MoneyGeek’s Take

Capital One Venture Review

The Capital One Venture Rewards credit card is a great, introductory-level rewards card for travelers who like simple rewards and earnings. While it doesn’t have many luxury perks, it does offer two miles on every dollar spent and a bonus of 60,000 miles if you spend $3,000 on purchases within three months of opening the account.

Advertising & Editorial DisclosureLast Updated: 7/15/2022
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Last Updated: 7/15/2022

With this card, your bonus miles do not expire as long as the account stays open. You can redeem these miles for gift cards as a statement credit against travel-related purchases or transfer them to more than 15 partner airlines and hotels.

In this Capital One Venture review, we will discuss its pros and cons and compare it with other cards to see if it is the best option for frequent travelers.

Card Details to Know Up Front
  • Bonus, Fee or Feature
    Has or Not
  • Has Annual Fee
  • Has Balance Transfer Offer
  • Has APR Offer
  • Cash Back Rewards
  • Travel Rewards
Click to see this card’s rates, fees and how they compare to other cards in our dataset.
OUR REVIEW AT A GLANCE

Capital One Venture at a Glance

The Capital One Venture Card does not charge a foreign transaction fee and offers many travel rewards such as 2x miles on every purchase and a bonus of 60,000 miles for spending $3,000 within three months. The simple earnings and flexible redemptions make it one of the best credit cards in the category.

You also get a $100 credit for a TSA PreCheck or Global Entry application fee with this card. In addition, it offers travel accident insurance and car rental coverage at no extra cost.


  • Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card

    A great rewards card that lets you earn unlimited miles

    • Good-ExcellentCredit Needed
    • $95Annual Fee
    • 2 Miles per $1Rewards Rate
    • 2xRewards Rate on Air Travel
    • 2xRewards Rate at Hotels

    Terms, rates and fees apply

    Compare this credit card with other top-rated cards from our partners.

Pros & Cons Explained

To better understand the Capital One Venture’s benefits and drawbacks, let’s quickly discuss some of the card’s primary pros and cons.

Pros

  • Benefits
    Description
  • High reward rate
    With this card, you earn two miles on every dollar spent, which gives credit card members a return of 2% on every purchase.
  • Early spending bonus
    The sign-up bonus on this card offers 60,000 miles once you spend $3,000 within three months of opening your account.
  • No foreign transaction fee
    The Capital One Venture card does not charge any fee on international transactions. On other cards, this fee is often in the ballpark of 3%.
  • Flexible reward redemption options
    This card lets you redeem your reward miles in several different ways. You can cover any travel purchase by redeeming miles for statement credit, paying upfront with miles at Capital One’s travel portal or transferring miles to partner airlines or hotels. You can even use them for Amazon.com purchases.

Cons

  • Drawbacks
    Description
  • High variable APR
    This card has a high variable APR of 17.24%–24.49%, making it a costly proposition if you carry your balance forward every month.
  • Limited travel partners
    With this card, you can transfer your miles to a limited number of travel partners and most of the partner airlines are non-U.S. airlines.
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LOOKING FOR THE BEST CREDIT CARDS OF 2022?

The Capital One Venture card is not featured in The Best Travel Credit Cards of 2022 by MoneyGeek. You can visit the page to check out our recommended travel credit cards. We update this list monthly.

Bonuses & Rewards Explained

The Capital One Venture card has a great rewards program for travelers. Depending on your needs and preferences, you can reap many travel benefits from this card.

1

2x miles on every purchase

By spending one dollar with this card, you get two miles which do not expire as long as the account stays open. There’s also no limit on how much you can earn.

2

Early spending bonus

The Capital One Venture card rewards you with 60,000 miles once you spend $3,000 within three months. You can use this card for regular purchases to reach the spending requirement early.

3

TSA PreCheck or Global Entry credit

With this card, you receive up to $100 credit for the application fee of TSA PreCheck or Global Entry every four years.

4

Several reward redemption options

You can redeem your rewards as a statement credit to cover travel purchases, transfer them to travel partners, buy gift cards or do online shopping at Amazon.

Other Features Explained

The Capital One Venture card also offers many other useful features. Having a look at them can be helpful while deciding between this and other travel rewards cards.

  • Card Feature
    Description
  • Travel accident insurance
    In case of injury or death during travel, this card provides you with travel accident insurance up to $250,000 worth of coverage.
  • 24/7 travel assistance
    Capital One will send you a replacement card and a cash advance if you lose your card during travel.
  • $0 fraud liability
    You have zero liability if your Capital One card is used for any fraudulent transactions.
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MONEYGEEK EXPERT TIP

"Capitol One Venture Rewards are incredibly flexible. Use these points for travel expenses you can’t redeem with other programs, such as tickets to Disneyland or short-term rental bookings." - Alene Laney, Credit Card Journalist

Understanding the Fine Print

Understanding the fees and rewards rates associated with the Capital One Venture card will help you decide if this card is worth applying for.

