The Capital One Venture Card

The Capital One Venture Card effectively yields 2% cash back on all purchases and carries no foreign transaction fees.  Each dollar spent on the card technically earns two “no hassle miles,” but “miles” is a bit of a misnomer as these “miles” simply equate to one cent each and can be redeemed for a statement credit against any previously incurred travel expense.

Signup Bonus and Fees

The current signup bonus for the Venture card is 10,000 miles (read: $100) after spending $1,000 in the first three months.

Note:  Back in March 2012, Capital One ran a promotion where new applicants could earn a signup bonus of two miles for every dollar they spent on a competitor’s credit card in the prior year, up to 100,000 miles ($1,000).  No word on whether this bonus will resurface.

There is a $59 annual fee for the Venture card, which is waived for the first year.  The card has no foreign transaction fee.

The Rewards

Each dollar spent on the Venture card earns two “no-hassle miles,” but, notwithstanding the “miles” designation, this amounts to a 2% cash rebate in the form of a statement credit.  The reason that these miles are essentially equivalent to cash is because they are incredibly easy to exchange for a statement credit against any travel expense charged on the card in the prior 3 months.  The “travel” category is quite broad, and includes all of the obvious expenses (flights, hotels, rental cars) and some less obvious expenses (taxis, tolls, public transportation, etc.).

Note:  Never use your miles for a statement credit against non-travel purchases – for some reason, you only get half the value (½ cent per mile) for credits against these purchases.

For example, let’s say have a balance of 4,000 “no-hassle” miles (earned by spending $2,000 on the card).  Those miles can be redeemed, on a purchase-by-purchase basis, for a statement credit against any travel expense incurred within the last 3 months at a rate of 1 cent per mile.  So if you’ve taken three $12 cab rides, you can request a statement credit against all three charges for $36 and still have 400 points left over.  There is no minimum redemption requirement; you can redeem 600 points against a $6 in-flight beer or 100,000 points against a $1,000 flight.  And there’s no incentive for redeeming miles in bulk – it’s always 1 cent per mile, no matter how many are redeemed – so it makes sense to redeem your miles as soon as you have enough to cover any given travel expense.

The Bottom Line

The Capital One Venture Card effectively yields a 2% cash rebate on all purchases, has no foreign transaction fees, and is a great option for people who want to earn valuable rewards without investing  the time and energy it takes to redeem traditional (i.e. non-fixed value) points and miles efficiently.