Dadaluma83

The better card of the two ultimately comes down to what you want to do with it. If all you care about or want is to redeem your points for a travel rebate then the Venture with the flat 2% rate beats the CSP hands down. If however you are a member of the hotel or airline parters for Ultimate rewards, and primarily redeem points in those programs, then the CSP is better because you can transfer your points to whichever program you need to top it off to reach an award.

lkar

I think the question does come down to whether you want to redeem your points for paid travel as opposed to miles -- it really makes it an apples to oranges comparison. I kind of view it as a spectrum -- On one end there is the use of credit card bonuses to pay for routine travel instead of cash. On the other is use of miles to obtain travel experiences that I could never afford to do without the miles. I'm in this game much more for the latter -- the $8k first class ticket to Europe -- than the former -- spending $20,000 on a credit card to get a $400 ticket.

It's nice to have all currencies, but in the end, whenever talking about cards like the C1 and comparing them to cards that give you the ability to tranfer to miles or hotel points, you really can get caught in the switches.

Also, I would dispute your premise that CSP wins hands down even if just talking about redeeming for travel. Consider, for example, using Chase Saphire to buy travel through the Ultimate Rewards Mall. For that transaction, you get 3 points per dollar. You also get a 7 percent bonus eventually. And, when you redeem Chase UR for travel, you get a 25 percent kicker.

So, for that kind of spend, you get 3.21 points per dollar (or, to take a round example 3210 points for a $1,000 spend). You can redeem 3210 points for $40.25 in travel spend. Compare C1, which gives you $20 for $1,000 spend.

I actually would love it if one of the bloggers would (if it hasn't been done yet) do a breakdown of how much in travel spend you get by using different cards for different categories. Maybe it could be normalized by assuming $1,000 in spend, and then figuring out how much travel credit you get for each method.

So, for C1, it would be easy -- you get $20.

How about for gas? Using the Amex PRG, you get 3x points and Amex points can be used to redeem 100 points to $1, so you get $30 in travel spend for every $1,000 spent on gas. If you also have the platinum card, you get a 20 percent rebate, so $1,000 spent on gas on the PRG eventually equates to about $38 in travel spend.

For wireless and telephone services? Chase Ink Bold gives you 5x points, so for a $1,000 spend, you're looking at 5,000 points, which equates to $62.50 in travel spend.

Etc.

saacman5033

It would be a daunting task to cover everything and keep it updated, but here's one from a year ago that I have bookmarked:

http://boardingarea.com/blogs/unroad...arry-part-iii/

isle-hawg

Great answer!! Since UR does not transfer to AA miles or HH points or reimburse rental car/rental car gas/airport parking for POV, Venture is better for me. I will likely re-apply for it again when the next (anticipated) bonus is offered (I canx my card in DEC in hopes of another sign-up bonus). In the meantime I will continue to use my CSP to meet my minimum spend for the 50K bonus.

Ragnarok

You can also consider the Fidelity Investment AMEX for long term usage.

It's 2% Rebate in WorldPoints,

which is 1:1 Cash to Fidelity accounts or 1:1 to Air Canada Aeroplan

Air Canada is a member of the Star Alliance

So it allows you to redeem tickets for United or other *A carriers if you schedule allows,
or just straight 2% Cashback !

lkar

Excellent -- thanks much.

RapidTravelChai

Also to consider is the time value of money. If you are not spending a lot it can take a long time to turn UR into serious rewards. The CapitalOne points post as soon as soon as charges post and can be redeemed on travel transactions from the past 90 days (repeatedly, by the way, if your travel transactions are limited). Essentially cash in the bank.

Sapphire works for heavy spenders on travel/dining, people who love to spend time with miles and points as a hobby, people who get an ego trip from the metallic card.

Venture works for people who want cash in the bank, who do not target premium cabin/luxury hotel rewards, who do not want to spend lots of time on miles and points, who do not want to remember which card to use for what category.

If you are happy with no nonsense, minimal extra effort 2% cash back on everything, Venture makes sense to keep. Since neither has any great non-points benefits (like annual certs, elite status, lounge access, etc) I would not pay the annual fee for both.

FriscoHeavy

Just read some of these and you will stay away from Capital One at all costs.

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/credi...apital_one.htm

saacman5033

Oh cool, I can post links too!

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/credi...dit_cards.html

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/finance/citicard.html

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/credi...an_express.htm

HikerT

No, it's not the same as 3 inquiries but it's worth at least 2 inquiries to me. Barclays is the only one that pulls Transunion for me so the third pull is not as much of a biggie as the Equifax and Experian pulls. Having churned enough cards in my lifetime I can pretty much guess who is going to pull what. For me, AMEX, Citi and usually BoA pulls Experian. Chase and sometimes BoA pulls Equifax. As always YMMV depending on where you live, but it means I can apply for either a single Capital One card which costs me 1 Equifax and 1 Experian inquiry OR 2-3 other cards: 1 Chase card which costs me 1 Equifax *AND* Citi AA Visa + Citi AA AMEX (which should consolidate to 1 Experian).

flygirl12

Sorry if I must missed this info somewhere in this thread, but does anyone know the conversion rate if you turn your miles into cash? it seems like it'd be 1.25% but of course that is very possibly not true. I know people love this card for the travel statement part but it's kinda cool you can also use it for cash back.

FlyWorld

I see you've been given a ton of answers so I'll try to add some new perspective. It does indeed depend first on what you want to do with your earnings. Personally, I don't have the time or energy to deal with all the redemption stuff. I just want cash. With the Chase card, I can simply log in and with a few mouse clicks, my rewards are posted as a cash credit to my credit card statement. As for travel, I fly 100K/year in paid flights just to qualify for 1K status on UA, so the last thing I want to do is use miles to get more flights. And, with my flight miles plus the 100% bonus plus fare class bonuses, I've got more than enough miles already to buy tickets for family, etc. For me, it's too much work to figure out how to get the most out of my rewards by transferring them into some other situation.

Second point I'll make is that Chase customer service is light-years ahead of Capital One. I once applied for a Capital One card and my first interaction with them was so horrible that I cancelled the card before even making a single purchase. I've been with Chase for years, and have had problems, but nothing like what I experienced with Capital One. And, the service on the Sapphire card has been well above average.

Dadaluma83

I assume you are talking about capital one miles? As far as I know if you redeem them for a travel expense you get one cent per mile. You can redeem them for a general statement credit for 0.5 cents per mile. Definitely not the best use of cap 1 miles.

flygirl12

Yes, sorry, was talking about Cap 1. Good to know the conversion isn't as good. I currently have the Chase Preferred and am considering getting a cash back card to add to my mix. Right now am leaning Chase Freedom. The travel rewards are super tempting with Cap 1, but straight cash sounds like a better plan for some reasons.

Dadaluma83

If you have the sapphire preferred then getting the Freedom is a no brainer. First of all your Freedom points can transfer directly to your UR points, or if you prefer just straight cashback the freedom is good for that as well.