- Intro Offer
-
20,000 miles Earn a bonus of 20,000 miles once you spend $500 on purchases within 3 months from account opening, equal to $200 in travel
- Annual fee
- $0
- APR
- 19.99% – 29.99% (Variable)
- Recommended Credit A credit score is used to indicate an applicant’s credit worthiness and may provide guidance about account eligibility. It does not necessarily guarantee approval for any financial product.
-
670 – 850
Good – Excellent
- Rewards rate
-
1.25x – 5x Earn 5X miles on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel, where you’ll get Capital One’s best prices on thousands of trip options; Earn unlimited 1.25X miles on every purchase, every day.
The Capital One VentureOne Rewards Credit Card* offers a good opportunity to bolster your travels with decent rewards and surprisingly useful perks for a card with no annual fee.
It’s a straightforward travel credit card that you can use to earn 1.25x miles per dollar on every purchase, with a greater reward rate for hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel.
The card’s perks are more impressive than most travel cards with no annual fee, as they include a few travel protections like travel accident insurance** and auto rental collision damage waiver**. There are no foreign transaction fees either, so you can use the card outside of the US without worrying about additional costs.
However, because it doesn’t feature any annual travel credits, airport lounge access or, for example, a Global Entry/TSA PreCheck application fee credit, it’s best used by those who only travel a handful of times each year.
Rewards and redemption
The rewards offered by the VentureOne are impressive, considering its lack of an annual fee. In addition to its simple structure of 1.25x miles for most purchases, cardholders can earn 5x miles for hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel. You won’t have to worry about your miles expiring for the life of the account once you’ve earned them, either.
After earning your miles, you can redeem them for:
- Past travel expenses made within 90 days
- Statement credits
- Paper checks
- Gift cards
- Purchases through PayPal and Amazon.com
Miles are worth 1 cent so long as you redeem for past travel expenses. The other redemption options will likely provide a lower per-mile value.
Eligible past travel expenses include airlines, hotels, rail lines, car rental agencies, limousine services, bus lines, cruise lines, taxi cabs, travel agents and timeshares.
While redeeming for past travel purchases is the easiest option -- and a good way to secure a solid return on your travel spending -- you could find an even better per-mile value by transferring your miles to one of Capital One’s travel partners. Depending on the transfer ratio, it will likely be worth the extra effort.
Take a look at all of Capital One’s hotel and airline partners, and the transfer ratios to each:
| Travel partner | Transfer ratio (Capital One mile:Partner mile) |
| Aeromexico Club Premier | 1:1 |
| Aeroplan | 1:1 |
| Asia Miles | 1:1 |
| Avianca LifeMiles | 1:1 |
| British Airways Executive Club | 1:1 |
| Choice Privileges | 1:1 |
| Emirates Skywards | 1:1 |
| Etihad Guest | 1:1 |
| Finnair Plus | 1:1 |
| Flying Blue | 1:1 |
| Qantas Frequent Flyer | 1:1 |
| Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer | 1:1 |
| TAP Miles & Go | 1:1 |
| Turkish Airlines Miles & Smiles | 1:1 |
| Virgin Red | 1:1 |
| EVA Air Infinity MileageLands | 2:1.5 |
| ALL – Accor Live Limitless | 2:1 |
So while Capital One doesn’t have partnerships with many US airlines, international travelers may want to consider transferring miles to find better value.
Capital One Travel
Capital One Travel is Capital One’s travel portal for its cardholders. You can book your hotel, rental car and airline through this platform, but you’ll only earn 5x miles per dollar for hotels and rental cars with the VentureOne.
Cardholders are able to cancel their flights for any reason, get price-drop protection, price match capabilities, and compare prices among hotels and airfare. If you can use it for your hotel and rental car you should, but it also wouldn’t be a bad idea to shop around and compare prices.
Welcome bonus
The VentureOne offers a welcome bonus of 20,000 bonus miles for spending $500 on purchases within the first three months with the card. If you have any planned trips coming up, you could use the card to cover it, and then in return use the bonus miles to fund a part of the trip.
The welcome bonus would equate to $200 if you redeem for past travel purchases, which might cover a night or two at a hotel or even a plane ticket depending on where you’re headed.
Introductory purchase and balance transfer offer
The VentureOne offers cardholders the opportunity to transfer a balance from another card that’s accruing interest, or make a large, planned purchase, and pay it down at 0% introductory interest for 15 months (then 19.99% to 29.99% variable). There is a 3% balance transfer fee during the promotional period (4% at a promotional APR that Capital One may offer you at any other time), but after that period, there’s no fee to transfer a balance.
However, don’t let the lack of balance transfer fee after the promotional period encourage you to make unnecessary balance transfers. Banks make much more money through periodic interest charges at the standard APR than by charging a one-time balance transfer fee.
So if you transfer a balance within the 15 months, you’ll pay a 3% balance transfer fee. But that pales in comparison to the money you could end up paying in interest charges on another credit card.
An introductory purchase APR is a great tool to use if you have any trips planned. You can charge the cost to your card and then pay it down while avoiding interest.
That said, try not to buy anything you normally wouldn’t just because of the introductory APR offers. It can be easy to slip into credit card debt.
Other card perks
The Capital One VentureOne Rewards card offers a surprising number of additional perks for a card that doesn’t ask for an annual fee.
In addition to the perks listed below, people can access Capital One’s CreditWise tool to monitor their credit score and get help in the instance of stolen identity. CreditWise is free for everyone to use, not only Capital One cardholders.
- Travel accident insurance**: You’re covered against accidental death and dismemberment while traveling. Coverage is up to $250,000.