  • Card Feature
    Amount or Rate
  • APR
    17.24%–24.49%
  • Annual Fee
    $95
  • Cash Back Rewards
  • Rewards Rate
    2 Miles per $1
  • Airline Benefits
  • This is an icon

    Regular APR

    The Capital One Venture card charges a variable APR of 17.24%–24.49%, which is high compared to the average APR. It means that if you don't pay off your balance in full every month, you will accrue a lot of interest on your balance.

  • This is an icon

    Annual Fee

    This card's annual fee is $95, which may be worth it considering how much you spend using this card. For example, you would have to spend roughly $400 with this card every month so that your estimated rewards can make up the annual fee.

  • This is an icon

    Miles Rewards Rate

    This card rewards you with two miles on every dollar spent. You can use this card for your daily purchases to maximize your rewards.

  • This is an icon

    Cash Advance Fee

    With this card, you'll pay 3% of the total amount or $10 in fees, whichever is greater, when you take out a cash advance. Cash advances are also subject to a 24.49% APR.

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FINDING YOUR CARD'S RATES AND FEES

The best way to find out this information is your credit card issuer’s website, mobile app or billing statement. You can also check the Credit Card Agreement Database maintained by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Who Should & Shouldn’t Consider Capital One Venture?

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Other Considerations for Capital One Venture

While deciding about getting this card, you should be mindful of how you have used credit cards before and if the Capital One Venture card will be your only card or an addition to your wallet.

Things to Consider if This Will Be Your First or Only Credit Card

As the Capital One Venture card offers a high miles rewards rate, you would be able to maximize your rewards by using it for regular purchases every day. However, you should only spend what you can pay off, as its high APR will cause you to accrue a lot of interest if you don’t pay your balance in full before the due date.

Things to Consider if This Will Be an Additional Card in Your Wallet

In the case of multiple cards, you can keep the Capital One Venture card for your everyday purchases, while using cards with higher category-specific rewards rates for certain purchases (like those at restaurants, gas stations, grocery stores, etc.). While traveling internationally, using this card would be the best option as it does not have a foreign transaction fee.

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WHY TRUST OUR REVIEWS

At MoneyGeek, we follow a six-step process to review credit cards. Our methodology involves collecting credit card information, standardizing data points, analyzing potential cardholder profiles, considering annual and introductory bonuses, establishing the card values and reviewing data monthly to reprocess rankings.

How Capital One Venture Compares to Other Cards

While the Capital One Venture card has a great rewards program for travelers, there are other cards in the same category which offer a better reward rate or other benefits with no annual fee.

In-Depth Credit Card Comparisons:
Quick Comparison of Capital One Venture
creditCard

Capital One Venture

  • Purchase APR: 17.24%–24.49%
  • Annual fee: $95
  • International transactions fee: 0%
  • Miles reward rate: 2 miles per dollar spent
  • Best for: Moderate travelers looking for a card with no foreign transaction fee
creditCard1

Capital One VentureOne

  • Purchase APR: 15.49%–25.49%
  • Annual fee: $0
  • International transactions fee: 0%
  • Miles reward rate: 1.25 miles per dollar spent
  • Best For: Travelers looking for a card with no annual fee

Other Helpful Decision-Making Q&As

The following frequently asked questions about the Capital One Venture card can be helpful while making your final decision.

Still not sure about this card? Consider these options.

While the Capital One Venture card offers great travel rewards, if you’re not sure about getting it, you can look over the features of other cards in the same category to see if they benefit you and fit your requirements.

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*Rates, fees or bonuses may vary or include specific stipulations. The content on this page is accurate as of the posting/last updated date; however, some of the offers mentioned may have expired. We recommend visiting the card issuer’s website for the most up-to-date information available.
Editorial Disclosure: Opinions, reviews, analyses and recommendations are the author’s alone and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any bank, credit card issuer, hotel, airline, or other entity.
Advertiser Disclosure: MoneyGeek has partnered with CardRatings.com and CreditCards.com for our coverage of credit card products. MoneyGeek, CardRatings and CreditCards.com may receive a commission from card issuers. To ensure thorough comparisons and reviews, MoneyGeek features products from both paid partners and unaffiliated card issuers that are not paid partners.