa credit card (with wide acceptance) that you can take with you internationally and not have to worry about paying fees when making purchases.

Since this is a Visa Signature card, it also comes with all of the Visa Signature benefits, some of which include:

  • Purchase protection
  • Lost luggage reimbursement
  • Auto rental insurance
  • Travel accident insurance
  • Roadside dispatch

You can find the home page for the Capital One Venture benefits here.

Final Word

Overall, the Capital One Venture benefits are solid for a card with a low annual fee that’s waived the first year.

Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card vs the Barclaycard Arrival Plus

Two of the top “statement credit” travel cards are the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card and the Barclaycard Arrival Plus. These cards are very similar and offer many of the same benefits, such as identical sign-up bonuses. There are some key differences between the cards, however, and some of those differences may make you prefer one card over the other. Here’s a comparison of the Capital One Venture Card vs the Barclaycard Arrival Plus.

Update: Some offers are no longer available — click here for the latest deals!

How these card work

Both of these cards earn “miles” that come in the form of redeemable points worth 1 cent per point. So, for example, if you earn 40,000 miles with a sign-up bonus, that equates to $400 worth of redeemable points. You then use your earned miles to redeem statement credits after you make qualifying travel purchases, effectively canceling out your travel purchase. It’s one of the easiest ways to earn and redeem points and the simplicity of these type of rewards credit cards, attracts a lot of consumers.

Sign-up bonus

Both cards have offered the same sign-up bonus for 40,000 miles for spending $3,000 within 3 months. However, the Barclaycard Arrival Plus recently upped its bonus to 50,000 miles! 

Bonus earning potential 

Both cards earn 2X on all purchases when those miles are redeemed towards travel. 

While they both earn “double the miles” remember that they are not true 2X cards, since you only get that much value when you redeem your miles toward travel expenses. Other cards like the Citi Double Cash give you 2X on everything and don’t limit your redemptions to travel (more on that card below).  

Additional Earnings

The Barclaycard has the Barclaycard RewardsBoost. This is a web portal where you can log-in and make purchases with your Barclaycard and earn additional miles on items from a host of different retailers. There’s also the Barclaycard Travel Community, which allows you to earn miles by sharing notes and photos about your travels. You can learn more about these earning opportunities here.

Capitol One does not currently offer a shopping portal so there’s no way (aside from promotions) to earn additional miles with shopping. 

How is travel defined?

Here are the terms taken straight from Capital One’s website: 

Purchases made from airlines, hotels, rail lines, car rental agencies, limousine services, bus lines, cruise lines, taxi cabs, travel agents and time shares are generally considered to be travel purchases and availability for redemption is based on the merchant category code assigned to them by the merchant.

Here are the terms taken straight from the Barclaycard:

Merchants in the travel category include airlines, hotels, motels, timeshares, campgrounds, car rental agencies, cruise lines, travel agencies, discount travel sites, trains, buses, taxis, limousines, and ferries.

Barclay’s definition of travel appears to be a little bit more expansive because it lists more examples, but I’m not sure that it actually is. Whether or not something qualifies as “travel” usually just comes down to how the merchant codes the purchase and I’d be surprised if there was a major difference between the cards. In any event, you can rest assured that the major and most common travel purchases (airlines, hotels, trains, etc.) will likely be covered by both cards. Thus, I don’t think there’s a clear winner here.

Rules on redeeming

Both cards differ pretty significantly when it comes to the rules for redeeming.

Time frame

Capital One

  • You have to redeem your statement credit within 90 days from the date of purchase. (You may not be aware but you can actually call and request an extension for up to 6 months on this time restriction.)

Barclaycard

  • You have to redeem your statement credit within 120 days from the date of purchase. Unfortnately, there is no option for getting an extension but 4 months should be plenty of time for you to redeem your miles. 

Minimum redemption amount

Capital One

  • There is no minimum requirement for redemptions.
  • For partial redemptions, the minimum requirement is $25 (or 2,500 points).

Barclaycard

  • $100 minimum for all redemptions. 

This is where the Venture card wins huge.

There are so many miscellaneous travel purchases like taxi rides that fall under $100 that Barclaycard has made it terribly inconvenient to use its card with its $100 minimum. However, with no minimum redemption requirement, the Venture is a perfect card to cover these expenses.

Redemption rebate

Capital One

  • No rebate 

Barclaycard

  • 5% rebate

When you redeem your points with the Barclaycard Arrival Plus, you automatically get 5% of your points put back into your account. So if you were to redeem all 46,000 of your points earned from your sign-up bonus with your first redemption, you’d get 2,300 points put back into your account for $23 worth of travel.

That rebate (which used to be 10%) is decent but keep in mind you’ve still got to spend $3,850 on your card to meet the 10,000 points threshold to redeem your miles for a purchase. And that’s $3,850 worth of spend that could’ve gone on another card to likely earn a much more valuable amount of travel.

For that reason, I personally don’t put too much value in the 5% rebate benefit.

