bitachu

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jatink129

Ummm...I'm a newbie at this. Could someone please explain how that works?

Thanks!

chelmkamp

It's not so simple. You earn twice as many points, plus a 7% bonus on yearly points, for all travel and dining purchases. If most of your purchases are travel & dining (or you only use the card for such purchases, and a different card for other expenses), your return approaches .0259 on travel redemptions, and that's without transferring to a mileage partner where the points often have a higher redemption value.

It all depends on your spending habits, which is why playing the CC rewards game is never a no-brainer. Each user needs to analyse his or her spending patterns and choose the cards which will gain him or her the best returns -- it will differ for everyone.

Homer15

Sorry this is a late explanation (I am just now trying to decide between these 2 cards and this discussion is helpful), but if you buy a ticket for cash using the card, then you can go to the card website and cash in miles for the cost of that ticket (so if the charge was $600, then you could cash in 60,000 miles and get a $600 refund on your card anytime within 90 days).

http://www.capitaloneventure.com/redeem_easily.html

Thanks for the helpful discussion all.

stevelb

I currently use both Venture and Freedom/Saphire. I am really starting to rethink my use of Venture and whether to pay my up coming annual fee. One of the problems with Venture is that you only get the .02 rate on travel buys either with the card or through their portal. If you do not have enough points to cover the expense you can not do the transaction with points, ie. no points plus cash is allowed. It seems that with the Freedom/Chase checking bonus and the Saphire annual bonus, I am better off just sticking with that combo as the greater flexibility in using points I have found quite useful. I must say, however, that I have found some excellent rental car prices on the Venture portal. Would like to hear others thoughts on this.

freakflyer

I have cashed in for gift cards (primarily Amazon) from the Venture program - so directly get back 2 cents per $ spent. I got the card for the 100,000 point sign on bonus only but am probably keeping it. And don't forget you can customize it with your own picture at no cost.

DC777Fan

Many people value a single UR point at greater than 2 cents each, so even non-bonus spend for such folks (like myself) is better spent on CSP than Venture. The Chase UR mall is also excellent and has almost every merchant I frequently buy from which further increases the rebate to sometimes upwards of 20% if you can catch a 10x bonus.

matsonjb

I have the CSP and the main reason I got it is for travel, and because I live in Japan and there is a No Foreign Transaction Fee...hell I'm saving 3% on my 4K engagement ring which easily covers the annual fee.

I try to do most of my shopping through the portal and I get 4 points back on through travelocity...I do find the ticketing through UR itself lacking and I go straight through the portal to United (Preferred) and I get the government. Also customer service is excellent and I cannot complain about anything.

scubadiver

I got a targeted promo. 10,000 bonus miles for a paltry spend. What I can't find is how Cap One Venture miles are redeemed. Can I xfer them to airlines like my (beloved) Sapphire? Or can I apply them only to spend on my Venture? If the latter, at what rate?

RewardTraveler

Capital One miles are basically cash back, 1 mile = 1 cent. You can't transfer them into another program. They can be used to offset travel charges you put on the card or redeemed for various GCs.

At one point you could find some values above 1 cent, but in the past year and a half there haven't been any special offers.

I don't have it, but the priceline card is probably a better option as it also earns essentially 2% back, but doesn't come with an annual fee (if it is the 2% that interests you).

jada135

i have the capital one card and other than the no foreign fee im not that impressed.

highops

I would use the Venture if at some point in my life I just wanted a (relatively) simple program. For now I'm entertained by gathering UR points at 2/2.14/5 per dollar and redeeming them for things I value at 1.25 cents/point or more. I also rotate AMEX cards to cover grocery spend, a weakness of Chase cards. I have to admit if I throw in an hour or two of my time per month to reconcile extra statements and transfer points this is probably not really worth it. If it stops being fun I'll use Venture or another 2% card.

highops

The Ultimate Rewards portal has had some deals better than I could find elsewhere lately, too, for both hotels and car rentals. I wonder if they use the same underlying provider?

pdxasflyer

I've been at this mileage earning game for awhile and have enjoyed several overseas trips in F with my spouse and our two kids (most recently to South Africa).

I've heard so much about cards over the past year that we've decide to take a comprehensive look at how the cards stack up. If I've looked at everything correctly, then I'm not seeing what all the hoopla is about on these two cards vs. traditional mileage cards for each airline.

For example, if I wanted to redeem Alaska airlines miles for a rt F award on Cathay Pacific to South Africa, it would cost me 140,000 miles. If I've read the CapitalOne Venture card disclosure correctly, I would need approximately 1.4 million miles for the same ticket. Is that right? does that sound to anyone else like a complete waste?

My sense is that the CSP card works the same way. Were these cards designed for domestic travel awards or int'l coach awards, or for so many FT'ers (it seems) that redeem for F and or J awards?

Am I missing something in the fine print on these cards? For comparison, I've been using the Alaska Airlines Visa Signature Card for about the last 10-15 years (currently an $85 AF, along with a $99 companion certificate, and some anniversary miles, 1 mile/$1 spent, except on airfare, which is 2x/$1).

Thoughts on these two cards vs my AS Visa Sig Card? Any help appreciated.

WrightHI

I don't think you're missing anything on the Capital One card, but you're missing the whole deal on CSP, which is 1:1 point transfers to UA, BA, Hyatt, and a few others. You can generate UA miles a lot faster with CSP than you can with the Explorer, plus have the option of transferring to other partners.

That doesn't help if you're after AS miles, but possibly worth noting that SPG Amex earns 1.25 miles/$ if transferred in 20K increments. Whether that justifies an additional $65 annual fee depends on how much spend you're putting across it.
And if Amex would just add AS as a transfer partner for MR....