sthubbar

I'm not sure which 1.5% cash card you are referring to. I was changed from the annual fee Venture card to the no-annual fee Venture card.

mia

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/credi...ash-1-5-a.html

sent

I opened the Capital One Venture card back when they ran the first "Match Your Miles" promotion in 2011. I kept it in 2012 mainly because I was too lazy to switch it to one of their fee-free cards before the annual fee hit. But I also kept it because I didn't know how much international travel I would have. I do like the no forex fees since my main SPG Amex has those 3% fees. Also, I need a non-American Express card in my wallet and this is the only rewards earning card I have for that. I had an AA Business Visa, but I closed that when the annual fee came due and kept this one instead. But I don't think this card is doing much for me anymore. I'll probably put about $10K on this card this year and I think that money could earn more valuable points/miles rewards than what is essentially a 2% rebate from the Venture card and the annual fee eats some of that. I could put more spending on the card if it has a decent reward.

Recommendations? Our travel preferences are SPG hotels for paid and award stays and American Airlines for paid travel. We are based in NYC and could fly other carriers for award tickets especially if we can avoid British Airways for international award tickets. (There are 2 of us, my husband and me.) There is a lot of discussion and hype about Chase cards on here and I don't have anything from Chase. After SPG, our next biggest hotel points amount is with HHonors, but those points just feel worthless. I couldn't even justify using 50K points for a basic room in a Category 7 hotel when we went to Hilton Sorrento this summer because I could just buy an upgraded room with a view for something like $150.

rwinn

I have a similar situation as you but with a few hundred dollars worth of unused Venture Miles. I will probably keep it for awhile because the service has been good and I like the flexibility to get credit for incidentals that I might not otherwise pay for, plus this has turned into a heavy travel year and the lack of a currency conversion fee has come in very handy.

That having been said, I am not putting much spend on it now that I have a United Club Visa, but with a hefty annual fee I don't anticipate renewing. I have been thinking about getting one or more of the Chase UlimateRewards cards due to the better earning potential, but I the Venture card and Cap One have really served me well. What I really wish is for an easier way to accumulate Starpoints!

sk8uno

If you want a good award program AND no foreign transaction fee, I'd highly recommend the Chase Sapphire Preferred. That card provides great flexibility and complements the SPG card nicely.

Additionally, can anyone here confirm that if you downgrade from Venture card to the VentureOne card, your Venture points will not be devalued in any way nor will they expire? I know the VentureOne card earns points at a lower rate than the Venture, but is there any difference in redemption (a la Thank You points)? I would like to downgrade, but don't want to lose any value in doing so.

Also, can anyone confirm that you are still able to downgrade at all? I spoke to a CSR today who said this is no longer possible. But, as always, the collective wisdom of FT usually outdoes the
"knowledge" of CSR or two.

sent

You can cash out the unused Venture Miles for gift cards at the same rate as using them for travel-related spend on your statement. I have around 9500 points so I was planning to spend carefully and just hit 10K, cash out for a $100 gift card and then retire the card. But I forgot about a $1000 insurance bill coming due and the company doesn't take Amex, d'oh! In my case, it appears that the purchase of NYC Metrocards are a reimbursable expense so I'll just have to buy a small Metrocard to cash out the points when I go over 10K.

express3

I opened the venture card in 2011 when they had the "match my miles" promo. Converted to a no fee card before the annual fee and my points converted over with no problem. Still have $1000 worth of points on the new converted card. I have the Cap1 Cash Rewards card(green one). Not sure if you can still downgrade, I did it earlier this year in March.

nfg05

I got the Venture card under the 'Match your Mile's promo last year and kept it until the $59 annual fee hit in April 2012 because I was doing a lot of international travel.

I now have too many fee-carrying cards and called to convert to the no-fee Venture One card. Initially, the CSR said I would not get any refund for the annual fee even though I had only used the Venture for about 6 mos. since paying the annual fee.

Transferred to supervisor who also said no prorations on annual membership fee. I have not run into this with other issuers (admittedly Amex is my only other data point) but it struck me as a 'we got your money already, and we're not giving it back' type of attitude.

Once I made clear that this policy would end my relationship with Capital One, the supervisor went in and applied a manual adjustment for $29.50.

Moral of the story: Don't accept CapOne's attempt to money-grab on annual fee prorations; hold firm and you can be treated fairly (assuming you are willing to wait ~30 min through the first few denials).

DBCme

Thanks for the post.

Some loosely related discussion here as well

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/credi...on-offers.html

dangw20

Has anyone called in about waiving the annual fee recently?

chrisw

I am also interested in this answer. From last year's data it appears wise to upgrade/downgrade to the 1.5% Cash Rewards card before the Venture annual fee posts. Unless of course CapitalOne will waive the Venture annual fee.

dldkjones

Today my request to convert my Venture card to a no annual fee cash back card was refused (got fee waived last year for second year). Was told that if I want such a different card, I must apply for it separately. My annual fee will not hit until a few days from now, so I plan to call back and see if there are other options, perhaps to convert to the no fee version of the Venture card with 1.25 miles per $.

mot29

I'm watching for responses. I have 3 cap one cards -- a Venture with the fee, and 1.25% no fee venture, and a legacy no fee platinum card that earns 5% on groceries, gas, and drug stores -- I think this was some kind of upgrade special. Redeeming points convert to 50% but points can be transferred to the venture card where they have full value for paying for travel. If I can't get the fee waived, but best replacement card for me might be the new 100% plus 50% annual bonus card.
Venture card renews in April so I need to do some figuring now, unless they will waive the fee for another year.

kiam

Just converted both of our venture cards to venture one before annual fee hits next week. I didn't wanna wait to risk whether they would waive the fee again because if they won't this time I would end up paying it just to convert then. Don't wanna close it yet due to the need to burn those points in a few months.

gloreglabert

I just converted my Venture to the 1.5% Cash Card via online chat. The chat rep was able to look up my account, check that a fee waiver would not be possible, and did the conversion on the spot. Was actually quite painless and preferable to making a phone call.