Annual Fee

Capital One

  • $59, waived the first year

Barclaycard

  • $89, waived the first year

Some people cite to the additional $23 gained from the 5% rebate on the Arrival Plus as a reason for why these annual fees are roughly equal. As already stated, I don’t value the 5% rebate because of the need to spend so much extra on the card. But more than that, both of these cards are “earn and burn” in my book, meaning that I would downgrade them after the first year in order to avoid the annual fee.

If you’re thinking about keeping either of these cards for the long term and paying the annual fee, I’d recommend you to reconsider your decision.

For most people, I’d venture (no pun intended) to guess that you’d be better served with a no annual fee cash back card like the Citi Double Cash if you’re wanting to just earn straight 2X back on spending. While the Barclaycard Arrival Plus offers a higher effective earning rate of 2.11 (with the 5% rebate factored in), you’d still have to spend $87,000 in order to offset the annual fee that you don’t have to pay with the Citi Double Cash ($87,000 x 2 = 174,000 miles and 174,000 x .05 =  8,700 miles or $87). 

And for many others, cards like the Amex EveryDay and Chase Freedom cards (when paired with the Sapphire Preferred or the Ink Plus) will provide superior value in travel redemptions with so much spend put on them, especially if you’re interested in redeeming for premium airfare. $87,000 worth of spend on the Chase Trifecta, could go a long way and net you thousands of dollars more in travel value. 

Therefore, the only way that I’d even think about using the Arrival Plus in the long-term is if I earned over 174,000 Barclay miles a year and was very adverse to rewards programs that require points to be transferred to travel partners.  

Credit bureaus pulled

One great thing about the Arrival Plus is that Barclaycard will often pull Transunion (although sometimes they will pull from an additional bureau as well). Transunion is the bureau that seems to get pulled the least from the major banks, so applying for the Arrival Plus is a great way to give your credit report a rest.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, Capital One will often pull from all three bureaus! The good news is that you can freeze one of your credit reports like Experian (and still get approved). It will cost you about $22 total, but if you’re really trying to preserve your credit inquiries it might be worth it to you. 

Redeeming for non-travel items

Capital One 

You can redeem your miles for cash in the form of a check or account credit, gift cards and more. The redemption rate remains at 1 cent per point for gift cards and charitable redemptions but if you’re trying to redeem for a check or statement credit, it drops down to .5 cents per point (not worth it in my opinion).

Barclaycard

You can also redeem your miles for statement credits and gift cards but for these redemptions you’ll be redeeming at .5 cent per point, making the Capital One Venture a bit more versatile and valuable. 

Other benefits 

Although one card is a Visa Signature and the other one is a Mastercard World Elite, both cards have the standard benefits you’d expect from travel rewards credit cards, including: 

  • No foreign transaction fees
  • Purchase protection
  • Lost luggage reimbursement
  • Auto rental insurance
  • Fraud coverage

One benefit of the Arrival Plus is that it offers EMV chip technology, making it a great card to bring around in places like Europe where it’s often necessary to have a “true” chip and pin to go through with a purchase.

Final Word

Overall, these cards are very closely matched, but I’d give the edge to the Capital One Venture since it has no minimum for redemptions and is thus more practical to use to cover the array of travel expenses you might incur. However, in the end, I view both cards as “earn and burn” options and not as options for long-term use, so it’s really all about utilizing the sign-up bonuses for me. 

Review of the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card

The Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card is often shamed and overlooked for other travel cards offered by Chase, Citi, and American Express, but that shouldn’t be the case. The truth is that the Venture card is actually a great option for many people and it can help lower your traveling costs to about as close to zero as they can reasonably get. Here’s a review of the Capital One Venture card and some insight into how to maximize its use.

Update: Some offers are no longer available — click here for the latest deals!

How do the “miles” work?

Unlike Chase, Citi, and Amex cards, where you earn points that are transferred to frequent flyer or hotel rewards programs, the Capital One Venture works a lot differently. For this card, you earn “miles” (which are really just points) through spending at a rate of 2 miles/per dollar spent. So if you spend $3,000 you earn 6,000 miles.

These miles can then be redeemed at one cent per mile after you make a qualifying travel purchase. So for example, let’s say you booked a hotel for a total of $400. You would then log in to your online account after the charge posts in order to use the Capital One “Purchase Eraser” feature. You’d then select to have your miles credited to your account for that $400 hotel stay and if you had at least 40,000 miles, the statement credit would be applied to your account within 2 to 3 business days, cancelling out your hotel expense.

This method of redeeming is perfect for individuals who don’t like to deal with the hassle (or perceived complexity) of transferring points to loyalty programs. With this type of card, you simply make a travel purchase (without any regard for availability restrictions) and redeem your points. It’s very simple. 

Time frame

You have to redeem your statement credit within 90 days from the date of purchase. That doesn’t mean that your miles expire, just that you won’t be able to get reimbursed for a charge if you wait longer than 90 days from the date that it posts to your account. 

A lot of people don’t know this but you can actually call and request an extension for up to 6 months on this time restriction. Of course, it’s always better to play it safe and redeem within 90 days, but at least there’s an option for you in case you find yourself in a bind.

No minimum redemption amount!

