Update: the offer is dead.
Just a quick heads up that there is currently an excellent signup bonus available on Capital One Venture Rewards credit card. This offer will be pulled September 9th.
The standard offer is 50k points (good towards $500 off travel purchases), and it’s periodically increased to 75k points. There have also been targeted offers of 100k points, but those are rare, and there is always a risk that Capital One may not honor them.
This particular deal breaks down as follows:
1) Enjoy $250 to use on Capital One Travel in your first cardholder year
2) Earn 75,000 bonus miles once you spend $4,000 on purchases within the first 3 months from account opening
3) Annual fee of $95 is NOT waived
4) Up to a $100 credit for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck
Our affiliate application link (your support keeps the blog going, and you still get the same exact offer found elsewhere)
A few caveats
I don’t have this particular product, but a similar one: Capital One Venture X ($395 annual fee). While my experience has been mostly positive, I’m not too crazy about their travel portal. It’s fine if you need to purchase flights, and car rentals are mostly priced similar to what you can find elsewhere. But IMO the portal is total garbage when it comes to booking hotels. Since this $250 credit is tied to spending it via Capital One portal, I recommend you have a specific plan before applying.
Again, it’s relatively easy to utilize it as long as you are aware of limitations. Also, do keep in mind that some low-cost airlines are not listed. For example, I wasn’t able to book Ryanair flights through Capital One. However, I was able to book Wizzair, so it just depends. If you are looking to fly with a major carrier, you’ll be fine.
Also, while you have access to mileage transfers, sometimes Capital One performs maintenance that can last weeks. It hasn’t affected me, but it’s frustrating when you need to book a mileage ticket and can’t transfer your points. Things mostly work as intended, but Capital One has always been a quirky one.
Final thoughts
Overall, it’s a great deal worth considering. Even if you don’t utilize $250 travel credit (though of course you should), this offer will give you $655 off any travel purchases charged to the card once you deduct the annual fee. And that’s nothing to sneeze at.
Author: Leana
Leana is the founder of Miles For Family. She enjoys beach vacations and visiting her family in Europe. Originally from Belarus, Leana resides in central Florida with her husband and two children.
@RJ We appreciate you stopping by! Congrats on your Spark approval. I’ve never had success with Capital One and we don’t live near a branch. I was honestly shocked when my husband was approved for Venture X card . I’m still not sure if I should downgrade or renew it in January. I have a few months to decide. Priority Pass has been quite useful for us so far.
I have the Venture X as well and have just been saving my “points” since I got it. I recently was surprised that the Spark for Business was also approved and I picked up a $500 bonus for that one. If there is a Cap One bank in your area, I’d suggest going in and talking with them a bit. BTW, thanks for this blog. It is always informative and gives me places to consider.
As always, thanks Leana !!!
Tom, sorry about the denial. Capital One is a tough bank, for sure. Depending on how long your wife had Venture X, check the downgrade offers in her account first. Click on “I want to”, then scroll down and see “upgrades and offers.” No-fee Venture card may be listed there (it is in my husband’s account). If it’s not there, you can try applying for no-fee Venture and it should preserve points. But personally I would hold out rather than waste three inquiries. Keep in mind that you can also redeem points on travel expenses. It may not be the best use in theory, but I’ve done it. Uber Eats qualifies as “travel”, for example. And no need to wait until you need miles.
Hi Leana,
So we tried applying for the Venture to take advantage of the extra $250 in travel credit……..and she was denied. It said she was pre-approved for the Venture One card (no sign up bonus tho). I know your husband has the X card so you may know this answer. If she grabs the Venture One card, I would assume that her Cap One miles wont expire – is that a correct assumption ? Our main concern is she has like 120,000 points sitting in her account. We dont want to cancel and lose the points – and we really don’t want to transfer to a partner since we don’t have any travel plans in the near future. Since the Venture one card doesn’t cost anything it might be the best way to just keep the Cap One points alive. As you stated above, we hopefully could just downgrade when the annual fee is posted – but i suppose there is a chance they said no to that and then we are scrambling to pick where to transfer the points to. Maybe grabbing the no annual fee venture one is the safest option if it keeps my points alive
Thanks so much for any input Leana
Tom
Sure thing, Tom!
Great advice. Thanks Leana !
@Tom According to data points I’ve seen on Reddit and other blogs, yes, you can have both cards at the same time.
Getting approved is another matter as you well know. I’m debating on whether to apply myself, but Capital One has rejected me at least 10 times over the last few years. The Venture X is in my husband’s name, and I’m also debating on whether to renew it. One option you may want to consider (if your wife gets denied for this current offer) is downgrading your Venture X rather than canceling. That way you will have an option to upgrade in the future if you choose to do so. We actually got a ton of value from lounge access on our recent trip to Europe, but I doubt I’ll get the same result next year. So if I can’t utilize $300 travel credit for planned travel needs, I may downgrade.
Leana
Any idea if Cap One will let you have both the Venture and the Venture X ? My wife got the X about 9 months ago, and I agree with you about the travel portal. We don’t really want to pay the $395 again when the annual fee hits, but we also don’t know where to move all the Cap One points if we decide to cancel. She is thinking about applying for the $95 Venture so we don’t have to make a decision about the points, as well as accumulating another 75k of points. But not sure Cap One will approve her since she just got the X 9 months ago. She did get declined for the Venture last year and then a week later got approved for the X. So it seems to be very random as to approvals. Not sure if you have tried to get the Venture or only the X card.
Thanks in advance,
Tom