How to maximize your Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card

After the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card entered the picture, it has taken up much of the conversation surrounding Capital One travel cards. However, the Venture X’s sister card — the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card continues to be an attractive rewards credit card that can offer something to everyone.

Sure, it’s primarily for frequent travelers, but its rewards are flexible enough to provide a benefit even if you’d rather stay at home. If you’re not booking flights or hotels, you can still redeem your rewards toward Amazon.com purchases or Capital One Entertainment like VIP tickets and culinary events. If neither of those gets you excited, gift cards, statement credits or cash back are among other options.

It might be a slight drawback that the Capital One Venture carries a $95 annual fee. Still, if you use it as your primary credit card, its benefits will easily outweigh that cost, especially if you’re able to utilize your Venture Rewards Card to its fullest extent.

Earning rewards with the Capital One Venture Rewards

Unlike other travel cards with bonus rates across various categories, Capital One travel cards maintain a flat rate, besides its bonus category on Capital One Travel. As such, the Capital One Venture Card earns 5X miles on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel and 2X miles on all other purchases.

With these rates, it can be easy to rack up significant rewards by using this card on both general and travel purchases. With a $1,325 monthly spend, we estimate this card’s annual value to be around $328.

If we look at other cards in the Venture family, this is a competitive offer. If you compare the Venture and the VentureOne, for example, the latter doesn’t charge an annual fee, but only offers 1.25X miles on all general purchases, decreasing the earning potential.

All in all, the Capital One Venture is a solid choice for earning Capital One miles.

How to maximize rewards on the Capital One Venture Rewards

The first thing you need to do to maximize your rewards on the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card is earn the sign-up bonus.

To earn the bonus, you’ll need to spend $4,000 in the first three months after account opening. You can earn 75,000 miles — or about $750 in travel — when you meet this threshold. Note, only new account holders are eligible for the offer.

Keep in mind that every purchase you make on the card earns you an unlimited 2X miles. If you can use the card and still pay the balance off every month, you should be able to rack up significant miles in no time.

Best ways to redeem your rewards

The best value for redeeming miles on the Capital One Venture Rewards Card comes from travel. Whether you redeem a travel purchase through Capital One Travel or make an outside travel purchase, your miles basically equal 1 cent each. In contrast, when you opt for gift cards (0.8 cents each), statement credits (0.5 cents each) and checks (0.5 cent each), rewards equal only a fraction of a cent.

In addition, when you redeem for travel purchases, there is no minimum number of miles you have to accumulate before you can redeem, no blackout dates for travel, no expiration dates for miles and no limits on the number of miles you can use.

The Capital One Venture Rewards Card also has a rare but useful redemption option — you can redeem any eligible travel purchase on a third-party site as statement credit. Though a less well-known choice, it’s quite a useful one, especially because Capital One defines “travel purchase” quite liberally, including Uber, taxis and public transit. As long as you made the purchase within the last 90 days using your Venture Rewards Card, you can “erase” that expense.

Transferring your miles to a Capital One transfer partner can give you access to more places around the world than you might get to by flying on miles alone — and for a better deal. For example, if you find an airline partner that offers a cheaper rate for where you want to go, like Aeroplan from Air Canada, or one that doesn’t tack on additional fees and surcharges, it’s a great way to maximize the value of your miles.

However, all travel partners aren’t created equal, depending on the transfer rate or the value of the miles after the transfer. Some of the best ones to transfer your miles to include Aeroplan (Air Canada), Avianca, British Airways and Etihad Airways. Do your own research on the mile value of each travel partner before deciding if transferring is right for you.

How to use the Capital One Venture Rewards Card’s other perks

There are other ways to maximize this card while traveling that make it a must in your wallet while you’re abroad.

First, there are no foreign transaction fees on any purchase outside the United States. Plus, you can sail smoothly through airport security lines with the card’s statement credit of up to $100 for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck (your choice) every four years.

Meanwhile, you can get reimbursed for up to $250,000 when you experience a covered accident during your travels, if you pay for your trip using the Venture Rewards Card. Also, when you decline a rental car’s collision damage waiver and use the secondary car rental insurance included with this card, you’ll be reimbursed for the value of the vehicle if it’s damaged or stolen.

You can still make your Capital One Venture Rewards Card worth it for you even if you don’t want to travel. It comes with strong shopping benefits, such as redeeming rewards with PayPal and Amazon.com. You also get access to Capital One Shopping, which automatically hunts for coupon codes when you check out online. While shopping, keep in mind that you’re also covered in case something goes wrong with the card’s extended warranty offer for one additional year on eligible purchases.

Finally, you’ll have access to exclusive events, such as March Madness, artist soundchecks and exclusive dinners with Michelin-star chefs through Capital One Entertainment.

Bottom line

The Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card offers a flat rate 2X mile on all purchases with no earning cap. And even though this card is truly best for those who spend $10,000 or more a year on travel, there are still plenty of perks that will make other cardholders feel like they still got quite a bang for the card’s $95 annual fee.