One of the best perks of the Capital One Venture card is that there is no minimum requirement for redemptions. This is a huge benefit because it allows you to use this card to cover random travel expenses you will incur as you travel, such as parking, taxis, busses, etc. If you’re truly trying to travel for free, the Capital One Venture is one of the best cards to supplement your other “heavy hitter” travel credit cards with.

If you want to make partial redemptions for expenses the minimum requirement is $25 (or 2,500 points). For example, if you wanted to redeem points to cover part of the cost of a hotel stay, you’d have to be redeeming at least 2,500 points. This minimum requirement is still extremely reasonable considering the minimum redemption requirement for cards like the Arrival Plus.

Redeeming miles for the same purchase 

Some people have had success with redeeming miles for the same purchase over and over again. So if you have 30,000 miles and one $100 purchase, you could theoretically redeem against that purchase three times and basically earn a $200 statement credit that would apply to any purchase. I haven’t personally tested this out, so I don’t know if this “glitch” still remains live.

One thing that I know you can do is redeem in segments on the same purchase. So for example, let’s say you were redeeming your miles for a $300 hotel stay. You could redeem 20,000 miles for that purchase one day and then a month later redeem an additional 10,000 miles for the remaining $100 for that purchase.

Booking travel with miles

You can also book air fare, hotels, and car rentals with your miles. The value works out to the same at 1 cent per point but you’ll just need to do research to make sure that whatever you’re booking is a good deal.

What constitutes “travel” for the Capital One Venture?

Just like some other cards like the Chase Sapphire Preferred or the Citi Thankyou Premier, the travel category for the Capital One Venture is quite broad.

Here are the terms taken straight from Capital One’s website: 

Purchases made from airlines, hotels, rail lines, car rental agencies, limousine services, bus lines, cruise lines, taxi cabs, travel agents and time shares are generally considered to be travel purchases and availability for redemption is based on the merchant category code assigned to them by the merchant.

It all comes down to how the merchant codes the purchase. You can pretty much always expect purchases on things like airlines, hotels, and rail lines to properly code as travel but things get a little bit muddled when you try to redeem on things like campground purchases, so sometimes you might have to do a little bit of research to see how a merchant codes a purchase. 

Redeeming for non-travel items

You can also redeem your miles for cash in the form of a check or account credit, gift cards and more. The redemption rate remains at 1 cent per point for gift cards and charitable redemptions but if you’re trying to redeem for a check or statement credit, it drops down to .5 cents per point (not worth it in my opinion).

Sign-up bonus

  • The current sign-up bonus is for 40,000 miles for spending $3,000 within 3 months.

That means that once you hit the minimum spend you’ll have earned 46,000 miles. Since these miles are redeemed at 1 cent per point for travel that means you’ll earn the equivalent of $460 worth of statement credit that can be applied against your travel purchases. 

Bonus earning potential 

The Capital One Venture card doesn’t earn extra points for special categories like dining but it does earn 2X miles on every single purchase. 

Capital One usually pulls Transunion

One of the drawbacks to this card is that Capital One will often pull from all 3 credit bureaus, which is not so great for those who are already pretty deep into the game with lots of inquiries. To help mitigate the damage, you can always freeze one of your credit bureaus. I know of at least of a couple of people who have frozen their Experian report for about $11 (and another $11 to unfreeze it) and still got instantly approved for their card. It takes about 1 minute to freeze your report and if you’re adverse to getting hit with more inquiries, it’s at least something to think about.

Benefits

The Venture comes with a number of nice (although pretty standard) travel benefits.

  • No foreign transaction fees
  • Fraud coverage
  • Security alerts
  • Travel upgrades and savings
  • 24 hour concierge service

Since this is a Visa Signature card, it also comes with all of the Visa Signature benefits, some of which include:

  • Purchase protection
  • Lost luggage reimbursement
  • Auto rental insurance
  • Travel accident insurance
  • Roadside dispatch

Annual Fee

  • $59, waived the first year

This means that you would need to earn at least 5,900 points to cover the annual fee (with travel reimbursements). That comes out to $2,950 of spending to break even with this card which isn’t bad but if you’re thinking about long-term earnings, you should consider the opportunity cost. 

Just to break even on this card you’d potentially be forgoing hitting a $3,000 spend requirement on a different card that that would provide you with much more value. Also, if you’re interested in business class or first class award redemptions, you’re going to have to spend much, much more on your Capital One Venture card than on a card like the Chase Sapphire Preferred to earn anywhere near the miles needed for those redemptions.

Final Word 

Overall, the Capital One Venture card is a great for two subsets of travelers. The first are those travelers who don’t like the hassle of transferring points and dealing with award availability and redemptions. Although I think the hassle is definitely worth the trouble, not everyone feels that way and for those people, a card like the Venture will be helpful.

The second subset of travelers that will benefit from this card are those looking to cover random travel expenses that otherwise couldn’t be covered with other types of credit cards. However, beyond utilizing the $460 earned from obtaining the sign-up bonus, I don’t think this is a card that you would want to hold on to in the long-term and you’d probably want to eventually consider downgrading it to a no-annual fee credit card.