- Auto rental collision damage waiver**: Decline the rental car provider’s insurance offer and charge the full amount to your card to get coverage against damage and theft. Rental car insurance provided by the card is secondary and will only pay out after your primary insurance policy.
- Extended warranty**: Get an additional year on manufacturer’s warranties of three years or less.
Alternative cards
While the VentureOne presents a good opportunity for the general traveler, it’s not the only affordable travel card on the market.
Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card
The Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card* is the upgraded version of the VentureOne Rewards card. As such, it does require a $95 annual fee, but in return it offers higher rewards (2x miles per dollar for most purchases rather than 1.25x) and greater perks.
The additional card perks include an application fee credit for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck and two annual complimentary visits to Capital One’s airport lounge, plus a larger welcome bonus (75,000 bonus miles for spending $4,000 on purchases in the first three months with the card).
It packs a bit more of a punch, but because of its annual fee and more advanced travel benefits, it’s better suited to people who travel enough to use everything it has to offer. If you’re on the road enough, consider this version over the VentureOne.
You can learn more in our full review of the Capital One Venture Rewards card.
Discover it® Miles
The Discover it Miles* presents a simple way to earn miles and then use them to fund your travels through statement credits. Use the card for everything to earn 1.5x miles per dollar. But even better, Discover will essentially double the miles you earn for your first year with the card through its Unlimited Discover Match® welcome bonus at the end of your first year. There’s even an introductory APR offer for both purchases and balance transfers that matches the VentureOne’s.
It’s an uncomplicated card experience with no annual fee or foreign transaction fees, designed for people who don’t travel too often but want to work toward funding a trip through everyday spending.
- Intro Offer
-
20,000 miles Earn a bonus of 20,000 miles once you spend $500 on purchases within 3 months from account opening, equal to $200 in travel
- Annual fee
- $0
- APR
- 19.99% – 29.99% (Variable)
- Intro Purchase APR
- 0% intro on purchases for 15 months
- Recommended Credit A credit score is used to indicate an applicant’s credit worthiness and may provide guidance about account eligibility. It does not necessarily guarantee approval for any financial product.
- Good – Excellent
- Rewards rate
-
1.25x – 5x Earn 5X miles on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel, where you’ll get Capital One’s best prices on thousands of trip options; Earn unlimited 1.25X miles on every purchase, every day.
- Intro Offer
-
75,000 miles Enjoy a one-time bonus of 75,000 miles once you spend $4,000 on purchases within 3 months from account opening, equal to $750 in travel
- Annual fee
- $95
- APR
- 19.99% – 29.99% (Variable)
- Intro Purchase APR
- N/A
- Recommended Credit A credit score is used to indicate an applicant’s credit worthiness and may provide guidance about account eligibility. It does not necessarily guarantee approval for any financial product.
- Good – Excellent
- Rewards rate
-
2x – 5x Earn 5X miles on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel, where you’ll get Capital One’s best prices on thousands of trip options; Earn unlimited 2X miles on every purchase, every day.
- Intro Offer
-
60,000 Membership Rewards® Points Earn 60,000 Membership Rewards® Points after you spend $6,000 on eligible purchases with your new Card within the first 6 months of Card Membership.
- Annual fee
- $250
- APR
- See Pay Over Time APR
- Intro Purchase APR
- N/A
- Recommended Credit A credit score is used to indicate an applicant’s credit worthiness and may provide guidance about account eligibility. It does not necessarily guarantee approval for any financial product.
- Good – Excellent
- Rewards rate
-
3x – 4x Earn 4X Membership Rewards® Points at Restaurants, plus takeout and delivery in the U.S.; Earn 4X Membership Rewards® points at U.S. supermarkets (on up to $25,000 per calendar year in purchases, then 1X).; Earn 3X Membership Rewards® points on flights booked directly with airlines or on amextravel.com.
FAQs
The difference between the three Venture cards -- the VentureOne Rewards, Venture Rewards and Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card* -- lies in the annual fees, rewards and travel benefits. The VentureOne doesn’t require an annual fee and offers the lowest rewards rate and least impressive benefits, but is still a good choice for people who don’t travel frequently.
The Venture Rewards card is a mid-tier travel card with a $95 annual fee that can be a worthwhile everyday card as well -- it comes with a few extra benefits to make your travels more comfortable. Meanwhile, the Venture X is a premium travel credit card designed for frequent flyers who like airport lounges and other amenities, but carries a $395 annual fee.
You’ll need to look at your spending habits. Do you travel enough to utilize any annual travel credits the travel card may offer? Do you find yourself in an airport often enough to relax in an airport lounge? Would you benefit from additional perks like priority boarding or your first checked bag free of charge? If the answer is yes, paying an annual fee for a more advanced credit card will likely give you the best value and make your travel experience far more comfortable.
However, if you only travel a handful of times per year, a more general travel card would be a better choice.
Capital One Dining gives cardholders exclusive access to dining-related experiences. The experiences include tables at award-winning restaurants, exclusive reservations and special events such as rare chef collaborations.
*All information about the American Express Gold Card, Discover it Miles, Capital One VentureOne Rewards Credit Card, Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card, and the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card has been collected independently by CNET and has not been reviewed by the issuer.
**Terms, conditions, and exclusions apply. Please refer to your Guide to Benefits for more details.
The editorial content on this page is based solely on objective, independent assessments by our writers and is not influenced by advertising or partnerships. It has not been provided or commissioned by any third party. However, we may receive compensation when you click on links to products or services offered by our partners.
