iflyalexair

Hi, all!

I just took over the boytoy's finances. He has 187k in capital one points. I'm a DL PM, have MR points, etc. What's the best use of these points. We're going to Brazil, and we can get some 'decent' use to minimize the costs of GIG hotels.

Any hints to use Capital One points for a newbie?

Thanks!

tjbrooks

When CapOne had their 100K match offer Im pretty sure FTers (myself included) cleared all of the redemption offers greater than 1 cent per mile. Unless things have changed in the last six months, I think 1cpm is the best you can do with CapOne.

flyhen

yeah, IMHO, Cap1 points are not compatible with typical airline miles, of course, thru hoops you jumped and other crazy conversion methods, it will be. But at a terrible terrible rate! At the least, 187k Cap1 points = $1870USD. Which, can be quite useful in some ways.

jjmiller69

Yes that's what it's worth. After you buy the Airline ticket(rent a car, or purchase hotel room any travel expense) on your Cap1 card you deduct the purchase by using the points at 1 cent. You can only use the Cap1 points on your Cap1 CC from my experience.

drminn

Actually it is 1 cent per point in the best case. For hotel/rental car/flight redemptions under $600 the 15K and 35K point thresholds apply, so a $120 hotel is going to cost you 15K points, a $250 car rental is going to cost you 35K points. Be careful with how you redeem things.

flyhen

I used mine up in redeeming amazon gift cards. Personally, I found it more useful then ever. And what I did, was to use those gift card, together with other ones I already have, bought some popular electronics, gadgets, i.e. MacBook Air, and sell it, and get the $$ back. I can't really think of other ways of spending it, aside from flying, that is, if you are flying soon. Something I didn't have to when I got the 100k points way back...

IIRC, I got the amazon GC for 1cent value, but that was back in 2011.

p.s. boytoy's putting his spending on the wrong card... but lets hope it was spent on you. =D

MFinch6141

When US Airways offered a transfer of 2 points for 1 transferred to anothers account I set my wife up an account on US and transferred the maximum I could pay and cover the cost using my CapitalOne points. Ended up raking in some useful miles. Had to lose a little CapitalOne points on the deal do to fees, but can get a lot more than 1 cent per mile on US so it made up for it. I did have to call to get the miles redeemed and tell them I booked on US Airways. Did it 2x with no problems...

Jetsfan

These points are very useful. Covers parking fees, baggage fees, airport transport, all the usual extra travel expenses.

miniaturekat

+1

mia

Which Capital One awards program: Venture, No Hassle, or another?

iflyalexair

Thanks for all of the input!

They are no hassle rewards. I would gladly transfer these to an airline for redemption (like the US offer someone mentioned above), but I don't see that as an option.

Sadly, a lot of that spending wasn't on me, but the times have changed. :-) So I guess I should start referring to him as the sugar daddy.

Now that I control the rewards, we are getting rid of this capital one nonsense. :-)

eknock007

I am active user of the Cap1 Venture CC. Most around here will tell you that the only way to get back the 1 cent/point redemption rate is to book a trip and credit yourself the cost of the trip. But I am also able to use them to purchase just about anything else and get the 1 cent/point redemption value as well. The way Cap1 rewards works is that the when you make a travel booking on Expedia, Orbitz or some other travel site, the charge on that booking stays active for redemption purposes for 90 days even if you cancel the booking afterwards and receive credit for it. It is what I do sometimes when I have no immediate travel needs but need a charge to use for redemption purposes. And if you book with Expedia, Travelocity, or Orbitz you will have the ability to do partial redemptions on the charge as well. I try to have a least one active travel charge every 90 days to use for redemption of other purchases. I have used my points on everything from home repairs to my daughter's piano lessons.

jacknyoc

not anymore...they dumped the silly tiered system last summer. they're back to the straight conversion. it works pretty well if you can find a good fare or rate.

wise2u

it is invaluable as it covers everything a hotel or airline card wont....ever try and use airline points for a rental car? even MR or UR points don't work well for hotel or rental car bookings, you can always find a better rate through 3rd party sites....so we use those points to pay the rental car (you can use discount codes and earn points on the rental or room, then pay the bill with cap1 points) We wound up with 430K worth when they matched airline accounts (wife and I got both cards) we used them for all inclusive hotel in Jamaica, hotel and rental car in Hawaii, and a cruise......you would never use air miles or MR points for these things as they cost too many points for the value.
They were one of the first cards not to charge international fees. it is a valuable card keep it and use the points to compliment your airline and hotel cards!!

jacknyoc

I agree...and also useful when I've come across a $99 r/t flight to SFO, $199 r/t to NYC and $288 r/t to Hawaii...much better value than using airline miles.

Question for you. I have a bunch of points due to the 2x per $ I get. I'm considering also getting a cash back card, either the 2% biz or 1.5% personal card. With my spend rate some months on Cap1 I could get about $100/mo back which I would put into a separate fund for travel purposes.

I use Cap1 primarily for groceries, shopping and the like. I still use my CSP for restaurants and some travel expenses and Ink for biz expenses like gas, utilities, office supply stores, etc.

Is there a reason I'm overlooking that I shouldn't go for a cash back? It would seem to give me yet another option to pay for travel expenses. I'm interested in your/others input. Thank you.